What do you do when you get a call from a private call

[Muddle200]

I tend to ignore it

I always answer, it's usually a medical call or my DC who is a Dr and always has their phone on with hold.

I hate phone calls so am likely to ignore it. I used to get a lot of calls for some bloke I'd never heard of, so I assume they're for him usually 😁

I'm not currently seeing the gp for anything and my dentist uses a recognised number.

I'll answer if there's a reason to expect a call from some other party.

The last time I had one it was the police. I had been the victim of a crime and it was relating to that.

I just put names by all the people and companies that might contact me like the dentist hairdresser, doctors so it doesn't get sent to voicemail on the block unknown callers.

Calls come into my landline which has no screen or number shown so I would not know if it were a withheld call!

I decline all calls from withheld numbers, and from numbers that my phone does not recognise.
If it's important they will phone again...

Anyone with elderly relatives or children probably would have to answer calls as they could be more important and from strangers

This...only my gp or hospital rings on private... other scam numbers are usually visible.

we answered the phone as there was not the same number of scams and telesales
Most people that rang in 1980 were genuine
Most people that ring now are sales or scams

Generally (not always) spam calls have numbers attached. Withheld/private calls are more likely to be schools/medical/police etc. I always pick up because they rarely leave a message for privacy reasons (as stated by PP) and even if they do, it can be an absolute nightmare to call them back and get through to the right dept/person.

I’m healthcare and this is a HUGE problem for the service I work in, with people not answering. We’re not allowed to leave a voicemail for privacy reasons. Our organization phones dial out as “unknown” and our work phones HAVE to be on private number (sometimes shows as withheld). I have a system I can text off but it’s time consuming and doesn’t always reach patients. Our service has a wait list so often people are not expecting our call. But if it’s a call to follow up on a letter based appointment or a missed appointment - our policy is to attempt contact a few times then remove from the waitlist.

Personally knowing this, and having kids under some complex care teams, I always advise people answer and can always hang up.

As others have said above, people calling me to “upsell” now nearly all used display numbers.

Well, my phone is always on silent, so I wouldn't hear it anyway.
But if I have the phone in my hand, and it's not a saved & recognisable number (eg "Bob" "Garage" "XY Restaurant") then I don't answer. I would never answer when I don't know who is calling.

I'm not frightened of calls, I just don't want to waste my time on nonsense or nuisance calls.
I'm nearly 60 years old, and I'm so glad of this tech coz it was a pain when we always used to answer (ie had no choice). And my GP has never called me in my entire life, so can't imagine that would ever happen.

If there wasn't so many nefarious people about there wouldn't be a problem with people not wanting to answer calls as they would mainly be genuine so not scammers and time wasters.

I always answer no matter what the number is.
I can always hang up if it's a scammer but that depends on if I want to have some fun first.

I never answer unless I'm expecting a call from a doctors

For us, it is either the police, school or GP surgery so always answer.

Obviously I answer it.

I pretend it’s 1977 and answer - I refrain from saying Abingdon 20478 though.

If I don’t want to deal with the caller I say ‘Not today thank you, please don’t call again’ in my best, firm, 60 year old voice.

I answer everything that doesn't come up as Scam / Spam on my mobile. Easy enough just to hang up again on anything that I'm not interested in.

I don’t answer ‘No caller ID’ numbers.

I answer the phone regardless.

I always answer 'no caller id' numbers and any that say 'private number'. I can't risk the possibility that they might be from the hospital or CAMHS or, occasionally, one of my children's schools. I don't answer calls from numbers not in my contacts list, unless I'm expecting a call.

I always answer. I get phone calls for work, could be anyone who needs me. Scammers, I just hang up. It’s obvious!