18866 connection charge to 4p (merged)

redux

digital wrote:

I beg to differ.

The email is carefully worded to make the * reference appear to refer to the international call rates and there is further obfuscation when they include a reminder about national calls at 0p per minute...

*From the 30th of November 18866 will apply a connection fee of 4p per
call.
Please note that calls to landlines within the U.K. will remain 0.0 p
per minute.'

ginger_nuts wrote:

So how do you think your email should have been worded .

digital wrote:

*From the 30th of November 18866 will apply a connection fee of 4p on all national and international calls.

There is scarcely any difference. Per call includes all calls. If your assertion that they obfuscated the issue held any water, it would be difficult to understand why qualifying remarks about international calls might contain a comment about UK calls.

Their version is simpler and clear. Yours runs the risk of creating tiny niggling doubts about national, local, national rate, and whether mobiles are included.

The company published its changes on its website and appears to have emailed a large proportion of its customers. What more could they be expected to do? They could have put it in the email title, that's all - which hardly merits their description as 'gang of cynical crooks'.

There are complaints that this is not sufficient on the grounds that customers haven't read the T&C, won't see it on the front of the website when visiting, only bother to read the top couple of lines of their emails, won't understand two simple sentences ...

*From the 30th of November 18866 will apply a connection fee of 4p per call.

Please note that calls to landlines within the U.K. will remain 0.0 p per minute.

- most of the people on this thread have understood it, as the thread title suggests.


I'm certainly not defending the price rise, and wonder whether they will continue to increase it, but they have acted to inform people about it. As other people have suggested, either accept it or cease to be a customer - there aren't any notice periods or tie-ins or contract changes, unlike recent objections against 3 and Orange.

Considering that the average call price of 01/02 calls on previous BT bills here is 7p, there isn't so much difference any more. I will probably head towards broadband - free cps phone calls is a tempting offer. Maybe the 18866/1899 bill will soon be about 12p per month, down from about £5, and a bit for 18185.

economiser

Just to resolve the issue as to whether BT charged for calls getting the engaged tone I queried it with them and they replied:

"Thank you for your e-mail dated 29/11/05 regarding your query on call charges.

With regards to your e-mail, I would like to inform you that there is no charge if you get the engaged tone while calling a number. You are charged only when your call has been picked up on the other side."

Steve_xx

BT do not charge for the engaged tone. They used to charge when engaged tone was encountered when calling a mobile, but they were forced to stop it a long time ago.

However, it is possible for the calling party to receive a charge for encountering engaged tone. An unscrupulous company could, if it wished answer a dialled call instantly and then it could route the caller through to a recording of an engaged tone. This could be very profitable if the company in question was using 0870/0871, could it not?

Miss_Leeds

Just noticed that as from yestrerday Call 18866 appear to be charging 4p connection charge per call. Did they announce this ( I didn't see it if they did ).

Heinz

Miss_Leeds wrote:

Just noticed that as from yestrerday Call 18866 appear to be charging 4p connection charge per call. Did they announce this ( I didn't see it if they did ).

Most of us got their e-mail:

---

Original Message

---

From: <[email="george&#64;18866.co.uk"]george@18866.co.uk[/email]>
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 2:08 PM
Subject: 18866 international sale!

Dear customer,

Call the following countries for only 0.5 pence per minute*!
Argentina
Denmark
Italy
Netherlands
Norway

For more details and free online registration please visit
www.call18866.co.uk.

Kind regards,
The Call18866 Team

If you wish to unsubscribe from this newsletter:
http://www.call18866.co.uk/newsletter.php

*From the 30th of November 18866 will apply a connection fee of 4p per
call.
Please note that calls to landlines within the U.K. will remain 0.0 p
per minute.

vinylmusic

If you check through their websites you will discover that 18866 and 1899 are both one and the same company.
So why do they pretend to be 2 companies in competition with each other, one being 1p cheaper than the other for connection charges
Naturally I am registered with both and use them according to whichever one is the cheapest on the moment.

So what are they up to?
Whats their game.
Has anyone any idea?

utilitybroker

They and 18185 and numerous other Telephone Companies all competing against one another ,are all part of the Finarea Group. https://www.finarea.ch

Why they market themselves the way they do, is i a mystery.

smokeysmate

I don't appear to have received the 'info' email listing various tariffs but I DID receive my invoice on 1st December which clearly states

"Please note that 18866 calls are subject to a 3p connection fee."

I have to say that I find that a little misleading. The only reason I found out about the increase was that I went to check the bill as it was slightly higher than usual and saw the increase mentioned on the splash page. I also think they should have updated their home page by now.

To go off topic slightly, isn't it usual for companies who take payment by direct debit to give some advance warning of the charges? 18866 issue their invoices on the day they take payment, is this allowed or are they breaking part of the Direct Debit code? Anyone know?

paulsparks

I cannot get registered with 1899, after registering they keep telling me to come back in at least 6 weeks.... I tried to register in September first of all and it is almost the same message today. Is it true they are a 'sister' company to 18866 and my 18866 registration thru the phone number is affecting this? Am I a suspicious imaginative paranoid? Anyone else had trouble?

Heinz

paulsparks wrote:

I cannot get registered with 1899, after registering they keep telling me to come back in at least 6 weeks.... I tried to register in September first of all and it is almost the same message today. Is it true they are a 'sister' company to 18866 and my 18866 registration thru the phone number is affecting this? Am I a suspicious imaginative paranoid? Anyone else had trouble?

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