I got a cell phone last March and have had nothing but call after call for the previous owner. A T & T have been no help in this. and the companies keep calling.
i made the mistake of calling one company from my office phone. then they called me on that number!!!
I just got through filing with the FCC a complain on the last one to call me.
any other ideas??? the first month i had to get A T & T to remove $20.00 worth of calls charged to my number that were not mine. sigh!
even the weather channel was calling me to tell me it was raining!

I'm not a technical guru, but these may be some options:

1. call your provider and request a new number. You don't want someone else's number...as you well know from your experience

2. go to a phone store and ask them to change the SIM card (don't ask me what it is, but I think it's the microprocessor that has all the phone properties on it). The person at the phone store should know what you're talking about. I don't know what type, model, or make of phone you have, but if you go to (or call before you go) a phone store, they may well be able to help you.

3.Just because the account name and address changed, (I'm assuming that's what happened) that doesn't necessarily mean the system knows that the number is no longer associated with the original owner.

4. If you have Caller ID for in-coming calls, you answer only the calls you want to answer. Just because the phone rings, doesn't mean you must answer it. :lol:

There's no reason should be getting phone calls for someone else on what is now your phone.

I have a pay-as-you-go phone and feel like I know the previous number's owner fairly well - she shops at Dillards. drives a Toyota. and has friends in the Phillipines. It has taken 3 months to cull out most of her bill collectors. When I tell collectors that she no longer has the number, they ask what her new number IS!!! I only use the phone for job searching and emergencies, so paying every time they call uses up my minutes and gives me false hope.

That would not be a situation I would enjoy. Calls that I have to pay for and are nuisance calls would cause me to take some drastic action!

How frustrating. It seems a shame your carrier isn't more helpful. I would think twice about using them again.

We had that problem. I told the callers that she had moved to Georgia. :mrgreen:

Tell them to stop calling you, and if they continue, it's harassment!

You should see the number pop up on the caller ID...if you don't know it, don't answer...that is if all the suggestions from above haven't stopped it...asking for a new number seems obvious to me. :D

My husband's cell phone is the same problem. We have had the phone for 2 yrs and still getting calls for Colby. Found out he is the nephew of my DD's SIL. I have asked and asked that he tell people he has a differant number. We had a guy call last year on Halloween and cuss Glen out and called him names and told him he was going to come and beat him up. My sweet? DH in a wheelchair mind you tells him to come on I''m not going anywhere! Glen grew up rough and fighting was a way of life. So he has the family motto down pat - Nobody but nobody walks over me no matter how big you are! LOL The guy called an hour later and I answered it. He just kept screaming he was tired of us taking his newspaper and we would regret it ...on and on..... So Glen sat and waited to see if someone would show up!! Noone did. We decided the guy was drunk and nowhere near where we live. We know all our neighbors well and it wasn't any of them!

Yes this cell phone thing is really annoying!!

I have found the right phone for me. I don't really LIKE
telephones, but since I'm alone and always drive alone, sometimes at night, I have what I call my emergency phone and AAA.

I use a Trac phone, which is one where you can buy a cheap
cell phone, they give you a new number, and you can buy the minutes one year at a time. A new minute card can be bought and punched into the phone, and it will automaticly update it's own self. This usually adds up to about $130 per year.

I am 76 and don't like answering or paying for other people's
"mistakes" so find this traveling phone just right for me.