Dementia and calls to 118500

bod1467

robatwork wrote: »

Can I just ask how "Natalie from BT" knew you were genuine and that your brother-in-law had dementia? Did you just convince her of that over the phone or was any other proof required?

eyelinerprincess wrote: »

I don't believe that it was a matter of "convincing" the BT operator. People may want to block these numbers for various reasons.

I think you've misunderstood the question asked ... "Natalie from BT" shouldn't have been doing anything with the account without the express permission of the account holder. That's what Rob was driving at.

biscit

The cost of 118500 is scandalous. Sure, it's a service they should make money and costs will be high, but £1.99 + £2.57 per minute?

rochja

Good point here. The call pattern and the effort by a relative together are compelling evidence that someone has a problem and someone else is trying to help. The DPA should not prevent that help being given. It should be added to the Tory hit list when they have sorted the iniquitous HRA. This is probably an argument for another place. I just wanted to complement Cavyslave on a job well done

skintpaul

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eyelinerprincess

bod1467 wrote: »

I think you've misunderstood the question asked ... "Natalie from BT" shouldn't have been doing anything with the account without the express permission of the account holder. That's what Rob was driving at.

My bad, I did misunderstand. That's what split shifts all weekend and a child that wakes at 5.30am on the Monday morning does to you!

cavyslave

bod1467 wrote: »

I think you've misunderstood the question asked ... "Natalie from BT" shouldn't have been doing anything with the account without the express permission of the account holder. That's what Rob was driving at.

The account holder doesn't even know what day of the week it is, let alone be able to give Natalie his permission to block him from calling premium rate numbers!

cavyslave

robatwork wrote: »

Can I just ask how "Natalie from BT" knew you were genuine and that your brother-in-law had dementia? Did you just convince her of that over the phone or was any other proof required?

Natalie could see how many calls he had made to 118500 by looking at the screen in front of her. She knew his age (92) so it didn't take a Mensa degree for her to be able to deduce that he had no understanding of his actions.

robatwork

cavyslave wrote: »

Natalie could see how many calls he had made to 118500 by looking at the screen in front of her. She knew his age (92) so it didn't take a Mensa degree for her to be able to deduce that he had no understanding of his actions.

Well that's what I was driving at - so they took your word for his diagnosis along with the evidence of the outbound calls? They didn't need either to speak to him or see anything written from a medical practitioner?

I am a little surprised.

Dizzy_Ditzy

If the caller has a password nominated by the account holder, they will be able to make changes like this to the account.

In this case, the changes being made clearly weren't being made maliciously and it's a change to hear of someone being helpful if the situation

nwc389

You know sometimes you just have to take a common sense approach to helping people . A quick look at the activity would have told anyone that something was not right and the poor OP was not trying to do anything untoward .