International and UK CallChecker Discussion Area

sc0pus

I see your reply confirms what I already confirmed myself - that bt charges 8p connection, but what it does not address is that the MSE website says that the rate shown is ALL you pay - see my edited post above for a few quotes.

Similarly the Direct Dial providers such as Dial Wise say on their websites that,

'The price stated behind every Dial Wise access number is all-inclusive. The advertised price includes VAT and the costs for the international part of the call. There are no further connection or subscription costs.'

They give an example of a BT bill and say that,

' So for example, if you make a 5 minute call to South Africa from a BT phone via access number 0844 428 45 45 which is charged at 4p/min; Next time you get your BT bill you will see a call to our 0844 428 45 45 number, a duration of 5 minutes and a total charge of 5 min x 4p = 20p' ,

This was confirmed by the reply to my email, in which they sated that BT doesn not make connection charges for the Dialwise service.

So you see that both MSE and the Direct Dial provider are misleading the consumer.
How to let MSE know this , i f they are even interested, is another matter, as it seems as though it is very difficult to contact them.

Heinz

sc0pus wrote: »

I see your reply confirms what I already confirmed myself - that bt charges 8p connection, but what it does not address is that the MSE website says that the rate shown is ALL you pay - see my edited post above for a few quotes.

Similarly the Direct Dial providers such as Dial Wise say on their websites that,

'The price stated behind every Dial Wise access number is all-inclusive. The advertised price includes VAT and the costs for the international part of the call. There are no further connection or subscription costs.'

They give an example of a BT bill and say that,

' So for example, if you make a 5 minute call to South Africa from a BT phone via access number 0844 428 45 45 which is charged at 4p/min; Next time you get your BT bill you will see a call to our 0844 428 45 45 number, a duration of 5 minutes and a total charge of 5 min x 4p = 20p' ,

This was confirmed by the reply to my email, in which they sated that BT doesn not make connection charges for the Dialwise service.

So you see that both MSE and the Direct Dial provider are misleading the consumer.
How to let MSE know this, if they are even interested, is another matter, as it seems as though it is very difficult to contact them.

That's a bit of a strange thing to say when your 5:30pm post acknowledges MSE CheckerMan's reply of 12:44pm less than an hour after your original post (although you have since deleted that, modified it and used most of it as your 5:15pm post).

Former_MSE_Archna

Hi there,

I've tweaked the article you mention to make it absolutely explicit usual call connection charges will apply but I would like to point out we state more than once on the CallChecker page that you will pay a connection fee, charged by your main provider.

Thanks

sc0pus

Heinz wrote: »

That's a bit of a strange thing to say when your 5:30pm post acknowledges MSE CheckerMan's reply of 12:44pm less than an hour after your original post (although you have since deleted that, modified it and used most of it as your 5:15pm post).

Yes, Heinz, I deleted my first post as I wanted to submit it with additional material. I did not notice that there had been a reply already.
When I discoveredmy mistake and replied to MSE Archa's reply to my deleted post, I thought he was a member of the general public and did not realise that he worked for MSE and could therefore 'tweak' the website as he states.

I have just looked at the International Call Checker section again and it does state that,

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]There is no need for an account with these providers; they can be accessed instantly. To do this, dial the special access number listed. This connects you to the provider's system and you are charged the rate listed for making the call (which is for calls from UK landlines, it may be more from mobiles). Once connected, you simply dial the number you want to call at no further charge. These companies make their money by receiving a proportion of the income from the access calls.[/FONT]

This highlighted bit is misleading. As most people are on a BT line, it would surely be more transparent to state that BT charges 8p per call instead of letting the hapless customer find out the hard way via his wallet.

Also, I think MSE should let these direct dial providers know about the BT connection fee, and then they wouldn't reply with incorrect information, thereby causing customers to waste their time emailing and phoning customer services to try to clarify the situation

theloft

Well !! After all this, is there or isn't there, can anyone tell me if thee is
any way at all of getting cheaper calls to 0844 numbers ? I have noticed that an increasing number of companies are using these numbers and after all our efforts to get rid of 0870 numbers, which was partially succesful, we are now faced with even higher charges fo 0844 numbers.
Iknow I have asked Heinz this before, but has there been any change ?

sc0pus

[QUOTE=MSE_

Archna

;21729423]

Hi there,

I've tweaked the article you mention to make it absolutely explicit usual call connection charges will apply but I would like to point out we state more than once on the CallChecker page that you will pay a connection fee, charged by your main provider.

Thanks[/QUOTE

HI ARCHNA
Thanks for adding the reference to the BT 8p charge on one page of your website. However, when you click the link to International Call Checker, the Direct Dial Providers section, copied below, does not even mention the connection fee, so it is still misleading the public if they go straight to that page:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]There is no need for an account with these providers; they can be accessed instantly. To do this, dial the special access number listed. This connects you to the provider's system and you are charged the rate listed for making the call (which is for calls from UK landlines, it may be more from mobiles). Once connected, you simply dial the number you want to call at no further charge. These companies make their money by receiving a proportion of the income from the access calls.[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]One important note though. As the call charge starts the moment you're connected to the access number you're paying immediately, so if the person you're calling is engaged or out, you're paying anyway. Even so the timy comparative prices of these calls make it worthwhile. [/FONT]

A further update of my communication with Dialwise. Their first email denied that there was a BT connection charge and told me to contact BT Customer Services.
Their second email, copied below, at least admits a charge but says it is 5p:

helpdesk

22-05-2009 Dear Customer,

You may be best of contacting Ofcom regarding this matter as BT should not be surcharging you for use of our access codes. Our connection fee is definitely 5p once off at the start of any given call, and they should not be charging you more than this.

Kindest regards,
Customer Services.
I have replied to them yet again, with all relevant information and links to BT and this website, where you mention the charge. Perhaps it will register with them the 4th time. You would think they would know their own business.

abbey_87

Hi,

I have a friend who lives in the USA and was wondering if anyone knows of any access number sites for making cheap calls from USA landlines to the UK? I couldn't see that any listed on the International Call Checker list do this, am I wrong?

I have only found call2 dot com which requires an account and is a pre-paid service. Basically I'm looking for an equivalent to the UK sites that allow you to connect immediately after dialling an access number.

Thanks

redux

abbey_87 wrote: »

Hi,

I have a friend who lives in the USA and was wondering if anyone knows of any access number sites for making cheap calls from USA landlines to the UK? I couldn't see that any listed on the International Call Checker list do this, am I wrong?

I have only found call2 dot com which requires an account and is a pre-paid service. Basically I'm looking for an equivalent to the UK sites that allow you to connect immediately after dialling an access number.

Thanks

I'm not sure that the USA has such a range of revenue-share numbers, perhaps only more expensive premium rates, so I think you'll need to look for account-based solutions. But it's possible to find cheap rates from a cent a minute or less.

HappyMrsG

Hi

I hope I am in the right place.
DD is on holiday in Tenerife. She has O2 PAYG.
I am O2 contract with free O2 to O2 calls.
I would like to phone her. what is the cheapest way to do this. I can use my mobile or lanndline ( I have ONEtel with the international package). Will she have to pay to receive the call?
Thanks
Mrs G

Ypaymore

HappyMrsG wrote: »

Hi

I hope I am in the right place.
DD is on holiday in Tenerife. She has O2 PAYG.
I am O2 contract with free O2 to O2 calls.
I would like to phone her. what is the cheapest way to do this. I can use my mobile or lanndline ( I have ONEtel with the international package). Will she have to pay to receive the call?
Thanks
Mrs G

The cheapest way for you to phone her on O2 PAYG would be from your inclusive O2 minutes on your contract mobile.

Whatever way you use she will have to pay to recieve the call.