This topic

Charges for 0871 number

Kat5 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 09:14:41 GMT

I’m being charged by BT for landline calls to an 0871 number, 89 calls in total over a period of 5 days in mid March, calls happening at intervals including when there was no one at home and in the middle of the night, all lasting 6 seconds and costing 22p each. I contacted BT who did little to investigate the matter but as a “goodwill” gesture agreed to refund the charges incurred in my last billing period £7.14 but not those pending and which I’ll be charged for in the next bill £12.98. Even a non expert can see my the charges have been fraudulently applied or someone has hacked or been able to recharge to my landline. BT customer service were more interested in trying to get me to upgrade to a new broadband package at over £20 pm more they’re offering to new customers. I’ve been with BT for nearly 30 years! Any suggestions how I can get the phone charges rectified?

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 09:22:10 GMT

Do you have an alarm connected to your phone line?

Have you Googled the number to try to establish what/who it is?

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Kat5 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 09:33:44 GMT

Googled the number with no results and actually rang it as well and got “the number you have called has not been recognised”. BT customer service also did a search and came up with a bank in India. I explained that I had no reason for phoning a bank in India 89 times but to no avail!!!

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:01:11 GMT

It would seem more than a little odd that you can be billed for a number that isn't valid! Even more so for that number to be associated with an international number.

There is a regulator for chargeable phone services where you can look up a number & make a report. Might be worth a try there if BT are being of no help.

https://psauthority.org.uk/

Just a thought but ii you're not on Digital Voice, try dialling 17070 & ensure that your number is reported back to you.

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Kat5 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:07:26 GMT

Tried the 17070 check and it’s my landline number ok. Will try reporting the number as you suggest. Many thanks.

Re: Charges for 0871 number

iniltous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:40:19 GMT

What is the 0871 number in question ?

If you don’t have a crossed line ( and have checked that by using 17070 and it confirms you are connected to the correct telephone number ) , then its likely to be either someone accessing your line and making the calls , or it’s an auto dialer, it’s not just Alarms that can make automated calls on your line , but they are quite common, if it is someone else accessing your line , do you live in a MDU type situation ( apartment/ flats ) where someone could easily intercept your line and make the calls ?

As stated , a lot makes no sense , if you call the number and it’s unobtainable then it’s not a charged for call , so wouldn’t appear on the bill , if it’s a number an automated dialer would call , then it would be answered by a modem , so would answer with ‘computer tones’ , basically the remote end computer asking the calling number ( your number ) to start transferring data , the repeated call attempts and very short duration calls , suggests a ‘dialer’ , as they tend to call multiple times if they don’t successfully connect , rather than fraud , perhaps someone with a financial interest in that 0871 number is generating their own income , and although that’s not impossible is very unlikely, or , because some 0871 numbers , are for adult entertainment, perhaps they only ‘work’ after certain hours , but you wouldn’t expect many short calls ( if it were someone using your line to call the adult service )

It’s a puzzle, but TBH , waiving the cost is the easiest ‘solution’ you will have to call again though if some calls are visible but not yet charged for ….if it happens again then further investigation may be needed, but generally it’s either a dialer or the bill payer doesn’t know who is using the line , but someone is .

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Kat5 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 10:44:24 GMT

Will try Alarm provider in case it’s a fault at that end but I would have expected them to pick up 89 calls over this period and unusual pattern to their monitoring service. Thanks

Re: Charges for 0871 number

iniltous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 11:11:49 GMT

So you do you have an alarm connected to the phone line ?,

FWIW , some alarm companies use a premium number ( that’s a bit cheeky to say the least ) but if they have technical problems, and the alarm constantly attempts connection , it may make you question the ‘fee’ , as even if it’s a small individual charge , that applied dozens of times , it can be considerable , when if it were a single call per month you probably wouldn’t notice .

If this issue is your alarm and alarm company, then BT waiving the call charges is a good result as arguably they are justified call charges that the alarm company should be refunding .

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 11:22:01 GMT

I have unknown phone calls on my line.

Do you have an alarm connected to the line?

Yes I do, but I'm keeping that a secret... 🙄

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Kat5 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:52:22 GMT

Not sure what’s being implied with keeping alarm “secret.” This situation was fully explained to BT customer service and it was they who advised me the number was linked to a bank in India and were unable to investigate further, hence my post.

constructive comments only welcome- so much for community ethos!

Re: Charges for 0871 number

licquorice — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 14:55:55 GMT

Surely the first thing to have done would be to contact the alarm company.

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Kat5 — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:02:00 GMT

Had no reason to phone alarm company as there were no problems with the alarm! I phoned BT first to see if they could check the charges and they advised me that number was linked to bank in India not to an alarm monitoring system. They were unable to investigate further, that’s why I posted the query and as explained above.

Re: Charges for 0871 number

licquorice — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 15:30:05 GMT

Obviously my though processes are different to yours.

Oh, I have some spurious numbers being dialled, I have an alarm system, I wonder if it is the alarm system making the calls or some spurious hacker. I know, I'll contact the alarm company and ask them.

BT customer services would have no way of checking who the number belonged to.

Re: Charges for 0871 number

iniltous — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 18:31:11 GMT

Although I’m sure not intentional , it’s amazing how often someone posts about an issue ( complaining basically about how terrible BT is ) , and based on the initial post , it’s hard to not agree , but often it’s clear there must be more to it than the OP has presented, and after requests for more information, an extremely pertinent piece of information is supplied , which changes everything, in this case Occam’s razor springs to mind , the simplest explanation is usually the best ( correct ) one .

Re: Charges for 0871 number

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 07:54:10 GMT

@iniltous

Indeed. Seen quite a few recently, not least the one a couple of weeks back who complained they couldn't get FTTP from BT in a new build. Then a week & four pages of posts later, finally discloses that all their neighbours had to sign up with an Alt-Net, as that was all that was available!

But this one is another level, having been specifically asked about an alarm in my very first reply. Chooses to ignore that & then gets all indignant, demanding only constructive comments & criticising the community!

I do sometimes wonder why we bother...