RPM called several times.  I got several voice messages that went on for more than one minute, playing music almost the entire time.  At the end of each voice message, someone finally speaks, saying "Hello?".

I finally had time to call them back.  After being transferred to three different people, and landing with a woman who was obviously Indian (but spoke perfect English), she told me that I owe some money to Sprint.  It's a valid debt.  She had my correct address,  phone number, name, etc.  I will pay Sprint as soon as I can.  I have switched from Sprint to another mobile phone carrier (and saving almost $100/month on four lines).  I owe Sprint for my last month of service, and I will definitely pay them.  However, I have other priorities right now.

For now, I will put this number (and the other numbers used by RPM) on my reject list.  I hate collectors... especially when they call me and then put me on hold!  

At a former job, I installed, configured, and managed an automated calling system for debt collection.  We had a good system and enough collection agents so that when the auto-dialer called a debtor, the debtor never had to wait more than a few seconds before a human representative was on the phone talking to them (with all of their account information automatically displayed on their computer as soon as the call was connected).  

I designed, coded, tested, and implemented the software that interfaced the lending system with the auto-dialer.  My system automatically selected the accounts for collection, triggered the auto-dialer to call the customer, managed call queues (the system had 24 lines, and there were 6 collectors) so that there were never too many calls in the queue and customers never had to wait more than the time it took for the customer to say, "Hello? ... Hello?"

I even recorded my own voice in the auto-dialer.  I had friends who had accounts at the financial institution... and they hated getting calls from "me".

That was almost 20 years ago!  It is inexcusable in this day and age for these companies to expect you to wait more than 5 seconds before a human picks up the phone!  And then... when they pick up the phone... they should ALREADY have your information displayed on their screen!

That system... 20 years ago... could even handle in-bound calls, and automatically find the customer's information based on the CallerID.  Even when the customer called in to the collections phone number, the agents had the customer's information on the screen before they picked up the phone!

When I called this number to find out what they wanted, I was transferred three times!  Then, when I finally got to the last person, she had to search for my information!  I refused to give her anything but my phone number (as everyone should... never give your SSN, account number, DOB, or any personally-identifiable information to a collector... they should already know it).  It took her a couple of minutes to find my account and tell me why they were calling.  This is inexcusable.  Sprint obviously has my phone number (I didn't change it when I switched to T-Mobile).  They obviously gave my number to the collection agency.  The collection agency should have systems in place to automatically link the Caller-ID information they receive when I call them (or they call me) to the information about my past-due account.  I should NOT have to wait for them to find my information.

If I could do it 20 years ago... they should be able to do it today.