International calls - Budget.com/talk talk danger !

neilsue

My father whose phone provider is onetel (talktalk) now used the international call checker to identify Budget.com as being the best provider of the cheapest "simply phone" system for calling my sister in Spain. He has received his bill from talk talk today and prior to using Budget.com, a 5 minute call to Spain cost him £ 1.19. Following use of Budget.com's access number 08442004040 a call lasting only 2 minutes cost more at £ 1.20. Hardly Budget - particularly for a pensioner. This may be an issue with Talk Talk but we have tried all day to get through to customer services with no success. I have also tried to contact Budget.com - this is virtually impossible. You have to e mail your query and you get an autoresponder stating that if they consider your e mail is answered in FAQ's, they will not respond! Any advice from anyone would be welcome, but hopefully this will warn people to check carefully prior to using Budget.com.

Heinz

This is likely to be mis-charging by OneTel (TalkTalk).

Telewest did the same recently (see THIS THREAD).

As was the case in that thread, the 0844 number in question should have been charged at 0.5p (£0.005) per minute but they have charged 100 times that (£0.5 per minute).

It's a result of an error by whoever programmed their billing system (incredibly, he/she could not differentiate between 0.5p and £0.5).

Complain!

Get the money refunded.

And then go back to BT - before deciding on which CPS to use (suggestion below).

bill.turney

My wife has called me in Spain using Budget.com via ntl with no apparent problems, however, when my father tried using Onetel (talktalk) he was charged 50p per minute!!! This appears to be a deliberate policy by Onetel to stop people using their services to access Budget.com. When I tried to ascertain the price for a call to an 0844 2 number they told me they didn't recognise such numbers! My response to my father is to leave Onetel immediately.

neilsue

Thanks Heinz - I think it is probably an error by Talk/Talk and if I can only get hold of someone I will demand a refund on behalf of my father. Interestingly though, on Budget.com's website the reference to talk talk is notable by its absence. Bt, NTL,Telewest are all referenced in their FAQ's but no reference to talk talk being accepting of their access number.

Thanks Bill - my mother and father are leaving talk/talk! They are of an age (late 70's) where they feel more comfortable in "old BT slippers" and this type of experience unfortunately reinforces their vulnerability with new providers and methods of operating their familiar utilities.

neilsue

Further update on Talk-Talk charges for Budget Com access numbers, I have spoken with the lovely Talk Talk today and they advise for the access number to Spain which Budget.com advise is 0.005p they actually charge over £ 1.00 at peak times! I asked if I could speak to someone to discuss this and they said if I was not happy I should write a letter to their head office! Fantastic service for a phone company..mmm. Needless to say my father is moving away very quickly from talk talk

pricefighter

Their are no such things as £1 a minute 0844 numbers. They range from half a pence to 5p, some suppliers like OneTel may mark them up slightly(Onetel use to charge 10% more) but not to that degree.If they wanted to charge 50p they should be using a 090 number.

Clearly the wrong info has been inputted into the TT billing system,resulting half a pence a minute numbers being charged at 50p a minute,as was the case with Teleworst.See: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=1863111

The E-Mail address of the CEO is cdunstone@cpw.co.uk

Perhaps if you emailed him it will do the trick.

Heinz

neilsue wrote:

Further update on Talk-Talk charges for Budget Com access numbers, I have spoken with the lovely Talk Talk today and they advise for the access number to Spain which Budget.com advise is 0.005p they actually charge over £ 1.00 at peak times!

See how easy it is?

You've just quoted the price as five thousandths of a penny! What you meant was £0.005 (five thousandths of a pound) of course.

Despite what you've been told, I still say that's what they did when programming their billing system for that 0844 number.

It's probably not worth the hassle of arguing about though - moving elsewhere is the best course.

neilsue

Thanks pricefighter and Heinz - yes it is easy to get the price wrong. I have e mailed the ceo I will let you know his response..

joey3

response!!! :cool:

u are being optimistic!!

Heinz

joey3 wrote:

response!!! :cool:

u are being optimistic!!

You may well be right but, having needed to get past intransigent BT call centre personnel to resolve a problem recently, I e-mailed their CEO, Ben Verwaayen (he'd boasted on TV that he regularly received e-mails direct from customers and was happy to do so).

OK, he didn't deal with the matter himself - but he ensured his staff did so.

When I sent a 'thanks' e-mail to the person who had resolved the issue and copied it to the CEO, he replied almost instantly.

His reply? :-))

Perhaps Mr. Dunstone has the same style?

joey3

Heinz wrote:

His reply? :-))

is that an grave-digger's spade on its side or a BeauTiful smile?