Weird, the phone was working great (i've only had the phone for 2 weeks). Not sure if it's a glitch, bug or the dreaded "user error". Anyway, it seems to be back to working correctly.
All the volume sliders are at max in settings/sound /volume.
"use incoming call volume for notification" was already unchecked so I checked it to see if that might solve the issue.
I'll update if needed.