Not to confirm my identity on the telephone until the caller has confirmed theirs?

[Dolcelatte]

I had a call today from an individual who must have asked at least six times whether or not I were Dolcelatte. I kept saying who are you - I won't speak to you unless you identify which organisation you are calling from, as I don't speak to strangers. This conversation went on for several minutes, going round and round in circles, until I said if you don't identify your organisation (ie not asking for personal information), I will hang up, as you are wasting my time.

The caller said they were from a Bank and I said which Bank, as I have a number of accounts. After I hung up, I called back the number (which was not withheld), and it does appear to have been a genuine call from one of my banks.

I understand the need to be confidential and I am assuming that the caller was instructed that they must not say anything until they had confirmed that the person who answered had confirmed that they were the account holder. On the other hand, why should I confirm my identity to a stranger who won't even say which organisation they represent? I am ex-directory, but I still receive cold calls from unknown organisations who want to sell me something and they always start by saying 'Are you Dolcelatte?'......

Rant over, but interested to know if you think AIBU.

My bank when asked to vrefiy themselves usually tells me where my last transactions were.

Same as Eve, I ask my bank to tell me something the will know from my account so I know they are who they say they are

Fluffyears there is a flipside to that though. Male member of staff rings female customer, who is perhaps in a domestic abuse situation, but gets her partner. Refuses to say who he is, or why he is calling. Abusive partner is then angry with woman thinking she is cheating. It's a minefield. When I worked in the bank we were told to say 'it's a personal call' which I thought was potentially much worse for someone in that situation than saying 'I'm from x bank'. Ironically I used to lie to partners and tell them it was a sales call because I didn't want to be responsible for putting someone in danger. Of course, that left me in danger of breaching TPS, but I thought in the circumstances it was a risk worth taking.

I bank with first direct.
I love them, have been with them since they first came into existence as the first telephone bank (before computers were around really) and I have never had a problem. (Well, only once, but they sorted it out instantly).

I would not expect a genuine caller to ring me, then ask for security information. Ever.

I think banks could adopt a system where they give you password.

Like mrs icanseethesun this is lloyds calling can you confirm this is you. Then once that has been done then say our password is sunset can I ask you to confirm letters 4&7 of your security information.