To be annoyed when asked to confirm my details

[exponential]

I get annoyed when companies ask me to confirm my name and address on the phone when they mean will you tell me your name and address.

Yesterday when asked I said OK you tell me my address and I will confirm if you have it right. They were non-plussed.

It seems to me “to confirm” means to ratify or repeat an assertion ( Chambers dictionary)-surely they should tell me not me tell them.
AIBU-or just pedantic?

@Gadgnkk agreed, I assumed it was her calling them and giving an order no or similar so they ask her to confirm her address, but it's a completely different context if they call her

If you rang them, fair enough to ask security questions. If they rang you no way!

Bikerider2020

Its baffling.

What’s even more bizarre is her pop at me considering I have the same opinion

My DH had a problem that he asked me to try to ring the bank to fix, they wouldn't do it because they said I clearly wasn't a man so i got a male colleague to ring up instead and it all went without a hitch. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if I asked if they were discriminating against me because I had a high-pitched voice.

wait till the TRAs get onto that ....

Interesting how many people on here would simply and immediately give their personal information to any fucker ringing up and asking for it.

The AMAZING thing is how many of these people will come on a thread like this one and tell others that they should of course do the same and BRAG about how polite and reasonable they are and get arsey when it is pointed out to them that they are fuckwit muppets.

It is a scammers paradise, isn't it?

Op? Any of this making sense?

I hate messing customer service reps around because I know what it's like, but sometimes, just sometimes, I lose it.

I called up to pay my utility bill:

"Can I have your date of birth, please?"
"To pay my utility bill?"
"Yes, it's for security purposes"
"You get a lot of people calling up, pretending to be someone else to pay utility bills?"

I refused on principle. I offered address, name, account number. Apparently not good enough. A manager called me back ten minutes later, more than happy to take my cash.

I agree with you and do the same as you did. I'm not going to 'confirm' to a stranger on the phone information which, if genuine, they should already have so should have no problem telling me what address they already have.

The other really annoying one is the "you had an accident recently". We always agree with them, and when they ask for confirmation of car details we ask them which car, which accident; they have no idea, obviously.

@anotherlittlechicken DCUM, miright?

@BorneoBabe I've also refused to "confirm" details to pay a utility bill. I even told them, "If anyone calls up to pay my utility bill but me anyone at all they have my permission to accept their payment."

Didn't work. : )

@BorneoBabe Really, 'I refused on principle' is actually 'I was difficult for the sake of it' in this case. This is the type of superiority complex a previous poster mentioned.

Catkin8

On the contrary, asking for someone’s DOB when it’s of no relevance is being ‘difficult for the sake of it’.
Obviously they’re following procedure as set by their company - but people aren’t wrong or ‘difficult’ to refuse.

This thread has gone off in a completely different direction from the original OP.

Is it only Bikerider and me that understand that the OP was not complaining about being asked to give information, but about being asked to 'confirm' her address when the person is actually asking her to 'tell' them her address.

She wasn't complaining about the securtiy aspect, but about the misuse, as she sees it, of the word 'confirm'.

İt's called data protection. They have to do this

@Catkin8 Nope, but nice try. Requesting DOB is not proportionate to gaining access to your utility account. I wasn't rude or difficult to the rep (as I said, I've been there) I just refused and asked for a manager to call me back. Which they did.

İt's normally only name and address anyway. Most peoples is in the phone book and online anyway. İt's not too secret information that will be used to be scammed. İf they ask for bank and card details then hang up but name and address is nothing

It's a ' 'damned if you, damned if you don't' situation.

If someone unknown person calls me and asks to confirm MY details, how do I know they are who they say they are? Unless I'm expecting a call and they have the specific name I'm expecting, then I won't do this. I get far too many spam calls to take the risk.

I've had many an 'impasse' conversation about this.

I assumed OP was talking of cold callers. If my doctor's surgery, or the hospital called me then I'd be a lot more cooperative. It all depends upon who it is and how they come across.

OP doesn't specify that it's when companies call her, insurances companies and places like that will ask you to confirm when you call them. It's a security check. Obviously don't give details to cold callers, in fact I don't even answer the phone to cold callers.

Ignoring the fact the OP is only being pedantic about language, many here are making a valid point.

Never give your details to anyone you didn’t call. It isn’t being difficult, it is absolutely the right thing to do.

If someone calls you for a valid reason and they really need to check something, they should be quite amenable to you saying you will call them back. No wonder people are falling for scams if they are “confirming” their details with random people who call them when they have no idea who is at the other end of the phone.

You get a lot of people calling up, pretending to be someone else to pay utility bills

And this would be a problem because? If someone doesn't understand the art of scamming and wants to pay my bill, please go ahead

She wasn't complaining about the security aspect, but about the misuse, as she sees it, of the word 'confirm

People did understand, but that bit was boring. The ensuing discussion was a lot more interesting than tell versus confirm.

It's also worth mentioning that if you're unsure about a cold caller be careful if/when you call them back as some scammers will keep the line open so that when you ring your 'bank' or whatever you're actually just getting back to the scammer.

If my doctor's surgery, or the hospital called me then I'd be a lot more cooperative

But how would you know it's your doctors surgery, or the hospital ?

If somebody calls asking you to 'confirm' your address, and you are unsure if they are kosher ; you could simply give the incorrect address and if they say that is not what they have on record just say that you have inadvertently given your old address and then supply the correct one. It is not a fool proof method but can help in getting rid of scammers.