E-Comm releases top 10 nuisance 911 calls of 2023

This is your friendly reminder that 911 is for emergencies only, and not to help you with directions home or to complain about your food delivery taking too long.

E-Comm has released its top 10 list of nuisance 911 calls for 2023, and while some may seem familiar from year’s past, others are sure to make many do a double take.

At number one, E-Comm says someone phoned 911 to ask for directions home from the Drake concert. Other absurd calls that made the list include phoning in to complain that a traffic light was taking too long to turn green, and someone calling the emergency line to report they had lost a nose ring down the shower drain.

There were also calls about an AirBnB host cancelling a reservation on a customer, UberEats deliveries taking too long, someone saying they had lost their cell phone, and another who reported their barber gave them a bad haircut, E-Comm says.

Top 10 nuisance calls of 2023:

1. To ask for directions home from the Drake concert
2. The traffic light was taking too long to turn green
3. They lost a nose ring down the shower drain
4. Their AirBnB host cancelled their reservation
5. Their UberEats order was taking too long
6. A burger joint wouldn’t let them in before opening
7. They couldn’t find their cell phone
8. To complain about a pothole
9. Their McDonalds order was taking too long
10. The barber gave them a bad haircut

While some of these may make you chuckle, E-Comm says “nuisance calls” can actually be quite problematic.

 “No matter how absurd a call might be on the surface, we have to treat every 911 call as an emergency, until we can confidently determine otherwise,” explained Alaina Milicevic, police call taker at E-Comm.

“Every second we spend fielding questions about AirBnB reservations or complaints about UberEats orders, is time that could otherwise be dedicated to helping someone in a life-threatening emergency situation. We can’t help you with consumer complaints on 911, but reaching out to an appropriate customer service agent, or filing a report with the Better Business Bureau might help resolve your issue.”

E-Comm says it saw a 13 per cent increase in 911 call volume this year, handling more than 2.1 million calls so far in 2023.

It is reminding British Columbians that 911 is for emergencies that require immediate action from police, fire, or paramedics.