The title pretty much sums it up. You discover a number on your caller ID and they didn’t leave a voicemail. Do you call them back?
The difference between “Sometimes.” and “It depends” is that “Sometimes” is random depending on your mood or whatever. “It depends” means that under specific conditions you will call back, for instance all calls from a specific area code.
Poll to follow.
If it was important, they’ll call back.
Curiosity would definitely get the better of me, I think.
Never. Nor do I answer the phone for unrecognized numbers. Close to 100% of the time it’s a wrong number, telemarketer, or collection agent looking for someone who isn’t me.
If that ever changes, I may start answering again. Meantime, nobody gets through who doesn’t leave a voice mail.
Poll:
A random dog barks in the night - do you answer it?
Never. If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.
Every now and then I will look the number up. Not very often though.
I don’t actually have caller ID, but why on Earth would you call back?
Of course not. That’s not even remotely what caller ID is for.
I said ‘it depends’. There a few numbers that I recognize that are not in my phone, and if it’s one of those numbers, I’ll call back. Otherwise, never.
ETA: I know an old man who got scammed like this. He called back a number in (I believe) the Dominican Republic. Because the U.S. has no jurisdiction there, the people he called charged him a few thousand dollars.
It depends on if I know who it is. Many of my neighbors and friends don’t like to use voicemail, or don’t ring long enough to get it. Yet they had a reason to call – unless a wrong number – and even wrong numbers around here are probably someone I know.
So I return those kinds of calls. Not so much numbers that begin with 800… or unknown names.
Caller ID can indeed, serve as a crude answering/call logging system. What’s wrong with that?
No. If it’s important for this person to speak with me, they’ll call back. If they want me to call them back, they need to leave a voicemail to that effect. I do return messages.
On the other hand, if I see a missed call from a friend or family member and they didn’t leave a message, I usually call them back to see what was up. I assume unrecognized numbers are telemarketers.
Nope. I wait to see if they leave a message. If they don’t, and keep calling me then eventually I’ll answer to see what’s going on. One call from an unrecognized number could easily be someone that dialed the wrong number.
No. If a it wasn’t important enough to leave a message, he/she didn’t need to talk to me.
I will usually google it though.
Never - if it isn’t a telemarketer, they’ll leave a message. There is almost never a message.
I google the phone number and see who it is. I don’t call back or pick it up.
No, and it really annoys the loving fuck out of me when people do that. Not that people are calling to see what I wanted, but the way they tend to act. A typical callback goes something like this…
Me: Hello?
Totally Unfamiliar Random Voice on Phone: Who is this? And why did you call me?
Me: Um, who is this? [If I don’t know who you are, I don’t know what I called you for. Duh.]
TURVP: I asked you first. Who is this?
Me: This is CCL.
TURVP: I don’t know you, why are you calling me?
Me: I don’t recall calling you.
TURVP: Well, this number was on my caller ID, so you called me for something.
Me: I dialed a wrong number earlier, maybe it was yours.
TURVP: Oh. Okay.
I had a call recently from an unrecognized number. It wasn’t even a recognized area code, which is saying something, considering that all of Montana is 406. But it turned out to be one of my students, asking a question about lab that really needed to be answered before the next morning. So completely ignoring that call would have been a bad thing.
That said, the student did leave a voicemail. If he hadn’t, I probably would have just ignored it.
If they don’t leave a voicemail I assume that it was either a telemarketer or a wrong number.
It depends on whether or not it’s local but I will usually call back. Never know when someone in the family might have an emergency and not be able to use their own phones.
Yes, I always google. It probably was a wrong number, but who knows, maybe it was somebody I know who just didn’t leave a message. If I know the person I might call back and ask if he needed something.