I just arrived here less than two months ago, and have already received two crank calls. The first call was by a man who said he was calling from the post office and told me that I had a package to pick up…being clueless as to how things work around here and was actually expecting a package, I went down to the local post office, and was told by the woman at the counter that the call was fake, and the guy was trying to get me out of my apartment to rob me. She said the post office usually delivers the package directly, and if it is too big or I am not at home, they will leave a notice in my mailbox (I guess same as standard North American post office). I noticed that this particular call was anonymous and did not show on my caller ID. The second time, I received another call by a woman saying she was from telephone company…this call was also anonymous. I kept asking her what she was caller for, and she kept asking me for my name. Very weird situation…anyhow, after a while, I hear a guy on the other end in the background telling her to hang up the phone. So she hangs up…weird…
I was searching on Chunghwa Telecom trying to find some way to prevent/reduce these annoying calls. In the US/Canada, they have anonymous caller rejection or I can get my number unlisted from the phone book. However, I cannot find these two services listed. Any suggestions? Thank you.
Did they speak in English? Or you learned Chinese before you got here? I’ve never had calls like that. I did get one caller who wanted to know if I was in Taichung. Weird. That was on my ADSL phone line which I hardly ever use and I never give out the number for that line.
I have been getting A LOT of market research/sales calls - about once a day. They are a pain in the arse! :x :x :x I used to politely say no thanks. Now I just put the phone down without saying anything.
Never got crank calls, some dialled the wrong numbers but that’s about it.
Though I do hang up the moment people start talking Chinese - can’t be for me then …
Instead of crank calls I got a lot of wrong numbers. I had a phone number that probably belong to a store owner before, and I get the craziest messages on my answering machine asking for appointments. I even got a message from a stock broker asking for confirmation on a sell order! Gosh I hope the broker sold those shares.
I usually never give out my home phone number on any applications except the important ones; just my mobile phone number. That limits the home phone number from being circulated. And I never answer any calls that withholds its ID. If it is important (i.e. from the bank or credit card company) they would leave a message.
30 seconds later the phone rings again and the show starts over.[/quote]
Classic…
For me, the 2nd round usually starts with “it’s you again!”[/quote]
The obvious cause of this “problem” is that they (like many westerners) assumed that they misdialed the number. I have had this exact conversation more in the U.S. than in Taiwn because (surprise surprise) more often than not, the number HAS been misdialed and is dialed right the second attempt .
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