One customer who got in touch says he receives calls from an unknown number, told it is Vodafone and is then asked to provide personal identifiable information. Photograph: Manaure Quintero/Bloomberg,” begins the mail from a reader called Paul. “My issue relates to when they call me, usually to sell me something, an upgrade, a renewal, whatever. They call me from an unknown number, tell me they are Vodafone and then start asking me for personal identifiable information .
Paul accepts that the company wants to protect the data it is holding and not give it out “for fear someone happens to randomly answer my phone, so they want to validate they are talking to the account holder. But as they initiate the call, they need to identify themselves too. I’m sure there are other businesses out there that think they are protecting PII data by conditioning people to freely give away their PII data, but they are making matters worse and not better.
“My dad invited him in. My dad is 89 years old and living alone since my mother was admitted to a care home in January. I would consider him to be vulnerable. He lives for his sport and prior to this had been subscribing to Sky to get the sports channels. As you know, the subscription price is rising all the time, and Dad was paying over €200 a month. Every so often, I would phone Sky to see if I could get a better deal.