To get annoyed by private numbers?

[BamBamIsALittleShit]

Does anybody else find it frustrating when your mobile rings and its a private number? In the past couple of days I've had calls from a recruitment agency, the doctors surgery and my own workplace, all on private numbers. I thought one of the main perks of a mobile phone over, say, an old school land-line with a dial, is that you can see who's calling before you answer. With all the scams and cold callers around I'd like to know who's calling me before I answer - my phone has a feature that searches the number and tells you who's calling, failing that a quick Google usually does the trick.

I understand for personal calls why you may choose to withhold your number but for legitimate businesses surely there's no excuse.

First world problem I know!

For legitimate businesses it's to protect staff and to make dealing with calls more efficient. If everyone has to go through one number, then in theory their calls can be channeled to the right person, whereas if you've seen the private work number of an individual and call that, they may not be the right person to deal with your new problem, or they may be out of the office. And it protects staff from customer/client harassment.

There's an added point with GPs and similar, that if the call is picked up by someone else (either the mobile is lying around or it's a landline) it's an invasion of privacy for other people to know that you're being called by your GP.

But yes, it's annoying!

That's a good point about the privacy concerns with GPs - I hadn't considered that. I may give them a free pass then

This annoys me too. I get so many cold calls,despite registering with the opt-out service. They all call from blocked/private numbers,so when I get a call from someone genuine,e.g. my doctor's surgery,unfortunately I usually think that it is another cold caller.

Business numbers coming through central switchboards are usually blocked automatically. The callers arent personally blocking the number.

It's frustrating isn't it. I usually associate withheld numbers with some jackass harassing me about PPI, but now since the doctors etc have started doing it I have to answer all the private number calls.

I don't answer private numbers. If it's someone important they can leave a message.

You can set it up with your phone provider to block calls fromunknown numbers. Most businesses should have the option of ringing out with the number displayed if you explain.

Sadly, it is to protect staff; abusive, threatening phone calls are a daily occurrence for many public facing services and managing calls so they go through a screened call centre, rather than direct dial to a desk, is a key responsibility of employers.

It's possible to pogramme an internal exchange to show a generic number and not any individual's within the organisation. Companies that don't do that are plain lazy.

Exactly. I used to have my own number from my work desk phone but if anyone called it back it would go through the switchboard. It can't be that difficult to set up surely. Think of how much time is wasted by doctors receptionists ringing people who just don't answer withheld numbers.

I work for a charity but within a government department, our outgoing calls automatically show up as an 'unknown number'........it does make calling a bit hit and miss at times!

If I don’t know a number I don’t answer and I block them .

I don't answer private numbers. If it's someone important they can leave a message. GPs won't do that - privacy concerns again.

We've had lots of dealings with the local continence service for dd. The numbers always come up as unknown or private numbers and the nurse told me that all NHS numbers have to be blocked like this - not sure what the reasoning is but that is policy.

I answer ALL withheld numbers. They are always either the school/GP or hospital, and therefore really important I answer them.

I find sales calls etc tend to come up with a number and area code so I can avoid those.

I don't answer ANY number I don't know.

Sick of all the PPI, call centre, blah blah bollox.

Truly don't believe I am missing out on anything

There is no good reason for public bodies and companies to call from a private or withheld number

There is every reason, it's called GDPR!!!

Go old school and get a landline phone with caller display. If you're not in they can leave a message

I don't think the GP/Hospital would leave a message in case it was picked up by someone other than the intended recipient.

Annoyed? Really?
Well at least you haven't got the rage.

I have private numbers blocked on my phone. If it's important you can leave a message and I will ring back. And GP surgeries DO leave voice messages such as "this is a message for Mrs idobelieve. This is xxx surgery. Please could you call us on ... and ask for xxx.", had this message regarding some test results just yesterday. There's nothing privacy smashing about that.
None who has a genuine reason to call will have a problem with people not accepting withheld numbers.

About time they were banned imo.

My phone is also my hospital pager, so it’s on their contract / Ts&Cs. This means the number is blocked as there are confidentiality reasons why people may not want other members of their household knowing the hospital is calling. I also can’t leave messages in case they are accessed by someone other than the person I’m trying to contact.

If you routinely don’t answer calls from withheld numbers then you may be missing calls from legitimate sources. In my case I usually only call to inform of test results or to find out why someone hasn’t come to a clinic appointment (and whether I should rebook it). If you don’t answer, you don’t get rebooked.

There's nothing privacy smashing about that. YY no info given I get that.

But what if another family member (particularly the DC) picked that message up and wanted to know why the surgery was calling you and what about.