£183 Bill for using Cheapest calls TELEWEST CUSTOMERS

redux wrote:

This sounds rather like the people that call from a mobile and press the send key again, thus putting the first call on hold then dialling a new number.

Except that we wouldn't expect it to happen here on dialling the # key, which usually acts either to show the end of the dialled number, or in-call to cut the call with the callthrough provider ready for a follow-on call.

Maybe there is something odd about the way Telewest are treating the # key. Have you seen the bill - are there calls to Italy on it?

redux.
I made the calls to Italy from my home phone and always dialled correctly.
Pressing the hash key apparantly just speeds things up.Telewest supervisor has said I may have to wait 5-7 days for a reply as she will be sending an email to customer services herself to sort this out for me.
Currently my online bill shows a few calls made using 08442007070.

utilitybroker wrote:

The cheapest call site does say the call charges they quote apply from a BT line.However as Telewest charge the same as BT to call other 1p to 5p a minute 0844 numbers apart from the 6p connection, i cant see why they should charge so much a minute to call this 0.5p a minute access number.

I suspect the error lies in Telewests billing system.

Exactly what I thought.Also on this current bill it shows destination as
'Not Int 15'.When I call throughTelesavers it shows Not Int 2.Theirs is also
0844.The fifth digit is a 5 whereas cheapest calls is a 2.

urbanfrit wrote:

I have just had a Telewest bill with a charge of £18.61 for a 37 minute call to DiscountDial (0844 2009090) which should have been 0.5p/min (18.5p).It is showing as Not Int 15.
I've phoned Telewest and after first telling me I'd used the service wrongly they are now investigating and will call me back.

I don't know whether to be happy or sad.I have spoken to Gerard in customer services at Telewest Glasgow this morning about my case.He says I quote
''At the moment no one else has complained yet''
Usually meaning unless they get a flood of calls we ain't going to do much.
In fairness he did speak to me for about 34 minutes going off to check a few things and concluded I contact cheapest calls.I have via email last night.I have also began finding info on the Ofcom website.

I even asked a stupid question to Gerard about NTL coming to Telewest has the contracts changed recently.You may know that NTL don't like you to use these companies to make your cheap calls.He said the contracts have not changed. YET!

He was a little confused even after reading the cheapest calls website.He thought you had to dial your destion number first(he thought this was the access code(misguided by someone he spoke too).That would only make the customer pay Telewest call charges I advised him.

All in all and alert to you all.CHECK YOUR TELEWEST BILL NOW.Phone them immediately if you can't get it on line.It will be in your best intrest which ever indirect company you use.Have I pulled out a can of worms?

redux wrote:

Yes. I didn't mean to suggest you'd misdialled, but as it reminded me of the situation from mobiles, I wondered if something in the way Telewest handled the # key made it act as if you had.

And part of this suspicion was because I found a different kind of glitch the other day - using 2 other providers together meant that the hang up signal didn't work at one end of a call (it auto-clears a minute after the other person hangs up).

If you haven't got any Italy calls listed, then my guess was totally wrong anyway ........ unless they haven't cleared the calls at the right time and I've inadvertently made a second guess. Are the calls the correct length at the wrong per minute tariff or what?

I hope it gets sorted.

Redux
Your opinion in any form will be helpful.As I write this I am pleading with Telewest to check the call destination software as Not int 15.They say they are investigating this right now.
I just hope other people will check their Telewest bill now.Don't wait for it to arricve ,phone them for free 150(still free at the moment) from your telewest phone.Of course go online too.
Ask them how much you have been charged for your international calls regardless of which indirect provider you are using.
If you have been charged incorrectly don't panic just yet as the can may slowly be opening.
Please post your results on here.