Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!bu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: cmoore@brl.mil (VLD/VMB)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Wrong Number Nightmare
Message-ID: <68876@bu.edu.bu.edu>
Date: 15 Nov 90 20:28:37 GMT
Sender: news@bu.edu.bu.edu
Organization: TELECOM Digest
Lines: 24
Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 826, Message 7 of 12


In other words, the car dealership has a number in the 714 area for
customers in Orange County, but when it went out on many of that
firm's business cards, it was printed with area 213 instead of area
714 -- that is, it printed your number on those cards.  If that is
indeed supposed to be a special number for Spanish-speaking customers,
you might have to explain (in Spanish on your answering machine tape?)
that the business card was printed wrong and that you should redial
your call using area 714?  (Could this confuse English-speaking
callers who do indeed want to reach you?)

There have been some cases where a local newspaper had to publish the
problem to cut down on such wrong-number calls.  Back around 1975-76,
when Gerald Ford was U.S. president, some calls for the White House
(202-456-1414) ended up going to a residence in Springfield, Va. at
703-451-1414, where Springfield was among those suburban points then
reachable via area code 202.  (You can no longer reach DC area
suburban points using area code 202; use 301 for Md. and 703 for Va.)
Back around 1964, there was some recording in Washington (at the
Smithsonian?) which was advertised, and many people called that number
from New York City and forgot to dial area code 202, and wound up
reaching a Schlosser family in Brooklyn.  (New York City had only one
area code then: 212.)