So SWR, why do you need my phone number?

jupiter · Monday at 14:55

A question for SWR. I recently had to take a taxi as the railway was at a standstill. I made a claim by email, all successful, but why on the payment link do you need my phone number and can I expect many spam telephone calls now?

No one else, when I'm paying for something, has ever needed my phone number. Having tried to leave it blank the form was not accepted. I do not wish you to have my phone number. I did not seem to have a choice.

So SWR, could you explain yourselves please? (And delete my phone number.)

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jfollows · Monday at 14:59

There are 20,000 fictitious numbers, eg 07700 900461 (Doctor Who) so just use one of these.
I used something similar recently when raising a complaint and asking for a response in writing, so I made sure the telephone number I was forced to enter on the form wouldn’t work.

StoneRoad · Monday at 14:59

Something like that would tempt me to enter their customer service number !

Peter Mugridge · Monday at 15:01

StoneRoad said:
Something like that would tempt me to enter their customer service number !

That's what I usually do.... not least because I'm cloth eared and wouldn't be able to talk to them on the phone anyway... :lol:

SargeNpton · Monday at 15:22

jupiter said:
A question for SWR. I recently had to take a taxi as the railway was at a standstill. I made a claim by email, all successful, but why on the payment link do you need my phone number and can I expect many spam telephone calls now?

No one else, when I'm paying for something, has ever needed my phone number. Having tried to leave it blank the form was not accepted. I do not wish you to have my phone number. I did not seem to have a choice.

So SWR, could you explain yourselves please? (And delete my phone number.)

GDPR (data protection regulations) means that a phone number recorded for the purposes of dealing with your claim cannot subsequently be used for marketing. Admittedly, some of the less reputable companies may ignore GDPR but I doubt that SWR would.

If they need to double-check something with you then a quick phone call can be more quicker and efficient than a further exchange of emails.

sprunt · Monday at 17:10

SargeNpton said:
GDPR (data protection regulations) means that a phone number recorded for the purposes of dealing with your claim cannot subsequently be used for marketing. Admittedly, some of the less reputable companies may ignore GDPR but I doubt that SWR would.

Lots of major companies routinely ignore GDPR - I frequently see registration forms that default to opt-in for marketing emails, and although that's illegal enforcement is virtually (if not actually) non-existent.

And yeah, my number when filling in the OP's form would have been 07777777777.

styles · Monday at 17:17

Probably the most common DPA breach I'd say is websites requiring gender and title. There is very rarely a need to collect this information. At best it may be required in a clinical setting but even then biological sex is more important than self-identified gender or title.

sprunt · Monday at 17:22

What's particularly annoying to me about unnecessary requests for a title is that they don't generally autofill while the rest of the form does.

Hadlow Road · Monday at 18:32

styles said:
Probably the most common DPA breach I'd say is websites requiring gender and title. There is very rarely a need to collect this information. At best it may be required in a clinical setting but even then biological sex is more important than self-identified gender or title.

Ah, but I have always presumed that they were coy about actually uttering the word sex, hence gender.

AlterEgo · Monday at 20:08

SargeNpton said:
GDPR (data protection regulations) means that a phone number recorded for the purposes of dealing with your claim cannot subsequently be used for marketing. Admittedly, some of the less reputable companies may ignore GDPR but I doubt that SWR would.

If they need to double-check something with you then a quick phone call can be more quicker and efficient than a further exchange of emails.

This. I would usually ring customers if they'd made a claim with an error in I just needed 30 seconds to clarify. Then it could get approved same day rather than send an email and have the reply rot in an inbox for a week.

Cdd89 · Tuesday at 19:09

AlterEgo said:
This. I would usually ring customers if they'd made a claim with an error in I just needed 30 seconds to clarify. Then it could get approved same day rather than send an email and have the reply rot in an inbox for a week.

Although this implies that people want to get on the phone for a quicker resolution. I'd prefer it takes another week if I don't have to get on the phone.

Relatedly, a lot of businesses make it hard to email them and try and force either phone calls or live chat. I wonder if this is because they think it's cheaper for them, as the time consumed by the enquiry is equal to the time spent by the customer, whereas a 2-minute email (handled properly) can prompt a time-consuming research exercise.

AlterEgo · Tuesday at 19:26

Cdd89 said:
Although this implies that people want to get on the phone for a quicker resolution. I'd prefer it takes another week if I don't have to get on the phone.

People were almost always pleasantly surprised that someone used their initiative and the information supplied to solve a problem that would otherwise just meet with a flat refusal of a claim or further tedious emails.

jupiter · Tuesday at 20:39

Thanks for the thoughts. The actual claim process was straightforward, thank you SWR. The point remains, why is a mobile number compulsory.

Bevan Price · Tuesday at 22:27

jupiter said:
Thanks for the thoughts. The actual claim process was straightforward, thank you SWR. The point remains, why is a mobile number compulsory.

Yes, quite a lot of organisations think that everyone has a mobilr phone.. Not that it wiil do them much good if they get my number. The battery life is getting short, so I leave it switched off except when I want to use it.....

SargeNpton · Wednesday at 08:44

Bevan Price said:
Yes, quite a lot of organisations think that everyone has a mobilr phone.. Not that it wiil do them much good if they get my number. The battery life is getting short, so I leave it switched off except when I want to use it.....

If everyone left their phone switched off except when they want to use it then nobody would be able to talk to anyone else.

styles · Wednesday at 08:48

I wonder if the claim would go through if you provided the number of the local payphone.

AlterEgo · Wednesday at 08:50

Bevan Price said:
Yes, quite a lot of organisations think that everyone has a mobilr phone.. Not that it wiil do them much good if they get my number. The battery life is getting short, so I leave it switched off except when I want to use it.....

Almost everyone does have a mobile phone. About 98% of adults - and of those, something like 95% have a smartphone. That is vastly more people than ever had their own landline.

olddriver · Wednesday at 09:47

jupiter said:
The point remains, why is a mobile number compulsory.

Have you contacted them directly to ask?

Broucek · Wednesday at 11:22

olddriver said:
Have you contacted them directly to ask?

Good luck with that....

The exile · Wednesday at 13:17

AlterEgo said:
Almost everyone does have a mobile phone. About 98% of adults - and of those, something like 95% have a smartphone. That is vastly more people than ever had their own landline.

At least in part, presumably, because it tended to be 1 landline per household rather than per person, and all those living in communal situations (students, bedsits etc) would have tended to share a landline (if at all) but will now have their own phone.

londonbridge · 2026-08-29T08:00:29+0100

AlterEgo said:
Almost everyone does have a mobile phone. About 98% of adults - and of those, something like 95% have a smartphone. That is vastly more people than ever had their own landline.

“Almost” still does not equal “everyone”. In the same way that not everyone has access to iPlayer. It’s easy to overlook this.

AlterEgo · 2026-08-29T08:07:11+0100

londonbridge said:
“Almost” still does not equal “everyone”. In the same way that not everyone has access to iPlayer. It’s easy to overlook this.

Sorry to bring out this timeless classic, but so what? Particularly with reference to the thread where someone is filling in an online payment form.

The exile · 2026-08-29T10:44:01+0100

londonbridge said:
“Almost” still does not equal “everyone”. In the same way that not everyone has access to iPlayer. It’s easy to overlook this.

And perhaps more importantly doesn't include "everyone", "everywhere" and "at all times"

So SWR, why do you need my phone number?

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