New irritating thresh hold reached

[Xairbusdriver]

[rant]I've had several of these lately. And I'm already tired of listening.

We have caller ID, Call Waiting and Voice Mail, among other services. We are not 'hard to reach' if you are a friend or a known business. However, we simply will not answer the phone if we are in the middle of something important; family discussion, showering, at the dinner table, don't see a called ID or recognize the don't want to speak to the caller for our own reasons.

None of the above prevents the caller from leaving a message. And we conscientiously check the phone when returning home for any messages. If we want to ignore the caller, we make sure it's intentional not accidental!

So, my wife (I assume), gets a call this morning about an organization she works with. As a matter of fact, she is away for a week in DC at the National Headquarters of that organization and is very busy while there. I decided to let the call go to Voice Mail and text her about it later. A couple of minutes later, the same info shows up in Caller ID. OK, maybe this is important, at least to the caller, i'll explain that my wife is out-of-town and possibly an email would be a better way to contact her, maybe even a text! I pick up the phone and all I hear is a recording (by a non to sophisticated, computer generated 'voice' saying that there is a "text to landline" message from number "987148752379823408508" (OK, probably not that long...)! I hung up shortly after that.

If you have an important concern for me and I don't answer the phone, leave a message, your own voice will be fine, actually best!. I can then tell better how important the message is by listening to your voice for tones and inflections, even actual WORDS that help me identify not only the messages importance but also your frame of mind! Aural communication is a terrible thing to lose. I'm just not interested in 'hearing' your text message converted into a computer 'voice,' thank you very much. [/rant]

The whole concept of converting a text message into a 'voice' phone call seems counter intuitive, not to mention inefficient and irritating. Seems a little bit of 'self-importance' showing up on the part of the user, in my humble opinion, also.

OK, I now have my Flame-Retardant suit on and I'm ready to hear how marvelous this technology is... for someone (everyone) else.

[gunug]

I'm sure that this "must" have been covered the clauses of my Thanksgiving prayer that I not get this kind of phone call.  I've already got far to many calls (in pseudo-english) from "Microsoft" tech support saying there is something wrong with my computer and the car extended warranty calls; I have no more time for other calls!

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

I've already got far to many calls (in pseudo-english) from "Microsoft" tech support saying there is something wrong with my computer

But that is a valid call, John! There is something wrong! You are not running Windows!!! As for those extended warranties, I feel it is your duty to help the economy by keeping those companies in business! Buy two... or more! But wait! If you call now...

[Xairbusdriver]

Apparently, our British cousins have had this "feature" for quite a while. I found this link that supposedly stops this nonsense if you use BT. Haven't found anything similar for the USoA. Seems "Bell" in Canada has a "Call Privacy" system, I'm sure there's a similar system to the south). It's free but one is limited to blocking 12 numbers! If it were that few, who would care?!

[gunug]

I tried telling them on one call that all of my computers used Linux and MAC OS X but it made no difference; hanging up is the only solution!  

[Paddy]

Jim, it's possible (though I'm not 100% sure) that the caller didn't realize that the number he/she was trying to reach your wife on was actually a landline. In Canada, if you send a text to a landline it automatically does the text to speech thing and there is no charge for it. In the US there may be a charge for it - some sort of warning/authorization thingy pops up after you hit send - at least with Verizon, from what I can tell.

Call blocking is an add-on feature of most landline plans in Canada AFAIK. I just added it for a month to my Rogers landline here (they gave it to me free for a month) because I'm getting harassed daily by….BELL!!! The last twit who called, who I told in no uncertain terms to stop calling, proceeded to argue with me. I asked to speak to his supervisor. He said "no" and continued yelling at ME. Needless to say, I then tried to call Bell, but the only number I could find other than the office of the VP was a regular customer service number and I got one of those singularly unhelpful types who never deviates from her script. She kept saying "sorry for the inconvenience ma'am" until I was about ready to strangle her. She did say she'd remove me from their internal list, but when I told her that I thought that corporate should be made aware of the awful behaviour of their call centre employees (probably in India, judging by the accents - calling from what I can only surmise is a spoofed Florida number) she only suggested that I try the online feedback form. Yeah, like that's going anywhere. I will endeavor to hunt out a contact farther up the foodchain. The hilarious ending to that call? Again, sticking like glue to her trusty script "Thank you for using Bell" she says! (This, after I'd told her that I was never going to become a Bell customer!!) In the mean time, I called Rogers to ask about call blocking (not trusting Bell) and had the usual great experience with their customer service people. Say what you may about Robbers as we call them - they DO, in my experience, hire good CS reps who (a)speak English well (ie: aren't in India) (b)mostly seem to have a good sense of humour and finally, aren't afraid to deviate from some idiotic script.

So that's my little story about nuisance telemarketing calls and call blocking in Canada.

BTW - there are some newer phones that have it built in, so you don't have to pay your phone company extra for the feature. I need to look in the manual for ours to see if it has it (I doubt it does, but I should check!).

[Highmac]

BT has all sorts of services like call blocking, caller display, etc, but most come at extra monthly cost. Our phone displays the caller's number and, if it's in its directory, the name. If it shows as "Unknown" it's usually from an offshore number. If it shows "withheld" it's generally in the UK. I don't answer any withheld or unknown number. Just let it ring and it diverts to the recorder. Very often there's just the click of the call being disconnected but if someone starts to speak you can decide whether to pick up.

For those who want chapter and verse, the unwanted calls section of the BT help pages. Lots more help pages if you've nothing better to do

Last time I had a gripe with BT I ended up using the CEO's email address and found myself dealing with a dedicated team who, it seems, were authorised to do whatever it took, within reason, to solve the problem and pacify the customer. It worked for me as action was taken and they knocked a useful chunk off my next monthly bill as compensation.

On numbering, all mobile numbers in the UK start 07; landline numbers start 01 or 02, though callers from outside the UK (+44) omit the 0 in all cases.

[Xairbusdriver]

I suspect the problem is the automatic conversion function. Will deal with it, I guess. At least it doesn't cost the recipient anything, which a text message would (unless you have a 'no-charge' plan... which costs more, anyway. ). I'm just not sure the calls are "accidentally" sent to the landline. Call me paranoid or just plain irritated with unwanted calls. Just don't call me on my landline via a text!

Neil, I think the airlines must have hired some ex-phone company workers. That's when they realized that any extra service some one wanted could be a 'profit center!' "You want to bring a suitcase on this trip? Fine, that'll be $2 a pound. Oh, and if you have a carry-on, that'll be $10 to use the overhead bin (which is required, of course). You want to pick a seat? That's only $15, on leg one, $20 to keep it for the whole trip." Of course, there is now no charge for 'food.' Mainly because they no longer have any! Same with the phone company. "You want it? We charge for it. Hey, we're not in business to provide service, we're here to make keep our stockholders happy!" Oh well, I just don't fly unless absolutely required.

[Paddy]

QUOTE(Xairbusdriver @ Dec 4 2013, 10:00 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I suspect the problem is the automatic conversion function. Will deal with it, I guess. At least it doesn't cost the recipient anything, which a text message would (unless you have a 'no-charge' plan... which costs more, anyway. ). I'm just not sure the calls are "accidentally" sent to the landline. Call me paranoid or just plain irritated with unwanted calls. Just don't call me on my landline via a text!

Neil, I think the airlines must have hired some ex-phone company workers. That's when they realized that any extra service some one wanted could be a 'profit center!' "You want to bring a suitcase on this trip? Fine, that'll be $2 a pound. Oh, and if you have a carry-on, that'll be $10 to use the overhead bin (which is required, of course). You want to pick a seat? That's only $15, on leg one, $20 to keep it for the whole trip." Of course, there is now no charge for 'food.' Mainly because they no longer have any! Same with the phone company. "You want it? We charge for it. Hey, we're not in business to provide service, we're here to make keep our stockholders happy!" Oh well, I just don't fly unless absolutely required.

Yeah…and don't get me started on banks. About the only thing they DON'T charge you for these days is depositing your money.

I find it interesting that the US now seems behind Canada in text/talk plans; almost all/all of our plans include unlimited texting - in fact, I don't think Rogers offers ANY plans without free texting. I can't find any on their site, anyway. I find texting very handy - it wasn't very useful when I had my old non-smart (dumb?) phone with no real or virtual keyboard, but since I got an iPhone I've become a pretty adept user, and find it especially convenient to be able to use iMessage from my Mac to text my kids. (My youngest complains that I send him "bricks" - it's a lot easier to send a long text with a real keyboard!!)

[Highmac]

Jim may have thought he was "exaggerating for effect" but I reckon even he'll be slightly surprised by today's news from The Independent:

QUOTE

Ryanair unveils its latest plan to save money: remove toilets from the plane
Ryanair has dropped its plan to charge passengers for using on-board toilets, but is pressing ahead with proposals to remove two of the three lavatories on each plane and replace them with seats.

Full story

We had been planning to have a break in Spain this autumn (not with Ryanair) but by the time we totted up the extras on top of the air fare we couldn't afford a "cheap-flight" holiday  

[kimmer]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Dec 4 2013, 08:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah…and don't get me started on banks. About the only thing they DON'T charge you for these days is depositing your money.

But it's under discussion, at least here in the USA:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/busine...posits/3711987/

QUOTE

I find it interesting that the US now seems behind Canada in text/talk plans; almost all/all of our plans include unlimited texting

To get texting on our plan was quite a bit more $$$, and the pay as you go was 40-cents per text -- each way. We opted to not have it, but it would be nice if it were affordable.

[Xairbusdriver]

Traveling in Europe (except the "Isies") we always used a "RailPass". Of course, those are cheaper when bought in the USoA. Even though the people of the Continent know which side of the road to use, all their signs are in some foreign language!! When in Britain/Scotland/Ireland, we rent a car! At least we know when we're on the wrong side of the road; all the signs are on the other one!

Before my wife signed up for a family plan with two teenagers, two mothers, a Mother and Father-in-Law and me (and I think the grand dog may even be included), I simply refused to pay for texts. As you 'foreigners' might not know, we Yanks get to pay for receiving them as well as sending them (that's the only good thing about getting the 'text-to-landline' thing; we don't have to pay for answering! Of course, with the Family "deal" the texts are "free!"

When I first got my iPhone and called AT&T to cancel texting (and the expense!), the nice lady finally told me she had a deal where I would not have to "pay for each text!" I breathlessly asked how I could partake of such a splendid and unheard of deal (without moving across the 'Pond')! That's when she said, no doubt from a script on her monitor, "For $5 a month, you get 200 'free' text messages!" I simply repeated what she said, confirmed that I had understood everything and then asked if she was going to be paying the $5 each month. She allowed as she thought she probably would not, of course. We then had a very short discussion on semantics and definitions of "free" and "$5 a month payments." I'm not sure she ever understood what she had said, I suspect she just kept reading the script. I hope her monitor never went to 'sleep,' I'm not sure what she would have done if asked to actually talk and think at the same time.

[Paddy]

QUOTE(kimmer @ Dec 4 2013, 01:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE(Paddy @ Dec 4 2013, 08:02 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah…and don't get me started on banks. About the only thing they DON'T charge you for these days is depositing your money.

But it's under discussion, at least here in the USA:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/busine...posits/3711987/

Good grief. Under the mattress is going to start looking good.

QUOTE

I find it interesting that the US now seems behind Canada in text/talk plans; almost all/all of our plans include unlimited texting

To get texting on our plan was quite a bit more $$$, and the pay as you go was 40-cents per text -- each way. We opted to not have it, but it would be nice if it were affordable.

You're with Verizon, correct? Which plan do you have? I just looked on their site and they don't offer any plans without unlimited texting either, even on the "Basic phone" plans without data. You might want to renegotiate your cell contract. You don't have to wait until the end of the contract to do that - I've rearranged things several times a year it seems, for the past few years. Generally, the longer you're with a company and the more services you have with them, the better the deals. They change stuff all the time - I remember Comcast in the US telling me I should check in once every 3 months to see what the new/better deals were!!

[Xairbusdriver]

Yeah! What .Paddy says!! I can get Judy to do that for you when she gets back, if you like, she is a great negotiator! I think if she tried, she could get AT&T to pay US!!

[kimmer]

QUOTE(Paddy @ Dec 4 2013, 11:45 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You're with Verizon, correct? Which plan do you have? I just looked on their site and they don't offer any plans without unlimited texting either, even on the "Basic phone" plans without data. You might want to renegotiate your cell contract. You don't have to wait until the end of the contract to do that - I've rearranged things several times a year it seems, for the past few years. Generally, the longer you're with a company and the more services you have with them, the better the deals. They change stuff all the time - I remember Comcast in the US telling me I should check in once every 3 months to see what the new/better deals were!!

We have Verizon's NATIONWIDE TALK SHARE 700, and it doesn't include texting. If we added texting, the cost per text has gone down to $0.20 per text from $0.40. Wow. A bargain.    If we change plans, the total cost goes up considerably. Since we also pay for a landline, we're not ready to pay more for our cell phones.

I tried to renegotiate the contract, but it was a no go. I would have been hit with a penalty, and I would have had to buy a better phone outright, so I'm stuck with the brick and this contract until next Nov.

I really need Judy, or my pal LG, to do this negotiating. LG got a great deal on her cell plan, and then turned around and got a deal on a car loan that made me drool. She's tough, and that's also why she has the great job that she has.