There should be an intelligence test before allowing someone to use a phone, a computer or email.

easy way to fix that. If her number is showing up when she calls in, plug it into your phone with her own special ring. When you hear that ring, you know its the "idiot" and you don't have to go running for the phone.

When I read the title of your post, it made me smile. My DH favorite saying is "I have no tolerance for idiots".

If I don't answer the phone...she hangs up and calls again.

Don't even get me started on idiots. I get updated police scanner bulletins throughout the day. Here are the calls to 911 (!!!) so far this morning:

* 10:41 a.m. A man with questions about âÂÂDumpster divingâ has contacted county authorities.
* 9:21 a.m. New Life Church employees have called for animal control after catching a young basset hound on church property. (Ummmm ... call ANIMAL CONTROL ... NOT 911)
* 8:17 a.m. A janitor is wanted in a womenâÂÂs restroom at North Idaho College to clean up barf in a sink.

People should be heavily fined for using emergency services (911) for calls like this.

*vent over*

I just hate that, sometimes I have to tell them off and it does help stop the calls. DH had a cell phone that would dial on its own, go figure. It would dial another women's number and her DH was getting mad. We got rid of that phone and no more problems. Can you get a new number?

Monica does your outgoing message say, this is Monica, or is it just your number? She may not realize she is dialing the wrong number if she doesnt hear an unfamiliar voice on the voice mail.

Isn't there a way to block certain phone numbers?? If not, maybe you could flag that number with a certain ring-like mute?

Maybe if you don't answer and she dials again (several times) she might eventually give up.

It's possible that she is calling the 'right' number for the person she is trying to call but that person no longer has this number. I was getting lots of calls on my new cell phone (got it 5 months ago) for the person who used to have this number. I called Altell and they told me that numbers are 'recycled' after 30 days. I still get calls for this person related to school loans, etc.

Oh, she knows she is dialing the wrong number all the time. As soon as she hears my voice, she hangs up...leaves no messages. Her number shows up on my "missed calls", it's a listed land-line phone in Doylestown,PA...and the number she is calling is an older man down in Philadelphia.

It was the mysterious hang ups that got me wondering why this strange number was calling and then hanging up, never leaving a message.

jel...I have had this phone number for over 15 years.

If you know her number you could try calling her at inconvenient times...to try and get your message through to her.

My home phone number is one digit off one of the local banks' numbers, as well as the local doctor's office. I get wrong number calls often; usually it's one of my neighbors, so we end up chatting.

Hope you find a way to end that annoying caller, Monica!

While we were in Florida 3 years ago we had a bunch of outgoing calls on our home phone. All to a cell #, but there was no one at home at our house. All calls lasted just seconds and we were charged for each of them! Our long distance provider did remove them, but what a pain to fix!
Kathy G in MI

Don't you sometimes wonder what some people are using for brains. I worked in a clothing store in the Mall in Butte Montana and the phone rang and when I answered it, a man said his wife was in labor and the pains were a twenty minutes apart, and how soon should they go to the hospital. I asked him if he realized he was calling a clothing store and not a Dr's office. He said yes, because he figured a woman worked there and she could tell him what to do. I just told him he should call his wifes Dr. I hung up shaking my head. LOL Dottie

I would call your Carrier and do what you told
her you would do.

I wouldn't be surprised that she has your number
programmed, and doesn't even bother with what you
told her - just uses the programmed number every time
she calls. Sounds like she has it in her head, that
she is doing everything right - but sometime between
when she calls you someone else makes a mistake. :)

Sigh! Sometimes you can beat them.

Can you change the ring tone for her number to a "silent" ring or vibration? Then you'd never hear it ring at all.

Call her back - about 12 hours after she calls you.

You can block her number. Call your provider for instructions.

I'm sorry this happens, I know it is a pain. My phone number ends in 88 and the Black Angus ends in 00. I get calls for them all the time but some people INSIST that they dialed correctly. Uh, then why didn't the Black Angus pick up???

She then says...not my fault "the phone company keeps mixing up the numbers".

That is possible. Nowdays there is an option to have the directory assitance person connect you, so you do not have to write down the number and dial it. The operators often get the numbers wrong because they are not trained properly. They give out the first number that pops up with their input. They may mix up 'Smith Website Design' with 'Smith Interior Design'. I worked for a place once where we constantly got the wrong calls for another business and I'm sure they got ours. The directory assitance people would transpose the two names, similar to mixing up 'Harold John Law Office' with 'John Harold Accounting'. I would tell the persons they called the wrong place and they would start cursing the phone company under their breath saying the phone company did it.

My friend had this happen to her. Guy called her over and over....wrong number. So, every time she gets up in the middle of the night now, like to go to the bathroom....she calls him. Then when she gets up, and she gets up early, she calls him. "Oh, sorry, I have the wrong number." She said she was sick of him calling her. I think he has quit now. ;)

For a while we got calls from a Blockbuster in another town. They were trying to reach a customer who had overdue DVDs. His cell phone number was identical to ours except it was a different area code. The cell phone relay would flip the calls to our number by mistake.

However...it doesn't sound like that is the case for your caller. Call your company and block calls from her number. (Hope you feel better soon -- from another sinus sufferer.)

Sounds like she is a very slow learner Monica. It wouldn't take me a couple times before catching on.

I like the idea of calling the cell company, but I also know what a pain that can be too. I would start out by putting her calls on 'silent'. What a turkey for she is for not figuring this out on her own.

Do you have voice mail? When you set the phone to ring in a different ring tone so you don't have to answer it, have a voice mail that says, "You have reached 555-xxxx. [insert name here] is not able to take your call, so please leave a message." Hopefully she will hear that she's called the wrong number and will hang up when she hears its your phone and not the one she's trying to dial. My son had to do that. He worked graveyards and some moron called him almost every day waking him up. He finally said, "you've reached Brads CELLPHONE, I'm sleeping because I work graveyards. Leave a message or call me back when I'm awake." It only took one or two more miss-dialed numbers from moron before he stopped calling and my son could go back to his regular message.

Years ago, before cell phones, my dear late Mother used to get calls that were intended for a dog groomer...It seems, Mother and the groomer had the same 1st. initial and same last name but the groomer wouldn't pay extra to have her name advertised in the phone book...Well, after getting many calls and trying to explain, Mother started making appointments...Anytime she'd get a call, Of course we have an opening, bring your pooch in, etc.....Soon after the calls stopped and the groomer did the advertising....

There are times that I won't receive calls from family and friends on my cellphone, but some poor woman up in Dallas does! It's something with Comcast that sends my calls to a place 300 miles north of me. I'm not saying that there aren't idiots out there, but this is what happens about my phone number at times.

When I first move to this house, my new phone number was one that belonged to a junk yard. Every Sunday, until I had it changed...I got phone calls from guys looking for Chevy parts, or a fender for a Ford. They would start calling befor 7am. It was horrible.
It only took me about 3 Sundays of this to have my number changed.

Trin

My # was one digit off from a radio station "weather line" number. Wanna talk about fun? Sheesh. They quit it though.

A friend had a business line for his excavating business. People knew not to call after 4pm. The number was very close to that of a fancy restaurant. He finally had enough and anytime after 4, he'd let his kids answer the phone and do whatever they wanted. So people would call about the "specials"? Oh, Prime Rib tonight only with all sides for $3.95 and all you can eat! You need a reservation tonight for 22 people? No problem. 8pm? Sure, see you then! I thought it would have been interesting to go down there and watch the fireworks.

This past New Years Eve I got a call on my cell. I thought it was strange since I wasn't on the phone so no reason for someone I knew to call it. It was a wrong number. I was nice enough about it and the guy was VERY apologetic. I said ok, no problem and was just about to say Happy New Year anyway to him and he bid me a HNY. I thought that was kind of nice and I was glad I was pleasant to him. Now had he called back 2 or 3 more times....

Personally, I'd be tempted to make the calls. Gotta be careful or you could be in trouble, but, that old bag has it coming. Maybe you can get it through to her. And I'm not sure how directory assistance could be making the mistake since cell phones aren't listed in directory assistance.

Oh and then there's the time that MCI decided to "give" me an 800 number without my knowledge or consent. I kept getting some wrong numbers one night and it was strange. I asked for the number and it was WAY different. Turns out he was misdialing an 800 number and getting "mine". It was like 50¢ a pop or something like that but I blew up. Called those idiots and raised the roof. "Oh we give everybody a free 800 number". Well this isn't free and I don't want it and won't pay for it. Well I'll credit you the 50¢ sir. Yeah right and you'll shut that thing off. I then cancelled MCI and will never patronize them again.

Then there's the time when I had the store and Philips 66 sent out the wrong 800 number to all their gas stations with instructions to call and order signage. Took a while to get suspicious at all the wrong numbers until I started asking some questions of a couple of the people. I don't remember what that cost us. 66 finally paid for the calls and sent us a travel mug (one) for our trouble. Wasn't that big of them???

"I don't carry my phone around the house, and very, very few people have the number so when I get a call, I have to look for the phone or dig it out of the bottom of my handbag. I get a call maybe once a month."

If you get calls so infrequently, maybe just turn off your phone and check the voice mail occasionally? It wouldn't continue to bother you and maybe the caller will figure it out that she has the wrong number when no one answers.

I just changed cell phone providers. My old one gave me the number of someone nearby who was Mexican. I got so many Spanish calls I ended up leaving a message on my own voice mail that the voice mail was disconnected and told people I knew it was not.
One person was so persistant I called them back and told them if they called me anymore (prank calls of someone laughing or breathing) I would call the police. That ended those calls. So far so good with the new phone.
Good luck Monica. I think I would call the cops on her.

I don't have any advice to add other than repeat what others have said about calling your cellphone provider, maybe they can block her # from their end.

I do have a "funny" story - I have a friend who eventually had to have her # changed, at the cost of the phone company. Seems they printed HER phone number by mistake in a yellow pages ad for a towing company...You can imagine the calls she got! She didn't want to change it right away because she had a very pregnant daughter and a very ill mother, and didn't want to miss calls from either of them due to a new #.

Good luck, Monica!

I can't turn the phone off...not at this time. It is very important right now that I be reachable ASAP.

I askher what number she was calling, and she gives me my number, ending in "45", then corrects herself and gives me the other number, that ends in "54", and insists she is dialing the "54" number.

Hopefully, I scared her enough today....next time, I will report her to Verizon.

It costs $4.99 a month to block calls.

Years ago I used to get calls from an woman who was trying to reach a friend. She was obviously quite elderly and possibly confused. I could hear the distinct disappointment in her voice when I told her (several times) that there was no one by that name at this number. She was so sad that she could not reach her friend.
As I recall, she was trying to dial the right number, so I suspect that her old friend had been gone for quite a while.
It broke my heart.

If you have an online acct you can go in and block the number yourself. (at least you can with Verizon)

Get your number changed then.

Get an air horn. Next time the moron calls you, blast her.

"Get an air horn. Next time the moron calls you, blast her."

But the OP stated in her first post that this is an elderly woman, and subsequently stated that she is trying to reach an elderly man. No need to be cruel to someone who may be suffering from dementia through no fault of her own.

I can't turn the phone off...not at this time. It is very important right now that I be reachable ASAP.

If that's the case, why aren't you carrying the phone around the house with you? That's what I'd do. Carry it and answer it---or not.