LIne misconfigured at the exchange?

I've got PN Broadband and Landline as has my mother. It's her landline that has an issue. Recently there was no dial tone which was fixed at the exchange around a week ago.
However, today she tells me that she's getting a load of calls (which in the main she is ignoring as the numbers are not known to her) asking "Is that the Womens Clinic" - which of course it's Not. She's had several messages left too, with people frantically trying to get a response.
If my Mother tries to phone "This Clinic's" number, obviously a completely different number, it takes her to her PN VoiceMail.

She's going to get on to PlusNet asap. Has anyone else heard of this sort of thing happening and if so is it usually a misconfiguration at the Exchange?
Thanks,

I've had similar but not quite the same happen after engineers had been doing work. Quick test is to dial 17070 and listen. The automated system will tell you the number of the circuit i.e. the phone number.

Edited by longedge (Tue 27-Jul-21 12:08:54)

Ask your Mum to dial 17070 from her home phone, and make a note of the directory number that is read out to her.

Contact Plusnet , and advise since the recent repair of the line they now have crossed lines fault, and that the directory number currently coming to the house is (the number she wrote down)

And if she dials her own number she could well get the clinic. If not, even more lines screwed !

If she’s not already, maybe change her voicemail greeting to advise this isn’t the number for any clinic. It may also be worth contacting the clinic by another number or email, they are likely consider it a data breach or privacy concern for thier patients, they can also nag BT(and they’ll have higher priority than a domestic customer)

BTW it doesn’t seem to be a simple crossed line (ie pairs swapped) as the voicemail wouldn’t have been changed.

BTW it doesn’t seem to be a simple crossed line (ie pairs swapped) as the voicemail wouldn’t have been changed.

The voicemail message is applied at the exchange equipment …. Hence you dial the OP’s mothers number, you hear the message she opted for/recorded……… the number going to the OP’s mums property is that of the clinic.

Not exactly a breach of data protection is it … their Mum isn’t answering and requesting personal info is she.

Forgot to ask, is her broadband ADSL or VDSL , and is it still working correctly ? These details might help decipher where the fault has occurred.

In reply to a post by mwarby:

If she’s not already, maybe change her voicemail greeting to advise this isn’t the number for any clinic. It may also be worth contacting the clinic by another number or email, they are likely consider it a data breach or privacy concern for thier patients, they can also nag BT(and they’ll have higher priority than a domestic customer)

BTW it doesn’t seem to be a simple crossed line (ie pairs swapped) as the voicemail wouldn’t have been changed.

When she rings the clinic's number she in effect rings the phone she is calling from. Herself, and hence her voicemail. (It may in fact be the voicemail on her hub anyway?)

Thanks Guys,

Yes her broadband is ADSL and it stopped working with this fault. What I can't understand is why PN have given her instructions on how to reconnect her modem/router before sorting the line itself. She's got a call out booked for thursday. She's in her mid 80's so this isn't easy for her to go through.

Correction: Broadband did NOT go down until she contacted PN. So she phoned back and was given instructions on how to connect her modem via document emailed to her mobile phone. I've just asked her to turn off the modem/router and then to see if it automatically reconnects as normal.

Edited by Vorlon (Tue 27-Jul-21 19:22:12)

Because she has only got as far as first line support, and their scripts don't cover mis-connecting at the exchange.

I reckon it is a simple exchange fault …. possibly complicated by routing records for the line being incorrect.

I think the Broadband issue is down to a wrongly entered password that originally started when she couldn't access the PlusNet Website.So the password was changed to one of the most obvious passwords with the help of PN support (that I've now changed, so it's got at least some security). However i had forgotten that the Password used to access the PN website is the same that is used for Plusnet internet access. So the Modem/Router Access password needs updating.

She said the first time she spoke to someone at PN Support that they said the line read as okay (I should imagine it might do with the tools available) and that the guy went off to check with someone else.
I guess this would likely be sorted out at the exchange. However, she's been told someone will callout to her on Thursday.

As someone else here mentioned, yes she has spoken to the people at the Clinic now and they are aware of the situation. I think mum has had around 18 calls now, with people quite anxious to get through to the right person/s.

The recent OpenReach repair was done at the exchange for a no dialing tone fault around 3 weeks ago, so there has been a bit of a gap between that and this current issue.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I reckon it is a simple exchange fault …. possibly complicated by routing records for the line being incorrect.

I wonder how that happens though?

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

I reckon it is a simple exchange fault …. possibly complicated by routing records for the line being incorrect.

I wonder how that happens though?

It happens ….. it just does. Systems supposed to update records don’t work, and no one is any the wiser till issues like this occur.

I changed ISP whilst on ADSL and lost both voice and bb due to this reason they had connected me to a previous pair that was failing and had been swapped (E side)

In reply to a post by Vorlon:

Thanks Guys,

Yes her broadband is ADSL and it stopped working with this fault. What I can't understand is why PN have given her instructions on how to reconnect her modem/router before sorting the line itself. She's got a call out booked for thursday. She's in her mid 80's so this isn't easy for her to go through.

Correction: Broadband did NOT go down until she contacted PN. So she phoned back and was given instructions on how to connect her modem via document emailed to her mobile phone. I've just asked her to turn off the modem/router and then to see if it automatically reconnects as normal.

Yet another pointer to the engineer crossing over two lines, the clinic's line obviously is not enabled for broadband.