123 charges from calls I haven’t made

[iniltous]

If it’s been proved that unplugging the phone from the phone socket stops the issue , then it seems fairly clear cut that the phone itself must be responsible for these ‘phantom’ calls , but seems to beg two questions , one mentioned , how ( if it’s a mains powered DECT phone that is unplugged from the mains ) is it doing anything in this state , but the other question is why was it left plugged into the phone socket at all , if the mains had been removed and it couldn’t be used for incoming or outgoing calls ?
If the issue only occurs when this unpowered phone is connected , it’s doesn’t matter how it’s managing to ‘call’ , but apparently it is , so disconnect it completely

[amysheppard52]

Spoiler

Thanks. I didn’t unplug the line as such because I had no reason to. Obviously didn’t expect a phone to be able to make calls on 

[snorine]

Interesting - thanks so much for this treat and others about the 123 charges mystery. I renewed my BT broadband just over 2 weeks ago. I don’t have any physical telephone for years and the only thing that plugged into BT socket is a BT router, then there one cable from router connected to my smart TV. Anything else i.e. laptops, mobile phones are all connect via the wireless. 
i just logged into MyBT and it’s showing 123 charges 50p x4 on 13th Dec 2022.

i.e one of the 50p charge:

Time: 04.32

Country: other

Duration: 01

one other similar at 08.51 with 0.00 duration still at cost of 50p

I have attached a screenshot hopefully it will shows up here, it would be really good to understand what’s causing this as this is the first I had such charge from BT

[amysheppard52 · Accepted solution]

It was so strange. We have no idea how it was resolved and the engineer who came out had no clue either. It stopped though after he’d been out. I did get all charges refunded but it is a mystery I’m afraid! 

There are a number of these posts so it’s also strange that BT don’t seem to recognise this as an issue…..

[Trilew]

I see that others have been charged with the 123 phone number. My latest phone bill December 2023, has shown that on the date of the clocks being changed in October,  I supposedly rang 123 for all of a second and was charged the sum of 50p. My phone line was changed when I updated my contract and against my wishes I was changed across to the digital voice phone. Plus I noticed to make a phone call after that change, the prices had shot up. So I can see why a one second phone call was 50p. But what I don’t understand is why I was charged when I  do not use the landline for ringing out and certainly not to ring the 123 number. If I need to check the time I have a radio that shows me the time or I go online direct to the GMT site. 
if this is done on a regular basis then it seems to me that BT are getting a nice sum of money for nothing. I wonder how many others have had this happen to them.

[iniltous]

There is no variation  in the charges made for  DV telephone calls compared to calls made on the ‘old’ PSTN system, so being migrated to DV has no affect at all on the price of a call , it’s the same, so if a call is 50p on DV , the same call on PSTN would also be 50p.

If you were charged for a call to 123 ( the speaking clock ) and you don’t have a phone connected to the ‘line’ then challenge it , no doubt it would be refunded, if you do have a phone instrument connected but are adamant that you didn’t make a call , does anyone else have access to the phone  , a spouse, a child , a visitor, if absolutely no one other than yourself has had the opportunity to make the call , challenge the charge , it will be refunded.

It’s conceivable ( although very unlikely ) that a fault condition on the PSTN network could mimic a manually dialled call to ‘1,2,3’ , something impossible on DV , therefore the chances of a phantom call are much less on DV.

You are adding a comment to a post that’s over a year old .