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15 February 2012

Unsolicited phone calls


You were called at **** we do not have the caller's number to return the call.

Those words haunt me and the calls are driving me nuts. For years hubs and I followed a route that stopped unsolicited callers but that seemed to die a death. We are now paying for a service that blocks a caller AFTER he’s rung by inserting a special code. This means that he can never ring again. But we can’t stop people calling from overseas; this procedure doesn’t work for them and according to BT there is nothing they can do about it.

We never answer the phone around the six o’clock mark (evening) because it is invariably a foreign voice trying to sell something or maybe to talk about our computers. They ring at other times, of course. Today there was a ‘do not have the caller's number’ at 8.15am. I guess it’s a case of ‘if they won’t answer in the evening, we’ll get them in the morning’. We’ve got to the stage where we’d rather not answer the phone at all. Isn’t that awful? We’re now working on the theory that if someone rings and we don’t answer they will leave a message. Most times this works but there are folk out there who don’t like speaking to an answering service so they ring again, and again.

I suppose I should be grateful to the callers who operate an automatic dialing system because the majority of those don’t even speak when you answer. That was what happened at 8.15 this morning. Grrr!

You would think, wouldn’t you, that in a decade of advanced technology something could be done to protect our privacy. I have visions that at some future date even supermarkets will offer phone numbers and email addresses for sale. It all makes phone and voicemail hacking so much easier when there are no rules about selling data. Nothing is sacred anymore.

This is a worldwide problem, so why can’t the people of the world rise up and threaten those who seem reluctant to stop it?

15 comments:

  1. this is a scary thought you know...no matter who you give your info too it is at risk...oh i def think we could do something about it if we really wanted...

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  2. I don't answer phones. LOL That's my answer. Unless your name pops up on the phone, it doesn't happen. And while we have a 'do not call' list, that doesn't stop 'em.

    It makes me crazy. And the solution for us might be to drop the house phone and simply stick with a cellphone.
    ......which I don't answer unless your name pops up. LOLOL

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  3. Marketing calls get very annoying. A while back we went from a land line to just using our cell phones and that has cut them out nearly 100 percent and we rarely get a marketing call on our cell phones. I don't miss them!!! It took a while for me to get used to not having a land line but now I don't miss it. I just have to remember to a) make sure my cell phone is nearby so that I can hear it ringing, b) make sure I have the ringer on and c) make sure to charge the battery. It's trained me well and I rarely forget. If I am out and don't want to answer say if I am driving, then people just leave a message.

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  4. "We’ve got to the stage where we’d rather not answer the phone at all. Isn’t that awful? We’re now working on the theory that if someone rings and we don’t answer they will leave a message."

    No, I don't think that's awful at all because I do the same thing, Valerie. If I don't recognize the number on my caller ID, I just let whoever it is leave a voice mail. I'm so not a person, so if I don't have to talk on one I won't.

    I get these calls either early in the morning or later at night.

    The really frustrating part about unsolicited calls is that they now have access to cell phones - UGH!

    Have a great day, dear lady!

    X

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  5. It is scary - Nothing's sacred anymore. I empathize completely.

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  6. We had one of those automated calls trying to get our answer phone to do a survey. When the answer phone did not respond to the questions it got quite annoyed and hung up!

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  7. Brian, I'm glad you agree with me. It's so easy to say 'we cant do anything about it'.

    Denise, we thought about that but hubs has hearing difficulties and of the two he can hear better on the land line; otherwise I'd do it.

    Ron, we don't have caller ID. Perhaps I should think of changing the phone. Thanks for the nudge, I'll do it now. At least with the cell I know who is calling and I don't respond to unknown numbers.

    Cheshire Wife. Hahaha I loved your comment.

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  8. I have just this minute put the phone down on one of those calls. Whoever it was sounded like a Dalek! So bloody annoying. :(

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  9. I am with Mel, anyone we want to talk to shows up on the phone or leaves a message.

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  10. Pearl, another evening caller. They make me sick.

    Banker Chick, I will explore the possibility of having caller ID.

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  11. Over here in the States we have a "Do Not Call List" that blocks 99% of unwanted solicitations. Seems to work quite well. I haven't been interrupted during dinner in years!

    Of course that was that one time I was getting continuous text messages from some company, but I filed a written complaint with the FCC and they actually got the texts to stop. I couldn't believe it!

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  12. Yes we will take the phone off the hook around our evening meal as some insurance people or political person is calling for a vote. We vote no calls while we are eating.

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  13. caller ID might be easier and cheaper I agree.

    Gill

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  14. We have a 'do not call list' and I'm sure we put our number on it, but we still get a fair amount of calls anyway. Unless I know the number I don't answer and let it go to voicemail. My husband will answer and usually tell them no to whatever they are requesting, however, he has gotten talked in to a few surveys.
    Haven't had any trouble on the cell phone. Only unknown calls I get on there are from the phone company texting info every now and then. I just delete those.

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  15. CrystalChick, I had two calls on the cell phone, both from the same 'company'. They started with Hello Nicholas !!! and then gave me a site to visit. I deleted, of course, but it was interesting to note that the callers number was the international +44.....

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