Nuisance Calls from BT!!

Paul_Varjak

The care alarm is connected to the main box in the hall and the cordless phone then plugs into the care alarm. The extension upstairs is hard-wired into the back of the main box.

The extension phone is giving more than a 'tinkle' it is actually ringing, but with a more mellow ring than normal. It lasts maybe for about 40 seconds.

grumpyofwhitecross

Do you have the nte5 type socket in the hall ? The type thaty has a lower plate that comes off ? If not , your socket may be causing the problem, due to age !!

Paul_Varjak

grumpyofwhitecross wrote: »

Do you have the nte5 type socket in the hall ? The type thaty has a lower plate that comes off ? If not , your socket may be causing the problem, due to age !!

I am not sure - my aunt lives many miles away.

borders

Was going to ask how long the ring is. BT night routine is usually one sharp ting or a low ringggggg (as opposed to ring ring) for about a second as the tester seizes the line. Sounds like somethings on the line for longer. To be honest I would be looking at the care alarm if you hadnt already tried disconnecting it. I would still go with getting the main box changed. Could be a contact or insulation breaking down on the extension connection and it's picking up something that wouldnt normally be a problem. I do remember having faults where picking up the main phone caused the extension to ring. Changing the main box cured the problem.

Paul_Varjak

borders wrote: »

Was going to ask how long the ring is. BT night routine is usually one sharp ting or a low ringggggg (as opposed to ring ring) for about a second as the tester seizes the line. Sounds like somethings on the line for longer. To be honest I would be looking at the care alarm if you hadnt already tried disconnecting it. I would still go with getting the main box changed. Could be a contact or insulation breaking down on the extension connection and it's picking up something that wouldnt normally be a problem. I do remember having faults where picking up the main phone caused the extension to ring. Changing the main box cured the problem.

Does not really explain why this happens only between 12 midnight and 12:15am every night!

I am beginning to think that a neighbour may have equipment attached to my aunt's phone line that performs some sort of test at that time, by dialling out. My aunt just got a new phone bill, so I am getting her to check that phone bill for calls around midnight!

borders

No, the cause still isnt clear. Something on some sort of routine is responsible. You can get 'leakage' from other electrical equipment that isnt even connected to the line. Quite rare but it happens. I would have thought , given your aunts age, that BT would send an engineer out free of charge to investigate on site. That used to be the policy but I left 4 years ago and I dont know what it is now. And I never worked in Openreach which is basically a different company with their own policies.

Paul_Varjak

Yes, Kevin from BT did offer to fix this for free and I asked him to confirm this in writing, but he has simply arranged for someone to visit without confirming it will be free.

I now have another problem with BT myself and I am not even a BT customer! Apparently, a BT sales person has placed an order in my name for a second phone line in my home! The BT Homehub arrived about 30 minutes ago!

Paul_Varjak

BT have now confirmed, in writing, that they will get a BT Openreach engineer to visit my aunt's home to get this problem fixed at no cost.

Paul_Varjak

Well, the due date for the engineer was today! The engineer called my aunt and asked what the problem was, as he had no idea what problem my aunt was having! My aunt told him that her extension phone rings every night and the engneer's response was that a home visit would not fix the problem! So he would not, and did not, visit!!!!

Back to square one!

Paul_Varjak

A promise was made that the fault would be fixed by 7pm last night. The fault was not fixed - my aunt still received a nuisance test call just after midnight today. These test calls have now been happening every night for at least 10 weeks!

Finally, BT's Nuisance Call Bureau have agreed to put a trace on the line to determine if the calls are coming from the exchange!