I've talked to people and most often, they contacted SINGER corp, and gave them some number they pulled off the machine, which is obviously NOT the serial number. Singer put numbers on just about everything - so it's not hard to find a wrong number. Or sometimes the owner miss-read the serial number as six digits instead of seven, or didn't notice a preceding letter . . .
And based on the incorrect "serial number" the "professional" at Singer tells them what machine the serial number belongs on, and the date of mfg - but at no time does the Singer customer service person actually ask to see the machine to verify that it is the model quoted. And who knows- maybe the Singer employee has no clue how to tell them apart.
It is nice the person you contacted was decent about it. I sit on my fingers now - too many "That is what SINGER told me so go .... youself!" type answers.
Now that the some group of people are supplying this information for White (via Viking which is part of the group that also owns Singer) I'm seeing this happening with White machines too.