Charge on bill for 123, when away on holiday!

[#1]

Just noticed that on a latest bill, a charge of 0.50p for a call to 123......what was it for? Also we were out of the country on that day, so did not make the call!! How to get refund please?

[#2]

Moderator's note(s):

Thread moved from Home Phone to My Account/Billing.

[#3]

There’s a long history of engineers placing 123 calls on lines to find a free one when repairing circuits. This is very inappropriate - there are other appropriate methods to do this.

There’s another scenario too connected to faults on lines: In certain conditions low digit numbers can be ghost dialled such as 123 and 112.

Are there any other odd calls on the line?

[#4 · Accepted solution]

hey @royandlou 

I’ve reviewed your most recent bill and have found the 123 call mentioned by @Townman. Sometimes Openreach typically uses this number to test the line, which they shouldn’t be doing.

I’ve applied a credit to your account for the call charge, and it will be reflected on your next bill.

 "Are there any other odd calls on the line?"

@Townman just this one from what I can see

[#5]

I had this twice, it is annoying when they could use 17070 or similar especially if it's out of bundled call hours. It was only a second too, so not even a useful call!

The first time it happened plusnet refunded the 50p. Second time I didn't bother asking,  just added call barring and stopped all chargeable calls. 

04/04/2024 15:51 123 Other 0:00:01 £0.50

[#6]

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@slimgym wrote:

I had this twice, it is annoying when they could use 17070 or similar especially if it's out of bundled call hours. It was only a second too, so not even a useful call!

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It is enough for an engineer doing the wrong thing to find a if circuit is live / in use, so it is a very useful call for them.  17070 is more digits, not so easy to dial and probably does not indicate that a line is actually in service..

[#7]

Thanks Marsh.