The downside to forwarding your home phone calls to your cell phone is that you get the number callerID but not the name. Today I got a phone call from (416) 581-1076. I probably wouldn’t think it was so strange, maybe, if the person could actually speak where I could understand him.
I’m sorry, while I think that if you’ve learned another language - that’s great - but if people are going to be calling me on the phone, they need to be able to speak English clearly so I can understand. I could not understand this guy for anything and had to stop him three times in the beginning to have him start over.
He asked for Steve, actually, and when I said that he wasn’t available, it didn’t seem to phase this guy and he kept talking about Steve’s “business” and how he had two contracts or something with who he was calling for. I had to ask him several times who he was calling for and I believe it was Dun & Bradstreet. Doing some “research” online, I see people reporting that the calls are coming from Dun & Bradstreet as well as some Canadian company called Optima Communications International as well as American Express and Amex. That seems fishy to me.
I told him that Steve doesn’t have a business and he said to me “is this This Little Light of Mine?” It took him 3 tries to say the name. Yes, I tell him, but that is my company. Steve’s name is not attached to that anywhere other than helping me out with outdoor fairs so I really have no clue why they should be calling him. I purposely keep his name off of stuff. (If I were ever to get sued or something, they couldn’t take the house from us or things with Steve’s name on it. Of course, that’s verryyyyyy unlikely anyway.)
So the guy continues to babble in words I cannot understand and says something about having two contracts or something with this company. I tell him I do not have anything with them and so I do not understand why he’d be calling me and his voice trails off and he hangs up.
So now I’m left to wonder what exactly he wanted and why they’d be calling Steve in conjunction with my business.
Other people online are reporting that when Dun & Bradstreet calls, they want money (one guy said $500) in order for them to do background checks on businesses and give the business a credit score. What the? Isn’t a credit score pretty much automatic if you’re doing business? I know I should have one anyway being all the stuff I do with TLLM.
So… yeah. Anyone else?
Maybe it is a company that may ask for mailing address or some information to either send you some material, or to use some information to gain more customers for whatever he or the company he represents wants to sell.
I have not yet, as far as I can remember, gotten a call from that number. Some days I am getting around 10 or so “wrong number” calls, and some days it is so silent, I wonder “Hmmm, do I miss the wrong numbers?” :p
They’ve called me several times since then (and that was just a few days ago) and have hung up every time until today. I gave the guy a hard time today. I had called back yesterday and got an answering machine and instructed them to not call me anymore, that answering machine said they were Optima in Canada. Today he tells me Dun & Bradstreet again. He’s trying to tell me that there’s 2 businesses looking into my credit score so they can do business with me and I am telling him that no one needs to know. Ha. He’s asking me if I’m sure that my suppliers wouldn’t do a background check on me… Um, no. Yeah, Hobby Lobby’s going to look up my name and address and do a background check on me. :P Or Staples or the place I actually buy most of my supplies. Yeah, not happening. And am I sure I’ve not asked for a loan? Um, yeah, no loans here. So I conclude it’s just another company or two that is going to “pre-approve” me for another credit card and they can just go sit on it. Besides that, these people keep calling for Steve and his name is not on my business, so that really makes no sense. However, when I start getting mail addressed to my business and his name… then I’ll now who the perpetrators are.
Anyway, his explanation about the phone number going back to Optima really didn’t make any sense. Still fishy to me. :P
Here is the website for Optima Communications Canada..
http://www.optima.net/contact.html
I looked them up and called them directly and asked what they want, who they are and what are they selling. The operator I talked to would only say that they had some products I might be interested in. I asked a couple of times and she finally asked if I would like my name taken off their lists. I gave them my number and we’ll see what happens.
The phone number to their desk is 416-581-1236 Maybe we should call them 3 times a day also!! HAHA
Optima Communications International, 144 Front Street West, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario
Phone: 416-581-1236
Ok… so the past 4 days I have received on average 3 calls a day. I am in NB, Canada and everytime I answer (my darn cell phone) they hang up. I’m pasting the information of their phone number so you can call them back. Do not press zero as it goes to some general mailbox. Press 1 and it says to key in a contacts last name. Poor guy, only one Smith. So if you type in Smith, it actually goes to someone, Carlton Smith or something and I left him a message. I plan on calling him DAILY until they remove my name!!!
This is the second time Ive recieved fishy calls like this, this one just started. But for about 6 months I had one under a “506″ number. No one was ever there when I picked up. and when I tried calling back they said it was an insurance offer, and sorry for the inconveniance and i could push my number in to the keypad to be taken off the calling list, which i did, but the calls continued. Now since they have stopped, this one started. It’s so frustrating when you cant make them stop, I even tried my phone company to see if they would block the call, but there was never a way to trace it.
Yes, they are getting their phone numbers from people registered in D&B which is a fraud in and of itself. See, D&B offers you an account number for “free” - but if you want them to “keep track of your rating” then they charge the 500/year maintenance fee for your company. Being listed in D&B is some kind of priviledge for companies who can’t afford their next payroll cycle, but if you are funded through income, then there is no need to get a D&B rated account, pay the 500 bucks, and get EVEN MORE FRAUD CALLS because now you have paid d&b 500 bucks, so you are a top tier phone number to call day and night.
yes - I just got a call from 416- 581-1076 and as soon as I answered they hung up. I don’t know - maybe they want the french speaking d&b section and I should answer the phone “oui” instead of “yes”
The phone number D&B has for me (which ends in x000) attracts alot of piss-ant telemarketers wanting to sell me junk from coppier toner to ink cartridges and paper shreaders. Sorry, folks, but I don’t buy this by mail order anyways. Go pester someone else in the d&b database. Just because I got a d&b number and a nice phone number doesn’t mean I need your product!
Tran
Amy maybe you should forget that Smith guy and be leaving your message for Don MacLeod, President. As you say several times a day seems appropriate.
Just got a call and because all of you were awesome enough to do the research I had enough to file a complaint on the do not call list. wether it does any good we’ll wait and see. thanks all
I did a Canada411 search after getting a nuisance call from 416-581-1076 on Friday. I use a prepaid cellphone card because the cell is for emergencies only–I don’t use it much up here in Yellowknife. Because I pay for every call, incoming as well as outgoing, I simply ignore calls from strange numbers. I didn’t answer. I did a websearch just now and found you nice people and the mystery was solved! Thank you all so much!