Nuisance phone callers.

I'd like other people's opinion on this.

I love living here and , Alhamdulillah, haven't had any of the unpleasantness sometimes experienced by women on the street. On the contrary, I find people very pleasant and helpful.

But, I have had an ongoing problem with phone calls....at all hours of day and night. Now, I simply do not speak unless I recognise a number, or someone says my name, but even so I have had one inadequate and obsessive caller who will give me 14 missed calls in a row. I have to switch my phone off. I blocked the number for a month and then it started again. This is not the only problem caller, just the most persistent, and it's creepy.

My issue is this- what is the response of the phone companies? Their attitude is, "We don't know how they got your number, ( or care) and if it's a problem, pay us and we'll block the number"

At LE 60/year, I'd like to know how much profit this generates a year.

I feel that the phone companies should take a stand;  after all, I am also a customer and I am being harassed even when I am in my own home.

This is what they should do - if a nuisance caller is reported, it is simple to check phone records and verify what they are being told. So if I have received over 60 calls from a number that I have never called, it is clear that there is a problem. There is surely a way to see if other people, probably women have sought to block this call. The caller should be contacted and warned that their service will be discontinued and all costs of blocking their number will in future go to their account. Something like a"three counts and you are blacklisted" threat would surely discourage all but the insane.

Phone companies should share these lists to make it more difficult for these people to simply switch providers.

Perhaps as customers we could make a blog where people could list these pests' numbers so that we can lobby phone companies to investigate. Surely phone records that reveal dozens of calls a day to one number indicate strange behaviour.

Women assure me this is a common occurrence and assume staff are responsible or give out the numbers to friends. This is very scary because addresses are also given to the phone company.

So, what do you think? Ideas? Experience in other countries - do international phone companies provide equal treatment to all women customers?

Thank you. Unfortunately, I cannot post on Arabic sites, so if anyone can, please do.

Yours sincerely
Fatma