Call from Windows Service Centre

[SC Tom]

*Our* phone

Oh, I was thinking you had a phone in your outhouse

 

[Ken Blake]

Oh, I was thinking you had a phone in your outhouse

That's what the world needs--high tech outhouses! <g>

 

[Bob I]

On 7/26/2013 5:33 AM, Michael Swift wrote: []

Caller display is worth every penny, International or Out of area, lift
and drop, number withheld are a bit more difficult as we do have calls
from these and they have a valid reason for it.

Actually they don't have a valid reason, if you stopped to think about
it.

Some hospitals and doctor's surgeries use CLI-withheld - would you
consider that valid?

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their
number when they call. If THEY block their number WHAT give them the
right to expect you to answer the phone?

 

[The Lizard]

choro <[email protected]>:

[ a whole bunch of lines deleted..]

That would never happen here.

There is a line in the movie "First Monday in October" where one of the
Supreme Court Justices ignores a ringing phone. When asked by an aide, he
states "The phone has no constitutional right to be answered." I agree, so
if I don't feel like answering the phone, I don't...and I never feel like
it when there's food available!

 

[Mike Barnes]

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their
number when they call.

Ignoring the medical confidentiality issue? For instance what if the
patient was a teenager who didn't want their parents to know that they'd
been to see the doctor?

If THEY block their number WHAT give them the right to expect you to
answer the phone?

They don't *expect* it. They know from experience that the call often
won't be answered, for a variety of reasons.

 

[Michael Swift]

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their number
when they call. If THEY block their number WHAT give them the right to
expect you to answer the phone?

Ye Gods, I have the number of my local surgery, I can ring them and
speak to one of the dragons to make an appointment etc., if they ring me
the number is shown.

Now and again one of the doctors may want to ring me on his private
surgery phone, this is withheld, it's withheld for obvious reasons, if I
happened to be a hypochondriac nut job and noted his personal number I
could ring him while he was in a consultation, I doubt you would be
happy if I rang while you were discussing your mental problems to ask
what to do as I had damaged a finger nail.

Mike

 

[John]

Nor in my house. I can't eat cows and I *never* answer the phone. I
may listen to any messages left on the answer-machine every month or
so. Or not. Depends.

Nor here, roast beef is prohibitively expensive!

Yeah. And evil. Venison, impala, wild boar and ostrich are *far*
better. Though I suspect they, too are not cheap.
I have to buy things like ostrich and venison, duck and kangaroo as
I'm not allowed to eat cow and veggies are too expensive for a poor,
retired pensioner like me.
I do treat myself to an occasional chicken-burger, turkey-burger or
pork-burger on a bun, though, so I do get *some* veggies.
J.

 

[John]

Oh, I was thinking you had a phone in your outhouse

*I* do. Also both bedrooms, the main room and her little shed. There
was a time when calls were important and she was relatively immobile.
Those DECT thingys are bloody marvelous. Also cheap. Two months worth
of line rental paid for all of the extensions. They can do magic stuff
like beep her when she's in her little shed and pass a call on to her
handset. That's so *cool*.
Of course, I don't need them any more, but they still work. Someday,
I might charity-shop the lot of them.
J.

 

[John]

On 7/26/2013 5:33 AM, Michael Swift wrote: []
Caller display is worth every penny, International or Out of area, lift
and drop, number withheld are a bit more difficult as we do have calls
from these and they have a valid reason for it.


Actually they don't have a valid reason, if you stopped to think about
it.

Some hospitals and doctor's surgeries use CLI-withheld - would you
consider that valid?

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their
number when they call. If THEY block their number WHAT give them the
right to expect you to answer the phone?

PBX's sometimes *can't* send a valid identifier to the receiving
phone, they just don't work properly. My former employer always came
up as "number blocked". Luckily, I'll never have to deal with them
again so I don't need to worry about missing a call from them.
Hospitals and surgeries can have PBX's. They don't deliberately block
CLI, they just don't *unblock* it.
And I *always* block my number using the tool my telecoms company
gave us (in UKLand it's "add 141 before the dialled number") because I
do not want them to automatically collect my number and sell it on to
the bloody scamming cold calling vermin. If I have to fill in a
telephone number on a webpage (like a bank or Amazon) I use a fake
number that can not possibly be real but that passes their validation.
I make very sure the number is not real as I don't want them selling
*your* number to the scammers, either.
So, yes, there are valid reasons for blocking your number. But I, for
one, won't answer your call if you do.
J.

 

[Iceman]

A scam of course. The guy told that "they" had noticed my computer had
downloaded some junk files within the last two weeks. I asked what
dates. I asked what files. I asked how they knew, he said there were
error messages. I asked for error numbers, etc and so on and so forth.
Caller wanted to me let him into my computer so he could show me the bad
files. I asked which computer, since I have four. Managed to waste 4:54
min of the spammers' time. I wanted at least 10 minutes. Bummer.

Did that guy speak with an accent? Such as East European? African?

 

[Wolf K]

Did that guy speak with an accent? Such as East European? African?

Everybody speaks with an accent.

 

[Iceman]

Everybody speaks with an accent.

That was not my point. A certain accent could have connected him to
countries noted for phishing scams.

 

[Martin Edwards]

Did that guy speak with an accent? Such as East European? African?

All the "Windows" calls I get are from India. Sometimes the English
isn't bad, sometimes atrocious.

 

[Mike Barnes]

Did that guy speak with an accent?

Who doesn't? (Are you American? That usage seems characteristically
American to me.)

 

[Mike Barnes]

PBX's sometimes *can't* send a valid identifier to the receiving
phone, they just don't work properly.

I see that you're in the UK. The UK system allows for an "Unavailable"
display, which is different from "Withheld". Having said that some PBXs
are so dysfunctional that they can't even mange "unavailable".
Thankfully they're a dying breed.

My former employer always came
up as "number blocked". Luckily, I'll never have to deal with them
again so I don't need to worry about missing a call from them.
Hospitals and surgeries can have PBX's. They don't deliberately block
CLI, they just don't *unblock* it.
And I *always* block my number using the tool my telecoms company
gave us (in UKLand it's "add 141 before the dialled number")

It depends on the phone company - 141 is BT's number. Other companies
may use it, but not all, I suspect.

because I
do not want them to automatically collect my number and sell it on to
the bloody scamming cold calling vermin. If I have to fill in a
telephone number on a webpage (like a bank or Amazon) I use a fake
number that can not possibly be real but that passes their validation.
I make very sure the number is not real as I don't want them selling
*your* number to the scammers, either.

I used to be similarly cautious but stopped that years ago. We get only
a handful of (presumed, not answered) junk calls a year, so I deduce
that such reticence is unnecessary. Whatever mechanism junk callers use
to decide which numbers to call, it doesn't seem to be related to
numbers given to legitimate businesses.

So, yes, there are valid reasons for blocking your number. But I, for
one, won't answer your call if you do.

Same here. And you're welcome to leave a message. Beep.

 

[Michael Swift]

All the "Windows" calls I get are from India. Sometimes the English isn't
bad, sometimes atrocious.

One of the best I had was, 'Hello, my name is Nigel and I'm calling on
behalf of............................

I'm willing to admit there may be someone on the sub continent called
Nigel who spoke with a thick, I'm not questioning his mental capacity,
Indian accent, but somehow I think it's unlikely.

Mike

 

[Mitch Bujard]

All the "Windows" calls I get are from India. Sometimes the English
isn't bad, sometimes atrocious.

Years ago, I called Citibank customer service when they had moved their
call center to India. The girl on the other end was sleepy, and her
accent was so thick I could barely understand. She did not either. I
requested a card sent to me, she canceled it instead. I gave a piece of
my mind to Citibank in writing, in the hope they still read letters in
the US. Not long later they moved operations back domestically. So much
for India's English

It could be fun to confuse them with colloquial expressions and
cultural or geographical references ;^)

Mitch
http://FontMenu.com

 

[Michael Swift]

Years ago, I called Citibank customer service when they had moved their
call center to India. The girl on the other end was sleepy, and her accent
was so thick I could barely understand. She did not either. I requested a
card sent to me, she canceled it instead. I gave a piece of my mind to
Citibank in writing, in the hope they still read letters in the US. Not long later
they moved operations back domestically. So much for India's English

It could be fun to confuse them with colloquial expressions and cultural or
geographical references ;^)

In our benighted country you'd probably be charged with racially
motivated something or other.

Mike

 

[Wolf K]

That was not my point. A certain accent could have connected him to
countries noted for phishing scams.

Granted. That's why I tried to keep him on line. Next time I'll have to
play dumber, I guess. One step at a time type questions. Maybe I'll fire
up the Linux machine, and see what he can do when I describe what I see...

 

[Lee Waun]

Oh, I was thinking you had a phone in your outhouse

He does have one in his outhouse but it is a payphone.