18185 override failure - warning to prospective users

lowebd

I used 18185 recently to call my girlfriend while she was in USA for a conference. I used the service via my mobile phone (Vodafone) so that the calls would be included in my free minutes.

Two of the calls that I made have been charged by Vodafone at over £1 per minute (£46 in total) and I can clearly see by comparing my invoices that the charged portion of each call occured immediately after a 10 second call to the 18185 service via their mobile access number (actually a London number).

I've just spoken to Vodafone who say that it is not their responsibility. The 'customer service' number listed in the 18185 T&Cs does not connect to a real person, but rather just offers the usual menu system which offers no more options than the website.

Reading other posts on the forum I can tell I am not likely to get a response from their e-mail address, so am wondering what else I can do? Vodafone will be taking the money from me whether I like it or not and I can't see 18185 offering to refund it.

Given the issues I and others have had with this company I am not sure that this website should be recommending them. When it works it is fantastic, but when it fails it is costly. I would not recommend this service to anyone.

dduk

It sounds like you dialled the 18185 access number, entered the number you wanted to call and then pressed the 'call' or 'send' button on your phone again, which actually makes a new call separate from the one you have already made to 18185.

lowebd

Yikes, I didn't even realise that it was possible to make another call while already connected. That's slightly embarassing and very annoying!

I take back what I said about 18185, but it still remains that they are very difficult to pin down if you do have any issues as they are not easily contactable.

Ypaymore

They do tell you.

http://www.18185.co.uk/mobilerates.php


"* If calling from a mobile please ensure that you do not press the green/send key on your mobile again after dialling the follow-on number or you may be billed for a minute call by your mobile operator. 020 calls from mobiles may come out your inclusive free minutes or your mobile operator may charge separately for calls to 020 numbers depending on your operator and tariff plan; please check with your mobile operator for correct rates. "