This is to flag a problem and a (partial) solution, and to note some pretty poor customer service from BT. My mother (age 81) had a BT phone with a call plan including Call Protect, within which she could allow calls from known, selected numbers while new/unknown numbers were screened. Following a sales job from BT, she updated her hub to the most recent option (Autumn 2022). At no stage in this process was any mention made of Call Protect but, afterwards, all incoming calls were screened by Call Protect and we could find no way of restoring the list of allowed numbers (e.g. through 1572). On exploring in My BT, it became clear that Call Protect only allows numbers to be blocked - all incoming calls would be screened and the option to allow specific numbers to be passed through as "VIPs" was only available with an upgrade of the calling plan (cost £4 per month). On further investigation, I found that I could switch off Call Protect entirely, but only by following through to make a new order, with call features removed on the checkout page. This successfully removed the call screening process for incoming calls, but of course there is now no Call Protect service.
I am reporting this (i) to point out the issue to BT - the added £4 fee for Call Protect should have been flagged with the new agreement that was sold to her; (ii) to share how to fix the annoying screening if anyone else has the same problem - it is completely unintuitive not to have an option to turn off Call Protect on the "Manage Call Protect" tab or the relevant menu on 1572.
