Privacy concerns w/ Ting - how & where did my new # get out?

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

I just started with Ting, with a new number they provided.  Disturbingly, as soon as it went live I got calls from bill collectors (yes I have some delinquent accounts), and what look like fake text messages to engage me. 

How did they get my new number?  How is Ting "leaking" it, and where is it being made available?  Who else might be able to get it?

Not only that, the voicemail setup prompts me for my name, which I don't want on my outgoing message.

I saw nothing about any of this in the Terms of Service -- that Ting would make my name and number available to anyone.

I've been on Verizon over 20 years with almost no unwanted calls.

[Daley]

Are you positive the bill collectors are calling for you specifically?

It's possible you just got a poisoned phone number, and any anger should be directed at the former number owner. New DIDs (phone numbers) are rare in this country, and between high churn prepaid burner-phone outfits like America Movil's brands chewing through numbers on a regular basis, it's impacting everyone (AM MVNO brands only leave their allotted numbers inactive for three weeks, and they kill accounts on a whim). It used to be that a phone number would stay dark for at least six months after disconnect before being pushed back into service, but many of the MVNOs are having to churn numbers faster to meet demand now, especially for some higher population regional exchanges. That means less time for the disconnected message to register with callers.

If you'd ported over your Verizon number, you likely would've been fine. Instead, you got a new random number and it sounds like you got a dud. Trust me, it happens. Ask me some time about the nightmare phone number I got from NET10 a few years back that resulted in my having to file a police report. (You want to know why I don't recommend AM MVNOs? It starts with this story.) Either contact Ting support and ask if you can get a new number and hope the next one isn't so bad, or go through the process of shutting the calls down, getting the number on the national do no call registry, and informing bill collectors that Joe Schmidlap no longer owns this number and to stop calling. There are very strict laws regarding phone contact that bill collectors have to follow, use them.

On the off chance your creditors did find you, I'd still start looking elsewhere than Ting. What you're claiming happened is blatantly outside the scope of their own privacy policy if it did happen, and Tucows is an 800lb gorilla smart enough to not open themselves up to legal liabilities doing stupid stuff like giving your contact info on your new account to your creditors in direct violation of their own voluntarily created privacy policy.

Also, don't worry about the voice mailbox. You don't have to set a name. Say nothing, rattle off your phone number, or simply don't set the name at all. That's always been an option to do with every voicemail system I've dealt with.

[paddedhat]

Ah, the joys of the "poisoned phone number". Eight years after getting mine, I still get occasional calls for the lovely and talented "Ms. Dinger". Who apparently is one talented deadbeat. The wife spent a few years explaining that the deadbeat college boy who last had her number was not somebody she could readily provide contact info. for.  My guess is that the OP will quickly discover the name of the POS that used his phone number as a burner. 

[Sibley]

I had one of those. Oh so fun, it did take a while but the debt collectors did figure it out. The county's child support office never did though. I would just delete the voicemails.

[paddedhat]

I had one of those. Oh so fun, it did take a while but the debt collectors did figure it out. The county's child support office never did though. I would just delete the voicemails.

This brings up another fascinating issue that I normally wouldn't be exposed to. That being what a total pack of limited idiots the majority of those working the phones in the collection industry seem to be. At one point I actually asked one collector to hold, then walked outside of an office building to continue the conversation, out of ear shot. I then let loose on this guy. I spent at least a minute asking if he was indeed a total fucking moron? Instead of hanging up, he stayed calm and told me that he didn't deserve to be treated like that. I replied that I was in fact being far too kind, then reminded him that I clearly and repeatedly explained to him that he was working off of totally dead information, on an account the was in the ground for at least the last eight years. I also reminded him that like all the other idiots that called, he had zero ability to listen to and absorb useful information, but was totally fixated on finding out if I could somehow get ahold of the long gone deadbeat, who ditched this phone number nearly a decade ago. WTF? Is this the kind of gig you qualify for after Wal-Mart lets you go, and collecting cans for recycling is too much of a mental strain? How do these idiots even make enough to stay out of gutter? By the time accounts are resold a few times and are heading for a decade old, they pay what? A few pennies on the buck? Yet I need to treat  four out of five of these chucklenuts like they are three years olds, as in. " stop asking questions for a minute and listen to me" Then I slowly re-explain what they ignored,  the first three times I said it.
It's sad and fascinating at the same time.

[frugi]

FWIW, once when I activated an old phone with Ting using the number they assigned, within 12 hours was getting text messages from someone who was clearly upset with the previous owner of the number.  The time frame alluded to in the texts indicated that the previous owner had dumped the number probably only a day or so before I got it.  So numbers don't get shelved for a while before recirculating.  In any case, I took it to Ting CS, who assigned me another number right away and gave me a credit for my trouble.

[FiftyIsTheNewTwenty]

Thanks Daley, and others.  I thought that too, but did get a call asking for me by my name.  Some others were obviously looking for someone else.

Anyway I've been blocking the offending numbers.  Now all I get is unknowns, who leave blank voicemails.

I'll keep testing as I'm otherwise happy.  It's not costing me anything for the first month-plus, with the $5 SIM card special and $25 credit.

About collectors:  you know what they say about wrestling pigs...