as helpful as that link is (and the subsequent link that is 105 pages long and took me 25 minutes to read page 5 alone) i think i shall follow the advice of the bt lady and put the phone down and leave it unused for the next 30 or so minutes

this should stop the reverse charge call from blocking the line up as was happening to me until i answered the message

this is the best link i've found so far

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/sho...php?t=17890141

which seems to back up what bt have told me across 3 different call centers, so if i get a bill for £3.48 then i shall start to complain about it