Rae Kowalski
Editor, TollSure
Rae is the editor of TollSure and writes most of what you read here. She keeps a paper list of toll-free numbers she has personally checked against a company's own website, and she adds to it whenever a reader sends in a strange one. Her rule for every article is that each claim needs a primary source from the FTC, the FCC or a phone maker's support site, or it gets cut. She is not a lawyer and doesn't pretend to be one. She reads every message sent through the contact page, and if you spot a mistake she would rather fix it in public with a new updated date than quietly hope nobody noticed.
Rae edits TollSure. Her working method is simple: pick a question that people really type into a search box after an odd call, answer it in the first two sentences, and then back it up with something she can point to. If she can't find a primary source for a claim, the claim goes.
She keeps a list of toll-free numbers she has checked against company websites, and she rings a couple of them herself each season to see whether the number still goes where the website says. Her phone is set to send unknown callers to voicemail, and she's honest that she misses a dentist's call about twice a year because of it.
Rae isn't a lawyer and isn't a security professional. She writes as a careful editor, and corrections are welcome through the contact page.
What Rae works on
Day to day, Rae picks a question that comes in from readers or from the stream of odd calls people describe, finds the primary source, and writes the answer so the first two sentences stand alone. She rechecks older pages when phone makers rename a setting or an agency moves a page, and changes the updated date when she does.
Her working rules are simple. No claim without a source from the FTC, the FCC or a phone maker's support site. No invented statistics or reader stories. No guessing about who owns a number. Where something depends on a carrier, the page says so. Corrections arrive through the contact page, and she'd rather fix a mistake in public than hope no one noticed.
Articles by Rae
- Does calling a toll-free number back confirm that your number works?Answering, pressing a key or calling back may tell a dialer your line is live. What each action signals, what is unproven, and how to cut the calls.
- Who assigns toll-free numbers? RespOrgs and how a number reaches a businessToll-free numbers are reserved through RespOrgs and a shared database, not issued by one office. How a number reaches a business and why owners aren't public.
- How to find a company's real toll-free number instead of trusting a voicemailDon't trust the number in a voicemail, text or ad. Where to find a company's real toll-free number, how to cross-check it, and what to do when numbers differ.
- Medicare, insurance and warranty calls from 888 and 866 numbersUnsolicited Medicare, insurance and car warranty calls often come from toll-free numbers. How to sort them in thirty seconds and who to call back instead.
- Toll-free 'account suspended' voicemails: how to check the callback numberAn account-suspended voicemail with a toll-free callback number is a pressure tactic until proven otherwise. A five-minute check that never uses the number it gives.
- Is it free to call a toll-free number back from your cell phone?Toll-free means the business pays for the call, but a cell phone plan can complicate that. What it costs you, what it doesn't, and the one-ring trap.
- Toll-free text messages: why you got one and what STOP doesBusinesses can text from 800-style numbers. Here is why one texted you, when replying STOP is reasonable, and when to forward the message to 7726 instead.
- Why real companies call from toll-free numbers, and how to verify oneLegit businesses use toll-free numbers on purpose. A four-step routine to verify one before you pick up again, using only the company's own website.
- Is area code 833 legit? The whole toll-free family833 is a real toll-free code, not a scam code. This page lists 800, 833, 844, 855, 866, 877 and 888 with the year each began and what to expect from them.
- Who is calling me from an 800 or 888 number?An 800 or 888 call means the number is toll-free, nothing more. Here is what that tells you, what it can't, and how to decide whether to call back.