£450 virgin bill for mum's 'pocket dials'

jonf
jonf Posts: 34 Forumite
in Phones & TV
So my mum who is 80 this month noticed that last month virgin took nearly £450 rather than the usual £10 she has paid on a Sim only deal for the past 2 years, she is not at all tech savvy and only uses the phone occasionally if she is going somewhere to meet someone etc. But looking at the bill her phone has somehow apparently dialled her own home phone number 4 times for a total of about 10hrs!
The reason we know these calls weren't intentional is that she lives alone and strangely, she doesn't even have an answerphone.

So my many questions are- how can a phoneline with no answerphone connect a call?, it's a Pipex landline- is this technically even possible? Also, why did this connection apparently stay open for in one case- 6hrs?

On virgin's end, why didn't they notice that this bill went from a consistent £10 a month to suddenly £450, why did't they inform her, is there no credit cap that should have kicked in?

I'm really annoyed that this could even happen, my mum is on a small pension and she cannot afford to lose this kind of money.
I really hope that Virgin are going to show some sympathy here, if anyone has had similar experience I would appreciate any advice on how to proceed,

thanks guys

Comments

  • LazyTyper
    LazyTyper Posts: 372 Forumite
    jonf wrote: »
    So my mum who is 80 this month noticed that last month virgin took nearly £450 rather than the usual £10 she has paid on a Sim only deal for the past 2 years, she is not at all tech savvy and only uses the phone occasionally if she is going somewhere to meet someone etc. But looking at the bill her phone has somehow apparently dialled her own home phone number 4 times for a total of about 10hrs!
    The reason we know these calls weren't intentional is that she lives alone and strangely, she doesn't even have an answerphone.

    So my many questions are- how can a phoneline with no answerphone connect a call?, it's a Pipex landline- is this technically even possible? Also, why did this connection apparently stay open for in one case- 6hrs?

    A phone call could last up to 7 days, but most providers usually have a limit of a few hours. I think 6 or 7 hours is the magic number by default, but would need to dig a bit to confirm this.

    Regarding the answerphone, are you sure it isn't the 1571 service (or equivalent) consuming the phone call?
    jonf wrote: »
    On virgin's end, why didn't they notice that this bill went from a consistent £10 a month to suddenly £450, why did't they inform her, is there no credit cap that should have kicked in?

    You will find that most mobile providers have a "cap" of a few thousand pounds before they act upon anything "unusual".

    jonf wrote: »
    I'm really annoyed that this could even happen, my mum is on a small pension and she cannot afford to lose this kind of money.
    I really hope that Virgin are going to show some sympathy here, if anyone has had similar experience I would appreciate any advice on how to proceed,

    thanks guys
  • brewerdave
    brewerdave Posts: 8,506 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    I don't use 1571 -but surely there is a max. message time of x minutes -after that it should cut off ??
  • Ian011
    Ian011 Posts: 2,432 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    Just because the called party hangs up, this does not end the call from the caller's end.
  • jonf
    jonf Posts: 34 Forumite
    Hi, thanks for the replies. I'm not sure about the 1571 thing, basically when you ring her, it rings about 5 times and then goes completely quiet, no beeps or message, I suppose there could be some sort of silent answerphone which comes with the line, I know she hasn't set anything up herself.

    Also, I agree, you'd think there'd be a time limit to a messaging service. I will ring Pipex (now apparently 'Home Telecom') on Monday to look into this.

    jonf
  • Buzby
    Buzby Posts: 8,275 Forumite
    The fact the call wasn't productive is not relevant sadly. I used to be plagued by 'bum' dialling, and I had to learn to lock the keypad or pay for the pleasure.

    As for charging - the distant end does NOT need to answer - billing starts the millisecond the call is passed to the destination carrier (if wholly within VM then this won't happen).
  • LazyTyper
    LazyTyper Posts: 372 Forumite
    Buzby wrote: »
    As for charging - the distant end does NOT need to answer - billing starts the millisecond the call is passed to the destination carrier (if wholly within VM then this won't happen).

    This is not correct. The billing begins the moment the attempted call is answered, regardless of the destination carrier.

    A call is considered to be answered not only by the recipient answering, but also by voicemail, auto attendants (menu systems), and queue systems.

    If a call is not answered then there is no charge.
  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,088 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    Pin-locking the handset will prevent 'pocket calls'. and should be done anyway for security reasons.
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    macman wrote: »
    Pin-locking the handset will prevent 'pocket calls'. and should be done anyway for security reasons.
    That was mentioned, recently, on Rip-Off Britain. They said it stops people using the sim after stealing your phone , too.(Well they won't steal mine, as it's a 'brick' on PAYG.)
  • Cycrow
    Cycrow Posts: 2,639 Forumite
    teddysmum wrote: »
    That was mentioned, recently, on Rip-Off Britain. They said it stops people using the sim after stealing your phone , too.(Well they won't steal mine, as it's a 'brick' on PAYG.)

    actually if you only pin lock the handset it wont stop someone using the sim in another phone.

    you need to set both a handset pin and a sim pin to prevent that. Which everyone should do
  • teddysmum
    teddysmum Posts: 9,471 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Cycrow wrote: »
    actually if you only pin lock the handset it wont stop someone using the sim in another phone.

    you need to set both a handset pin and a sim pin to prevent that. Which everyone should do

    I obviously only heard half of the tv exchange, but it won't affect me as a brick with £5 PAYG credit isn't worth stealing.(The youth of today, and others, would not be seen dead with my phone)
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