I used to get calls from a collection agency for ‘Maria.’ I do not know maria but presumably she had the phone number before i did. If you try to explain that they just sell the number down stream to sleazier and sleazier collection agencies.
Eventually I got used to saying. “I go by Mario now. Thanks for the parts.”
I used to get collection agency calls on my old landline number for years and was getting pretty sick of telling them he didn’t have that number any more.
So one time when they called, I played dumb and said that he wasn’t home, could I take a message? They gave me a name and phone number and I asked “Are you a collection agency?” The lady about flipped. She asked me why I offered to take a message if I wasn’t connected with the person.
She got tricked and realized it and started to get aggressive with me and I said “Look, I’ve been telling you guys for years that you have the wrong number and you won’t listen to me when I tell you that that guy does not have this number any more. We’ve had this phone number for 4-5 years now and keep getting these calls. Reverse look up this phone number and see who is now listed as having it.” (Which I knew she could do because it was listed in the phone book at that time.
I have a sister who used to work in collections for a large corporation and so I knew how they could find out who had the phone number and also that this lady who got tricked like that could have ended up in real trouble for that.)
The real satisfaction was that I never got another call from them again.