Page 2 | Test and trace - ridiculous phone calls

Beendownthisroadmorethantwice · 2021-07-07T14:37:56+00:00

Just come back from a holiday and self isolating (day 5 test done and due tomorrow). However while I get they may need to contact and check you’re at home - between me and DH we have now received 9 calls from t&t since Monday. Always with the same script - taking ten minutes each time. Questions are irrelevant and aren’t whether we are at home etc, Wibu to tell them to stop calling twice a day when we are trying to get on with work.

HollowTalk · 07/07/2021 18:06

Oh god, I'm expecting this next week as my son and his wife are coming back into this country to live. Do they insist on a landline? Surely if they called a mobile then the person could be anywhere?

FenceSplinters · 07/07/2021 18:06

When I had Covid, I ended up blocking the number and I was getting several phone calls a day, and I could barely talk! I don’t even have the app any more as we told to delete it at work.

ALongHardWinter · 07/07/2021 18:44

I'm a bit puzzled as to how calling your mobile phone confirms you are at home! You could be anywhere.

Original poster

Beendownthisroadmorethantwice · 07/07/2021 19:16

@HollowTalk nope it’s our mobiles. It’s ridiculous. Unless I was at say Wembley right now - how they can expect to tell the difference I don’t know!

OP posts:

HeyDemonsItsYaGirl · 07/07/2021 23:28

ALongHardWinter The purpose isn't to check you're at home, at such. They didn't actually ask me at any point where I was. They just read out a script reminding you of isolation rules... over and over again, exactly the same.

Helenluvsrob · 07/07/2021 23:37

When my ds was ill ( in his own flat , he’s an adult ) I had t&t call the home landline to ask if he was there - durrrr he’s isolating in his own home ….and then did I know why he wasn’t answering his phone.

Umm let me guess … cos he’s actually quite unwell and asleep probably !

maddening · 08/07/2021 00:07

Friend of friend was tracked to a golf course when they had come back from Portugal, they met them back at their home and fined then £5k, God knows how they knew but apparently the conversation was " where are you" "at home " "no we know you are at x golf club, meet us at your home address in 30 mins".

MinervaMcGonagall45 · 08/07/2021 08:12

God knows how they knew

Neighbours or someone at the golf club will have reported them.

Original poster

Beendownthisroadmorethantwice · 08/07/2021 08:20

@maddening who was it that got in touch with them? The police or someone else? Wonder how they knew - I assume someone must have reported them.

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maddening · 08/07/2021 08:42

Goodness knows how they knew!

ElaineMarieBenes · 08/07/2021 09:18

We got ripped off and never received our test kits. I told the t&t caller I couldn’t answer their questions until this was sorted (day 3). I never received another call - though DH did (he didn’t listen as such as it’s so tedious)!

ChainJane · 08/07/2021 09:27

Just don't answer the phone, don't answer the door. You're only breaking the law if you go out. They have to prove you have gone out, you don't have to prove you haven't.

Walkerbean16 · 08/07/2021 09:58

we have 4 kids, we all tested positive I had a separate phone call for each of us asking the same questions three times each. so 20 phonecalls altogether. I did say each time I have already answered all these, why can't one person call per family but no

Walkerbean16 · 08/07/2021 09:58

sorry fifteen calls! I

dentydown · 08/07/2021 10:16

My father was discharged from hospital with covid. We all had to isolate. Track and trace wouldn’t speak to him, they wanted to speak to me. They told me to “make sure he understands that he wasn’t to pop out to the shops”. After the third time I had to rudely say “well that isn’t going to happen he’s disabled and bed bound”!

rainbowunicorn · 08/07/2021 10:16

Why do people actually comply with this. It is as if the public have lost all common sense over the last year or so.

Answer the phone to them once. Answer their questions on that occasion and then don't answer again.

I just don't understand why people are putting up with it.

If they persist block the number. Surely on either a mobile or landline you have it programmed to say the name of the person calling you if it is someone you know. If it rings with a number you don't recognise then just ignore it.

cochineal7 · 09/07/2021 08:03

DH had same experience. Calls every single day. First two days with wrong information about not needing the Day 8 test (as if he came from green country instead of amber). Doorstepped within 12 hours of arriving back. And really bad thing is: the guy at the door had no ID or badge or anything!

Minfilia · 09/07/2021 08:44

Can’t you just answer the next phone call with…

“Let me save you some time, we understand the isolation rules and don’t want to listen to the same script again. We returned for the UK on XX and continue to receive negative tests. Thank you for your call, bye!”

StripyHorse · 09/07/2021 08:56

Day 2 would be in your benefit though if you had developed covid by then though as your isolation wouldn't be extended as much - day 2 would lead to a 12 day isolation, day 8 would be an 18 day isolation.

Youdiditanyway · 09/07/2021 09:00

My Mum deleted the app because they kept calling her when she walked to the end of her garden, they thought she’d left her home to go somewhere because her garden is quite sizeable… Ditto when she took her bins out. She didn’t even have covid, she had 2 negative tests and she’d already had covid about 2 months prior so it was completely ridiculous.

Youdiditanyway · 09/07/2021 09:00

It’s all very black mirror.

Original poster

Beendownthisroadmorethantwice · 09/07/2021 09:03

@rainbowunicorn

Why do people actually comply with this. It is as if the public have lost all common sense over the last year or so.

Answer the phone to them once. Answer their questions on that occasion and then don't answer again.

I just don't understand why people are putting up with it.

If they persist block the number. Surely on either a mobile or landline you have it programmed to say the name of the person calling you if it is someone you know. If it rings with a number you don't recognise then just ignore it.

Because of my paranoia at getting a £10k fine!

OP posts:

lagerandblack · 09/07/2021 09:06

Rainbowunicorn I totally agree, although I wouldnt even answer the phone once. They would have to work harder than a phone call to make sure I was isolating.
I cannot fathom why people are tolerating this.

GaspGulpScream · 09/07/2021 09:08

I had the same plus a house visit, pain in the arse
The other side of the coin is that they'd be criticised if they did nothing I suppose

Sandinmyknickers · 09/07/2021 09:09

@maddening

Friend of friend was tracked to a golf course when they had come back from Portugal, they met them back at their home and fined then £5k, God knows how they knew but apparently the conversation was " where are you" "at home " "no we know you are at x golf club, meet us at your home address in 30 mins".

Well that 'friend of a friend' sounds like an entitled wanker