£183 Bill for using Cheapest calls TELEWEST CUSTOMERS

redux

urbanfrit wrote:

I have just had a Telewest bill with a charge of £18.61 for a 37 minute call to DiscountDial (0844 2009090) which should have been 0.5p/min (18.5p).It is showing as Not Int 15.
I've phoned Telewest and after first telling me I'd used the service wrongly they are now investigating and will call me back.

ummmm, can the problem be as simple as this ....?

£18.61 / 37 is about 50p - is this call 18m 13 s?

... maybe for only this one particular rate they've wrongly defined the tariff as 0.5 pounds instead of 0.5 pence?

isayoldchap

redux wrote:

ummmm, can the problem be as simple as this ....?

£18.61 / 37 is about 50p - is this call 18m 13 s?

... maybe for only this one particular rate they've wrongly defined the tariff as 0.5 pounds instead of 0.5 pence?

Redux
I have been saying this to the other half all morning.Surely not........as simple as that.I guess Telediscount and Cheapest calls maybe the same lot?

Heinz

redux wrote:

ummmm, can the problem be as simple as this ....?

£18.61 / 37 is about 50p - is this call 18m 13 s?

... maybe for only this one particular rate they've wrongly defined the tariff as 0.5 pounds instead of 0.5 pence?

I agree that's probably the cause.

Far too many who have passed through our useless education system have difficulty understanding that 0.5p is NOT £0.05 (5p) but is HALF A PENNY and so it follows that the slightly unusual half a penny rate for that 08442009090 number being shown as 0.5p is going to be interpreted by some of those people as £0.50 (50p).

redux

isayoldchap wrote:

I guess Telediscount and Cheapest calls maybe the same lot?

I think they are, and several others as well, if you find others with the same next 3 figures after the 0844. On each price point, the same group's numbers will be similar like this eg all their 0871999xyxy numbers at 10p.

But I don't think it's their fault; TW need to check their tariff

isayoldchap

15.35 I have just received a call from Gerard at Telewest Glasgow.He says that after an investigation I am to approach cheapest calls to get them to refund the overcharge as the problem is with them.He accepts that Cheapest calls state on their website that in my case Telewest are overcharging but he says he has found this to be incorrect.
I would have thought ofcom would have noticed this if it is an error.
I have sent them a further email explaining the situation.I await their reply.

scope

but hang on, isnt Telewest doing the billing? They are billing you for using the 0844 number (and then passing on money to Cheapest, i'd assume).. How can it be Cheapests problem? Sound to me Telewest is just passing the problem on.

isayoldchap

scope wrote:

but hang on, isnt Telewest doing the billing? They are billing you for using the 0844 number (and then passing on money to Cheapest, i'd assume).. How can it be Cheapests problem? Sound to me Telewest is just passing the problem on.

Scope
I have again spoken to Telewest (Gerard)who says that cheapest calls must be doing false advertising in advising customers that if there is an overcharge you are to sort it with your phone supplier.I asked if I could suspend payment
while Telewest try to sort this out especially as he admitted that some customers have contacted their call centre about overcharging.Of course I will pay because I want to keep an unblemished record and our phoneline.I also advised him about the post here regarding Dial Discount.I put it to him that if they know there maybe a problem wouldn't it be fair to suspend customers using the number whilst the wording on the website be investigated otherwise customers will just be phoning their call centre and may even loose them as a customer full stop.He didn't commit himself to an answer.
Ofcom have said that Cheapest calls do not have a code of practice with Ofcom and it is frustrating when they word their website mentioning Ofcom.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/advice/codes/codes_of_pract/


I am unsure whether I would have used them if I knew this information.Having
used Telesavers who also use the 0844 number but their 5th digit is a 8 instead of a 2 I had no reason to do a test call and check the charge on my
Telewest bill.Here I guess I may have been foolish.

Finally I find it surprising that not alot of members have posted to the overcharge,as yet anyway.I guess you are all using other companies and it's only a handful of us who may have fallen for this.....shall I say scheme.I won't say it's a scam just yet.Please check your bills asap.You may get a shock what you see.

utilitybroker

If you make the same call through BT they charge half a pence a minute. (Min call charge of 5p applies). So how come Teleworst want to charge more. After all they dont charge any more for 1p to 5p 0844 calls apart from the 6p connection.
I guess their billing system cant cope with this up to recently unused 0844 code.

isayoldchap

utilitybroker wrote:

If you make the same call through BT they charge half a pence a minute. (Min call charge of 5p applies). So how come Teleworst want to charge more. After all they dont charge any more for 1p to 5p 0844 calls apart from the 6p connection.
I guess their billing system cant cope with this up to recently unused 0844 code.

This has got to do with the wrong access code set up by cheapest calls(cc)
http://www.downloads.bt.com/pricing/SpecialisedNos.pdf

Here is the BT price list.We are told on the cc website that the call charges are similar.Now look at the Bt downloads g22 is show as 0.50 inc vat.Of course customers have been mis advised (I would think an error not a scam)
that by dialling the 08442007070.Now look at g8.An example would be Telesavers who use 08448615757 it shows 1.00 per minute.Case solved that is the problem.I bet everyone who has dialled through Telewest
have been overcharged using cc number and dial discount number.I wonder if there are anymore 0844200......companies

utilitybroker

When BT say on their site G22 0.425 ex vat 0.50 incl vat. They mean half a pence a minute not 50p a minute.

I use a G6 0844 number a lot it comes up at 5p a minute on my BT bill .Your see that BT describe it as 4.255 ex vat and 5.00 incl vat .

The faults lies with Teleworst. Their are no 50p a minute 0844 numbers. If their were they would be prefixed 09 .