No Caller ID nightmare

#1

Hey guys! I was wondering if this has happened to any of you before:

I got a call yesterday from “No Caller ID”. Usually I ignore or reject these calls. In this instance I chose to reject by hitting dismiss.

To my surprise, No Caller ID immediately started calling again. Reject. Repeat. Reject. Repeat. This happened about 5 times. Obviously this is some sort of system at play. I’ll spare you the details, but I answered on the sixth time and lost my shit a bit.

In the conversation, I failed to get the name of the company or what they do, but I’m keen to chase up on this for a story.

If you can’t even reject cold calls, this is going to be a nightmare.

Has this happened to anyone here? Seeing as this is the second time in a month that this has happened (the last time I ignored the call after the second time and it eventually stopped), I suspect it will happen again.

2 Likes
#2

if they call a second time i answer and put phone next to me, ignoring them.
Or if you’re feeling particularly bored, answer the call, chat to them for 30 seconds and then just say “can you hold on for 1 second, i just need to do something quick”. then proceed to place phone next to you and continue your day.

2 Likes
#3

Turn the conversation around. Ask them for their name, full name. The company name, the company’s address. The company phone number. Ask for their company registration number, ask for their VAT number, ask for their National Credit Regulator number. Then ask them to explain (only after they’ve given you the full pedigree, and really insist on it) the nature of the call. Ask them to repeat the reason for calling you. Now ask where they got this specific number from, insist that under the POPI act that you are making a request for information. Very important to use “POPI act” and “request for information”

this by the way :

POPI authorises data subjects to request access to the personal information held by a responsible party, as well as the amendment and deletion of such information under certain circumstances. Responsible parties are obliged, if so requested, to provide confirmation free of charge to data subjects that they hold their personal information, to provide a description of the personal information in question and to confirm the identity of all third parties or the categories of third parties who have received their personal information.

Any such request from a data subject must be complied with –

  • within a reasonable time;
  • at a prescribed fee (may be levied before the actual record or description of the personal information is made available to the data subject);
  • in a reasonable manner and format; and
  • in a form that is generally understandable.

Then kindly ask them to delete all your personally identifiable information from their system. Request a copy of the current telephone conversation. Stay on the phone and keep insisting on the above.

8 Likes
#4

Thanks to trucaller, I still get these but it ignores it automatically for me. But it has gone done in frequency, I got them a lot last year tho - drove me insane

Screenshot_20190405-085007
Screenshot_20190405-085007.jpg1080×2160 338 KB

2 Likes
#5

I’m not even joking, under POPI if you make a request for your information they have to comply within a reasonable timeframe (which by default is 31 days unless otherwise indicated) and you can actually push for legal action against them. But in order to push legal action you need the company name and some other details, which is why you ask for it right at the beginning of the call

3 Likes
#6

I need to keep a printout next to me for that. I always forget the questions

#7

I put the phone on silent on leave it.

#8

“a certain Sandton based insurance company” got a fat letter from a lawyer because they chose to ignore my “subject access request”;

The settlement (which was not monetary and pretty moot now) does not allow them or any of their subsidiary companies to contact me unless I specifically authorised them to by explicitly contacting them.

3 Likes
#9

I use truecaller and reject any no id numbers and any know spam callers

#10

I use Truecaller and add numbers to the block list all the time.

But this No ID REFUSED to be rejected. If you shut it down, they call back within seconds, as if the call never stopped. It was infuriating.

#11

Lots of robot callers or systems will actually note if you answer and if you talk even better it will then add you to a database for future calls, one of the recent John Oliver shows on YouTube discussed how this is becoming a plague

#12

My simple solution

  • Switched to Rain data only sim (using original number for whatsapp, everyone I know calls via whatsapp)
  • Spammers hit a blank number
#13

My favourite call at the moment is the political parties spamming me non stop (pity it is all recordings)

and a useful way to deal with other idiots:

Any Telemarketer: “Hello! I would like to talk to you about—“ begins sales pitch

Me: “But we have hardwood floors.”

Any Telemarketer: “But this isn’t about hardwood floors.”

Me: “But we have hardwood floors.”

Any Telemarketer: “But this isn’t about…”

Me: “But we have hardwood floors.”

(Lather, rinse, repeat, until they hang up.)

3 Likes
#14

Thats not how they start the call :smiley:
They start by saying “Hi there! How are you doing today?”
To which I always reply “i’m fine”. This is always immediately followed by “im fine, thanks for asking!” to which i hastily respond with “I didn’t ask you.”
This always confuses the lowly telemarketer as they realise their script reading isn’t getting off to a good start :smiley:

yes i’m an asshole

2 Likes
#15

I usually just put the phone down and let them talk to the air.
When Im in a good mood I’ll grace them with my acapella version of Men in Black.

1 Like
#16

Android usually has a built-in feature that you can enable to automatically block no number calls

1 Like