Odd phonecall

[Dr Lobster*]

last night, my mobile phone rang with this number 01642 734000, and when i picked it up, it hung up, so i called it back and got the generic bt announcement 'the number you have dialed has not been recongnised, please check and try again'

i've tried from my mobile and a landline, and it won't work. anybody ever had this happend to them, and anybody have any ideas who owns that number?

the dialing code seems to be for middlesbrough, and i know nobody from that part of the world has my number

[marksi]

A company that does not want to give out their number via Caller Display can have a different number displayed. Carphone Warehouse do this - if an individual phones you from their direct-line extension, it's the main Carphone Warehouse number that is displayed, not the actual number of their phone.

In your case the cold-calling-call-centre has displayed the wrong number. It could be a genuine mistake or they might want to hide their identity for some reason.

[Nick Harvey]

If it helps, it's a number allocated to NTL in Middlebrough. This is the allocation table.

[Gavin Scott]

last night, my mobile phone rang with this number 01642 734000, and when i picked it up, it hung up, so i called it back and got the generic bt announcement 'the number you have dialed has not been recongnised, please check and try again'

i've tried from my mobile and a landline, and it won't work. anybody ever had this happend to them, and anybody have any ideas who owns that number?

the dialing code seems to be for middlesbrough, and i know nobody from that part of the world has my number

As Marksi has said, this is likely to be a cold-calling exercise from a company who prefer you not to call them back.

The practice is for these companies to initiate up to 5 calls simultaneously and whoever answers first gets the salesman. The rest are disconnected.

It is an apalling practice and should be banned. It wastes time of both private phone users as well as businesses.

Register your mobile with the Telephone Preference Service, and if the calls continue after 30 days of your registration, call the TPS and report it.

[Dr Lobster*]

thank you very much for your replies everyone - i can confirm that particular number is a vodafone customer service centre. it rang again this morning (about an hour after i made that post), i answered it and there was silence for a good 20 seconds before somebody started talking to me about my current contract (which expires in april) and whether i was happy with the service.

it is annoying that the company doesn't accept calls on that number, even a recorded 'this vodafone customer services, please call.....' would suffice, just to let folk know who is trying to contact them.

to be honest, i dont think any regular consumers should be able to hide the number they dial from.

only services where confidentially is needed, such as a gp practice, hospital, and charities offering councilling etc etc should be allowed to hide their number, it pisses me off when people call me from their mobiles and they have their numbers hidden - it's annoying to the point where i won't answer the call anymore if i don't know whos calling me.

[Gavin Scott]

I too dislike people who hide their number, but unfortunately our head office PBX (private branch exchange) telephone system sometimes shows up as a "withheld number" so I feel obliged to answer them. It should show our main switchboard number, and the phone provider is as puzzled as we are.

We NEVER cold call, however.

[Dr Lobster*]

I too dislike people who hide their number, but unfortunately our head office PBX (private branch exchange) telephone system sometimes shows up as a "withheld number" so I feel obliged to answer them. It should show our main switchboard number, and the phone provider is as puzzled as we are.

We NEVER cold call, however.

i have experienced this before; i used to be responsible for the phone system at a place i used to work, and we found that sometimes when you called somebody it would come up with the 'reception' number, and at othertimes it would come up as 'withheld'

it turned out, if i remember correctly, the company had a bunch of new isdn lines installed for the lines out, and the newer ones were setup differently. i honestly can't remember if it was setup at the bt exchange differently, or the pbx, but i have memories of a chap coming out with a laptop for some reason to that out (and the fax line keep dropping out).

[Jamez]

I always refuse to answer "Withheld" numbers on my mobile phone. Unless I'm expecting a call from a bank, company etc. that day, I won't answer them.

[Gareth]

The company I worked for over the summer had a similary complicated telephone system. All our direct lines used the London HQ's 020767 prefix and then our internal extension. Great plan, apart from we were sat in an office in Manchester, provoking rather strange responses from local (Manchester) companies!

When you rang out though the number displayed was a 0161 City Centre number which did nothing if you rang it.

This system did cause strange confusion but meant that your phone number could be moved to any UK office if you moved.

Gareth

[Nick Harvey]

I always refuse to answer "Withheld" numbers on my mobile phone.

But that doesn't cost them for a wasted call, therefore no fun.

Answer the call, but put your best radio presenter voice on and say "The telephone you have called does not respond to anonymous calls, please redial, either omitting the 141 or adding 1470 before the dialled number. You have been charged to listen to this announcement."

[Aston]

Same where I work, no matter what phone extention you phone out from it says "Private" number, so I always have to answer in case it's work.

It's possible to get the switchboard number displayed if you dial "1470" before the number you are calling, but I never do that when calling people, it's too much hastle...