Advice on Disputing a Premium Rate Charge?

donal_f

I wonder if all the knowledgeable people on here could offer some advice?

My phone is with TalkTalk - pretty good value, although questionable customer service when you ever have to call them!

In December, I was trying to get a Nokia Phone unlocked and very foolishly called a Premium Rate number that I saw after a Google search. After a few minutes of keying in my details and listening to deliberately verbose and long instructions, the automated voice informed me they could not unlock my phone! There was no option to speak to a real person.

So, when my bill came through, I called TalkTalk to explain that I wanted to dispute the £4.60 charge as the service the Premium Rate number did not deliver the service it claimed.

TalkTalk have inforrmed me that its not their problem and I need to contact the Premium Rate service provider! I think my changes of successfully doing this are close to nil, so I was wondering what you'd advice (apart from not being so stupid in future)?

Heinz

Sounds a reasonable response to me.

If you ordered a fridge by phone but it was faulty when delivered, would you expect the calls provider to rectify the fault?

donal_f

Heinz wrote: »

Sounds a reasonable response to me.

If you ordered a fridge by phone but it was faulty when delivered, would you expect the calls provider to rectify the fault?

Thanks - it may well be reasonable.

However, I'm not sure your example is valid? You're using the phone as a means of communication to buy the fridge and most likely using a credit card as the method of payment. If the fridge wasn't delivered, one of your options is to dispute the transaction with your credit card company?

In this case, the method of payment is through my TalkTalk phone bill and I was hoping they would be able to help me.

Lplates

Have a look at www.phonepayplus.org.uk

As they say on their website:

“PhonepayPlus is the organisation that regulates products or services - such as competitions, TV voting, helplines, adult entertainment, downloads, new alerts or interactive games - that are charged to users' phone bills or pre-pay accounts.”

You can file a complaint via this site. Before doing so, you can use a variety of other useful options on the site. If you enter the phone number in question, you can get information about the organisation using that number. You can also search and find whether Phonepayplus have previously made adjudications in respect of that service or organisation.

Phonepayplus replace the organisation that was known as ICSTIS.

I hope this will help you.

Jemma-T

PhonepayPlus? An even more ridiculous name than the original. If you got an email from someone using that name you'd think it was spam.

As for the OP's query, you have no claim against TT as they have no duty to provide you with something you try to buy. If you phoned someone and swore at them would TT be liable for breach of the peace since they provided a phone line? No. Could TT be held criminally liable for something similar? Yes, they could be were they to supply a full phone service to someone under house arrest on a communications exclusion order.

Another example: What if you dialed a premium rate number for reading your stars (or providing another 'adult' service) and you stars didn't come off (or your pants), would TT be liable for that?

What you did was silly and you knew it before you put the phone down. Take the blame. We've all done something like it and we can learn.

donal_f

Thanks guys - appreciate all your help. To be honest, for £4, I think I'm going to let this one pass. But have learned my lesson for next time!