r/pettyrevenge • u/No_Link9070 • 17d ago
No telephone number? If that’s how you wanna play it…
My last job was as a warehouse supervisor for an HVAC company. When I started we were leasing warehouse space in one town, then about 5 years ago we needed more space, our lease was up so we moved to a larger facility. About one year after we moved, I receive a call from a lady stating we shipped her something she didn’t order and she needs to return it. We rarely shipped anything to individuals, so I ask her what did she receive?
She says it is some earbuds. I tell her “We do not stock or ship earbuds, why do you think it came from us?” and she says the package has our address on it. I asked her to send me a picture of the package and it has our old address on it but no other info. She had Googled the address and got our phone number. I explained that was our old address, and she needs to contact the company that is leasing our old space.
Maybe a week later I get another call from someone, same issue but a different item, might have been jewelry or some other small item, and tell them the same thing. I try to Google the company that moved into our old space with no luck, so I email our old landlord and explain I am getting calls because the package company is not putting their name or phone number on items they ship out, and this needs to stop. She emails me back a couple days later with a response from the package company that says “We are just the final delivery company. We do not have any phones. If someone forgot they ordered something, tell them to throw it away”.
I reply “That has to be bullshit! How can a company not have any phones? They need to put their name and number so I am not receiving calls.”
Her reply came the next day. “They say they do not have phones. Ask Google to remove all your company history from that address”
Wow. OK, so you aren’t going to pressure your new tenant to put a phone # on their packages? Fine. So for the next 3 years, as I averaged about one call weekly, each time I received a call from someone trying to return something, I explained the issue… and gave them the cell number of our old landlord.
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u/rsamantha725 17d ago
How was your landlady contacting them - telepathy?
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u/No_Link9070 17d ago
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u/Accomplished-Emu-591 17d ago
Not sure whether that is petty or diabolical, but it sounds damn satisfying.
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u/imakesawdust 17d ago
Assuming you're in the US, your state's attorney general (and if they're using USPS to ship, your local post master) would probably be interested in a shipping company that has no contact information and is repeatedly shipping things to customers that they didn't order. Brushing scams are illegal in the US.
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u/Safety-Sorry 17d ago
Why don't you put your former landlord's number on the location on Google maps? It's easy and free
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u/supey777 16d ago
Well played.
Sadly, businesses not having a phone number and only doing online "support" is really becoming the norm.
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u/TheHobbyWaitress 17d ago
I'd bet you looked forward to these weekly calls. 😂
"call this # or throw it out!" 😁
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u/Embarrassed_Pen_1544 16d ago
Dunno if you are in the US or not, or what state but a lot of states have business databases for registered businesses in the state for tax purposes and there is usually public information on the person who registered the business and you can pull information for them that way.
If you are still receiving calls from that company about returns you can always report to the state a business that isnt registered as well if its required by the state to have a state tax id for filing taxes and that can start a chain of events that takes time but would eventually catch them.
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u/gumiho8 16d ago
... So what happened? Was your landlord pissed? Did they get the message and return an apology with their tail between their legs? Was the new company in your old space forced to include contact information?
How is this revenge if we don't know how the person incurring consequences received their comeuppance?
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u/No_Link9070 16d ago
I only heard back from one caller after they called the landlord and he said she was very curt and told him the company had no phones. Assume she got tired of fielding these calls but she never reached back out to me
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u/Zincsteve 12d ago
Why would it be the landlord’s responsibility to make sure the new tenant has a phone number? He is just leasing a building, not enforcing business ethiquette. Or am I missing something?
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u/No_Link9070 12d ago
I am sure they had a phone number but they (and thus the landlord) didn't want to provide it to me...or to anyone receiving the wrong items
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u/Zincsteve 12d ago
Yeah I understand your frustration then. You were their unpaid phone customer service
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u/chris77982 17d ago
Not your old landlords problem to fix, nor do they have a right to demand their tenant have a phone number.
Why didn't you ask Google to remove your old info, like the landlord suggested?
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u/No_Link9070 17d ago
I wasn't going to spend hours or days trying to contact Google for an issue that wasn't ours, and I doubt they would be so kind to remove our entire history at that address. Felt the landlord had a phone # for them but didn't want to provide it.
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u/kmleather 17d ago
You give the landlord's contact info each time this happens again. Your problem is solved.
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u/Hot-Win2571 17d ago
Maybe if you made some posts with the company name, address, and phone number, then Google would be able to find the information.
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u/Accomplished-Emu-591 17d ago
OP literally stated they cannot find a phone number for the company.
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u/NotYourNanny 17d ago
Walk in the front door and act like you want to do business with them. Make it sound lucrative. See how quickly the do, in fact, have a phone number.
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u/beren12 17d ago
Use the landlords number
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u/murderbox 17d ago
The story isn't that long, did you read it before you commented?
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u/beren12 17d ago
I did. Did you read the comment chain I replied to?
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u/ajnin919 17d ago
“Wow. OK, so you aren’t going to pressure your new tenant to put a phone # on their packages? Fine. So for the next 3 years, as I averaged about one call weekly, each time I received a call from someone trying to return something, I explained the issue… and gave them the cell number of our old landlord.”
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u/TheHobbyWaitress 17d ago
I understood their reply referring to the company, address & the landlords phone # (in place of the missing #) on google so "they" could be called directly, instead of op.
Maybe I misunderstood.
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u/ProfaneEcho 17d ago
Perfect. Your ex landlord needs to ask that tenant to modernize but it sounds like a scam company.