Company calls to tell me I was in an accident..very worrying

[thinfourth2]

jondude said:

...but I felt duty bound to tell my insurance company..

Bye bye no claims bonus

[jondude]

thinfourth2 said:

jondude said:

...but I felt duty bound to tell my insurance company..

Bye bye no claims bonus

That meant give them my mobile no as a contact number, not bring up this fake accident.

But again, you have a good point. I am not going to ask my insurers if they passed on details, as they may start asking me about 'an accident you say you were in'????

[unimatrix1066]

A lot of these companies are ringing around like this , they will push everyone's premiums up .
If you suspect they are ringing up trying to drum up business report them to the insurance regulator!

[Danesgate]

I have a blackberry issued to me through work.

My employer did not log the mobile number when it was issued to me, and no one in the firm knows the number.

I ONLY use it for work emails, have never used it as a mobile phone.

I still get a couple of calls a week on it telling me that I am due money back on PPI (I have never taken out PPI on anything, ever) or compensation for an accident.

[Who me ?]

Best thing to do is delete these calls. ON one hand these calls are looking for a response, on the other ,if you respond to unsubscribe - that's another live number to add to the database, or should that be scambase .

[Smart Mart]

They also seem to have got craftier with the little tick boxes at the bottom of online forms.

I'm sure some forms you need to tick to NOT get the spam through while others, you're ticking the box to agree to it arriving in your inbox. The two different outcomes confuddle people and hence you end up with a torrent of spam.

[Pontoneer]

mmm-five said:

It's a cold sales call from one of the fake whiplash claim companies, who've been sold your data from one of the comparison websites or your insurance company.

I get a couple a week by text, email, phone. Just tell them to FOOK OFF!

I also report the number to my mobile operator who then puts them on their spam/scam database.

Another slightly more sinister notion is that this could be a ploy used by some insurers to find out if a policyholder has had an accident they have not disclosed .

[supersport]

I had one of these text messages last week, I was amazed that after suffering such severe brain injuries that neither I or my wife could remember the accident that we were only offered a paltry £2908.52!

[Dracoro]

Smart Mart said:

They also seem to have got craftier with the little tick boxes at the bottom of online forms.

I'm sure some forms you need to tick to NOT get the spam through while others, you're ticking the box to agree to it arriving in your inbox. The two different outcomes confuddle people and hence you end up with a torrent of spam.

There are certain legal requirements surrounding this. Some require the user to explicitly opt IN (i.e. they must tick/untick the box but the default must be to not receive marketing etc.) and some are opt OUT (i.e the default can be that they get the marketing.

I can't remember which contact types (phone/e-mail/sms etc.) or marketing types are which but I recall that 3rd party contact MUST be opt-IN (I "think" for all contact types). I think 3rd party rules are different to their own contact rules (i.e. have to opt-IN to 3rd party but can just allow opt-OUT for their own contact with you).

Whichever it is, read (properly!)the tickboxes at the bottom of forms and tick/untick as appropriate. Many people "rush" and think ticking is always opt-OUT rather than opt-IN (or vice versa) and end up not getting it right.

Edited by Dracoro on Monday 30th July 09:25

[jondude]

unimatrix1066 said:

A lot of these companies are ringing around like this , they will push everyone's premiums up .
If you suspect they are ringing up trying to drum up business report them to the insurance regulator!

Was thinking of doing this but it turns out the address and number I demanded of their Head Office is fake, and the number was withheld on my mobile. I think they only tell the truth when they can hear they are going to get some business - terrible ethics.

[Red Devil]

jondude said:

Was thinking of doing this but it turns out the address and number I demanded of their Head Office is fake, and the number was withheld on my mobile. I think they only tell the truth when they can hear they are going to get some business - terrible ethics.

I never answer any call where the number is withheld. If the caller is genuine they will leave a voicemail message. I get to choose how and when to respond.

If a number does come up and it turns out to be one of these pests I simply put the phone down and carry on with whatever I was doing leaving them floundering. Listening to background noise is a very unrewarding experience so they will soon find someone else to annoy.

Text messages filling up your inbox are a pain but difficult to stop. Just delete them and get on with your life.

[j4ckos mate]

I'm getting a lot of these callls myself
And my wife,
We are X directory and anonymous caller reject, seem to get through the spam caller app on my phone as well

All of them insist I've got 2000 waiting for me and encourage me to make a claim for an injury I simply never had.
They also said the other party is claiming off me as well
(Rear end slow shunt in a car park, not my fault)

Driving me mad.

[Pete317]

As I'm very particular as to who I give my number to, I never answer any number that I don't recognise. If they really need to contact me then there's nothing to stop them from leaving a message.

[750turbo]

Old thread is very old...

[pits]

dingg said:

I always tick the box for no contact, use of my details etc etc

and never get any calls - reason being I just change the last couple of digits on my phone numbers - guess someone gets the nuisance calls though

Just 07010101010 always gets accepted when I use it.

[Who me ?]

I always feel sorry for whoever has 01234567890 - as that's the number I use on on line quotes. If I accept a quote, I give the broker the correct number ,with a rider that it's ONLY for problems.Any marketing calls will result in a complaint.

[grumpyscot]

I used to get unwanted calls from an Edinburgh number about solar panels which my Truecall intercepted. That's the number I now put down on the internet and just 00000s when a mobile number is needed. Only exception is my bank, which gets my real number and is so, so good at detecting potentially fraudulent transactions, so checks via text if it's a genuine transaction (they default to fake).