Similar number to the one in a deodorant ad has made life hell for Parvinder Singh, with his phone ringing 24x7
Similar number to the one in a deodorant ad has made life hell for Parvinder Singh, with his phone ringing 24x7u00a0
Parvinder Singh's mobile phone just doesn't stop ringing, be it day or night, for over a month now. Interestingly, the callers are men saying "hello'' in a suggestive tone.
At first, Singh was amused with the sudden rise in wrong numbers, but later the calls shot up to as many as 20 a day. It was then that he realised that his number (9987xx3333) is similar to the one (9987333333) given out by a sensual woman to a man in the advertisement of the deodorant brandu2013Axe.u00a0u00a0u00a0
"I have been receiving these calls for more than a month now. First, I took it lightly as I received one or two calls a day and dismissed them as wrong numbers. But soon the number increased to 20," said Singh, a resident of Kurla.u00a0u00a0u00a0
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It was only when Singh confided to his friend about these mysterious calls, did he learn that his mobile number was similar to the number in the Axe Effect ad, barring two digits.
"There are calls and there are more missed calls, which hound me through the day and night," said Singh.
The calls have affected his personal life as well, so much so that his wife started getting suspicious.
"Since I get so many missed calls at night, my wife thought something was wrong. I had to explain the situation to her," he said.
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Singh has no complaints against the network provider or the ad company, but only wants the calls to stop.
Changing his number does not seem feasible for this director of an event management firm, as he has been using this number for years. "I am fed up. I have no issues with anyone, but I want callers to realise that it is pointless dialling the wrong number," he said.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
Types of callers
According to Singh, there are three types of callers the ones that give missed calls, the others who disconnect after hearing a male voice and the persistent lot who continue to stay on the line.
"I can hear people saying in the background 'arrey rakh de phone, yeh galat number hai', but some callers refuse to disconnect," he said.u00a0u00a0
Hindustan Unilever, the manufacturers of the product, can do little to help Singh.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
"We can do very little in this case as the concerned callers have dialled the wrong number," the company said in an e-mail.
On calling the right number
A girl named Tanya answers the call. After welcoming the caller, she asks him a simple question. If the caller answers it correctly, she gives him the option of setting a time for a wake up call.
Once the caller sets the time, Tanya introduces him to her friend Natasha, who once again assures the caller that he will receive the wake up call. All this is computerised.
Same old story
Nessy John from Thane faced a similar problem when her number was the same as given out by Sonali Kulkarni to John Abraham in Taxi No 9211. Ever since the film released, she was hassled with crank calls on her cell. The director of the film Milan Luthria said that the mistake was regretted and it was unintentional.u00a0
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