phone bill - international/premium rate calls unaccounted for

jhegarty, I'm panicing! Do you know if there's any significance in the figures 13666 in my prefix box?
 
There are likely 2 explanations for the OPs bill:


1. Someone living in or with access to the house is making the calls when she is not around and will not admit this. OP seems very sure this is not the case.

2. It is possible that someone in a neighbouring house has the same model phone working on the same wireless frequency (this could be by accident, but possibly by design - I'm sure its not difficult for someone to pick what frequency they want the phone to use - most cordless have this option as it is possible that by coincidence a neighbour is on the same freq so the user may have to change theirs). Their wireless handset is making calls thru the OPs phone connection rather than their own.

Either way, I would expect the phone company to refuse to refund. They will obviously claim that no. 1 is not their fault or concern. They will also claim that in the case of No. 2 it is the OPs responsibility to ensure that the phone equipment they are using is secure and not operating on the same frequency as similar equipment in the area. You may argue that the phone was also supplied by Eircom, but its likely that the terms & conditions of the purchase absolve them from blame if the phone is working correctly - they will say that its up to the user to ensure the frequency is correct.

[broken link removed]

Note that the particular model of phone has a 300m range - this could potentially cover 100's of neighbouring phones !!!!!
 
Thats a very large range for a home phone! Could be the problem there OP... can you sneak around your neighbourhood peeping through peoples windows to see what phone they have?!
 
thanks csirl - very detailed reply. I have resigned myself to the fact that i'll have to pay the bill one way or the other but if anything this has thought me a lesson as to how convenience (i.e. cordless phone) may not mean security. In any case i called eircom today and asked them to look into it further so that i can at least have covered all the bases. Whether it was 1) or 2) as per your examples, I've barred premium numbers from the line so no future threat - this includes 11811 but i have broadband, phonebook and a mobile if i need a number in a hurry. I'll have to monitor the international call activity but these were much more affordable, while still hard to swallow. i'm sickened by the idea of someone else accessing my frequency. ANy ideas how i change the frequency? I'll have to remember to ask eircom when they call me back.

I suppose, as much as i hate to admit it, i'll never been 100% sure my partner didn't make the calls but 2 years of normal bills while we've been living together suggests otherwise - anyway, he'll be paying the bill anyway by the sounds of it!!!

Thanks to everyone for their input and Smashbox, I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to become a peeping Tom to a heavy breather :D
 
Lemme know where you're located, and I'll come round and peep for ya

I quite enjoy that around my own area ya know :D
 
Hi we had the same problem with premium rate calls to a specific number while we were with Eircom in 2007. We could prove no-one was in the house when the calls were made. Got nowhere when contesting the bill and had to pay up. Eventually mid-last year we changed to another service provider. End of story? NO. Got phone bill yesterday with SAME premium rate number calls. Same story, no-one made the calls from here. We're on broadband with separate digital phone line so no possiblity of cross-overs etc. here. Similarity to your case? We also have EIRCOM 7000 PHONE!!!! Our current service provider suggests we change handset, but my question is- how do I know another one won't give the same problems?

PS we don't have SKY and had no digital TV connection in 2007 so you might be barking up the wrong tree with that one!
 
You can ban numbers but it costs about €15 to set up and there's a monthly charge of about €3 after that.
 
UPC (chorus ntl) and from what I remember, in 2007 it was €14 with Eircom. With all the hassle of changing, don't want to do that again!
 
you can ban premium calls only with eircom for free but it costs €25 set up fee and €5 every month thereafter for banning mobile and premium calls. i just banned the premium calls - haven't had an issues with mobile calls.

We got another €170 stinker bill this month - €100 on premium calls again. so thats nearly €800 in total that we apparently owe them. We still haven't heard from eircom on checking out line or whatever they're doing but i'm sure i'll be forced to pay.

sounds all too similiar ecothrifty - if you ban the calls then surely you dont have to change the handset! thats what i'm hoping anyway - my folks have just bloody bought a eircom 7000 before i realised what was going on with ours. will have to tell them to ban premium calls before they get caught. Were you forced to pay the full bill up front? I dont have €800 going spare unfortunately!
 
phone bill

I have just encountered the same issue and would like to know if you were able to resolve your issue with Eircom or did you have to pay the bill?

Thanks
 
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