General Chat

This is a new one on us, but particularly mean at Christmas, with everyone having to shop on-line because the shops are closed.

Yesterday we had an email, supposedly from DPD (a very reputable delivery company) informing us that they couldn't deliver our order as the address was incomplete and to click here etc.

Fortunately we have nothing on order at the moment, although OH has been doing some on-line shopping for Christmas and I am about to do a whole lot!! :-| :-|

I nearly got caught by that one.

It was not until I came to choose my delivery date, one of which was the 32nd of November, that I thought it better to proceed no further.

I was sent a 'code' to open my PayPal account this morning.
Weird, as I closed it yesterday, it had nothing in it, and was affiliated with an old email address!

I also had a 'Josh' call me about the lagging I (apparently) recently had put in my attic.
I suppose I should have let him have his say, but I was just about to do my lunch, so just said 'Oh did I? Sorry, you're wrong, you're a scammer, and you can just.........' before putting the phone down.

This scam has been mentioned on Mel’s thread so I think it might be going to a lot of people. They are quite sophisticated these days with correct wording and spelling and are bound to take people in. It’s a mean, nasty crime.

It is a mean and nasty crime, Vera.

The thing is that, so far, these have been easy to avoid but if one has a particularly disagreeable and worrying off day it would be all too easy to press the wrong buttons. I feel sorry for those who are caught out, not just when they're feeling at a low ebb but at any time.

We've had 2 phone calls this week from very pleasant nicely spoken young men about our order for lagging and extra insulation for our walls. Somewhat difficult as we live in a very old cob cottage which means we have no voids in the walls - they're solid!
However as we woke up to a thick covering of hail this morning perhaps we should consider it - Cornwall isn't supposed to get weather like this!

I had the DPD one yesterday. Deleted. Also had someone phone at least 10 times to let me know my internet was being cut off. Do they think I am as stupid as they are.

Sadly, Phyll, some are. :-( :-(

We've had about 3 calls in the last two about my Amazon account.

I don't have an Amazon account, not have I ever bought anything from Amazon although daughter sent me a little gift last January from them.

However, I do have a new computer, and I've just noticed that the guy who set it up for me has put an icon for Amazon on the task line.

Connected?

Who knows!

I don't use Amazon, either. Daughter occasionally sends me cat food through them, but my name on the label is 'Granny' :-|

I also have the 'Amazon' icon appear on 2 of my search engines (the ones I only use when 'Chrome' is playing up) - every time I use them, I delete it - but I also get 'Virgin' icons appearing - they get the same treatment.

Was talking to my daughter last evening

She is working at home still

She got one of those ringing you about the recent car accident you had calls , she said was in a Indian type voice but his name was John!

She told him to pee off (not the exact words !) scammer and get a proper job

She was in the middle of an important spread sheet on the pc so wasn’t amused


I too have had two emails recently asking me to verify my Amazon account which was suspended because of suspect transactions on it .

Was the click here to verify

Nope not that stupid !!!

OH had an Amazon one a while back and reported it to Amazon.

They replied saying that they never ask for information like that by phone or email. If it is sensitive info they want, you will get a proper letter.

Much the same as HMRC, the Banks etc say.

Don't you need to know the number you want to block, before you can block it?

Also, if you have a relation/friend who used 'number witheld' - that's a whole raft of calls you can't block.

..so if you're expecting, say a delivery driver to call you, you have to somehow glean their number and add it to the 'acceptable' numbers?
You are aware that scammers quite often change their numbers aren't you?
So, you receive the first one - which may lead to the rather extreme situation in your link - then you add it to your banned number list?
Do you have to do this for all phones in your possession? I have 3 phones - would I have to faff around adding the new numbers to each?

If it's one that only accepts numbers you've said it could - what happens with people working from home? So they can't contact you?
Have to admit, if I was working from home, I wouldn't want to give a stranger my home number to add to their list.

My home phone is ex directory nos withheld and won’t accept nos withheld calls

I am also on the telephone preference

Don’t get scam calls but can get calls from people I have dealt with before like sky who I cancelled when hubby passed

I blocked them on my phone .

If I want to make a call to another phone that doesn’t accept withheld nos I can take it off for the one call

I don't usually buy online either, RTR (I shan't bother to name all the firms I don't use), however, over the past 10 months or so, I have occasionally used the online and home delivery facility offered by supermarkets. This is due to a number of reasons, mainly initiated by this thing called a pandemic, which has resulted in my being reluctant to constantly visit the beautifully decorated centre of Winchester, and the shops therein.
I also find the local Supermarkets (those only one bus journey away) don't sell the cat food my cats prefer. I could get them by taking two bus journeys, but lugging 30 cans of cat food, cat litter etc etc home on a bus would be nigh on impossible, and getting a taxi, extortionately expensive.

It appears, RTR, that you've never used online shopping. Yes, you have a 'slot', when you expect your delivery, but due to traffic, roadworks etc, the driver may be running late - or even early. As a form of courtesy, they are liable to call you to say they will be late, early or on time! One can hardly tell them to p*ss off when they're affected by situations beyond their control, can one?

Not sure if I'm meant to be impressed you made something from something else, I've done it all my life. Maybe not in the computing (yawn) line, but, necessity being the mother of invention, I've made plenty from scratch throughout my life.

Have to admit, given your usual attitude, to being unsurprised at your supercilious comment:
"Opting not to use any form of call blocking simple encourages the malefactors. Maybe it lightens up a dull day."

It's all so easy to accuse those who receive the spam calls for being the cause of the spam calls - it's called 'blame culture' - an easy 'cop out' - YOU could stop these firms trying to steal your money, YOU don't, YOU'RE at fault if you're swindled. Poor scammers, just trying to make money *sob sob*

The truth is, these calls could be stopped - by whom? Telecoms providers, including none other than the firm you're constantly extolling the virtues of - the BT group itself!
Why don't they? Easy. They can't be bothered, and make millions from the calls sent by scammers - and probably quite a few quid from selling their 'call blocker' service. The same service you're constantly 'selling' on here.

Martyn James, of the complaints site Resolver, says about scam calls - particularly roboscammers:
'There is no reason why crisis meetings with the telecoms firms can't be held to stop all this,' he adds. 'It is out of control.'

Full (boring) article here:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/beatthescammers/article-8859657/Rise-ROBOSCAMMERS-Cold-calling-machines-bombarding-homes.html

What annoys me with online shopping is some sites want you to raise an account and include in the details your phone nos

Most times it’s accepts when I type 00000000000

:-D

I have never done any online food shopping, but I do quite a lot of other stuff. The main reason is that in many cases we haven't got a branch of the store nearer than Glasgow (or even further away). I don't like shopping in Glasgow at the best of times and at the moment it's impossible. Parking is very expensive, so when I go I travel by train and then have to carry everything.

Before someone says anything, Glasgow is a very good shopping centre, with everything close together, but I don't like crowded places. It's called getting old! :-(

I should imagine, Andysmum, that the available shops also depend on where you live!
I'm on an estate on the edge of Winchester. We have no shops now - we used to have 3 and a post office.
The nearest shop is a small Sainsbury's in town - a mile away, but as I said before, doesn't sell the food my cats like.
There's a Sainsbury's superstore 4 miles away, yet again on the edge of the city.
There's a 'big' Tesco one and a half miles away, if I walk - but I'm not lugging cat food that way, and it involves going up the 'Black Path' - there's a name to discourage you - and when I say 'up', it's very steep. Winchester is a rough bowl shape - all the superstores are on the top of the bowl (as is where I live), so there are a lot of hills! This Tesco, by car, is two and a half miles away, or, by bus - two buses! Mind you, it's on the edge of another estate - so those residents can walk.
There's another estate, the other side of Winchester - there they have Waitrose AND an Aldi - right next to each other. That's 3 miles away.
I used to get my shopping with a friend who has a car, but, with the pandemic, we're both being cautious, hence I very occasionally (if I can get a free/cheap slot) use home delivery.

But I hardly think 'this' is the cause of scammers, and is certainly not the fault of those who receive scamming calls.

People who are home bound, not just being careful in the current situation, but literally unable to go out, have to either get someone to shop for them or use online shopping.

Husbands seem to be the worst at choosing clothes or personal items for their wives ............... wives often do it for their husbands.

Ask a husband to buy you 3 pairs of white (name brand) underwear from a local department store, and he is just as likely to come back with white wrong size, wrong style ones because "I couldn't find the others and the saleslady said these were similar."

Easy way out ............. go online to that store's website and order exactly what you want. They won't send a replacement!

I don't ask my husband to buy clothes for me, never have, but I do now ask him occasionally to buy some creams that I use during the weekly grocery shopping that he does, using the pharmacy in that store. Twice in the last 3 months he has brought back the wrong thing because A) what I wanted wasn't on the shelf, and B) the pharmacist (yes!) told him "this" was it.

I can't blame him, nor can I tell him an optional cream because I don't know what options there might that would be suitable.


Now, of course, I will be told that certain husbands are soooooooooo much better than in my example. :-P