One Call Now owns the phone number 877-698-3261. The reason you’re being called is that an organization (that you may or may not have any ties to) is using their automated calling service to reach your phone number with automated messages.
One Call Now isn’t a debt collection agency; it’s a robocalling company used by more than 40,000 organizations, including schools, churches, government agencies, and businesses (some of which might be calling to collect debts).
The automated system will call you over and over again until it gets a human on the line. It will alternate calling your home phone and cell phone until someone answers it. You didn’t give your consent for these calls? You have every right to demand they stop immediately.
Quick Facts About One Call Now
Company Type: Mass notification and automated messaging provider (not a debt collection company)
Clients: K-12 schools, churches, youth sports leagues, government emergency management, healthcare, property management companies
Founded: 2002 in Troy, Ohio, by Leib Lurie
Parent Company: GardaWorld / Crisis24 (purchased via OnSolve in July 2024)
Headquarters: 6450 Poe Ave, Suite 500, Dayton, OH 45414
Better Business Bureau (BBB) Rating: A+ (not accredited)
Reach: 55 million people per month through more than 40,000 client organizations
Service Area: Entire United States (all 50 states), a subsidiary of a Montreal-based international security conglomerate
You’re Not Alone
We know this because of online complaint forums. 877-698-3261 has generated more than 16 full pages of complaints on 800notes.com alone, and those complaints date back nearly 20 years. EveryCaller identifies the number as both a “RoboCall” and a “Spam Call,” and RoboKiller describes the number with a negative review.
“I keep getting this call and it alternates between calling my house phone and cell phone,” one victim reported on 800notes.com. “They called 5 times in a row to tell me [there will be] no school tomorrow. Ridiculous.”
That’s why you’re searching for answers about this phone number. You’re getting the same type of calls, and you want them to stop.
Why Is One Call Now Calling You?
The Organization Calling You
One Call Now itself never places calls. Instead, it allows other organizations to pay for its automated calling services. The organization calling you might be a school your kids attend, a church you go to, an employer, a medical office, a utility company, or maybe even a business you patronized years ago.
That’s what’s so maddening about 877-698-3261. You can’t tell who’s calling you just by looking at your caller ID.
“I get 2-3 calls a week from ‘Team Care’ about Knights of Columbus meetings,” one consumer complained on 800notes.com. “I do not belong to [the] Knights of Columbus and have never belonged.”
Why You May Not Actually Know the Organization Calling You
In many cases, consumers who receive calls from 877-698-3261 have no ties whatsoever to the organization placing those calls. The most common reason for this is recycled phone numbers. If the previous owner of your phone number was a customer or member of an organization using One Call Now’s services, you’ll get those calls now.
Another reason is that organizations may upload entire customer databases into the One Call Now system. One consumer reported on 800notes.com that she received calls about a company she hadn’t used “for years.” The company must have uploaded its entire customer database into One Call Now, she said.
What Consumers Say About the Phone Number 877-698-3261
They Just Keep Calling
The No. 1 complaint about 877-698-3261 is the relentless calling. One Call Now’s automated calling system is designed to keep calling until it finds a live person on the other end of the line. If you ignore the calls, they won’t stop.
“They call every 15-20 min[utes] after I hang up on a [pre]recorded religious message,” one consumer reported on EveryCaller.com.
“Calls several times a day and night [and] does not leave message,” another consumer reported on 800notes.com. “When I call back, recording states no one is available [and] hangs up.”
Dead Air, Static, and Silent Calls
A lot of consumers report answering 877-698-3261, only to be met with dead air, static, or the sounds of a call center in the background.
“I [have] received 2 calls [at] 2 something in the morning,” one consumer reported on WhoCallsMe.com. “No one says anything, and you just hear them rustling through papers.”
Even an employee of One Call Now admitted on 800notes.com that the system fails about 5 percent of the time. For a company that places millions of calls every month, that’s a whole lot of dead-air calls.
Why the Opt-Out Process Rarely Works
The Privacy Catch-22 in One Call Now’s Opt-Out System
One Call Now does offer a way for consumers to opt out of its calls. But consumers say the system doesn’t work. To remove your number from One Call Now’s system, you have to go to the company’s website and fill out a form with your name, phone number, and other identifying information.
“Fill[ing] out the form…is just another way for them to get your phone number, so I will not fill it out,” one consumer reported on 800notes.com.
“I [have] gone to [the] removal website and filled out [the] form 3 different times, and I am still getting calls,” another consumer in Grayson County, Ky., reported. “Last night, I was woke[n] up at 3 [AM] to a tornado warning [that] had already passed…I am now blocking the number.”
BBB Complaints Back Up Consumers’ Stories
One Call Now has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, though it is not a BBB-accredited company, meaning it has never pledged to meet the bureau’s standards.
If you scroll through the visible reviews on the One Call Now BBB page, though, you’ll see a different story. The reviews are all one-star, and most of the consumers writing them say the company deserves no stars at all.
BBB complaints aren’t just a warning system for other consumers. They’re evidence of a pattern of behavior, and they can support a dispute. When you have proof that a company’s opt-out system doesn’t work and that the company is making unwanted contact over and over again, that proof can help your case.
Know Your Rights
Laws That Protect Consumers
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) says automated calls or prerecorded messages can’t be made to consumers without their prior express consent. If you never gave an organization permission to call you on One Call Now’s automated system, every call you received from the system might be a violation of the TCPA.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) offer even more protections if any of the calls you received from 877-698-3261 were attempts to collect a debt.
Some consumers reported that calls they received from 877-698-3261 were attempts to collect payments on student loans they didn’t owe. If those kinds of collection calls resulted in negative items on your credit report, you have the legal right to dispute those items.
What the Law Says You Can Demand
You have the right to demand that any company contacting you about a debt provide written verification of that debt within five days of the initial contact. You have the right to dispute any item on your credit report that you believe is inaccurate, unverified, or the result of unauthorized activity. And you have the right to revoke your consent for automated calls at any time.
Consumers have more power than they think they do in these situations. The law is on your side, and the documentation burden is always on the company that’s contacting you. The entire debt collection industry is only profitable because consumers don’t understand their rights and how to assert them. That’s why education is so important.
How to Stop the Calls and Dispute Credit Report Items
Keep a Paper Trail
If you’re receiving unwanted calls from 877-698-3261, the single most important thing you can do is keep a paper trail. That means writing down the date, time, and duration of every call you receive. It means saving any voicemails you get. And it means taking a screenshot of your call log.
In consumer rights cases like this one, a paper trail is always more important than your word. Written communication always beats verbal communication. So if any organization that’s calling you from 877-698-3261 makes promises about ceasing contact or resolving a debt, get those promises in writing before you proceed.
File a Credit Report Dispute (if necessary)
If you’re getting unwanted calls from 877-698-3261 and those calls are the result of a debt someone is trying to collect (and that debt is listed on your credit report), your best bet to stop the calls may be to dispute the credit report item directly.
Under the FCRA, consumers have the right to dispute any item on their credit report they believe is inaccurate or unverified. If you file a dispute, the credit bureau or data furnisher must investigate and verify the information or remove it.
That process puts the burden of proof on the company that listed the item, rather than on you to disprove it. The company has to provide documentation showing that the debt is valid, that the amount is correct, and that you’re the right person. For companies using third-party calling services like One Call Now, providing that documentation can be tough.
So if you’re getting calls from 877-698-3261 about a debt on your credit report, consider disputing that debt directly. You might be surprised at how quickly the calls stop.
What to Do Now
You don’t have to put up with unwanted robocalls from 877-698-3261 or any other phone number. Under federal law, you have the right to demand those calls stop. And if those calls resulted in debts being listed on your credit report, you have the right to dispute those items directly.
If you’re receiving calls from 877-698-3261 and they’re connected to a debt on your credit report, consider filing a dispute with the credit bureau. You might force the company to verify every detail of the debt or remove it altogether. You’re not powerless here. The law is on your side. And the burden of proof is always on the other guy.
Get Help from FightCollections.com
At FightCollections.com, we specialize in helping consumers dispute unverified or erroneous items on their credit reports. We understand the tactics that automated calling systems like One Call Now use to harass consumers, and we understand how to fight back using the FDCPA and FCRA.
If you’re receiving unwanted calls from 877-698-3261 and you believe those calls are connected to inaccurate items on your credit report, contact us today for a free consultation. We’ll help you understand your rights and make a plan to get the calls to stop and the items cleaned up.
