BT Freestyle 2500 doesn't work?

Recently when I put the phone into it's cradle and then phoned later it didn't 'ding,' as I picked it up. This morning it happened again but I couldn't phone out. I get the impression that the phone isn't charging despite being in the cradle. The charging light is on but 30 minutes later the phone is still dead. I can get incoming calls but can't answer the phone..........get a line like this one. I've made sure there's no fluff etc preventing a clean connection but that hasn't made any difference either. Help!