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Someone is using my landline phone

ChezxX
Joining in

Hey all, 

a month ago My wifi went down and I went to do a service check online, and noticed my bill was much higher. So I check my bill and discovered I had landline usage charges. So I checked all my bills and this had been happening since august. Little amounts that have increased. 

i straight away contacted virgin, as I don’t have a phone, I haven’t used the landline in the 6 years I have been with virgin. I keep asking to have a package without landline or for them to disconnect it. They refuse. 

I was told they couldn’t see issue there end, they asked many time your sure you haven’t used it. 🙄 I was then told they need to send a technician out to check for a cross connection, which would cost £19.99. I disputed why I am having to foot the bill for issue that’s not my fault. I was told if I don’t accept the charge they won’t investigate and assume I made the calls. So I agreed. 

technician instantly on arrival before looking at anything said he can see from my account, that virgin have called him out for no reason. He couldn’t check for a cross connection as my landline goes through my wifi router and not the main telephone line. He can only fix issue with main telephone line. He said virgin shouldn’t be charging for the call out. The issue is there end, your not at fault. He mentioned that my phone line could be hacked by scammers. So keep pushing virgin to solve it. 

I then contacted virgin to dispute the call out charge that was added to my account which was actually £99! They said the call charge was valid as no cross connection was found. And that I requested the call out so I’m liable. I disputed the amount, they said maybe you miss heard. I mean 19.99 is very different from £99. I checked it was £19.99 soo many times and was told that’s correct. I also corrected them as said no I was told I had to have call out. I even asked if I could have phone line disconnected and the charges refunded, as I don’t use the line. That would solve both ours issue and save a technician coming out. I was told no! I was still told it was my fault I have to pay. So Instead of £33 I have £140 coming out this month and on my birthday! Thanks virgin! Asif 2020 hasn’t already been a 💩  year! 

sooo.. I contacted them again, explained again... until they lookied into it. I asked to speak to technical team. They ask if I was at home as they can see a lot of activity with my wifi. I wasn’t at home. So I had to go home to use laptop to do something with my wifi settings like they asked. They done a check and said they are referring me the the second line team. They will contact you within 24 hours. This will be classed a cross connection and I will get refunded everything. 

I waited 24 hours no call. I waited until it had been 72 hours before I contacted them again. I was told they will contact me in the next 24 hours. No one contacted me. I waited another 48 hours and contacted virgin again!! I was in a queue to speak to a person from 12pm and at 10pm I finally had a real person connect with me. Only to be told someone tried to call my at 12.49pm. I was like when! Sent ss of my phone call log. No one called me at all. No voicemails. I had a call come through at 9.50am and at 5.30pm nothing in between so I know calls where able to reach me. 

I asked could they have said they have if they haven’t and she said no it can’t be logged incorrectly... apparently! So I said are they calling  my mobile, because I don’t use landline, I don’t have a phone connected they so they won’t reach me on that. She said they should call you on both. She said someone will try to call within next 24 hours. 

So I ask if there is a direct number for second line team. She said she could do that. Only to give me the general number virgin and told me to press 1 and then 2. I was like are you for real! I have been calling that number waiting and hour to get through to no one! Which is why I them turn to WhatsApp and have to go through hours of being passed from bot, to person to person. 

So I’m in limbo, meanwhile someone is using my landline costing me money. Virgins solution is to add more cost to it and ignore responsibility! 

fed up! I don’t have money to pay the charges. I’m so stressed out about it. Why am I having to chase them! Why are they not actively trying to connect me. Yes I understand we are in a pandemic and people are working hard, but they should be investigating the issue, as fast as they can, and accept responsibility for it. 

 I moved house in March this year, they closed and opened a new account as they said they couldn’t transfer it over! I had to pay for a technician to come at set my router. (The same router I have had for years) and also check wiring, as on system they didn’t know if there was any wiring currently at the property. The technician come and had me set up router. He put a white thing in back and said that’s for landline. I said I don’t need it as I don’t use it ever.   But apparently I had to have it, and he left. He didn’t check any wiring! That also didn’t cost £99 I’m sure it was between £30-£40 

so I think maybe they didn’t remove my old phone line and that’s still connected to my account? 🤷🏼‍♀️ Or someone has hacked it. 

i mean people can hack most things these days. And virgin allow you to connect to anyone’s router when your out and about. So if someone can connect to your router, can they hack it and make phone calls if the calls go through router? 

anyone else having the same issue? How did you get it resolved. Did you get call out charges and usage charges all refunded? 

TIA x

 

9 REPLIES 9

goslow
Alessandro Volta

This issue of unexplained charges pops up quite regularly on the forum. Unfortunately, the posts typically go off to private message and an outcome and explanation for the problem is never known.

On some past occasions, other equipment such as call blockers and personal/medical/security alarms have been found to be dialling out unexpectedly and causing the charges. Do you have any equipment of that kind connected to the phone line via the hub?

Have you looked for any pattern in how, and when, the charges are being generated i.e., are the charges being generated to the same number or the same dialling code (09 premium rate numbers have been mentioned in the past)? Do they happen at particular times of day or last for a particular length of time? Have you looked up any of the numbers online to see if you can identify who they belong to?

The usual format for this issue is that VM offer to send a tech to check for crossed wires with a cost of £99 hanging over the customer if no fault is found (which you have already had). In the case of a connection via the back of the hub, a crossed wire has been deemed impossible in the past. I am surprised that VM would charge you £99 to investigate a crossed line (something that they should know is not feasible with a 21CV connection). IMO you should not have had to pay that charge.

There are three similar recent posts below all with 21CV hub connection. In one case the customer was refunded

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/Getting-charged-for-phone-calls-I-have-never-made-as...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/I-ve-been-charged-for-calls-that-I-didn-t-make/td-p/...

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Home-Phone/charged-for-numbers-I-haven-t-rung/td-p/4416584


Wait for a forum team member to pick this up (which can take up to a week). They should be able to offer some better advice/investigation than is available over the phone.

Corey_C
Moderator
Moderator

Thanks for your post and for reaching out to the community forums. ChezxX,

 

I've read your post and I'll send you a PM to confirm your account details. 

 

Cheers,

Corey C

Hello, 

Thank you for replying 

no, nothing is connected to my router at all. Only the white thing virgin plugged in when they set my services up in March this year. I have had the same router years, never had anything plugged into the back. Didn’t know you could use landline through your router. Just seems like a coincidence that since they done that someone has been using my landline since august that isn’t me. I didn’t ask for my landline to go through my router they just done it! 

I think my router is being hacked, and they can see I have a landline service connected to it. Hear me out. Right now I can use the virgin hotspot app which means I can connect to anyone virgin router. And people can do the same with my router! Sooo I’m sure someone has found a way to abuse that. I have also read that the voip what ever it’s call services can be hacked into, and scammer do that. Which is also what the technician told me when he come out. 

UPDATE! I spent 2 hours on phone with virgin. I was told it’s impossible for anyone to use it or hack into it as virgin have advance technology that can’t be hacked. (I think it’s more they just can see how it’s being hacked, and my word against theirs) 

I was told I have to keep paying the charges. Because the technical team can’t find any issue. So I said soo your saying I’m lying. They said no I’m not saying that, but they are! 

solutions: they didn’t offer one! I had to try and haggle one. I asked if they could disconnect my phone. They said sure it will cost £30 something and will take a month. I asked can I cancel my services with you, sure that will cost you £68. I said so you can give me a solution that doesn’t cost me. And I still have to pay for someone using my landline until March. Yes. They said there is one thing they could do, they can apply a call baring so no one can make outgoing calls. I asked is that free? I was told yes. I checking so that is free and it will solve the issue? Yes! 

I was told they will refund the £99 call out charge and usage calls for this month as it’s taken them a month to resolve the issue. That is yet to be reflected on my account. All I will pay this month is £33, and as no one should be able to use my landline to make calls then in theory I shouldn’t be paying anymore than £33. I check my account they have already applied to £2.25 to my account for next month. Plus the charges for phone usage until the call baring is applied. 

I had an email today from virgin! The call barring cost £2.25 a month. I know it’s not a lot. But why am I still having to pay to fix the issue. I’m absolutely fuming!!! 

I have told virgin for 6 years I don’t want a phone line as I don’t use it! I keep getting told I have to have it. I asked in March can I just have wifi! No! 

I have had enough! I have been very very loyal to virgin! 

the calls I have googled them some give nothing. Some have been the same thing. But that doesn’t really help me out much. This is the numbers that I can see. As calls under 50p they don’t give information for. 🙄

Wed 05 Aug 16:51

Destination        Number           Duration    Cost 

NATIONAL.     03450307029       6:00       £2.15

Mon 28 Sep 15:38
Destination           Number           Duration   Cost 

MANCHESTER    01618556999.   3:00     £2.48

Sun 18 Oct Sun 18 Oct Wed 04 Nov
Destination         Number           Duration   Cost 

ARKANSAS   0015012270925.   41:00.    £10.67
ARKANSAS   0015012270925.   2:00.      £0.72
MOBILE         07788661797        2:00.      £0.53

Tue 10 Nov Fri 27 Nov Fri 27 Nov Fri 27 Nov Sat 05 Dec Mon 07 Dec

Destination     Number             Duration    Cost 

MOBILE.      07788661797         5:00       £1.01
Non Geo      08448551881         4:29       £0.97
Non Geo.     08444729900         2:30       £0.58
BELGIUM.   0032366976600     6:00       £0.84
USA NGNS  0018002660172     2:00       £0.72
MOBILE       07944925123         2:00       £0.53

I can’t copy and paste my next bill so I have put a photo of what charges there are so far. 

what can I do legally? How far can I take this? 

01EB352B-6CAC-441A-96F4-30D6C3B7F441.jpeg

 Tia 

 

 

goslow
Alessandro Volta

Firstly, have you replied to the PM sent to you by @Corey_C of the VM forum team?

You will get a lot better advice and assistance from the VM forum team than you will via the phone support.

Secondly, the cause is more likely to be something ordinary such as some kind of back-office billing error than a ‘hacking’ issue.

The numbers you have listed are so diverse and unique that you can easily identify that they are nothing to do with you. It is good that VM have refunded you for the £99 call out and charges to date.

You should not, however, have to pay £2.25 p.m. for the pleasure of VM not to bill you incorrectly! If they made an offer to block outgoing calls to your line for free then that should be honoured. It would be a better approach though to actually fix the fault/issue which is causing the billing errors.

Suggest you respond to the PM sent to you by Corey_C and let the forum team try to help you. There are plenty of issues mentioned on the forums where they have been able to get to the bottom of long-running VM problems and resolve them for the customer so give them a chance to do that first of all.

Hello, 

well you would think so. They keep telling me that there is no cross connection. They can find any issue at all. Therefore, can’t do anything to fix it, as there is nothing to fix. Basically saying that I must be making the calls as no calls can be made unless a handset is plugged into back of my router. Which there isn’t. 

so that’s where I’m at. I don’t think I should have to pay either. 

There are 7 calls that are over 50p that will be added to my next bill. 7 of them are all on the same day. 4 of which are the same number. 1is a mobile number and 1 to another number  The last call was on a different day but again to the same number as the other 4 calls. I can’t find what the numbers are the mobile brings up stables to rent and link for a Facebook post from 2012 🤷🏼‍♀️ Which has been called before from my account. 

I don’t understand how or why it’s happening. Virgin can’t seem to answer how they say it’s impossible.

the message from Corey is to ask for me personal details. I don’t want to give my details and my account details. I duno who Corey is could be anyone. 

goslow
Alessandro Volta

@ChezxX wrote:

<snip>


the message from Corey is to ask for me personal details. I don’t want to give my details and my account details. I duno who Corey is could be anyone. 


The people who reply on the forum are a mix of VM customers (such as myself) or VM employees (the VM forum team).

The VM forum team are identified by the VM 'infinity' logo before their forum name and the words 'Forum Team' appears underneath their forum name as well. They are also listed here

https://community.virginmedia.com/t5/custom/page/page-id/WelcomeGoodFolk

You would not be asked to, and should not, post any personal information on the public forum. Your photo in message #4 was probably blocked because it contained personal info.

In order to provide individual help in private though, the VM forum team staff would ask you to provide answers to security information in a private message. It is up to you to decide whether you are comfortable doing that or not. The private message is between you and the VM forum team. Without confirming who you are though, they wouldn't be able to help you individually in private. After all, you could be anyone too!

Hi ChezxX

 

Given your current circumstances, your reluctance to share your account details is valid. I can assure you that I do work for Virgin Media Digital services which will include providing support here in the Community Forums. You can verify this for yourself by having a look at my profile. Only official company staff will have the label of Forum Team and also if you look at my activity history then you can get confirmation this way.

However I can appreciate your feelings and if you wish to speak with us through other channels; You can speak to a member of the team through any of these methods: by phone 0345 454 1111, SMS 07533051809 or webchat https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/contactus/experiencing-an-issue

 

Cheers,

Corey C


  • @Corey_C wrote:

    Hi ChezxX

     

    Given your current circumstances, your reluctance to share your account details is valid. I can assure you that I do work for Virgin Media Digital services which will include providing support here in the Community Forums. You can verify this for yourself by having a look at my profile. Only official company staff will have the label of Forum Team and also if you look at my activity history then you can get confirmation this way.

    However I can appreciate your feelings and if you wish to speak with us through other channels; You can speak to a member of the team through any of these methods: by phone 0345 454 1111, SMS 07533051809 or webchat https://www.virginmedia.com/shop/contactus/experiencing-an-issue

     

    Cheers,

    Corey C


Hello, sorry I have only just seen this message. 

it’s been a rollercoaster which I thought I had got off at start of the year but it would appear that we haven’t. 

after many times of contacting virgin, they have credited all the money back to my account, but it literally takes many many calls to achieve this. 

virgin didn’t offer any solution that I didn’t cost me more money until I was literally a month away from my contract coming to an end. I have been able to finally have phone line disconnected (which goes through my router which I never asked for) free of charge, but i had to remain with virgin on a internet only package for further 18 months. Which I said I was happy to do IF IT FIXES THE ISSUE! 

On my account it showed that I only have broadband, I felt confident for the first time it was over. Only to discover it wasn’t. My bill come through and again shows call usage charges again to random numbers all over world, and this one mobile number that seems to be called a lot. 

I contracted virgin, they was confused and had to look into it, they come back and said my phone line wasn’t actually disconnected. They reassured me this was the issue and from that point on will be no issue. I queried it as I couldn’t see what charges will be added to my bill as on my account it doesn’t show landline as being part of my package. Which is why I assumed it was disconnected when I was told it would be, not months later! I also said I still feel it’s being hacked! Could it be that my router is being hacked or the phone line. I was told no it’s impossible. It’s just because disconnection team forgot to disconnect your service. I still feel it’s odd and I feel I’m being lied to. 

i asked moving forward what happens if somehow it’s still being used even after it’s disconnected. He said it shouldn’t happen but if it does then it will have to be investigated, I have put on the account to look into it, and if it continues to happen to elevate it. But I doubt it will happen again. 

well my new bill has come through and their is again call usage charges to the same consistent mobile number! It’s not much only 64p but I’m worried that it will escalate again to costing much much more. Especially as clearly they are still able to make calls. That could have been them testing the line still, now they know they can still make calls who knows how many they will make and how much it will cost me. 

it’s simply not good enough to deny hacking can happen to technology especially that is via the internet when we know Nearly everything can be hacked and remotely especially via internet. It’s not good enough to eventually recredit the money, rather than fix the solution. 

clearly somehow their is a breach! That virgin do not won’t to admit! But I bet yet again I will be informed that it’s not been disconnected. 

I will be annoyed if this continues I’m not going to put up with it for another 18 months. I’ll be calling virgin again and I will be pushing for a final solution!! Or I will demand they terminate my services free of charge because I’m simply not putting up with it any longer! 

Zak_M
Forum Team (Retired)
Forum Team (Retired)

Good morning @ChezxX 

 

Really sorry to hear that you are still experiencing these issues. 

 

We would be more than happy to take a further look into this for you, however we would still need to pass DPA,  if you are happy for us to do that then please do let me know and we can get from there. 

 

Kind regards,

Zak_M