# Mystery phone calls at 5 in morning



## Z100 (16 Dec 2006)

Hi,

Just wondering if any one has had a similar experience - our phone rang several times from around 5.30 this morning. Initially the answering machine was on but the caller didn't leave a message and just kept ringing again and again. I got up and answered it but there was silence at the end of the line - I couldn't hear any breathing or any sounds at all, there was a slight echo-ish sound, almost as if it was an international call, but I'm not sure. It almost seemed like a kind of automated call.

I tried to cut them off by hanging up but they they kept the line open for a while before ringing again. 

The Eircom malicious calls office won't be open til Monday so I can't check with them til then, but because 'Private Caller' came up on the phone is there anything they can do to check the number?

Usually when we get international calls 'Unavailable', rather than 'Private Caller', comes up when the number doesn't show on Caller ID, is it likely then that this wasn't an international call? I ask because we have had problems before with a caller from America (who we know), but usually that number shows up or, when it doesn't, it says 'Unavailable'. 

Has any one had similar calls? Thanks.


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## podd (16 Dec 2006)

I wonder if it might have been the automated calling in a call centre in India where calls are made automatically and if anyone in the call centre is available they will speak with you, though if no-one is available to take the call because all the operators are busy then no-one will be on the line when you answer.

It would have been morning time in India at 5.30am here.


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## Z100 (16 Dec 2006)

podd said:


> I wonder if it might have been the automated calling in a call centre in India where calls are made automatically and if anyone in the call centre is available they will speak with you, though if no-one is available to take the call because all the operators are busy then no-one will be on the line when you answer.
> 
> It would have been morning time in India at 5.30am here.


 
Hiya, thanks for the reply. Sounds like it could have been that kind of thing alright, the call definitely had an automated international sound to it, but why would they be ringing me? I've had no dealings recently with any companies that use those call centres. And why would they keep ringing back after each call ended? Really puzzled by it.

One of the phones in the house has a nightmode that means it won't audibly ring between certain hours, but our other phones don't have that setting....but really reluctant to start unplugging all phones. Hopefully it was a one-off.


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## Cashstrapped (16 Dec 2006)

Had a similar problem about 6months back with all these 'cold calls' or whatever they call them.  I had opted out of everything possible, called comreg and it got so bad I even contacted the Gardai to see if they could trace who was making the calls. They couldn't do anything without practically bugging my phone and then put a trace on the call, very extreme I thought but then a friend of mine sent me an e-mail on how to deal with all the nuisance calls from Companies, when they continually re-dial your number it is with the hope that you will answer and this usually activates a recorded message "Congrats you've won this, that or t'other" what you do is continually press the * button on your phone about ten times, this seemingly is not recognisable by their system and it causes mayhem on their side.  I've used it many a time and it always seems to clear my line for me and 'Heh Presto' those type of calls have stopped.


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## Z100 (16 Dec 2006)

Cashstrapped said:


> ....nuisance calls from Companies, when they continually re-dial your number it is with the hope that you will answer and this usually activates a recorded message "Congrats you've won this, that or t'other" what you do is continually press the * button on your phone about ten times, this seemingly is not recognisable by their system and it causes mayhem on their side.


 
That definitely sounds like what it was, thank you! I spoke only once but very quietly because I didn't want to wake any one, so maybe it wasn't loud enough to activate their message. If they ring again I'll try that ********** trick, will enjoy it. Thanks again.


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## podd (16 Dec 2006)

Bushfire said:


> I've had no dealings recently with any companies that use those call centres.


I've had quite a few phone calls from Indian call centres from companies that I have no dealings with, usually mobile phone companies and credit card companies. Where they get my ex-directory phone number from I don't know...


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## Cashstrapped (16 Dec 2006)

Podd,

My number is ex-directory too, I used to have one telephone company ring me every tuesday just as I was putting my baby to bed, same fella every week, when I asked him to stop ringing me and put it on the his file I did not want to be contacted again he used to say NO and then hang up, so the last time he did it I told him I had contacted the Gardai as what he was doing was illegal (they have to take you off of the listing when you ask), needless to say didn't hear from him again.  As I never put my home number on any correspondence for credit cards/ loyalty cards I couldn't work out where they got it from so I asked a number of them and those that replied to me before hanging up said it was from the CSO (I thought this was confidential info), but turned out it was more likely it came from the details on the Register of Electors which I also presumed was confidential so needless to say when they were doing their update during the year I asked to 'opt out' which means my name does not appear on any mailing lists.  I live in hope I will stay free of these nuisance calls, next mission is to stop all these leaflets coming through my letterbox, they should charge these companies a litter tax, might stop them filling up my recyclable bin with them each week.


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## Z100 (16 Dec 2006)

Cashstrapped said:


> Podd,
> 
> I live in hope I will stay free of these nuisance calls, next mission is to stop all these leaflets coming through my letterbox, they should charge these companies a litter tax, might stop them filling up my recyclable bin with them each week.


 
On a similar issue I get those faxes all the time (from the same company -can't think of the name at the moment) promising all kinds of juicy prizes (eg tickets to major sports events, etc) and great hotel deals if I enter their competition. They say if you want them to stop sending them to you, you have to fax your name and number to them, but it looks like a premium number - I always assumed if I _did_ fax them I'd be charged a premium rate. Any one know how to stop these?


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## mo3art (16 Dec 2006)

Had a similar problem at 11pm a couple of weeks ago.  They actually called me 5 times in a row.  5th time was a charm because I let off my personal alarm (thank goodness nobody else was in the house).  I've not received another call since, maybe it did the trick?
With regards to the faxes, I don't think there is anyway of opting out without making sure that your fax number is opted out also.  In my experience companies get your fax number from firms such as Kompass (think they're called Database Ireland now).  You could contact them directly and get your number restricted from their marketing database.


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## ClubMan (16 Dec 2006)

With some cold calls there can often be a significant delay between you answering and the person at the other end launching into their script. This can make them seem like nefarious crank calls. It can be quite disconcerting!


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## Guest127 (17 Dec 2006)

its illegal to cold call ex-directory numbers. as I informed Eircom two weeks ago.


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## mell61 (17 Dec 2006)

some of the cold calling is apparently because a lot of companies use automatic diallers, so they are trying random numbers (at least thats what a friend who worked for 1 company that cold called told me).
Re the original post, it sounds similar to something we had a while back, usually 5-7am on Saturdays...  The numbers varied between 'private caller' and a Nigerian number.... got to the point where we just ignored it, and they stopped.


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## mo3art (28 Jan 2007)

Bushfire can I ask you did you get the calls sorted?
My original response was in relation to marketing calls at 11pm.  However between 2am and 3am this morning was a nightmare.  Again, no number was coming up on our caller ID & as we have a relative who is in poor health, we were loath to turn off the house phone.
When we answered, there was a clicking noise for a couple of seconds and then a disconnection with an interval of between 5 & 10 mins between each call.
Eventually after call number 5 I gave up and disconnected the house phone at source, and then brought the mobile phones up to the bedroom for emergency phone calls.
We do have an Eircom answering service in place but there's no messages on it this morning but because we disconnected the phone I have no way of telling whether the phone calls continued after pulling the plug.


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## Guest109 (28 Jan 2007)

i used to get mystery calls also i have an exdirectory no ,i called bt and they suggested i put a premiun number block on my phone which i did  end of calls ,hope this helps you


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## mo3art (28 Jan 2007)

Thanks Ainya but I also have an ex-directory number, have opted out of marketing purposes for everything & BT aren't my service provider!


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## Z100 (28 Jan 2007)

mo3art said:


> Bushfire can I ask you did you get the calls sorted?.......


 
Hi mo3art, sorry to hear you got those calls, they're infuriating, not least because when you get them at that time of night/morning you automatically assume something is seriously wrong with one of your family.

Luckily for us we didn't get the calls again after that morning, although I was fully expecting them based on other people's experience. Ours sounded slightly different to yours in that the gap between each call was much shorter, but presumably the source is similar. Would be very interested to know what advice you get from your phone company, whether they have any way of blocking these things. Good luck with it.


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## uncorked (29 Jan 2007)

ClubMan said:


> With some cold calls there can often be a significant delay between you answering and the person at the other end launching into their script. This can make them seem like nefarious crank calls. It can be quite disconcerting!


 
Fortunately I normally don't get these calls in the middle of the night, but the significant delay is always my cue to hang up before they get to speak.


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## gianni (29 Jan 2007)

cuchulainn said:


> its illegal to cold call ex-directory numbers. as I informed Eircom two weeks ago.


 

I don't know if this is strictly true. Just being ex-directory - i.e. opting out of being in the printed phone book - is not the same as opting out of being called by these cold calling agencies.


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## mo3art (29 Jan 2007)

Well I'm just off the phone to Eircom and they informed me that the mysterious phone calls were due to a text message message coming through to our digital house phone.  As there is some sort of conflict with the caller ID (which hadn't been activitated properly in the switch) and the text message coming through, it rang repeatedly.
According to Eircom this is a common problem with DECT phones which don't have their caller ID activated correctly.
*stunned face*
Lets just wait and see if it happens again.


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## ClubMan (29 Jan 2007)

mo3art said:


> According to Eircom this is a common problem with DECT phones which don't have their caller ID activated correctly.


Huh!? Doesn't make any sense to me...


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## mo3art (29 Jan 2007)

Me either!  I thought i was the only one who could smell that.........


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## Eeyore (30 Jan 2007)

This happened to us a couple of times over the last few months and we eventually discovered that on each occasion my mother had mistakenly sent a text to our land line. We have a DECT phone which does have some SMS capability but I have never tried to use it and have no idea how to set it up. I don't see how it can have anything to do with caller ID settings but it may have something to do with SMS settings on a DECT home phone.


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## eiregal (30 Jan 2007)

This happens in my mother's house too.  She can send texts from her landline no problem, but if someone replies, the text doesn't come through and the phone rings about every hour with no one at the other end.  She has to disconnect it from the wall.


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