'BLUES ON CALL' 412-553-8949 called again today (Sunday) asking to speak to my Dad by name. I hung up and called the number on the caller ID, speaking to a 'health coach' named 'Debbie'. I explained that I was tired of getting calls from them asking for my Dad who died 23 years ago. Please remove his number from your calling list. She stated she would be glad to do that, she would pull up the records. She could not locate his name or phone number in her records, even after I gave it to her. I gave her his DOB. She still could not pull up his records without his address. I gave her the city/state and asked if she had anyone else by that same name and same city/state and birthdate? Debbie stated she could not give out that information. She asked if he had insurance with them? When I asked if it was Freedom Blue she said, "Yes". I said I wasn't sure, but I doubted it. After Debbie had his name, complete address, DOB, and phone number, she suggested I talk to . . . NO, I am not talking to anyone else, I am talking to you. You have all the information you need to stop harrassing me or I will start harrassing you. She asked if I was sure that I was getting calls from their number?
For a fact, I know that BLUES ON CALL was given more than enough information to remove a phone number from their calling list. I do not live at my Dad's former address, but did maintain his phone no.
Maybe they are going to set up a credit card using the information I gave them? I probably made a big mistake, we'll see.
Regarding the above phone number, here's what just happened:
1) I am on all of the national, state-wide, & local No Call lists because I'm sick of telephone harrassment from unsolicited callers who have no business invading my privacy.
2) Nevertheless, the above phone number (412-553-8943) just called my own unlisted & nonpublished, private telephone number a few minutes ago. When I didn't answer, the caller from 412 553-8949 left no message at all. I was not near my Caller ID screen at that moment, so I'd no immediate idea who had just called me: but due to the lack of any voice message, long experience made it clear I'd just received an Unsolicited -- & thus illegal! -- telephone call.
3) So I immediately punched in the local phone company's dial-back number in order to find out what person, company, &/or telephone number had just called me, & this is how I learned I'd been called by the above phone number. Sure enough, it was an Unsolicited Caller, calling from an Area Code & number I know nothing about!
4) Thus I called back by dialing the above number -- & a prerecorded voice said "Welcome to Blues On Call. If this is an Emergency, please hang up and call 911" (& what the heck were they saying THAT for?). Next, the same prerecorded voice followed up its 911 instruction by asking "Are you a Security-Blue Member?" Naturally I didn't reply, since their answering machine mechanism obviously would've recorded my reply, & they have no right to do that.
So! Bottom line:
(A) The automated answering machine at this telephone number did NOT say (nor in any other way indicate) anything whatsoever about "nurses on call", despite what the last two May '08 complaints state here on this website page about their own experience w/ this same caller some months ago. Instead, here in September 2008 the automated voice did not identify itself or its purpose in ANY way. And it gave no other information that made any sense given the context of my return-call to them.
Instead,
(B) the automated voice which answered at 412 553-8949 made remarks which were 100% cryptic. Even the initial, out-of-the-blue instruction about "If this is an Emergency, hang up & call 911" made absolutely no sense! And I'm convinced this answering machine message would still make no sense, even if I'd been foolish enough to answer their original Unsolicited Call a short while ago.
(C) Also, just WHY would any actually-legitimate firm involved with "nurses on call" be telephoning my own unpublished & unlisted telephone number when I've never had anything to do with ANY nurses, period?!?
Obviously 412-553-8949 is some sort of scam, & its calling machine telephoned my number via that type of Unsolicited "Cold" Calling software that programs its calls via lists of publicly-available State Area Codes & their subsequent local Prefixes. Such software merely follows these 6 digit-sets with all the consecutive 4-digit suffixes in numeric order, & then simply calls telephone number after number after number until it exhausts all possible combinations. In this way such Scams can (potentially) reach even legally-obscured "No Call" numbers like mine.
WARNING to ANYone else receiving calls from 412-553-8949 (No matter whether your own phone number is published or not; & no matter if yours is on official "No Call" Lists or not):
Please note: In my above report, the First time I identify the phone number of this probable Scammer, I INCORRECTLY LISTED it as 412-553-8943 -- IE, that last "3" is Wrong!
THE CORRECT # IS 412-553-8949; & in all other instances of my report it's listed correctly as 412 553-8949.
I've added this clarification in hopes of making my above report as clear & as helpful to others as possible.
http://esupport.fcc.gov/complaints.htm is the page to report these scum bags to the Federal Communications Department. I suggest we all bombard the FCC with our complaints. I can attest that the National Do Not Call bureau is worse than useless. It is pure government waste at its finest.
Folks, report them online to the FCC..at least I got a letter back acknowledging my complaint.
Well i DON'T have "Highmark Blue Shield Healthcare", Thomas. I cannot even claim to know what that IS, nor do I live in a state that offers any such "service" with any such name. Equally important, I absolutely cannot verify that the seriously offending & harassing callers who identify themselves as "Blues On Call" when they contact my telephone (& ID/voicemail machine) are actually a legitimate group that has ANY business relationship with any company calling itself "Highmark Blue Shield Healthcare".
So the fact that (A) these out-of-state offenders at 412-553-8949 are STILL CALLING MY PRIVATE, UNLISTED TELEPHONE NUMBER is nothing less than 100% SUSPICIOUS, SINCE THEY CAN'T HAVE OBTAINED MY UNPUBLISHED NUMBER IN ANY OTHER MANNER THAN THE DISHONEST WAY DESCRIBED ABOVE in my 1st Complaint against them of 09/05/08. To put a fine point on it, I haven't been out of my home town (much less my home state) in almost a decade. This means there is NO WAY this supposed "biz" [sic] could have obtained my private number via any legitimate scenario such as my supposedly receiving health care services while in some other state.
(B) Equally annoying is that I'm having to report their repeated harassment YET AGAIN here in December '08: in other words, 3 +1/2 months AFTER I first reported the initial harassment from this unsolicited caller! And I'm only reporting today after receiving such a surfeit of calls from this harasser in recent weeks that I just can't remain silent any longer! They've bothered me so many times lately that I now have to wonder: perhaps this is happening so much right now because it's December: i.e., perhaps the scammers behind this harassment are actually trying to get hold of extra holiday-shopping money??? But who knows.
So Thomas, please accept the fact that your above remark -- i.e., that "The Do Not Call [sic] does not apply to someone you do biz [sic] with" -- is a statement that has nothing to do with the fact that this so-called "Blues On Call" operation is INDEED harassing me repeatedly, as well as harassing the other private citizens who clearly have legitimate reason to report them here.