How can we deal with business/creditor calls for the person who used to have our phone number?

Question

My wife and I are being driven crazy by collection agencies, creditors and businesses of every stripe since we've moved into our new home and gotten a new land-line phone number. Apparently the person who used to use the number must've been a major debtor because we get about 5-6 calls every day from people who want to speak to her. When the calls are from a person (IE: not a robo-call, although we get those too), we politely explain that we don't know the person they're looking for and that we don't know how they can be reached, but this doesn't seem to do any good because they just call us back later.
I spent an entire morning dealing with one of these companies after getting a robo-call and they told me the matter was settled, but we continued to get calls from them.
We're already on the Federal Do-Not-Call list, but as I understand it these people are exempt because they're not telemarketers and they've had prior business with the number.
What can we do to make these calls stop?

Answer 1

We ran into this many times after moving. The next time they call, ask to speak to a supervisor and explain it all to them. That usually gets it taken care of. Use big words like "harassment" but don't get a tone in your voice. Be sickly sweet as you tell them they need to cut it out. Be completely honest with them, telling them how long you've lived there.
Check with your local phone company to see about having them blocked if the above doesn't help.

Answer 2

get the name and address of these companies and send them a cease and desist letter. Explain that you are not the debtor and any future contact by them will be considered harassment and you will seek legal remedies. Send the letter with a returrn receipt required so they can not say they never received the letter.

Answer 3

I had a similair problem.. what i eventually ended up doing was changing my number.. before that i used my caller ID to screen calls and send them to a voice message recording thats says if you are calling for some one other then (my name).. please stop calling! - thank you! haha it worked for a couple days but eventually got the same calls from a differant person. I did collections before and what they do is pass the case from person to person so once u talk to somebody.. they know not to call, but then the case is given to another rep.. and what shappens.. they call!! very frustrating..