Advice needed please...Don't know what to do

mrmacca2k

My dad has a little achilles heel when it comes to gambling on the horses. He put a bet on a race which he presumed would be on TV however, when he noticed it wasn't on the TV he called a racing commentary phoneline he found in The Sun to listen to the race. Now this is a premium rate phoneline of 75p per minute. After the race had finished my dad hung up the phone (or so he thought). The morning after he heard a voice only to find the phone had been off the hook throughout the night. A full 16 hours later. My dad is obviously distraught about this. My questions are is anyone aware of a price cap on such calls? Any advice at all would be really appreciated. He has called Virgin Media (his service provider) and that call hasn't as yet come up on the bill but of course he cannot think of anything else.

4743hudsonj

mrmacca2k wrote: »

My dad has a little achilles heel when it comes to gambling on the horses. He put a bet on a race which he presumed would be on TV however, when he noticed it wasn't on the TV he called a racing commentary phoneline he found in The Sun to listen to the race. Now this is a premium rate phoneline of 75p per minute. After the race had finished my dad hung up the phone (or so he thought). The morning after he heard a voice only to find the phone had been off the hook throughout the night. A full 16 hours later. My dad is obviously distraught about this. My questions are is anyone aware of a price cap on such calls? Any advice at all would be really appreciated. He has called Virgin Media (his service provider) and that call hasn't as yet come up on the bill but of course he cannot think of anything else.

i dont know of his rights but tell him to use say no to 0870 on the internet (google it)

it offers alternative numbers to premium rate lines that are charged at local rates.

CG19a

There is supposed to be some rule about cutting off when it reaches £20. The regulator used to be called icstis I think, but I know the name has changed. Search for premium rate line regulator on google and it should give more info.

Enfieldian

Strange.

Was the horse racing going all through the night as well?

dacouch

Ring your phone company up and explain the situation, they often waive all or part of the bill

mrmacca2k

Thanks for the advice people. Sounds promising. Enfieldian what they'd done is put a recording on through the night so whether they continue to charge the premium rate he didn't know. Couldn't find anything on The Sun's website. CG19a I will get on the case straight away and let you know...

Enfieldian

Good luck.

These things should have a maximum limit followed by automatic disconnection anyway......

yummymummy79

Phonepayplus is the premium rate regulator