Useful questions! They have had the phone 2 weeks so the batteries are not an issue. However, they leave the phone on the stand all the time. I told her yesterday that they should leave the phone off the stand for hours in the day, but I think she forgot when they got home. The whole point of the phone was so they could have the handset in the sitting room with them. I'll mention it again tomorrow when she isn't so frazzled. It probably is overcharged. She said today that it flashed 'searching' while she was using it.