cold callers to oaps

david39

The problem with numbers that come up with "WITHELD" is that obviously you do not know who they are.

Organisations that have many telephone extensions do this - if they ring you and you want to call them back to speak to the same person then it's almost impossible to do so - how many Joans work in, say, Aviva's call centre.

That's why they withold the number, to stop you ringing back because they won't be able to locate the particular Joan that spoke to you.

But not all of those numbers are nuisance calls - the same system is adopted by our local Health Authority so if, say, a relative was rushed into hospital and the hospital wanted to call me, if I don't answer "WITHELD" calls, then I would never know. My doctor has the same system and has been known to ring to change an appointment or to change medication.

Owain_Moneysaver

david39 wrote: »

But not all of those numbers are nuisance calls - the same system is adopted by our local Health Authority so if, say, a relative was rushed into hospital and the hospital wanted to call me, if I don't answer "WITHELD" calls, then I would never know. My doctor has the same system and has been known to ring to change an appointment or to change medication.

However as OP's mum has Alzheimer's and is disabled, probably best if they phoned OP for anything complicated like that in the first place.

david39

probably best if they phoned OP for anything complicated like that in the first place

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That's correct - hopefully OP's doctor / medical advisor is aware of that.

I was really referring to people using number-blocking apparatus that might block calls with a CLI of "WITHELD" or "NUMBER WITHELD". If the blocking equipment kills those calls then some people may be unaware that it is not just nuisance calls they are blocking.

My sister in law's phone is set to show that - don't ask me why, it's something about not wanting businesses she rings to spread her number around to cold call companies.

My experience is that cold call companies do not show as "WITHELD" they are usually "0000000" or another, fictitious but possible number with a genuine exchange pre-fix at the start.