Hi,
Does anyone have experience setting up a virtual answering service?
My mom is 86 and gets robo calls constantly. She doesn't want to get caller ID and she would probably forget to check it anyway. She picks up the phone irregardless of my sister and I telling her to let the call go to voicemail. She insists she can handle it. She has been scammed already by a plumber and the Walmart gift card scam.
My sister lives with her but cannot be at home 24/7 to monitor. The phone needs to be active for the 911 button system we have installed for her in an emergency if no one is at home.
I thought the virtual answering service would provide a layer of protection, but then when my mom forgets her bank passwords, she gets a phone call to verify it's her that wants to reset the password.
What a mess.
Rod
I did look into nomorobo and set up an account. I practiced on my own phone number. I am asking my sister to get me the phone carrier and account number of my mom's phone and i am pretty sure my mom will understand and agree to this.
On a plus side, i found out ATT voip landlines have their own set of robo call filters.
Thank you again.
Rod
A friend of mine set up a system with their phone carrier that 'answers' the phone with a message that this number does not take calls from unrecognized numbers. Then the caller has to physically press a number to continue to call. A scammer is not an actual person, most of the time, so they can't continue the call. The short message states that telemarketers will be prosecuted (I dunno if they really would be) but it's generally enough to get 'live' and 'robo' calls down to a minimum.
A real person presses the 8, or whatever, and the call continues. My friend said this was a lifesaver for them, as they want to keep their landline, as so many of us do--and we don't want to be harangued day and night.
You could see if your local phone carrier provides this.
Another thing I have done, is call the telemarketer BACK. The usually have a number to hit to 'opt out' of the calls. At least from THAT number. I've had some success with that.
If your mom has a cell phone--well, I wish you luck with that. Mom can't dial hers, so she has to wait for someone to come into her apt and she grabs them and has them dial. Wish YB would hook up her landline again, but he won't.
Don't even get me started on passwords. As much as we can with both mom and MIL, we try to use ONE password as much as possible--and that helps, a little. I am in the same boat---had to reset a password the other day and it started a whole chain of hassle. I'm not elderly, but wow, sometimes techie stuff just makes me want to weep. Thank goodness for an engineer for a hubby, it may take him all day to unravel the messes I've made on the computer, but he always does it.