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!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who refuses. Virgin Media has called me twice to tell me about "upgrades to your broadband service". I refused to give them my details, saying that if it's just an upgrade that they can email me or write to me about it, and that I've no idea of telling who they are. They were not impressed.

I wish my mother in law would be more cautious. She has also had money taken fraudulently from her account, but will still give details to anyone who calls her.
We have talked about the risks - but she is very trusting and then I think she forgets.

My nephew works for Santander. He told me that the bank will refund fraudulent withdrawals, but more often than not the criminals involved are not traced.

Even though customers are reimbursed, it's horrible that these criminals are stealing money so bloody easily.

And of course banks will need to recoup losses by raising charges and whatever.
Tesco lost millions recently I believe - not sure if they have yet disclosed how much was stolen by mass fraud on their customers accounts but it was a hefty amount.

BT rang me this morning and did just this. My query of why should I confirm anything when they had rung me was answered with " its security". My reply of well it's not very secure for me fell on deaf ears. I've been on line since looking at the deal he was touting, it wasn't worth ringing about!

Please remember to call back on a different phone line. Scammers can hold the line open so when you put the phone down, and call what you think is your bank, they can still trap you.

Become a hermit. It is the only solution.

I worked in a collections call centre for a large bank 10 years ago and even then we had to do this. Unfortunately when folk decide not to pay their finances agreements and ignore letters then a phone call is often necessary!

I'd have been breaking the law if I discussed the details of the account without going through dpa. Awkward and annoying but necessary.

The reason why they don't ask you to call the company is because the company don't want to deal with you and out source their customer service to an organisation who do this on their behalf.
They can't take details from you unless it's to do with their exact role.
This is to protect you.
Sandra in the call centre doesn't have to know all the ins and outs and isn't privy to most of your details or account.
Saying you will contact them yourself is fine, but your number will still come up as your details are forwarded to the organisation working on their behalf in the call centre.
My job is similar but completely different product.
So many people ask me to tell them their address, because I should have it.
I would be out of a job if I told them, apart from last bit of postcode. The same if you refuse/ forget to say that calls are recorded, if the organisation does this.
It may not seem sense to you but most of it is to protect the customer, however, there should be some way they can offer to put your mind at rest, I have a reference unique to the customer, not an account or customer number. I offer this quite often if the customer sounds anxious or worried.
I know it's only a min wage job, entry level etc, but some of us care and don't want to worry people.

My DH has this at work with the HMRC of all people and they get really arsey with him.

He politely requests that they write to him if they want info about one of his clients and mostly they don't bother.

YANBU - best practice is to never give out info when someone calls you.

I will ask for a number to call them back if I need to.

^Don't do this either, to be absolutely certain you are dealing with the company they say they are, get the number yourself (either by going to their website or checking your bill).

Previously working for a mobile phone provider, I dealt with countless calls from customers who had received a call and ended up being "phished"/scammed.

Asking them to write to you is no help though, nor is asking for an email.
Unless you have access to this and it's inside your role you can't do this.
E.g I can ask a customer if I can call back later, input the time in the system and I'll get it flagged at the right time. I can't email them or give them a number to call me.
It's a system you input details into. The customer service agent will have very few of your details.
So it isn't necessarily a scam if they can't do this and their frustration is not being able to do their job because you aren't playing ball.
Which of course is your prerogative.

How much info they have depends on the role, I worked in a non-outsourced role and could see full details of the account. This was a non sales role

I also worked briefly in an outbound calling sales role for a different bank where we could also see everything, but were trained to pretend we couldn't! I quit after a short period because I found that totally immoral.

I don't think anyone thinks it's the fault of the people who have to make the calls, do they?
It is frustrating for both sides.

Given how often we would get very personal insults thrown at us, told we should be ashamed of ourselves, etc...

I should have said anyone on this thread! Sorry you had to put up with that, sounds awful.

I always say 'if you need to communicate with me, please write to me.' They then say they can't do that - which mainly I take to mean it's a sales call.

Companies should realise we customers have no way of knowing if a call is a scam or genuine. I'd prefer to be cautious.

Shazza

Mine isn't a sales role, it's a service for lots of companies in a particular industry.
The companies outsource their work to us and we call customers.
I have a system to input the answers you give me, and that is it.
I'm unable to call out unless it's a number on my screen for a customer and certainly nobody can call in. I have no access to email and certainly couldn't write to anyone.
It's make the call, get the info or not, move onto next customer.
It's frustrating when people won't play ball as it affects my targets for the shift.
It's horrible when people are nasty though, there's no need, everyone has to earn a living somehow.
The best ones are the ones who don't want your calls, state this but say something nice like "I know you're just doing your job" or "I appreciate it isn't your fault"
It's sad in this day that we have to be suspicious of people calling to help us in some way, but it's the way of the world now.
I don't blame people for not wanting to divulge their information and companies should be able to offer something that can be used as security protection if they are going to call customers.
Please don't swear at us, or suggest we get a proper job.

You can always ask them for your account number and the last time they took payment for something.

Or with banks you can say oh I made a transaction on X date, if you tell me the shop I'll tell you the amount...etc.

There are ways to mutually ascertain being genuine if you want to. But I don't bother if it's just a sales call.

YANBU.

TalkTalk, for eg, had their customer details hacked - so even if the caller said "your account number is xyz" you still didn't know it was them (I had one scammer get quite shirty when I said "Well, I'll just call you back on the number on the bill...") I am no longer with TalkTalk (pops open champagne, hangs up bunting).

I certainly don't blame the staff who work in this field, I get annoyed with the companies who they work for.
I won't give out personal details to anyone who contacts me. I've already been scammed so not taking the risk.
I know why these companies want to sell over the phone rather than contact me via mail - personable sales (telephone or face to face) are more successful than sending info via post.

I used to be with TalkTalk too. It was a huge relief when I left them - but was plagued by calls for a good while afterwards.
Again, I don't blame their staff but TalkTalk ripped me off month after month. I was tied in to some bloody contract and it took me an eternity to be free of the fuckers.

They shouldn't be asking you to tell them full details they should be asking for partial details I.e what's the last 2 digits of your postcode? What number do you live at? The last 3 digits of your account etc. But not many companies seem to do this anymore

Gillybeanz - I get what you're saying - but your sales targets are really not a matter for me! I'm not rude to the callers, but it does irritate the hell out of me.

Sorry, targets, not sales targets.

I strive not to be rude.

But will flatly refuse to give personal details to someone who has called me.

I do ask for the name of the department ai should ask for if I ring back via a published (probably switchboard) number, and what I should say it is in connexion with.

I'm usually told they can't take incoming calls.

Harder and harder, and others - the problem is that legitimate companies should NEVER be trying to get u to give out account numbers etc to prove who u r (my credit card co have done this, and it turned out it really was them when I called back on another number). They shouldn't ever ask, because u should never give out that I do to someone who called you, in case it's a scam.
I don't think it's enough that they will tolerate u calling back etc; they r encouraging the very behaviour that they advise u to avoid, by asking in the first place for details :-/.

If it's urgent, they should call and ask u to call the number given on the website (which u look up for yourself).

Why can't companies give you partial info or a password, like when I log on to my banking there is a unique phrase displayed so I know it's the right page and not a scam lookalike.