to not answer my phone to withheld/Unknown/unrecognised numbers

[LonerDave]

It drives me nuts.

But am I BU to not answer these calls

I always assume they are nuisance calls.

Agree for

Bun really, that's all you've got? You can't imagine any other situations where people don't answer withheld numbers? None at all?

It's a calculated risk, I think.

Every time you answer a withheld number and it's a nuisance call, you are confirming to them that your phone number is actively in use. You will get more nuisance calls.

On the other hand, every time you ignore a withheld number, you could be missing an important or urgent call from the NHS/school. It will take longer for them to reach you.

To the PP who now answer withheld numbers because you are expecting it to be the NHS, have you noticed a change in the number of nuisance calls you are getting?

I think the real problem is that NHS/school numbers look like nuisance calls (or should that be the other way round?) and pretty much everyone wants to avoid huge volumes of nuisance calls.

When I was unwell I once had 10 spam calls on the space of a day. Now, unless I'm expecting a call (from the Dr's, the garage, the plumber, whatever) then unless I know the number I don't answer it. If it's important they can leave a message / send a text / send an email.

I work for a large, nationally-known company (not NHS), and their numbers are automatically withheld. I don't answer if I see an unknown or blocked number because I know if it's someone from work, they'll leave a message. Anyone I know will come up in my contacts so it's fine to answer.

I get far too many junk calls - for some reason the bloody Telegraph newspaper is forever trying to ring me to blether on about subscriptions God knows why, as I'm a lifelong Guardian reader - so I let things go to voicemail and if they don't leave a message, I look up the number on Who Called Me or a similar site. Once I know it's a junk call I block the number so they can't call again.

I just checked my answer machine with its 7 messages. That were all automated messages: 4 mortgage health check calls and 3 about energy efficient windows! They show as withheld/private caller or unavailable/out of area so no actual phone numbers.

Our school shows a proper phone number so I answer if i see that

same here - plus they can contact us via text and email using a centralised system they use for teh purpose - the can send blanket messages to the school, a year group, or individuals.

Same here. Number shows up and we get a groupcall if it's a message for the whole school.

YANBU. I never answer them either.

Someone from BT called me yesterday to offer me an exciting broadband package. He gave me the details and I decided I didn't want it. He said okay and thanked me for my time. I said 'no problem'. We chatted briefly about the weather. He was in Glasgow and I was in London. In both places it was a beautiful day. We agreed we should get out and enjoy it.

Wise words, because it's grey and miserable today.

I'm guessing from your post that you're not offered exciting packages several times a day, every day limited?

That sounds a bit rude

It happens sometimes sirchengin but I don't feel obliged to answer that question .

But in you were asking a straight question, I had a rash of PPI calls when I'd let calls go to the answering machine and pick up if they were legitimate calls. I guess that strategy worked because I don't get such calls any more. Maybe the PPI and other junk callers didn't think it was a live number and gave up.

As I said to another poster, my mum didn't have email, text or an answerphone. The NHS got round it. I don't know how. Now, I never will. There is a middle ground between organisations who need to get in touch being able to do it, and being outraged at people calling you.

I was asking a straight question - as I realise it's none of my business if you're offered exciting packages every day . I think the point is that if you're not bombarded with them I can see why some posters don't understand why people wouldn't answer withheld numbers.

I completely understand

When I had a phone I never answered these calls either. My local hospital doesn't withhold their number so I would know if it was my consultant or diabetes nurse calling. Otherwise, meh. I can chase up if I haven't heard in a month.

*God some of you are so bloody precious.

Are you really so very terribly busy that if you answer and it's an unwanted call you can't just hang up?

I really don't get all the angst.*

If it happens infrequently, it's not a big deal as you say. The problem comes when you work at home and you get nuisance phone calls and nuisance actual calls at the house. The TPS actually works very well on my landline, I get very little in the way of nuisance calls these days and since the law changed in April to allow the ICO to fine more nuisance callers the level of calls on my mobile has dropped off nearly to zero. But I used to get several calls a day and if you are actually waiting for an important call, it is quite distressing. Sometimes there isn't even anyone there, it's just a recorded message, or nothing at all. So no we're not being precious at all, it can be a big problem.

* Funnily enough if I phone a hospital and say I am my father's daughter they are more than happy to talk to me yet they have no evidence I am who I say I am. Yet there's this worry about leaving a message

It's nothing to do with worry. They legally should not be talking to you about your father and are not allowed to leave messages. It's the Data Protection act, not just then trying to be awkward*

Nothing to do with the DPA - the DPA says you act with the data subject's consent. So the NHS can get consent. It's really not difficult on the messages issue as I said in my original post.

My father was in three different hospitals in December and they all talked to me. So did his dentist a couple of months earlier when I called to make an appointment for him. So did my mum's GP practice when I emailed them to find out why a nurse hadn't been sent round to see her after an operation. My parents hadn't given consent, but there's another exception in the DPA when you are acting in someone's best interest, so you don't need consent.

Unfortunately there are a lot of organisations who do not train their staff properly on data protection issues.

There are rules around patient confidentiality as well but clearly the same issues apply - if you need to share info in the best interests of the patient, you do it.