Mobile phone connection charges - who do I contact?

hhobba

Hello all.

This problem might make me seem pedantic to some of you, but it is an important issue which costs me money every month. You see, I have to call lots of people's mobile phones, and often when I do, I find they are either switched off or the person is on a call. Of course, what happens is the answering service comes on and allows the caller to leave a message. What also happens is I am charged a connection fee of 15p, even if I hang up the very second I hear the answering machine.

Being charged 15p for < 1 second of call time, when I wanted to speak to the person, doesn't seem acceptable to me, or at least not in line with modern, consumer-oriented charges. I propose that any calls to answering services which last 5 seconds or less be charge free. This allows callers to hang up if they don't wish to leave a message, much like what whould happen if you attempt to dial a toll-free number in America from the UK (you get a warning first).

The reality is that if you want to talk to a human and not leave a message (which I rarely do anyway!) then you're charged for simply finding out that the caller is unavailable. It's just not fair. I know what most of you will think - the phone supplier is entitled to charge whatever they see fit, since I am still "connecting" to their network. Would you call it fair if you drove into a multi-storey car park, only to find that there were no spaces, but had to pay a minimal fee to exit simply because you passed the entrance barrier? Of course not - that would be egregious. So why is it acceptable to do the equivalent over the phone?

Anyone know who I can contact about this? Maybe OfCom? Anyone agree with me?! :P Thanks.

Browntoa

or do the decent thing like me and turn off your anwserphone

and Offcom allow the connection fee , so I'm not sure what you will achieve

hhobba

Browntoa wrote: »

do the decent thing like me and turn off your anwserphone

I don't use a mobile phone. But all mobiles have their voicemail switched on by default, so the problem is incredibly widespread. Most people won't want to switch off their answerphone, either, because it's a valuable service in theory.

When you text message someone, you can be supplied with a delivery report which will indicate whether the phone received the message or not - they should be able to supply a service such as this which will let you know if the phone is off, whenever you're calling. Furthermore, when the person does not have voicemail, you get a message, "The phone you are calling is switched off." for which you are NOT charged, so it's clearly a technology which can be implemented. It's only voicemail which effects a charge to the caller. It's so unfair.

ariba10

It is the same on a land line.

You used to get an engaged tone, now you get a voice to tell you the phone is engaged.

So that is a call you pay for.

hhobba

ariba10 wrote: »

It is the same on a land line.

Very true, and my complaint holds equal for those cases. It's less of a problem for landlines given the wide variety of "free national call" packages now, but it still shouldn't happen. Perhaps a quick three-second message at each call to let you know you're about to be charged? I don't know

jhp

ariba10 wrote: »

It is the same on a land line.

You used to get an engaged tone, now you get a voice to tell you the phone is engaged. .

You still get engaged tone, you only get engaged announcement if the reciever of call is using the awful 1571 Voicemail Service.;)

Buzby

It started with mobiles, and now BT/Kingston and cable companies do the same. By offering FREE voicemail, they get to charge their termination fee for successfully delivering the call - because they've done what they were asked to do, and the recipient 'answered'.

Your complaint is a non starter, as you are trying to get out of paying for a service you requested, simply because you do not want to 'speak to a machine'. The connection fee which you dislike is fair as far as it goes, as all the processing power to route and deliver your call is expen sive, when compared to simply keeping the line open and allowing the conversation to proceed - but even then the companies are getting greedy, by quickly abandoning charging by the second, to rounding up to the next minute to make more money from the caller. You are actually overlooking the connection fee plus the first minute (60sec) which is billed when you hang up.

The secret? Learn to leave a message, because then it is the recipient who has to call YOU back!

Jon_01

Sounds like T have change the way the server handles the 'phones off' procedure. Not a lot you can do about that.

OneADay

T-mobile are taking the P.

I phoned my sis in US from my mobile - got 3-5 ring tones and then got the automated message (person unavailable). I literally only heard that for 2 seconds before pressing end call.

Checked my online t-mobile account - those 2 seconds cost me 60 pence. :eek:
Texts to US 17 pence at a time.