Can anyone explain how this technological glitch happened?
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janbb (
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March 18th, 2024
I called a new doctor’s office to make an appointment and succeeded. Fifteen minutes later, a woman from my congregation called me to say she had a recording on her phone that was what I had initially said to the receptionist. I haven’t called her or spoken to her in a few weeks. How would she have gotten a recording of what I said to the doctor’s office?
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18 Answers
Please give more detail on “succeeded” so we won’t be asking whether you could have called the wrong number (are they similar?) and left the message on your fellow congregationist’s phone. Or even added the new doctor’s phone incorrectly.
Succeeded means that I spoke to the receptionist, gave them my info and got an appointment date. We spoke at length about the bloodwork needed and where she would get the report. It was not a mistaken number.
If you called on your cell phone, you can check the list of numbers recently called to determine if somehow the numbers got crossed.
This is indeed baffling. I can’t imagine how calling one number would lead to a different number receiving the conversation to the first number.
@Hawaii_Jake I don’t know. It looks like I may have called the congregant’s number but I got through right away to the doctor’s office and clearly spoke to them. Maybe they have a pick up number that is similar or the same as my friend’s? The numbers are in no way similar.
Had you talked to the friend or exchanged voicemails anytime lately?
maybe an accidental conference call?
@Jeruba No.
@ragingloli Maybe something like that.
I may call the doctor’s office back and see if they have any idea.
@janbb, ^^ good idea! Is it possible that your friend sees the same doctor?
@Jeruba Not likely and that wouldn’t explain her getting my phone conversation anyway.
I’d say it might have been a cockpit error involving a multi-line phone.
IIRC, if two buttons are both pressed down, they’ll be bridged.
This could result in an inadvertent conference connection.
It could also be a device failure.
I think with most ML phones, if you press a button, it should cause the release of any previously locked down button.
If the phone has a fault in its interlock system, it could allow for more than one button to be simultaneously locked down.
Go to your call history, and look at the call to your doctor. See if it was a conference call.
I am assuming this was on your cell. If you called on your landline, check to see if your cell butt dialed your friend at that time.
@janbb, I was looking for any sort of connection, no matter how tenuous, possibly traceable from there. Sounds like this one isn’t going to be a simple one-step thing.
@janbb your friend heard the actual conversation? It sounded from your post as if you initially left a message for the doctor, and that’s what your friend heard, since you said the recording on your friend’s phone was what you initially said to the receptionist. In that case, it sounds like you possibly dialed your friend’s phone instead of the doctor’s phone.
If what your friend heard was the actual two way conversation between you and the receptionist, it sounds like it’s a party line, even though we no longer have party lines (that I know of).
It sounds like the “crossed lines” phenomenon which isn’t so common in the digital age but can still happen. What makes your call particularly unsettling is that someone who knew you received the call and the call was of a personal nature but I think that must be coincidence. No harm in mentioning it to your phone company and asking for details of the calls you have made.
@jca2 No, I hadn’t left a recording, I got right through. My friend was in an airport so I didn’t question her.
Call bleedthrough can happen but the call log on your phone will tell you if your phone initiated it or not. What Phone do you have?
Many years ago I called a local number which I had called many times in the past, but I was connected to the fire department of a small town in a different area code. Now if you can explain that, you might have the beginning of the answer to your question.
@All Thanks for the input and the suggestions. i jsut talked to the friend and we figure that what must have happened is that I called the doctor’s number but somehow pressed a Share button that made it a conference call that went to her VM. This was what @ragingloli guessed and it seems likely s/he was right.
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