Texas Med Clinic: Quit Calling my Cell Phone!

WTH? For about the past week or two, I have been getting these wrong numbers all coming from 210-520-5588. (Now before you think I'm being a jerk for posting the number, read on). Anyway, the first time I got the number as a missed call, they left a message and the person said she was calling for a Todd and she was from the Gonzaba Medical Clinic.

You may recall that several months ago, I actually went to Gonzaba and even posted about my good experience. Knowing that I was not "Todd" and knowing that I had no unfinished medical (or financial) business with Gonzaba, I simply assumed it to be a wrong number.

Then, every few days, I started getting either missed calls from this same number (with no message left) or if I caught the call, it would simply be a young lady asking for Rian. Each time, I would tell them they had the wrong number, they would ask me if I was sure, and each time I would enhance my response with the fact that I have had this same number for several years.

So earlier this evening, I get the call from the same number (210-520-5588), and the lady again asks for Rian, and possibly the last name of Todd (hard to tell because I was already pissed off). This time, the lady tells me she is calling from Texas Med Clinic. I quickly and politely go into my usual spiel about not being Rian or Todd and I give them my name and tell them the number they have been dialing has been my same number for years etc etc etc.

I then go to my home phone and call the number (210-520-5588) and sure enough, I get the Texas Med Clinic on Ingram Road, and get the phone tree - you know, dial 1 for this 2 for that etc. I press the number for the billing department, and this is about 8PM, yet there is an answer in the billing department.

I state my name (my real name - not Todd or Rian) and ask them if they have caller ID so they can confirm that I am who I say I am and proceed to give them my cell number and tell them to once and for all remove my number from their list. I explain that obviously, some patient has simply given them an incorrect number, either accidentally or on purpose, but regardless, they have the wrong number. The lady I spoke with obviously recognized the number because she said, "Let me pull up his file" and said she would remove my number "from his account".

So at 9:50PM this evening, my cell phone rings again. In spite of the fact that I was watching KENS-TV's touching memorial to Dan Cook, I answered the phone and of course, it was Elizabeth at Texas Med Clinic asking for Rian.

It is unlike me to refrain from using foul language when it is surely called for, but in this case, I made every effort to keep my cool. Six different times during my tirade, the F-word actually came to me as the next appropriate thing to say, yet I refrained from using it. I could literally feel my blood pressure exceeding all acceptable levels, yet somehow I was able to keep my voice at what most observers would agree was a calm, refrained level. Though I do confess that both my wife and son ran from the living room to see who I was talking to in my office. So maybe I wasn't so calm.

I explained to Elizabeth that I had spoken to her office earlier - I asked her if this was in fact the Texas Med Clinic on Ingram and she confirmed it was. I asked her if she was in the billing department and she said no, she was in the credit department. WTF? Is the Credit Department of Texas Med Clinic on Ingram Road calling me at 9:50PM in the critical final moments of KENS-TV's tribute to the Late Dan Cook to extend me or some guy named Todd or Rian credit?

I think not.

So, while I think about just exactly how I am going to respond to the people at Texas Med Clinic on Ingram Road, (210-520-5588), I'm going to see if we have a Valium or something laying around here so I can relax enough to go to bed. Perhaps I can call them for a quick prescription.

I'd love to hear how you dealt with your harassing phone calls. Tell me about it.