Crossed lines?! Bizarre situation.?

Question

I have been getting calls that ring in to my home but are for someone else- and sometimes he answers. Likewise, when people try to get a hold of me either he will answer or will pick up the phone when I do. One of the times I asked what his phone number is because the phone company requested the info....and he gave me MY number (including area code). He says he thinks we have a party line....no, we definitely do not, I find it bizarre he would say so. The phone company has sent someone one out, not sure what he did but it didn't fix it, so someone else is coming out again, probably to do no better. I would like to interrogate him and get his name, phone company, that sort of thing but it seems rather rude to demand information from a stranger like that on the phone. What does it sound like is going on here?! Thanks for reading and replying.

Answer 1

sounds like your number and this other person's number are crossed. from your house all they way back to the Central office. somewhere in between both points.

Answer 2

Hopefully the phone company will get that fixed for you. I don't know whats going on there but I once had a similar situation. The phone company gave me someone elses number. But the calls never went to both places at once. However we would often get their calls and they would get ours.A typical conversation went something like this: "Hello is so ans so there?"

"No you have the wrong number."

" What number is this?"

"x*x-xxxx"

"Thats the number im looking for is he there?"

lol our friends would often tell us that they would dial it and get the other guy sometimes too. lol

just keep on to your phone company till they fix it or tell them to switch your number...good luck

Answer 3

If both you and the other person has the exact same phone number including area code, there is no wonder you are having the problems you are describing.  The problems you describe are exactly what would happen if two different locations had the same phone number.

Let's assume you had a phone number that was both at your home and your office so you could answer office calls from home.  This was a common practice in the "old days" before call forwarding for small businesses.  My parent's insurance agent had exactly this set up.  When the number was called, it rang at both locations, could be answered at either location, etc.  That instance was exactly as it was supposed to be.

For you however, someone at the phone company somehow assigned the same phone # to two different users at two different locations, from the sound of your description of the problem.  You cannot fix this - only the phone company can.  

I strongly urge you to be firm with the phone company.  Tell the phone company exactly what you wrote about the other person having the same phone # and that this is likely the root cause of the problem and that they must check their records and fix the matter.

Answer 4

As long as you are interrogating this poor person to get information that will help solve the problem, all should be well. Ideally you need his postal address, so the phone company can either check their records or physically visit both sites to rectify your problem.

Answer 5

I had this in the middle seventies, it's a shared line, and you should be very careful what you are saying as the other person may pick up the phone and you don't hear the click, he or she can listen into your whole conversation. At that time it was a common thing but it's unheard of today, except for you that is. get it sorted quick. JB.

Answer 6

Is your service new? Sometimes when you get service your line going back to the Central office was originally working at another location. When yours was connected, this line was supposed to be physically disconnect from that location. If it didn't happen, then there will be your service working at both locations.