topic Unplugged phone keeps ringing speaking clock in Home Phone

Unplugged phone keeps ringing speaking clock

smfrancis2105 — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 09:10:48 GMT

About a month ago I had an issue with the plug socket my landline was plugged into, which meant it kept turning off and on every 20 seconds or so. As a result I unplugged the phone and have never plugged it back in.

Since then, my landline number somehow keeps ringing the speaking clock. In the last month I have been charged over £55 for these calls, despite not actually having a phone plugged in. The issue has been raised with PlusNet, who's engineers are looking into the fault. In the meantime, the calls keep happening and my bill keeps going up. Got an email this morning saying I've now exceeded my credit threshold limit for calls and so another admin charge of £5.76 will be added to my next bill.

Can someone from PlusNet confirm that these charges and admin fees will be rescinded once the engineers have found and dealt with the fault?

Re: Unplugged phone keeps ringing speaking clock

Gandalf — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 14:17:31 GMT

Hi there,

I'm really sorry for the amount of calls to 123 showing on your account.

I've tested your line and identified a Battery Contact fault so your line is likely crossed with someone else's. I've chased up the fault with our suppliers and we're hoping to have that fixed by the close of play on the 22nd September.

If you can let me know once we've confirmed the fault to be fixed, and if an engineer tells us the problem was due to something which went wrong outside of your property, I'll make sure we credit or refund those charges.

Re: Unplugged phone keeps ringing speaking clock

GrahamK — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 19:01:41 GMT

I have just received my latest bill and noticed a phantom call to the speaking clock lasting 2 seconds. Searching the forum this seems to have occurred to a number of people over quite a period of time. Suggestion from forum research is that this is Openreach engineers testing my line and this practice has been going on for years.

This is not a call I made, could you please refund.

Thanks

Re: Unplugged phone keeps ringing speaking clock

198kHz — Wed, 19 Oct 2022 20:05:16 GMT

@GrahamK wrote:

Suggestion from forum research is that this is Openreach engineers testing my line and this practice has been going on for years.

Yes, many years, before Openreach existed, but only entering public consciousness with the advent of itemised billing.

It's getting worse over the years, I believe, due to increased form filling, box ticking etc, and constant pressure for more productivity from BT, Openreach, and telecom contractors like M J Quinn and Kelly's.

There doesn't seem to be any great desire in the industry to tackle the problem. The engineers are gaining nothing financially, so I would call it 'fraud by proxy' by BT.

Re: Unplugged phone keeps ringing speaking clock

adamwalker — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 07:39:22 GMT

Hi @GrahamK, please send me a PM with your username and I'll get that refunded for you.