topic Re: Caller ID becoming useless in Q Talk

Caller ID becoming useless

mormel20 — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:13:39 GMT

I still have a landline phone. I have Caller ID. If I don't recoginze who it is I don't answer and let it go to the answering machine. But recently "caller ID" is becoming useless. Doctor's offices have called about appointments but the name of the Practice does not appear it will say "out of area". Today the CPA called with a message about the income taxes. And it did not say it was the CPA office, it once again said "out of area". Does anyone else out there have this issue? I get SO many junk calls selling stuff and whatnot I don't answer if I don't know who is calling, but legit businesses and doctors are not showing up. Anyone else have this issue? Thanks.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Sooner — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:14:53 GMT

@mormel20 We don't answer what we don't recognize. If it is important, they will leave a message. If not, it was a crank call.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

mormel20 — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:20:22 GMT

Well, they do leave a message. However I have a certain Doctor's office which is IMPOSSIBLE to get a real person on the phone if you call back. So if I have a message I missed from this Doctor it is very, very difficult to get back with them. You will leave a message and they may or may not respond. And don't say "look at the number" because this doctor has many, many different numbers because it seems like the calls are going to locations other than where I go and the messages have to be relayed.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

San Antonio Gal — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:23:19 GMT

@mormel20 - With important calls like your doctor, etc, give them your mobile number.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

deeva — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:45:55 GMT

With our landline, I have the ability to add a name to the contacts lists. So that way I know who's calling.
But this doesn't work when a nurse or other medical staff call from their cell phone.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Imaoldhippie — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 13:54:43 GMT

Yes, my doctors office does not show up as the number I have in my contact list on my cell. They have several lines and phones in their office. Those calls dont get answered. The always leave a message and I call back.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Mindy D — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:03:36 GMT

@Imaoldhippie wrote:
Yes, my doctors office does not show up as the number I have in my contact list on my cell. They have several lines and phones in their office. Those calls dont get answered. The always leave a message and I call back.

@Imaoldhippie @Why not add all these numbers under your doctor's contact when they come in. Save the numbers. You can add them under one contact or start contact with doctor 1, doctor 2, doctor 3, doctor 4. This way you won't miss a call.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

89135 — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:31:32 GMT

@mormel20 I do the same as you. But I will usually google the number after the call and see if it gives a legitimate person/business that I know. (I don't have voicemail) I'm not sure any of my calls say 'out of area' tho. Mine usually lists the city and sometimes says 'unknown' .

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

NicksmomESQ — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:37:05 GMT

Unless I recognize the number, I don't answer my cell or my landline. If it's important they leave a messages & I return the call.

Most of the calls I get are scams. By not answering I keep hoping that they go away.Some are persistent, they call repeatedly before they give up.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Icegoddess — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:46:18 GMT

You can still answer the phone while they're leaving their message. I do that all the time.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

chrystaltree — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:52:52 GMT

If you don't recognize the number, let them leave a voice-mail message. Legit callers will leave a detailed message. You don't have answer every single call immediately.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

drizzellla — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 14:56:44 GMT

We still pay for our landline but it is rarely in service.

But when it is working - WATCH OUT.

The phone starts ringing at 8 AM.

Caller ID is also useless. Many times the caller ID says "Name Unavailable" or the town they are calling from. And the Doctor's office has several different phone numbers. None of the numbers are in my contact phone numbers for the Doctors office. And sometimes they call from a number that is for the nurses or personal to call patients. I don't want to just add phone numbers because some numbers is not for incoming calls.

No matter what program is created, I think the spammers will find away around it. So we have found that we like our landline not working most of the time. Unless the person has our cell phone number we don't have to deal with spam calls because when anyone we don't know personally asks for our phone number we give them the landline number.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Kachina624 — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 15:00:57 GMT

@mormel20 Even the UNM Hospital calls to verify appointments without identifying information. Employees are using their cell phone which have no identifying information.

For months I've gotten nuisance calls from numbers starting with 505/890 with various last four digits. They ring twice and hang up. If I grab it on the first ring, nobody is ever there. I've called some of the numbers and they're disconnected so they're obviously spoofing numbers but why? What is the purpose?

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Chessa35 — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 15:03:14 GMT

If I not sure who's calling , I let the answering machine pick up . Then , when + if they start to leave a message I pick up , if it's a person I want to need talk to . Works for me .

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Imaoldhippie — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 15:26:13 GMT

@Mindy D .............Good suggestion. The calls from the docs office only happens once a year when they get the results from my yearly exam.

Thanks for your suggestion, I had not thought of that.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

IMW — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 16:24:00 GMT

I have that issue----often the caller is calling from their cell phone at home. Doctor office staff is confirming appointment from home----had that happen numerous times.

I'm so crazy blocking unrecognized calls, I blocked my own daughter, took a few days to figure out, and I was reprimanding her for not calling.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Spacrazy — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 16:46:37 GMT

I stay current on the Do Not Call registries and that helps. I have a fairly new phone that has a feature to announce callers and it's programmed to project on my main t.v. This has really been helpful to keep me from running to see caller I.d. As far as my doctors offices it just takes time to put in their information after I've gotten a voicemail. I also go crazy with call block.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Carmie — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:02:00 GMT

This is happening to me as well mostly because the doctor office has someone call from a cell phone and it seems they use a different one each time.

They leave a message to call back on the main phone number with their first name. When I call back it takes forever to locate the person who called me.

I have had this happen twice this past week alone. For now, too bad because I am not running myself ragged trying to contact them.

I can and do use the patient portal and can see what is going on....messages and test results and the like. I don't need a call to have them read to me what I can see and read myself.

I have been getting routine tests to look for problems I might have because of my age. Ha!

I finally have a PCP after about 18 years without one. So far all they have turned up is low Vitamin D levels.

More tests are in the works...

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

Sooner — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:04:16 GMT

If it is a problem, I would speak directly to my doctor and complain. If they can't work it out with you, change to messaging with a phone. If that doesn't work, find a doctor who will work with you.

Sometimes too you simply have to change what you are doing or willing to do. Life moves on.

Re: Caller ID becoming useless

kelsey17 — Mon, 20 Mar 2023 17:05:26 GMT

I had that issue a while back keep happening and asked the girl from the doc's office why the ph number didn't say the office was calling....apparently according to her it was because alot of these schedulers now are working from home and have either a seperate or their own cell phone they use to contact patients.........she agreed that alot of people don't know who's calling and don't answer.

Insane...i guess they can blame you now if you miss a appt....................get these scheduling/notification people back to the office for Pete's sake...or give them an offical office phone.