@Intrepid,
Actually I found it kinda fun - I just didn't want to provide any personal info - just in case they were telemarketing and not just in search of an actual real person.
I like the searching for who the h*ll is calling me and what the h*ll do they really want. The customer service person was a hoot too.
I get lots of voice mails that start out something like "There is no problem with your account at this time, but it is important that you call. . . ."
One time, I actually called their number. You would think that being given the number they called, they just might have had some idea of why they had called. I could not pry it out of them. I suppose they were expecting me to provide a name, but I figured if they called, they already knew who they were calling. They hung up on me.
@roger,
most companies make million of calls / year and by law they need to leave a TFN that you can call to be added to a do-not-call (DNC)list. Often the calls are from agitated customers. My company for example sends those calls to an external telemarketing agency and all the have access to do is place the customer on our DNC list. They are not given any information on the call.
Advertisinfg phone calls by banks are allowed here in Germany only if you have signed a paper before (online or on "real paper").
Questions about your own bank account would never be treated via a phone call but in a snail mail letter ("Please contact us in your local branch").
Any phone call by banks is looked at here by many if not most as (illegal) scam - which can lead to some funny reactions: I got a phone call of the PA of my bank's CEO some time ago, asking me and Mrs Walter when we could come to the main branch together: the CEO wanted us to congratulate for a win I had in the "saving under the bonus scheme".
The phone number was shown, the PDA didn't mention the sum but that the missus would get some flowers; I saw the winning 'numbers' online - but Mrs Walter only really believed it when she got the flowers .... and saw the sum on our account. (And I got a lot [legal background] infos about advertising phone calls in general and by banks specifically.)
