I posted this review late last year, do any of you agree with my comments or am I on my own?
''VERY disappointed with this phone - I do not understand all the 5* reviews. All the facilities work but the implementation is hopeless. A few problems are; Message asking to identify oneself is distorted and rather quiet: Having left their name it is almost inaudible to me and poor quality; the announcement of the callers name starts the moment you accept the call so by the time you have the phone to your ear the message has already started: there is no way to review the blocked callers list, nor the accept list: the answerphone message is nearly inaudible on the handset (but fine on the base), if the handset is asleep the first digit pressed merely wakes the phone so does not register the 0, as I live in an 0118 area code this means I dial directory enquiries (the last mistake cost me £4.30); the calls list is hardly intuitive; etc etc! If you buy one of these I hope you can live with its faults - how BT can put their name to it amazes me.''
I am still having the old problem with my BT8500 in that some callers in my phone book are being asked to announce themselves while others on the same area code are not. BT now say
If only some contacts are being sceened, it means that the phone is not finding a match with caller display and your phone book when they call.
How can that be true when the phone displays the caller's name and number correctly but still asks for an announcement?. Is Caller Display accessing some database which I cannot control?
The saga continues. To recap .... some of the numbers on my contacts list are being asked to announce themselves. BT suggested deleting the contact, asking the person to cal later and announce and then re-adding the number to to the contact list direct from the phone.
After deleting the contact the person called and was put straight through and his name showed on the screen even though even though it was not on my list!!!
After updating the contact direct as suggested the caller was again asked to announce. This is crazy.
Persisting with the advice from BT I have repeated their advice by entering a screened contact direct from the calls list. BT's procedure does not work ... the caller still has to announce him/herself. This is only true for some contacts, not all of them. I have proposed returning my phones under warranty if BT cannot make any further suggestions. They do not work as they are claimed to work consistently.
Having the exact same issue here now as well. Some calls from my contact list get through ok, whereas others, specifically a couple of relatives, have now had to start identifying themselves. Very frustrating indeed. Up until now the phone worked well to be honest. But suddenly my elderly relatives find it a bit daunting when they phone me 😕
Don't have a problem with distorted or quiet messages. I did have the problem with the name coming through before I had got the phone to my ear, but this was because the default setting means that your phone answers the call immediately you take it out of the charger. I simply changed Menu - Settings - Call Settings - Auto Answer - OFF. That does mean you have to press the green button to answer the call, but at least the phone is in your hand ready to listen. I have Auto End Call set to ON so that it hangs up when I place the phone back in the holder, should I forget to press the red button.