Monday, October 01, 2007

Mobile muppetry

I've been getting phone calls from T-Mobile support in the UK. They ring me on an autodialler and -- if I'm lucky -- they pick up to talk to me about my account.

The first thing they want to do, of course, is check that I'm actually me. The last thing I want to do is give away personal information on an unsolicited call when I don't know who the person is at the other end. So the conversation ends up something like this:

- Hi, this is T-mobile support; can you confirm your address for me please?
- No, because I don't know who you are. Why are you calling me?
- I can't tell you that unless you give me security details.
- I'm not going to give security details to someone who I don't know. Why don't you write to me?
- It's not our policy.

So I field half a dozen of these calls and end up emailing T-mobile about them, telling them that if this is actually them, I don't want them calling me constantly and asking me for my credentials. You can guess what happens next...

This morning I got a phone call from T-mobile customer complaints saying:
- We've recorded that you've made a complaint to us. Can you confirm your security details?