To be angry with companies telephoning me - and then asking this...

[PickledCauliflower]

Please give me your date of birth, etc for data protection purposes!

These companies appear genuine most of the time (though I still get telephone calls from obvious scammers about missed flight compensation and the like).

I am ultra careful when it comes to phishing / scamming, but despite this had both my bank and PayPal accounts hacked this year.
I only give personal details to companies when I have contacted them - and I know who they are and that they are who they are supposed to be!

Domestic and general have just contacted me, offering additional protection on my current policy for no extra cost. All fine and dandy but then asking me to confirm my address etc. I told the man I was speaking to that I never give personal info out to anyone telephoning me. I told him he sounded genuine but was not taking the risk.
I told him that I could confirm any details - if he offered them first but he said he was not allowed to do that.

So, these companies contact me on the number that I have given them - but then ask for all my personal details for data protection? Happens all of the time and I get so annoyed with it.

Adverts on TV telling us to be wary of scammers, but so many companies expect you to bleat personal details down the phone when randomly contacted!

[Lovelybangers]

I don't give out my details either.

[wasonthelist]

YANBU it is utter crap.

[CauliflowerSqueeze]

When they ask for personal details, just say "You go first".

[KnittedBlanketHoles]

Yanbu it's infuriating

[Jiggl]

My mobile provider did this - from a withheld number

I pointed out that I had no way of verifying they were in fact the provider, therefore I was not going to tell them any personal details.

It annoys me immensely when they ask you to confirm the first line of your address. Yet they are not saying it, they want you to state it. That's not confirming your address.

[TinyTear]

i tell them they are the ones who need to prove who they are

[FittonTower]

I will ask for a number to call them back if I need to. It's what we do at work when we get calls from social services or police about our clients - happy to help but need to go through the switch board so we know we're speaking to an actual social worker.

[MuddlingMackem]

YANBU at all, because I had a thread a few months ago about the exact same thing. Grr!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2733159-To-be-sick-of-companies-asking-me-to-confirm-my-identity-when-they-are-the-one-who-have-phoned-me-out-of-the-blue

[PebbleInTheMoonlight]

Ironically the company would be breaching the DPA if they confirmed to you first - as anyone could pick up the phone so you need to prove your ID.

I always ask them to update my account with notes pertaining to the call and ring the company directly using publicly available or existing phone numbers.

If they get frustrated they were only ever on a commission based call for sales anyway so probably not a problem to have avoided

[SpongeBobJudgeyPants]

Regarding getting a number to phone them back on, they could in theory give you any number, and then just answer with whatever they have said they are iuswim. So, to be absolutely sure, you need to google the number is correct.

[PickledCauliflower]

It is sales calls most of the time, and they seem perplexed when I refuse to hand over any personal info.

Sky rang me last week, asking me for first line of my address and date of birth.
Bonkers.

[TheSnorkMaidenReturns]

I always refuse to carry on the conversation. EE call me and want to tell me about their latest offers but first I must confirm who I am. Normally they are fine when I say I won't but the last one was really arsey.

Er, no, it's standard scamming technique.

[PickledCauliflower]

I tell them to pop any info in the post and I will take a look at whatever it is they are offering.

I know they are usually on commission based sales, so no good for them as individuals but I'm not risking it.
I also can't stand telephone calls during the day as I work shifts. I end the call abruptly and explain this also but usually igonered as the calls often continue.
Bloody annoying

[ladyratterley]

I (supposedly) had my bank call me the other day and do this. They phoned my mobile from an unknown number and after confirming I was ok to talk they said they needed to confirm my details before taking to me. They asked me to confirm my full name. WTF?!
I didn't trust them so ended the call. It could well have been a genuine call, but I'd never give out my details to someone over the phone.

[SheepyFun]

I had my bank call me to ask about possibly fraudulent activity using my card. I didn't give any details to the caller, but did call the bank using the phone number on my cards - the original call had, it turned out, been genuine (and they refunded the fraudulent payment). However I would definitely do that again, terminate the call, and find the number myself. It's scary that more people don't know to do that.

[Hellmouth]

I always argue with them "but you called me"
"Yes but in order to discuss your account we need to do data protection"
" but I don't know who you are and you called me so I'm assuming you have the details correct. Why don't you tell me what you've got and I'll tell you if it's right" :D

In the end, the guy said they'd write to me. I said "you do that", and then hung up on him :D

[gillybeanz]

If they ask for address they are checking they have the right customer and have to do this by law.
They are allowed to give you your number of house and last 3 digits of your post code, if you want clarification they already have your address.
I work in a call centre and have to do this a lot.
I never mind as it puts people's minds at rest.
I'm unable to confirm their full address for data protection, in case the number is right but the customer and address are wrong.

[viques]

I got called a bitch this morning by the woman who called and told me thatmy unnamed internet provider were about to reduce my internet provision for the next two weeks if I didn't give her my blood group,date of birth and bank details. All i did was ask her for a reference number so I could confirm the call with my ip. See a proper scammer would have rattled off a made up reference number, you just can't get the staff these days.

[gillybeanz]

If you ask to be removed from their list the agent may not be able to do this, ask for them to hand it to Team Leader, line manager, supervisor, whatever they are called.

[alfagirl73]

I hate this but I simply say that as I cannot verify who I am talking to I won't be giving out any details. If it's something I consider important to check I'll hang up and call the company directly myself and verify that the call was genuine. If they get me at the wrong time I have a bit of fun with them and ask them all kinds of questions - none of which confirm they are who they say they are, but it's fun to do seeing as they see fit to call me up and waste my time. They still never get any details from me, but they do tie themselves in knots trying to get me to disclose the info!

[PickledCauliflower]

Most companies I tell not to call - don't. Some still slipping through the net.
I just won't engage with them now when they do. I find it to stressful trying to work out what I think I can and can't tell them so tell them nothing.
Santander called me a few months back about fraudulent activity on my account. That was easy to deal with as i could calm them back on the number on my debit card.
A company pretending to be an web hosting provider had taken money from my bank account - scammers.
Santander refunded the amount taken.

I later received a letter from these alleged web host providers - correct surname and address, wrong first name.
They wanted me to register my details with them online - web address provided!
They only had half of my info but were still able to get money from my account - and they were phishing for more details.
Forwarded the letter to Santander but the postal address they provided at the top of the letter was obviously fake - they asked I didn't reply to that but register online!

[DJBaggySmalls]

I refuse and ask them to write instead. They dont take it well, and one actually turned out to be my bank!

[PickledCauliflower]

I think the reason I am so annoyed with legitimate companies doing this - is that they are making it the norm.
I am so cautious now, I give info to nobody over the telephone if they have contacted me.
But by regular companies doing this, folk who are more vulnerable are more likely to give information to scammers.
It's mostly sales calls anyway. If it's essential like the call I had from Santander - the call could just be a request to call them back using the number on your card, do they can discuss fraud concerns or whatever.

It's usually bloody Sky Tv wanting to sell me a more expensive package or the like!

[harderandharder2breathe]

Oh god not this again

If someone is genuine they are doing their job, usually it's for your benefit, no they won't disclose your details but they will be polite and ok if you say you'd rather call them.

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

I refused to give any details to the man from the bank who called to tell me there was fraudulent activity on my account and ended up waiting in a queue for 45 minutes when I called the bank to check. I don't see why they can't get you to call the bank back on the official number with a code number to let you skip the queue.

I tend to err on the side of caution and have probably blown off (always politely) plenty of genuine callers.