18866 connection charge to 4p (merged)

crossleydd42

Yep, ffym - I've just re-programmed the phone to 1899 for landline numbers and 18185 for mobiles.
Now I'll cross fingers and hope things stabilsie for a while!

mobilegossip

crossleydd42 wrote:

hope things stabilsie for a while!

Dont we all.But i doubt if they will.

steven_cardwell

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?

Sign up using your mobile number, after you get the registration email, go into your 1899 account and then add your home number.

This usually works!

steven_cardwell

smokeysmate wrote:

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?

Stopped using 18866 when it put it's price up to 3p, went back to using 1899, however 18866 has just invoiced me (2nd Dec) for the last 2 months, and in the email it still says 3p connection.

crossleydd42

utilitybroker wrote:

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.

Even their website is a non-event and secretive!

Milarky

A couple of remarks:

I never got an email described by others above, so I checked my details and realised that I'd given them an old email which I no longer receive [So I've put that right!]

I've had 1899 even longer than 18866 but had noticed that I haven't actually been invoiced as yet [the calls standing at 96p!] Thus if the total stays below £1 it looks like they won't ever raise a bill. [Hmmm! should I cancel the account or will that 'bump' the invoice out of their system?] If I start to use 1899 now that will save me 1p per call but will likely cost me 96p - so I'll only break even after 96 calls. The chances are that 1899 will be 4p before then!

Billing cycles. I seem to get mine bi-monthly on the 3rd, but 'Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov rather than the other months, so I won't have had a 'bill' for another month.

On the itemisation of calls I don't think you could find an easier to use or better website service. Calls appear very soon after being connected and are given to the second [Onetel seems to round off call times BTW]. Once invoiced, you can then 'copy and paste' all your calls into a spreadsheet for analysis [if you like that sort of thing!] and these invoices are not removed quickly after one or two cycles as with credit card bils [say] but seem to be there permanently.

Come on, we've all saved a packet so far with these providers. I was particularly glad to be able to put my mother's number on my account - and save her BT's charges. Let's be glad to think how much Buzby is getting sc*w*d for revenue but, as Shaun Taylor used to say, "Keep 'em peeled!"

HC_2

I have just registered with 1899 and had no problem at all, even though I have been with 18866 for some time.

My problem is this: how do I educate a husband and two teenagers to use the right prefix?

They have enough problems with when to use 18866, when to use BT and when to use the free minutes on the various Orange and Vodaphone mobiles (no one except me can remember who has cross-network free minutes or when free minutes apply) that we have between us, and as for remembering the difference in call charges between landlines, 0870 and 0845 (hopefully bypassing these with info from https://www.saynoto0870.com). To add to the equation with 1899 and 18185 is going to cause them to need to go and lie down in a darkened room.

It's all perfectly clear to me, but I do have trouble keeping my patience when explaining.

At the moment, every time someone uses the phone, I yell, 'Don't forget 18866!', but it's going to be a bit more complicated from now on...

Edinburghlass_2

HC have a look at the sticky here about the Orchid Dialler as an MSE user you will get a 20% discount and I can certainly recommend their customer support.

They will programme it for you for I think a £2 charge or you can programme yourself.

I am hoping to get a new thread started soon regarding the Orchid dialer as it is a bit long and unwieldy now but read the first post by Martin then head to the end of the thread for more recent news.

At home I am still in the shouting "use 18866" mode but have one of these dialers at work for a very forgetful boss and its ace.

HC_2

Sounds v interesting indeed, Edinburghlass, thank you very much. I'd never heard of it. I am reading through it now.

fbrj

HC wrote:

Sounds v interesting indeed, Edinburghlass, thank you very much. I'd never heard of it. I am reading through it now.

HC - I couldn't recommend one of the Orchid V4 diallers more highly. I've had mine about 10months....and its been excellent. I too have a number of family members using the phone - which switches between 18866 (although no longer), 1899, 18185, tele2, and BT automatically. It also dials a free Dir Enq No and routes to dialaround when 0845 nos are dialled. If you dial particular o/seas nos frequently...these can be routed too.
Orchid will set it up for you for nothing (just tell them by e or over the phone what initial settings you want) and they will set it up for you....thereafter you can do it yourself - but its pretty straightforward.