Re: Stop using your mobile 'phone
@alain williams "It would help a lot of the banks stopped 'phoning their customers about whatever and as a first step ask the customer to verify who they were by answering security questions!"
I've been banging my head against that one for years - if you call me and claim to be from "Acme Bank" I need a way to verify you really are calling from "Acme Bank" about my account; you know, just like you do when I call you at the bank. It's only in the last few years there's been a thawing of the "You must answer all our invasive security questions before we can discuss anything" to a slightly more pragmatic "If you're expecting us to call you back you can give us a password the agent calling you back will give you before they ask the security questions" but even that is unofficial and if it fails it's my fault not theirs. When offered a call back I usually opt to hold - it avoids the incoming call problem and keeps them focused on sorting out the problem in hand.
Frankly, banks (indeed any organisation that calls customers but expects to confirm personal details before starting the conversation) needs a clear and formal way to confirm the call is genuinely from that organisation at the start of the call. Unfortunately there is a bit too much "Computer says no" because Data protection, in that discussion to make any serious progress.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
