Irish water calling from 'unknown number'

buzz11

I received a phone call yesterday from Irish water and it showed as an unknown number on my phone, I was a bit wary so had to end the call when they guy starting asking for 'verification details'

Does Irish Water make outgoing calls from blocked or unknown numbers?  

sydthebeat

buzz11 wrote: »

I received a phone call yesterday from Irish water and it showed as an unknown number on my phone, I was a bit wary so had to end the call when they guy starting asking for 'verification details'

Does Irish Water make outgoing calls from blocked or unknown numbers?  

Lots of companies do, including banks.

Whenever they call me or my office, I ask then to ring back immediately with an unblocked number if they want to continue the conversation.

If they are trying to sell me something they generally don't bother.

Irish Water: Daniel V

Hi buzz11,

buzz11 wrote: »

I received a phone call yesterday from Irish water and it showed as an unknown number on my phone, I was a bit wary so had to end the call when they guy starting asking for 'verification details'

Does Irish Water make outgoing calls from blocked or unknown numbers?  

Thank you very much for getting in touch. 

Outbound calls are made to customers and whether the number is blocked is dependent on your phone network, however the number is not blocked by default. 

Verification details are required to be asked to confirm that the individual on the phone is the person that we are attempting to contact. This is done for Data Protection purposes and we will never request financial details from you over the phone. 

Typically, we will ask you to confirm the following, unless you are a Non-Domestic customer.

- Name;
- Contact number; and
- Address. 

Thanks, 
Daniel

sydthebeat

sorry daniel, i realise this is someone elses thread, and that youve answered the question inthe OP... but are you seriously saying:

1. that you have no input into whether your phone numbers are blocked or not. You say its the networks fault, can you identify which networks block your numbers and which do not.... and what efforts you have made to unblock them?

2. do you see the utter hyprocracy in witholding your identification whilst at the same time looking to verify the identity of the person YOU phoned??
in this era of phising phone calls, scams etc people, and especially older people, are very wary about giving any personal information out to a stranger. i can see this practice by you causing great stress to older vulnerable people. companies like AIB have previously alerted customers NOT to give personal details out over the phone

as i said previously, i often get calls from banks with blocked numbers (part of my work involves an aspect of mortgage administration, so i talk to a myrid of different financial institutions) and the funny thing is when they are requested to phone back from an unblocked number they clearly can without issue. So some of their inhouse numbers are blocked and some others are not.

Irish Water: Daniel V

Hi sydthebeat,

sydthebeat wrote: »

sorry daniel, i realise this is someone elses thread, and that youve answered the question inthe OP... but are you seriously saying:

1. that you have no input into whether your phone numbers are blocked or not. You say its the networks fault, can you identify which networks block your numbers and which do not.... and what efforts you have made to unblock them?

2. do you see the utter hyprocracy in witholding your identification whilst at the same time looking to verify the identity of the person YOU phoned??
in this era of phising phone calls, scams etc people, and especially older people, are very wary about giving any personal information out to a stranger. i can see this practice by you causing great stress to older vulnerable people. companies like AIB have previously alerted customers NOT to give personal details out over the phone

as i said previously, i often get calls from banks with blocked numbers (part of my work involves an aspect of mortgage administration, so i talk to a myrid of different financial institutions) and the funny thing is when they are requested to phone back from an unblocked number they clearly can without issue. So some of their inhouse numbers are blocked and some others are not.

Thank you for your message. 

Irish Water do not block the number for outbound calls. Vulnerable customers, such as older individuals or those who rely on medical support, have to request in advance to be registered on our list of vulnerable contacts. 

Sensitive personal information is never requested over the phone, however customers are required to confirm certain details for Data Protection purposes. 

Thanks, 
Daniel 

Huntline

You OK hun?

buzz11

Irish Water: Daniel V wrote: »

Hi buzz11,

buzz11 wrote: »

I received a phone call yesterday from Irish water and it showed as an unknown number on my phone, I was a bit wary so had to end the call when they guy starting asking for 'verification details'

Does Irish Water make outgoing calls from blocked or unknown numbers?  

Outbound calls are made to customers and whether the number is blocked is dependent on your phone network, however the number is not blocked by default. 

Thats a load of nonsense..... the party making the call decides whether or not to show their number to the receiver.

In this day and age of scam calls, its totally unacceptable for a legitimate company to block their number.

Can you escalate this query to a supervisor/manager for a further more detailed response?

Irish Water: Niamh

Hi buzz11,

buzz11 wrote: »

Thats a load of nonsense..... the party making the call decides whether or not to show their number to the receiver.

In this day and age of scam calls, its totally unacceptable for a legitimate company to block their number.

Can you escalate this query to a supervisor/manager for a further more detailed response?

Please PM me with the following information and I can escalate this further for you.

- Your full name;
- Your full address;
- Contact number; and
- Any more specifics of this incident you wish to include.

Thanks,
Niamh

Thoie

Irish Water: Daniel V wrote: »

Typically, we will ask you to confirm the following, unless you are a Non-Domestic customer.

- Name;
- Contact number; and
- Address. 

Thanks, 
Daniel

Not getting at Irish Water specifically, as lots of companies do this, but it's a terrible idea.  If a complete stranger rings you out of the blue, whether their number is blocked or not, why would you give them your name, phone number (which they've just called you on) and your address?  

It also does nothing to ensure that you're talking to the right person - if I answered any of my friends' or relations' phones I could tell you that information, and probably their date of birth and mother's maiden names, etc as well.
 
It would be far better if the company calling could positively identify themselves in some way first, perhaps by having an agreed passcode they'll quote to you before starting to ask for personal details.