Call from Windows Service Centre

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

On 7/26/2013 5:33 AM, Michael Swift wrote: []
Caller display is worth every penny, International or Out of area, lift
and drop, number withheld are a bit more difficult as we do have calls
from these and they have a valid reason for it.


Actually they don't have a valid reason, if you stopped to think about
it.

Some hospitals and doctor's surgeries use CLI-withheld - would you
consider that valid?

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their
number when they call. If THEY block their number WHAT give them the
right to expect you to answer the phone?

They might be calling with something _you_ want - test results, for
example, in the case of a medical source. If you make it difficult for
them to reach you, it's not their fault if you don't get the important
information (such as "go to the cardiac unit NOW").

(OK, you can expand this particular situation with what they should do
next, and so on - but the fact remains that there are valid reasons to
withhold CLI, and you might still want - or need - to receive calls from
such lines/people.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Hofstadter's Law:
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law
into
account.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <[email protected]>, John

the bloody scamming cold calling vermin. If I have to fill in a
telephone number on a webpage (like a bank or Amazon) I use a fake
number that can not possibly be real but that passes their validation.

[]
I open a separate browser tab, and poke around on their site until I
find one of their own numbers (sometimes quite difficult!), and use
that.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Hofstadter's Law:
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into
account.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

He does have one in his outhouse but it is a payphone.

I've just mentioned "spending a penny" in a similar context in another
newsgroup!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Hofstadter's Law:
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law
into
account.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

choro <[email protected]>: []
I remember once having to get up from the dinner table where roast beef
was just being served to answer just one such call.

That would never happen here.

That would never happen where?--

It would never happen in this house. A phone call from a stranger
wouldn't make anyone feel that they "had to" do anything, and certainly
not leave the dinner table.

Yes, but unless you have a speaking CLI-interpreter (such things exist,
though I wish I could find some stock of the one I've got which can be
preloaded with short speech clips [it seems to be obsolete]), how would
you _know_ it's from a stranger?

Also, roast beef has never been served here.

Religious or cost reasons, or you just don't like the taste? (Not too
keen on it myself, though I like a steak.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Hofstadter's Law:
It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take Hofstadter's Law
into
account.

 

[Ken Blake]

On 28/07/2013 03:28, Iceman wrote:
All the "Windows" calls I get are from India. Sometimes the English
isn't bad, sometimes atrocious.

I've never gotten one of these calls myself, but I've heard from many
others that the callers always have an Indian accent.

 

[Percival P. Cassidy]

On 7/26/2013 5:33 AM, Michael Swift wrote: []
Caller display is worth every penny, International or Out of area, lift
and drop, number withheld are a bit more difficult as we do have calls
from these and they have a valid reason for it.


Actually they don't have a valid reason, if you stopped to think about
it.

Some hospitals and doctor's surgeries use CLI-withheld - would you
consider that valid?

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their
number when they call. If THEY block their number WHAT give them the
right to expect you to answer the phone?

When I was a volunteer for a health-care-related organization
(non-profit) and needed to schedule visits using my home phone, I did as
we were instructed -- blocked our outgoing caller ID so that we couldn't
get clients/patients calling us at home: they had to go through the
organization's "filtering" system.

Perce

 

[Bob Henson]

In our benighted country you'd probably be charged with racially
motivated something or other.

We certainly have the same problem - I was going to add "in spades" - but
that bridge reference would probably earn me the same fate! :-(

 

[Ken Blake]

Years ago, I called Citibank customer service when they had moved their
call center to India. The girl on the other end was sleepy, and her
accent was so thick I could barely understand. She did not either. I
requested a card sent to me, she canceled it instead. I gave a piece of
my mind to Citibank in writing, in the hope they still read letters in
the US. Not long later they moved operations back domestically. So much
for India's English

I've known several people here in the USA who were from India. And
I've heard several others give talks, classes, etc.

Some of them spoke with heavy accents, and were hard to understand.
But others spoke very clearly and I had no trouble understanding them.

So my point is that it's fine to complain about an individual when
that complaint is justified, butt it's never fair to complain about
everybody who comes from a particular country.

 

[Wolf K]

He does have one in his outhouse but it is a payphone.

And a tissue dispenser, too, at 25 cents a time.

Hah!

 

[choro]

I've known several people here in the USA who were from India. And
I've heard several others give talks, classes, etc.

Some of them spoke with heavy accents, and were hard to understand.
But others spoke very clearly and I had no trouble understanding them.

So my point is that it's fine to complain about an individual when
that complaint is justified, butt it's never fair to complain about
everybody who comes from a particular country.

And if I may butt in, I agree that a lot of customer services based in
India leave a lot to be desired pronunciation wise but most of them are
quite helpful. On the other hand I heard an Indian professor talk on a
topic, I can't remember what now, and his English was probably the most
lucid I ever heard. He had a way with words putting across his point of
view in perfect English. More so than any British or American I ever
heard on television.

Yes of course one must resist the temptation to generalize. But where
customer services are concerned, do we ever spare a moment to think
about how much these people get paid and how much can be expected of
such poorly paid personnel. In the end if companies who transfer their
customer services to such countries as India, they would get far better
qualified personnel. So don't blame the Indians, is what I say.

 

[Mitch Bujard]

In our benighted country you'd probably be charged with racially
motivated something or other.

So because the girl was from India, pointing out that she was unable to
help and actually mishandled my demand would be considered racist ?
This goes beyond politically correct. It is downright abuse

Mitch

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

He does have one in his outhouse but it is a payphone.

Yes. And here I sit, broken hearted - paid a nickel and got a wrong
number.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Oh, I was thinking you had a phone in your outhouse

As others already hinted in this thread before I got back online, I just
carry a cordless phone with me wherever I go.

"Go", of course, only in the sense of "travel".

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Who doesn't? (Are you American? That usage seems characteristically
American to me.)

To be fair, Iceman *did* say "Such as East European? African?"...but you
snipped it.

He would have done better to say "foreign accent", but I have made worse
mistakes.

OTOH, now that I think for a moment, I realize that a British accent
(any one of them) is a foreign accent to me. As an American accent would
be to any of those British speakers...

 

[Bob I]

In message <[email protected]>, Bob I <[email protected]>
writes:


On 7/26/2013 5:33 AM, Michael Swift wrote:
[]
Caller display is worth every penny, International or Out of area,
lift
and drop, number withheld are a bit more difficult as we do have calls
from these and they have a valid reason for it.


Actually they don't have a valid reason, if you stopped to think about
it.

Some hospitals and doctor's surgeries use CLI-withheld - would you
consider that valid?

Pretty simple, IF they want you to talk to them, THEY unblock their
number when they call. If THEY block their number WHAT give them the
right to expect you to answer the phone?

When I was a volunteer for a health-care-related organization
(non-profit) and needed to schedule visits using my home phone, I did as
we were instructed -- blocked our outgoing caller ID so that we couldn't
get clients/patients calling us at home: they had to go through the
organization's "filtering" system.

Simple enough for them to run you through their phone system if they
actually cared about their volunteers and clients.

 

[Michael Swift]

So because the girl was from India, pointing out that she was unable to help
and actually mishandled my demand would be considered racist ? This
goes beyond politically correct. It is downright abuse

I agree entirely but I suspect if a complaint was made that would be the
outcome.

Mike

 

[Lee Waun]

Yes. And here I sit, broken hearted - paid a nickel and got a wrong
number.

Just a nickel. I wish.....

In this country a payphone call is 50 cents and the phone companies want to
increase it to a dollar. Here in Canada anyways.

 

[Steve Hayes]

Yes of course one must resist the temptation to generalize. But where
customer services are concerned, do we ever spare a moment to think
about how much these people get paid and how much can be expected of
such poorly paid personnel. In the end if companies who transfer their
customer services to such countries as India, they would get far better
qualified personnel. So don't blame the Indians, is what I say.

No, one should not blame the Indians. One should blame the originator of the
stupid idea of "outsourcing", and the company concerned for accepting and
applying it.

If they are not prepared to answer questions about the products or services
they provide, they've no business being in business.

 

[John]

In message <[email protected]>, John

the bloody scamming cold calling vermin. If I have to fill in a
telephone number on a webpage (like a bank or Amazon) I use a fake
number that can not possibly be real but that passes their validation.

[]
I open a separate browser tab, and poke around on their site until I
find one of their own numbers (sometimes quite difficult!), and use
that.

That, Sir, is not only cruel it is quite funny.
It's sort of like sending all that paper-copy junk mail back to the
sender in their pre-paid envelopes, only slightly more subtle. I like
the idea. Thanks.
J.
p.s.: now why didn't *I* think of that one? I usually come up with the
nasty stuff quite easily. It comes of being a slightly un-nice person
I think.

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Just a nickel. I wish.....

In this country a payphone call is 50 cents and the phone companies want to
increase it to a dollar. Here in Canada anyways.

I was quoting )more properly, misquoting) a slightly off-color rhyme of
my father's generation. Back then it *was* a nickel.