Client Getting Errant Calls - Have You Seen This Before?

[Kurt Steinbrueck]

Hi Everyone,

I'm curious if anyone has ever had this happen.

I have a client who just came on a few days ago and is saying that for the past week or two he's been getting calls (8-10 calls a day) that are not for his business. The people who call say they are trying to reach another company. The client says he's asked the people how they are calling him, and they say they are on Google and are clicking the "call" button to call the other companies but are getting him. It's not just one company, it's people trying to reach multiple companies, some related to his line of work and some which aren't.

I checked the client's Google Ads account (which was set up by someone else) and don't see any targeting of competitors, nor do I see 8-10 calls a day even happening from Google Ads. Plus, some of the calls were from outside the geographic targeting. Similarly, I don't see anything referencing any competitors on their GBP or their website targeting other companies. He said he has LSA's active but isn't seeing any activity from the LSAs (I don't have access to the LSAs). So, I don't see any obvious sources.

Has anyone ever seen something like this before?

Thanks,
Kurt

 

[ElizabethRule]

Have you tried Googling the number to see if it's on any other listing or website? Also check Bing + Apple Maps. Could be the number is out there somewhere else, and by the volume its being called I would guess another maps listings over a citation site or social media profile.

 

[Kurt Steinbrueck]

Have you tried Googling the number to see if it's on any other listing or website? Also check Bing + Apple Maps. Could be the number is out there somewhere else, and by the volume its being called I would guess another maps listings over a citation site or social media profile.

Thanks, Elizabeth. I hadn't thought of that, but I just tried and everything that came up was their website, social, or citations, with two exceptions. One exception was another company, but it seems to have been a false positive in Google. The client's number doesn't actually appear on the other company's website. The other exception was a person from one of those whitepages type sites. So, I'm not seeing any there.

The client said that some people said they thought they were calling a completely different number. So, I'm not even sure the errant calls are clicking on the client's number, but obviously, they are ending up calling the client's number. It's really strange.

Any other ideas?

Thanks again!
Kurt

 

[ElizabethRule]

Weird! Did you check Bing and Apple maps?

Could also be from a rouge tracking number they had set up at one point that is out on the web somewhere. Do they have call tracking set up to this number? If so, check Google, Bing and Apple for all those numbers and see if any of them are out there in on the web for people to find.

 

[Kurt Steinbrueck]

Weird! Did you check Bing and Apple maps?

Could also be from a rouge tracking number they had set up at one point that is out on the web somewhere. Do they have call tracking set up to this number? If so, check Google, Bing and Apple for all those numbers and see if any of them are out there in on the web for people to find.

Thanks again, Elizabeth.

Yes, I checked Bing and Apple Maps. Nothing.

I'll ask about tracking numbers.

Thanks again!!
Kurt

 

[ElizabethRule]

You're welcome! Let us know if you get it figured out.

 

[Kurt Steinbrueck]

You're welcome! Let us know if you get it figured out.

I will. Thanks again.

 

[fredmcjunkins]

Might try reaching out to the provider you got the numbers from. Had an experience where we were told the numbers were 'recycled' but the previous business was still using the number on billboards and other non digital ads.

 

[Kurt Steinbrueck]

Might try reaching out to the provider you got the numbers from. Had an experience where we were told the numbers were 'recycled' but the previous business was still using the number on billboards and other non digital ads.

Thanks.