'Private Numbers'

YFlyer

YFlyer wrote: »

I just got a call from a private number. Was online and as soon as I attempted to answer. The call stopped.

Google the number, but don't call it back. There's a scam going round where you get calls that end quickly and when you call back it's somewhere like Bulgaria and your credit is drained. I've had a few calls from unknown numbers and places I've no connections to, I'd assume the worst and if it's a genuine call they'll get back to you if it's important.

YFlyer

Candie wrote: »

Google the number, but don't call it back. There's a scam going round where you get calls that end quickly and when you call back it's somewhere like Bulgaria and your credit is drained. I've had a few calls from unknown numbers and places I've no connections to, I'd assume the worst and if it's a genuine call they'll get back to you if it's important.

Ah sorry. No number came up.

YFlyer

YFlyer wrote: »

Ah sorry. No number came up.

I didn't take that bit in! Probably legit so, if it's important they'll call back and if you choose not to answer they can always text you.

YFlyer

YFlyer wrote: »

I just got a call from a private number. Was online and as soon as I attempted to answer. The call stopped.

If they didn't leave a voicemail I wouldn't worry about it further. I don't answer unknown numbers anyway, I let the call run through to the machine provided they don't give up first. If the matter is serious a message will be left.

YFlyer

Candie wrote: »

I didn't take that bit in! Probably legit so, if it's important they'll call back and if you choose not to answer they can always text you.

I tried to answer. However sometimes if I'm online, the answer feature doesn't kick in.

s1ippy

I've found myself having to use private number as I'm working from home and don't want to give out my personal one. My colleagues are all having to do it as well. Rather than change my number for every call, I call friends and family with private number these days too. After a couple of funny "Hello???"s when it happened first, they all just assume it's me now.

Irony is I don't answer private numbers myself.

fortwilliam

Why are people so afraid of any kind of pre-predictable conversation?

Let me make it clear for you poor wussies...

- Private number calls you
- You: Hello, who is calling?
- Know/Like who it is? - Continue conversation
- Not know/Like who it is? - Press red button

Anything complicated about that?

I’ve the phone set to not ring for any number that I haven’t saved in my contacts. Job done.

Portmanteau

fortwilliam wrote: »

Why are people so afraid of any kind of pre-predictable conversation?

Let me make it clear for you poor wussies...

- Private number calls you
- You: Hello, who is calling?
- Know/Like who it is? - Continue conversation
- Not know/Like who it is? - Press red button

Anything complicated about that?

Yeah fear of blocked/unknown numbers is bizarre.

endacl

problemchimp wrote: »

why not?

Screening. When a number shows I know if I’m in the humour to talk to the caller. I’ve no idea when it’s a private number. They can leave a message and I’ll use that to decide if I’m in the humour to talk to them or not.

Portmanteau

Portmanteau wrote: »

Yeah fear of blocked/unknown numbers is bizarre.

Because your phone is for your convenience, not the callers.

s1ippy

I don't answer the door either. Why invite so many variables into your life? I contact people, anyone I know is welcome to contact me. There was a time I was inundated with cúnts bothering me, I'm old enough now to realise I've no time for that.

Feisar

ReginaldSmythV wrote: »

Because your phone is for your convenience, not the callers.

It is sort of a two way thing, people have phones for the convenience of being able to make and receive calls.

Gradius

Not answering a phone has an awful pang of paranoid America off it.

A combination of being afraid of your own shadow and pure ignorance.

It's funny to see it seeping in here now. Well, not funny, more sad. People slowly sinking into smaller and smaller world's, afraid of everything.

EmmetSpiceland

Gradius wrote: »

Not answering a phone has an awful pang of paranoid America off it.

A combination of being afraid of your own shadow and pure ignorance.

It's funny to see it seeping in here now. Well, not funny, more sad. People slowly sinking into smaller and smaller world's, afraid of everything.

Answering a call from an “private”, or unknown, number smacks of old person or sociopath.

If it’s someone you know, they’ll text. If they have to call you they can leave a “message”.

It’s never someone you want to talk to when you don’t know, or can’t see, the number. It’s cold calling or a “wrong” number.

Calling from a “hidden” number is akin to calling over to someone’s house without texting first. It’s not the 80s anymore and it is, downright, rude.

ILoveYourVibes

I don't answer them.

forgottenhills

In my experience calls from private numbers are usually from somebody trying to sell you something. I typically don't want to waste my time answering them and encourage that agent to call again. If its a genuine call the caller can leave a message and I will get back to them.

Gradius

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Answering a call from an “private”, or unknown, number smacks of old person or sociopath.

If it’s someone you know, they’ll text. If they have to call you they can leave a “message”.

It’s never someone you want to talk to when you don’t know, or can’t see, the number. It’s cold calling or a “wrong” number.

Calling from a “hidden” number is akin to calling over to someone’s house without texting first. It’s not the 80s anymore and it is, downright, rude.

And the other popular American thing is mentioned, announcing yourself is mandatory before calling over to a friend.

It makes for a very boring, small, predictable world where anything out of the "ordinary" causes stress. Very close to paranoia.

Gradius

forgottenhills wrote: »

In my experience calls from private numbers are usually from somebody trying to sell you something. I typically don't want to waste my time answering them and encourage that agent to call again. If its a genuine call the caller can leave a message and I will get back to them.

I often have to make phone calls from strange places that get routed through this and that, and I know it will display a strange number on the other end. To people I know, to be clear.

I have never used a voicemail thing, either leaving a message or checking my own

If I'm calling you answer or don't. End of story. All these multi steps are a pain in the hole for clear communication.

EmmetSpiceland

Gradius wrote: »

And the other popular American thing is mentioned, announcing yourself is mandatory before calling over to a friend.

It makes for a very boring, small, predictable world where anything out of the "ordinary" causes stress. Very close to paranoia.

No one is afraid, or suspicious, of unwanted “callers” either on the phone or to the door. It’s about the inconvenience.

I, and others, would consider it very strange behaviour to call on someone “unannounced”. One could only imagine that only people with very little “going on” in their lives who would welcome it.

Very little.

I don’t know how people can just not answer a call be it a private number or a number they don’t know. I’d spend the rest of the day wondering who it was, why they called, what did they want etc if I miss a call from a private number. It would drive me mad I just couldn’t not answer.

Gradius

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

No one is afraid, or suspicious, of unwanted “callers” either on the phone or to the door. It’s about the inconvenience.

I, and others, would consider it very strange behaviour to call on someone “unannounced”. One could only imagine that only people with very little “going on” in their lives who would welcome it.

Very little.

As I said, it's a combination of fear and ignorance.

So in your case you are purposefully ignoring something because it hasn't been telegraphed to you in advance. Ignorance.

It's very, very American.

To add, it's not a case of "having little going on", it's a matter of clear communication versus putting barriers in the way of communication.

EmmetSpiceland

Gia Chubby Zombie wrote: »

I don’t know how people can just not answer a call be it a private number or a number they don’t know. I’d spend the rest of the day wonder who it was, why they called, what did they want etc if I miss a call from a private number. It would drive me mad I just couldn’t not answer.

Out of, morbid, curiosity, N, how many of these calls are from someone you know?

In the last, say, 10 years, I would say that upwards of 98% of calls from “private”, or unknown, numbers have been either someone trying to sell me something I don’t want, a survey or a “wrong” number.

Is this different for you?

EmmetSpiceland

Gradius wrote: »

As I said, it's a combination of fear and ignorance.

So in your case you are purposefully ignoring something because it hasn't been telegraphed to you in advance. Ignorance.

It's very, very American.

To add, it's not a case of "having little going on", it's a matter of clear communication versus putting barriers in the way of communication.

If I had to choose between the “ignorance” of not answering or the stupidity of answering, I’d take the ignorance every time.

You only seem to have a “bee in your bonnet” because you, for some bizarre reason, have to re-route your calls through numbers that are not your own.

You expect everyone to bend for your “convenience” and, well, that’s just selfish, and, not to mention, arrogant.

Uncle Pierre

I notice there was an almost nine-year gap in this thread from when it last used until somebody posted in it again yesterday. I see no good reason from 2011 why not to answer a private number, and I see no good reason from now either.

Just answer the phone. And if you don't want to talk to them when you find out who it is or what it's about, just be polite about it before ending the call. It's really no big deal.

Uncle Pierre

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

You expect everyone to bend for your “convenience” and, well, that’s just selfish, and, not to mention, arrogant.

I love seeing such irony in posts sometimes. Always amuses me.

You expect everybody whose calls come from a private number, for whatever reason, to change their way of doing things for your "convenience". Is that not equally selfish and/or arrogant?

EmmetSpiceland

Uncle Pierre wrote: »

I love seeing such irony in posts sometimes. Always amuses me.

You expect everybody whose calls come from a private number, for whatever reason, to change their way of doing things for your "convenience". Is that not equally selfish and/or arrogant?

I believe it was Einstein, or at least it’s been attributed to him, that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

I have learned not to answer a “private”, or unknown, number.

Yet you, and others, still persist to both answer and call from these “hidden” numbers.

Do many answer your call? Do you find an increase in “cold calls” from companies who have “acquired” your active number?

Few things are as important to me as my own time. I’m quite content to avoid these “time burglars”. I’m sure others, with very little going on in their lives, are only too delighted to hear their phone ring.

Not answering unknown callers is a matter of choice, not a symptom of a feeble mind or fear of the wider world. People aren't required to answer the phone if they don't feel like it, unknown caller or not.

Uncle Pierre

Way to miss the point there, buddy.

But I will say this: the words selfish and arrogant certainly do seem relevant.

EmmetSpiceland

EmmetSpiceland wrote: »

Out of, morbid, curiosity, N, how many of these calls are from someone you know?

In the last, say, 10 years, I would say that upwards of 98% of calls from “private”, or unknown, numbers have been either someone trying to sell me something I don’t want, a survey or a “wrong” number.

Is this different for you?

I have a few family members who use private number, one on the landline as it was ex-directory and they never changed it and another who when they call from their work phone it’s private number as they don’t want their mobile number being known to clients.

Also the occasional blocked number would be something like a bank or whatever but normally they show the number.

I find scams, cold calls etc rarely block the number these days.