Billing Department, Home Phone Line was out of order but being used by somebody

[#1]

My home telephone line was out of order from 4th October until Friday 9th October.

At the time our house was not occupied BUT somebody probably Openreach were using our phone Line by dialling 123.

Needless to say Plusnet have added the calls to my yet unbilled call list for my November monthly bill..

In total there are 5 calls of 123 that are charged at 50 pence each total £2.50pence

Also there are numerous calls to 01606211111, and 01606211211, thankfully I have unlimited calling plan

All these phone calls were on the 4th October 2020 from 04.34am until 10.56am

Please check my Plusnet telephone bill asap and remove the charges from my bill  

THanks

sparkrace22

[#2]

Moderators Note

This topic has been moved from Home Phone to My Account/ Billing 

[#3]

Thank you Dvorak I realised that last night i had posted in wrong section, tried to move but could not 

[#4]

We were away so i know our house was not occupied.

04 October 2020

Phone calls from  04.34 am   to 123  10 seconds charge   50pence

                            06.29 am   to 123   00 seconds charge   50pence

                            07.21am   to  123   02 seconds  charge  50 pence       

                            10.12am   to 123    12 seconds  charge  50pence

                             0.56am   to 123     04 seconds   charge  50pence

Phone calls to 01606211111  from 04.20am,  01606211211

[#5 · Accepted solution]

@Sparkrace22  There have been many reports of Openreach engineers dialling 123 to test for working lines but I doubt that they are doing that at 1 or 4:30 in the morning. The other numbers that you mention make me suspect there is another reason for these phantom calls. The first assumption I will make is that your local area code is 01606 if that is not the case my theory fails.

An intermittent short circuit fault can occur somewhere on the phone line which the exchange sees as dialling pulses that the old mechanical dial phones generated. The numbers that are falsely dialled are almost always low digits, as quick repetitive pulses are required.

Look at the numbers that have been reported, they are all 1,2 or 3 which is a clue to the problem.

Trying to explain this to Plusnet could be a challenge because support will not have heard of it or understand it.

I am pretty sure there is another thread about this on the forum, I will post a link if I can find it.

[#6]

@Sparkrace22  I have found a post that reports a similar problem, the customer also had a phone fault at the time and when that was fixed the calls stopped, so I hope the same applies for you and Plusnet accept that the fault was causing the phantom calls.

[#7]

@Sparkrace22 

@RealAleMadrid  has nailed it - spot on.

If Plusnet don't agree, refer them to these two topics:

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Account-Billing/Unknown-call-charges/m-p/1733178#M50461

https://community.plus.net/t5/My-Account-Billing/Haha-jokenet/m-p/1725052#M49333

[#8]

3 days later my phone was so nosey it was impossible to hear anything but it was dead, could not ring out & I could not ring in.

Contacted Plusnet via my mobile phone ( big mistake! 0800 free? charged for call )

They said issues with our phone line as other, was fixed in another couple of days.

[#9]

0800 numbers should be free to call from a mobile phone. I believe this came into effect in 2015 https://www.gov.uk/call-charges

[#10]

I rang Plusnet as No Reply from them via the forum, The guy was brilliant fully understood the issue of 1,2,3.

Refunded the premium rate fees.

So thank you RealAleMadrid for your input as it helped me

[#11]

I've only had to use PlusNet support twice on the phone once when I first became a customer, the other quite recent and both times they have brilliant (I feel that the guy Paul Whitehouse played from the Fast Show!).

It could well be a fault on your landline though, so I would keep a close eye on your bill and report it as a fault if you notice it happening again.

Good of PlusNet to refund you, but just make sure the problem doesn't continue.