AIBU? about a possible scam call?

[lightand]

Had a phone call this morning from someone saying she was from KAC or KAP or something. Whatever it was, I had never heard of it.

She seemed to know my name and address and wanted to talk about the renewal of the insurance payment on my washing machine.
She seemed to know the amount of our direct debit, but I wasnt sure if she had the exact amount or not.
So farish, so good, except I was wary of talking to someone from a company I didnt recognise.
The company wanted to reduce my monthly direct debit by £2.

I said I was going to look through bills next week, and was actually going to look into that particular direct debit about renewing or not, but ok, if they were going to reduce it. I would agree.

She then wanted further information. I said I was not happy with that, as I wasnt sure who she was.
I asked if the details could be posted and DH and I would then decide.

She said no. "Because of government advice about climate conditions"[new one on me, I presume she meant climate change but wasnt sure], they could not post it, and would only post anything if I agreed to the new lower payment.

I said no, as I wasnt sure who she was, was not happy with therefore giving out details, and for her therefore to put it all in writing.

On her third go around of "because of government advice because of climate conditions", I put the phone down on her.

Someone googled for me, and there is a scam going around. Whether it was a scam call or not, I dont know.

So, AIBU?

There are several things bothering me really.
I didnt know the company, so is it really a big deal to do that thing called, posting a letter?[assuming the call was genuine]
There seem to be many and increasing more sophisticated scam calls[found out my mother put the phone down as she too wasnt sure a call like I had was genuine].
"climate conditions" - perhaps not the thread for that conversation[I did wonder what her climate conditions were!]
Is the government really cutting down on postage??
Our data is increasingly being sold all over the place. It is not going to be difficult for scam calls to know more about us in future, and therefore scamming will be made a lot easier.

So AIBU?

It's a scam .

A genuine company would not contact you like this without being prepared to follow up in writing. Last week I had one about ff warranty, but when I asked which one she said Beko - we have never had a Beko appliance!

If it is a scam, I am going to be pleased! Well, from my side of things, anyway.
I dont like being rude, but I couldnt have her go on and on and ask for details.

A genuine company would not contact you like this without being prepared to follow up in writing

I hope so @LIZS. Else where would that leave everyone?

Appliance insurance is a legitimate scam. Put the money you’d pay each month in a jar, and use it to pay for repairs/replacement as required.

Sounds like a scam- and it would still have me checking credit cards and bank account for any unauthorised transactions for a couple of weeks.

You can google the number she called from, just out of interest. I do that sometimes if I have an odd call.

@Daphnise You have a point. We had better do that, especaily as I did say yes to the woman, in the first instance.

@AgentProvocateur When the kids were at home, the machines were heavily used, and the payments were worth it, especially as they replaced old for new.
I am near the point of needing new machines again, which is why we were wondering whether to carry on with the machine insurances or not. Even the latest repair, was touch and go whether it could even be repaired.

I don't answer dodgy numbers and if I do and it's from a so called company I've never heard of I put the phone down. I probably get calls like this at least once or twice a week. Not worth it, even on the off chance it's genuine.

I also get calls about insurance for my washing machine, funnily they lose interest when I say it is 30 years old!

I had a call saying “someone has placed an Amazon order for £399 in your name and the money has been taken from your account. If you have not placed this order press 1.”
I looked in my Amazon orders, nothing.
I checked my bank account no £399 missing, of course, twats.
I certainly wasn’t going to “press 1”.

@cookiecreampie

I don't answer dodgy numbers and if I do and it's from a so called company I've never heard of I put the phone down. I probably get calls like this at least once or twice a week. Not worth it, even on the off chance it's genuine.

We actually have a call screen system. Cost £100 and was well worth the money. But we are at an unusual time in our lives, and need to make sure we dont miss any calls, hence I answered this one.

I will google the number at some point, as @eddiemairswife suggests.

Setup a spam email account, "[email protected]" or something like that. You can give it to dubious callers like this (as well as using it for all the crappy websites you sign up for).

It's not like they could legitimately refuse to send an email because of "climate conditions".

It's a scam.

Scam of course.

Thanks everyone!
Now I am bothered that it didnt seem obvious to me at the time!

@LIZS

A genuine company would not contact you like this without being prepared to follow up in writing. Last week I had one about ff warranty, but when I asked which one she said Beko - we have never had a Beko appliance!

Agreed. I always get everything in email before agreeing another time to talk about it after reading through it

Tbh with all that details they had it can be real but so bloody badly handled and even if real, never agree to anything like that

The woman had been starting to get annoyed with me.
Another reason I became further wary.
Call handlers are normally quite calm and reassured. At least, genuine ones I have spoken with, have been.

The easiest way to tell would be by having a look who your insurance actually is with, and contacting them via phone or email from the details on their website.
When I worked in outbound sales we couldn’t send things out in the post either, just because it’s a waste of cost if the customer is wary and not going to buy, so that doesn’t necessarily mean it was a scam.
If you have even an inkling though, it just isn’t worth it of course.

Also, look up ‘Spoofing’ the bast£&ds are now mimicking numbers so call screening may not be sufficient. Just be on your toes - as you were OP!

Seems like it was a scam. I havent had the reduced offer come through by post.

Another possible scam today. Had a message from supposedly Royal Mail, about pay £2.49 or whatever, as else a package wont be delivered. As it happens, I am waiting for one.
Told DH. He said he got the same message, looked it up, and there is a Royal Mail scam going around.

Sigh. Scams seem to be more and more prevalent nowadays. Fed up with them.

Royal Mail definitely a scam, DH gets loads of these. The other one will be also, it's probably easy to guess or find out how much people will be paying for these on DD to make it sound more real

If you’re ever contacted by a company like that, you should always say that you’ll call the company back directly and deal. They can’t argue with that.

I had the “we’re from Virginmedia and someone has been on your internet and if you don’t do x and y then your internet will be cut off,” one, I said “thank you very much, tell you what, I’ll call Virginmedia back directly ,” at which point he said, “tell you what, fuck off.”

Somehow I don’t think that “must possess a good telephone manner,” is one of the essential job criteria for scam caller.

I've stopped answering any landline calls that don't have a local area code. They're inevitably a scam call. Mostly it's the "your internet is slow" variety, but there are probably others.
Yeah, if they start getting annoyed then then it's very likely they're a scammer.