Reducing costs dementia sufferer

[BJthebear]

I have a pensioner friend who allegedly dials me accidentally at least 6 times per day - she has dementia and is exceptionally lonely and cannot remember ringing me. Normally I do not have a problem with this but I am away to Japan on holiday for 6 weeks and am trying to prevent her running up an exorbitant bill. I also do not intend to use my phone whilst in Japan because of the extreme costs.

Can anyone come up with an idea to minimise the costs all round. The only thing I could think of was putting a block on her mobile phone number and house land line so that calls are rejected but I believe this automatically goes to voicemail and knowing her I will have 500 voicemails when I get home!!??

Any ideas would be appreciated

Brian

[Geluk]

If phone's off, calls will just go to v/mail at no cost to you. Blocking her numbers on your phone would seem wise.

[JonathanB]

Hey Brian,

I'm not sure on your friend's package/plan from what you've described, but if it's any help, your phone being in Japan doesn't cost any more than normal to the person dialling you, they're technically just dialling a UK phone number.

That being said, it sounds like you've checked the costs for Roaming in Japan, but here they are just in case. I totally appreciate not taking calls or checking voicemails whilst you're away, as this can be very costly.

If your friend doesn't have unlimited minutes, or uses PAYG call credit, then they may be running up multiple 1 minute charges by calling the voicemail though, so I get where you're coming from about putting a call screening or bar on the number if your phone supports that feature.

Alternatively, customer services can deactivate the voicemail entirely and you could get this switched back on when you return.

I hope this is of some help, and that you enjoy your trip. Japan is somewhere I've wanted to visit myself for a long time! 🙂

JonathanB