Evil company is evil

September 2, 2010 7:08 AM

Blind rage- what can I do?

I just moved. I used to live in a crappy slumlord run rental apartment on the top floor of an old house. Me and my partner lived there for two years.

I keep getting phone calls from people asking me if "I still have my rental available?" I usually say, "What are you talking about, call [evil rental company]. Today I asked where my number was actually posted. It is in a rental flyer for the city I used to live in. WTF? First of all- why would a crappy rental company I have a bad relationship with want people to call ME to tell them about the crappy apartment? Is it legal for them to post my personal cell phone? If not- can I do anything about it? Am I overreacting?

If it matters I have not gotten my security deposit back and I was not expecting to. Because they are dicks.

posted by janelikes to Grab Bag (12 answers total)

It serves no purpose for the crappy rental company to use your phone number in their advertisements; this has to be a mistake. Presumably if you told them about it, they would change their flyer. If you had evidence that they advertised your phone number deliberately, for some malicious purpose, then that would be illegal, but I greatly doubt that you can obtain any such proof, or that your number was used deliberately. People make mistakes of this kind all the time, one number looks very much like another. It's not as if they put a photograph of your face on the flyer, crediting you with being the building manager.

If all else fails, you might need to change your phone number. (If the crappy rental company then puts out a new flyer with your new phone number on it, at that point you do have evidence that they are acting maliciously, and you can sue them.)
posted by grizzled at 7:19 AM on September 2, 2010

This is kind of bizarre. It sounds like a really stupid, careless mistake on the part of the rental company that they've put your phone number on the flyer rather than that of their management office. I would call or email them and tell them about the number so that they can correct their records and issue a new flyer. You may keep getting calls for awhile because the flyer is already "out there" and can't be recalled, but they should taper off pretty quickly. And you have your choice of giving the callers the correct number or explaining that they don't want anything to do with this rental company.
posted by orange swan at 7:19 AM on September 2, 2010

First of all- why would a crappy rental company I have a bad relationship with want people to call ME to tell them about the crappy apartment?

What did the rental company say when you called to ask them that question?

You did call and ask them, right?
posted by General Tonic at 7:36 AM on September 2, 2010 [11 favorites]

It's probably good to ask the Internet before the rental company if you're in a state of blind rage.
posted by aniola at 8:28 AM on September 2, 2010 [3 favorites]

There isn't any reason they would do that. It doesn't serve their interests. It has to be a mistake.

I get phone calls very regularly for people wanting to buy guns they heard advertised on the radio. After this happened a few times, I figured out that the radio station is situated in the next area code over, and they're advertising the phone number without the area code. So people in my area code hear the ad, call the number, and get me instead. See? Simple mistake. I'm not selling any guns and it's sort of a pain in the ass, but blind rage? No.

There is some kind of logical explanation and I'm sure that whatever it is, the intent was not to hurt you.
posted by something something at 8:38 AM on September 2, 2010

Is the flyer in question for your former unit? It's possible someone else entirely slipped a digit and accidentally posted your phone number. But if your rental company did post the flyers, it was probably a mistake, which they would probably be anxious to correct.

Especially if you mention that it was a crappy apartment and you hated it to everyone who calls.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:55 AM on September 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

When the question is "why did they do this stupid thing?" the simplest answer is usually the correct one: because they are stupid.

Someone screwed up. It's moderately annoying, but if you have a bad relationship with these people why are you upset at this gift they have given you?

When someone calls you and asks about the apartment you say "It's not my apartment to rent; I used to live there and the rental company isn't even competent enough to put the correct phone number on their flyers. It's about the level of quality I got from them when I rented there, so I'd suggest you look elsewhere." Nothing untrue or actionable.

Or if you can live with being a jerk to people who have done you no harm you could really work the callers up into a froth and maybe cause them some trouble. "You're not black, are you? We don't rent to non-whites." "Can you provide proof of heterosexuality?" The problem with this - aside from being shitty - is that they have your phone number.

Maybe somewhere in the middle - a little benign neglect. "Yeah, but I have another renter on the line - let me have your number and I'll call you back." And don't. You do the renters a solid by keeping them from doing business with jerks and you don't lower yourself to the jerks' level by being overtly hostile.
posted by phearlez at 9:00 AM on September 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

As an interim solution to prevent you from having to take the calls while this gets sorted out, you can take two steps which might help: First, most cellphones allow for a specific caller ring: Take all of your contacts and set them to one ringtone and then set your general ringtone to silent. The effect of this is that anyone already in your contact list will be able to reach you, but any new number won't make the phone ring.

Next, set your voicemail to say something like "This is 555-1234, if you are calling for apartment rental information, you have reached the wrong number, please contact the rental company. If you are calling for janelikes, please leave voicemail and I will return your call."

It's not perfect, because any legitimate call will have to be filtered by your voicemail, buy at least you won't be fielding calls from a ton of strangers.
posted by quin at 9:08 AM on September 2, 2010 [1 favorite]

Hanlon's razor
posted by mkultra at 9:19 AM on September 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

If it matters I have not gotten my security deposit back and I was not expecting to. Because they are dicks.

Might be nice to mention this to any prospective tenants. If you're in the U.S., anyway (since the truth serves as an affirmative defense for slander in civilized countries).
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:53 AM on September 2, 2010 [2 favorites]

You know what? I'd be truthful. "I'm sorry, I can't help you -- you see, this is my cell phone number; I'm the previous tenant of that apartment, and the rental company is so massively incompetent that they handed out my number instead of their own. If you'd like to hear about all the ways they screwed me, I've got a couple minutes, though."

Then call the rental company and tell them to get your number the hell off their flyers.
posted by KathrynT at 10:28 AM on September 2, 2010 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: har har.

There is no way that the company mistook my cell phone number for their own number...it has a different area code, etc. Of course I called them, they did not and have not responded.
posted by janelikes at 3:36 PM on September 6, 2010