One company calls me about every other day. Their name is a mystery, because they don’t identify themselves. They’re the one that wants me to sign up for a new credit card. Their devious trick is their recording that tells you to press “1” if you’re interested in what they have to offer. The only way to talk to someone to tell them not to call anymore is to press “1.” The problem is that by doing so, they can probably argue that you were the one initiating the call. In fact, the first question the human asks when they answer is, “Are you calling about lowering your interest rate?” Give an answer other than yes, and they hang up immediately. The number listed on caller ID shows disconnected.
Perhaps even more disturbing than having these people interrupt us is the fact that they seem to know a little too much about us. One call the other day from someone trying to sell something made me wonder what our healthcare provider does with our medical records. I can’t remember exactly why this solicitor called us, but he mentioned that it was in reference to a very specific medical procedure my wife had undergone recently.
Then, today, a caller from Unity Health Group called and asked for Maria. I asked what the call was about, and he said that there was an indication that she was in pain, and he wanted to talk about a health plan with her. I asked if he had access to our medical records, but he said no, the data they had was general information that was available to them. What??! Now, I suppose that in this case, calling someone in our age bracket will likely result in finding someone who has “pain,” but something tells me that this company got the information from our clinic.
I mentioned to this caller that we are on a National Do-Not-Call Registry, but he told me that our number wasn’t on his list. I was rude to the guy (and I was surprised that he didn’t hang up on me, and that he remained polite throughout my scolding). So I gruffly say goodbye and hung up on one more call where I felt bad about myself for being so nasty. But how many times do I need to tell them, “DO NOT CALL?”