Ghost calls to 123

qcaroo

Hi, I'd really like some advice please - my father's landline phone bill shows calls to 123 every month. I have LPA for him and I've been able to download phone bills going back to 2023 and I can see nearly 200 calls to 123 at a cost of £400+. They are for EXACTLY 60, 120, or 180 seconds each. He's in a care home and the house is empty and there are no other calls on the bill. I've told the phone company (POP Telecom) who said that they're passed the calls by Openreach, so not their problem. I've spoken to Openreach and they've said it's a problem with the phone company. So what should I do? 

hamski

Could be an intermittent fault on the line , are there any phones or extensions connected to the line , if not he/you shouldn’t be charged. Lots of discussion about this , here’s an example https://community.plus.net/t5/Home-Phone/Noise-on-line-and-20-of-rogue-calls-to-123-numbers/td-p/1893704

littleboo

POP Telecom are fobbing you off, they are billing you for the service so its their issue to manage and resolve. Its not up to you to contact their suppliers, that's their job

southone

Is there any pattern to the time of the month that these calls happen? I have a couple of times accidentally called 123 when cleaning the handset rubbing the cloth across the handsets and it ring 123 and any other numbers but it connects to 123 first

brewerdave

POSSIBLE that Openreach engineers know that property is empty and are using that line for test purposes? I seem to remember this coming up in the past.

iniltous

What possible test purpose could this have for an Openreach  tech ? , it would mean the techs are working from the same DP to intercept the OP relatives line , or at a push the same PCP and the the tech would need to ‘remember’ the address has no occupant ( and  how could they know this ) and dial 123 on that line , but for what purpose, what would that prove ?, in the past when this was a quick way to determine if a line was spare someone could be unlucky and get a single call not made by them appearing on their bill in their lifetime, not dozens or hundreds and now with the majority of lines not on PSTN , it’s not a useful ‘test’ anyway .

Its already been pointed out this is between the OP and their provider POP Telecom, if there is some defect on the line ( very unlikely ) that’s made these calls report it to POP to get Openreach to check it ( although it’s the definition of a dodgy fault report ) , the OP doesn’t state why their relative needs then to have POA and why they are in residential care , but it’s often because of ‘irrational’ behaviours, like constantly calling services , or the suggestion that someone cleaning the instrument is inadvertently making a 123 call ( it’s easy to see how that could happen ) .

If  house is unoccupied and has no visitors at all , why have a telephone service there at all , if the line is being maintained in the expectation that the owner may be able to return, get POP to set the line as OCB ( outgoing calls barred ) , there may be a charge for OCB .

What the OP should also do ( in the short term ) is unplug everything from the line , and any telephones are within the property, remove them , so nothing within the property can make a call .

FWIW , the exact nature of the billing , 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes doesn’t mean the calls lasted that long , just the way POP charges , a call 10 seconds or 59 seconds is rounded to a 1 minute charge  , 61 or 119 seconds is rounded to a 2 minute charge etc ….given its a speaking clock it difficult to see why anyone would listen to the announcement for more than a few seconds.

Hopefully this doesn’t come across as harsh or blaming the OPs relative, but the calls were almost certainly made .