Strange Bt Bill

[ladyalex]

Latest BT bill included a call to 123, the speaking clock , duration 1 second , charge of 42p.
Thing is, no one was in the house that day. I am absolutely sure of this.
Anyone had this/got any explanation ?
Thanks.
:-))

[HansUrbancka]

False billing of the Speaking Clock was, 12months ago, the subject of a Report by Which. :-

http://conversation.which.co.uk/technology/timeline-123-speaking-clock-call-charges-phone-bill/

Hans.

[ladyalex]

Thank you very much, Hans.
It appears I am not alone.
I'll have a go at getting my 42p back.....it's the principle ...

[ladyalex]

Well, Divya from the BT online chat service says that she has refunded my 42p.
We'll see when the next bill comes through.
When I asked why I had had this charge s/he said that I had an alarm service on my phone which was why this was charged. Needless to say I do not.
When I pressed further, denying that I ever had any such alarm service, it all got a bit confused and confusing. S/he agreed that 123 was the speaking clock and also agreed that phantom speaking clock calls were a known issue.
So I left it at that.
I do wish these help lines would not make stuff up. It just makes everything so much more annoying and confusing.

[HansUrbancka]

G'afternoon ladyalex.......I agree that it's Not the smallish amount of 42p but a principle is involved. Similarly, I also wish that BT Call Centres would stop making up stories which are completely untrue.

Incidentally, BT intends withdrawing it's Call Centres from India. It will be interesting to see if it makes a difference to its handling of matters.

Hans.

[diddlydo]

We had this issue a few years ago and we had never called the speaking clock - why would you in this day and age?! Anyway, several emails later all said "calls" were refunded by BT.