I've just had a phone call from a woman - slightly "posh" accent (or trying to be posh) who asked with no introduction if I had any horses for sale. I asked who I was speaking with: slight pause and "ahhh, Mrs Jones". Okaaaay, so alarm bells are ringing. Its 10:15 am on Sunday morning. Who rings up to ask about horses at that time of day?
Conversation goes on:
Me: "How did you get my name?"
Caller: "Maybe I've got the wrong Anne. I just googled horses for sale and your name came up."
Now that's really weird because I am pretty careful about what I put out there. I don't have any horses currently advertised, if you google my name you won't get any contact details (I make sure of that fairly regularly) and my first name isn't in the phone book.
Me: "what are you looking for?"
Caller: "A horse"
Me: "What sort of a horse?"
Caller: "Prehaps a little filly. Maybe to bred from later"
I explained that this was an odd request: I have a phone call from out of the blue, from someone who won't give me her name or tell me what she wants a horse for. "If you give me your name and tell me what sort of riding or horse work you do, then I can tell you if I can help you."
Still no more forthcoming. In the end she says "Oh, well prehaps I wont' bother"
Me: "okay" Hangs up.
Really weird.
Anyway, just wanted to share. I guess that I am not selling her a horse today.
1 Border collie, 1 Huntaway, 2 Lhasa Apsos, Suffolk and arapawa ewe crosses, an Arapawa ram,an East Friesian ewe , 5 cats, 42 ducks , 1 rooster and 30 hens, 5 geese, 12 goats, 2 donkeys, 2 house cows, one heifer calf, one bull calf, 3 rabbits and lots and lots and lots of fruit trees...
Must be the week for odd calls - I had one earlier in the week who called me and during the conversation asked me to confirm my phone number. When I refused on the grounds that she called me so has my correct number, she got really shirty and hung up [:0]
Somebody rang and wished me a happy birthday the other day! I just said thank you, then we figured out who we were and that I wasn't who she'd meant to call ...
Ann watch these calls, they come up every now & again, where they want to deposit money in your account for freight plus horse PLUS more than is needed then ask you to refund the extra, then the entire amount bounces and you are left out of pocket.
It is a scam that appears every now and again quite often on the Internet as well. Be Careful.
ronnie;418687 wrote: Must be the week for odd calls - I had one earlier in the week who called me and during the conversation asked me to confirm my phone number. When I refused on the grounds that she called me so has my correct number, she got really shirty and hung up [:0]
The number confirmation was probably because they have an automated system that dials hundreds of numbers. Yours was a 'bite' on their phishing exercise and they wanted to make sure they added the correct number to their database [!]
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muri;418696 wrote: Anne, arent your horses on the Kaimanawa website with your name and phone number?
Yes, and all the people who have rung from there start off: "Hi my name is ..... and I got your phone number from the Kaimananwa website. I am interested in Rupert / D'Arcy."
Here's how the conversation started:
Me: "Hello"
Caller "do you have any horses for sale?"
Just like that!! Not even a Hello or how're doing! When I responded with questions like "who's speaking?" and "where did you get my number?" she was unable to respond.
My parents taught us that when you called someone on the phone, it was as though you had invited yourself into their house, so you had better introduce yourself politely.
If someone calls my home phone without the same attitude, they get short shrift.
We have an acquaintance who phoned and told me I'm looking great and blah blah blah for ages and thought it amusing to make me guess who he was. I've only met him a couple of times, so he didn't spring immediately to mind when he called. I doubt he'll be phoning again though, since I made it quite clear what I thought of his idiotic approach - I was in the middle of something stressful and important and really hadn't the patience for a lot of nonsense. You can get away with that if you're well-known to your callee, but it's definitely a dumb move if you're not!
Hawkspur;418762 wrote: My parents taught us that when you called someone on the phone, it was as though you had invited yourself into their house, so you had better introduce yourself politely.
If someone calls my home phone without the same attitude, they get short shrift.
Exactly! When you ring somebody on a private number (not business), for whatever reason, you are directly invading their privacy and your reason for phoning should be a good one. I have one of those horribly and instantly recognisable voices that need no introduction the second time round but for somebody I'm ringing for the first time the first thing I say is my name - slowly - before I go into why I'm ringing. And always, always, keep a smile in your voice.
Ruth;418765 wrote: We have an acquaintance who phoned and told me I'm looking great and blah blah blah for ages and thought it amusing to make me guess who he was. I've only met him a couple of times, so he didn't spring immediately to mind when he called. I doubt he'll be phoning again though, since I made it quite clear what I thought of his idiotic approach - I was in the middle of something stressful and important and really hadn't the patience for a lot of nonsense. You can get away with that if you're well-known to your callee, but it's definitely a dumb move if you're not!
Haha wonder if that was my uncle from otaki. He does that to everyone!
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Unless stated, the above post is not meant as criticism.
RhodeRed;418889 wrote: IRD on a fishing expedition?
They are doing some fruity things nowdays to try and confiscate small amounts of cash that are hardly worth the effort involved.
They have folk permanently monitoring trademe now for instance.
About time too !!! All my trademe sales are duly recorded and the appropriate tax paid, so why should others get away with paying no tax on what could amount to large amounts of sales/income.
!] 
