Primus - how long before they are in touch ??

Sensemaya

Having just spoken to a manager,he has said Primus cannot support call barring and BT charges £4.50 per quarter! I know BT call barring is free.

I have also been a customer of Talktalk and they managed it no problem.According to the same manager they provide this service as they provide line rental.This is also incorrect as I had call barring before TT offered line rental.

Heinz - I have just emailed Christine Byrne - Contact Centre Manager.

Anyway,had letter from Euphony to confirm my application is currently being processed.

Bye bye Primus.

I'm just glad the bills were not any higher...

Sensemaya

Edit: Just googled BT call barring.

"Turn the barring of international and PRS numbers on and off via a PIN number. BT Call Barring costs £1.75 a month or is FREE if you have two or more Calling Features services."

Oops..but at the time it didn't cost me anything through TT.

Further edit:Premium rate call barring

On residential phone lines BT can bar, for free, UK-based 0900-0909 premium rate numbers. But it will NOT bar international numbers. Call 150 for details.

Maycock74

Following my no contact -we've never heard of you response from Primus I emailed uswitch to ask for there advice. What should I do next?, Can I trust Primus? etc.

Less then 24hours later Primus have rung me to make the arrangements to transfer to them. Result - Ihope it is all plain sailing from now.

Heinz

Confused rubbish reply from Primus which received (I hope a more senible) reply from me:

My sincerest apologies for the lack of communication that you have received from both Primus and myself to date. The reason for this was to enable us to reply with an accurate response to your query.

The original email of which I had sent to you which stated that our network
does not support premium numbers was correct, at that time: since then our network has been changed to allow for better line quality when making
international, local and national calls. Unfortunately when this was done we
started to notice that there was an increased amount of Premium (090...)
calls that were slipping through the network. Since then we have noticed a
continuing amount of premium calls appearing on bills; from this we have
derived that not all premium calls can be routed through our network however there are certain types that will.

We ask that our customers use there own discretion when attempting to call these numbers, premium numbers are charged by the company that you are calling, these prices can range anywhere from 20p per minute up to around £1.50 per minute.

Again I would like to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of Primus
Telecommunications Ltd and of myself for the length of time of which it has
taken for a response, I hope that this response is a satisfactory answer to
you query.

Kind Regards and Best Wishes

Gary Connor
Senior Uk Residential Advisor
Primus Telecommunications LTD

Dear Mr. Connor

Whilst your reply may explain how 'some' Premium Rate calls are 'slipping
through' (what a strange expression for a telecommunications provider to
use) your network, it offers no solace to people like me who were assured
such was not possible such a short time ago and who received no
notification when the opposite became the case.

You are wrong when you say that, ".....premium numbers are charged by the company that you are calling" because they would have no means of billing the caller. By definition, the caller's telecommunications provider (in my case, Primus), imposes the charge and, hence, includes same on the customer's bill. It would have been accurate to say that the 'target' company or organisation decides upon the number they use and so, indirectly, the price callers are charged by their provider, but the 'target' company most certainly does not charge the caller per se.

However, now that you are aware of the issue, I assume that, like other
providers, you now also offer Premium Rate call barring. Accordingly,
please activate that on my number (A/C 12345678) with immediate effect.

Thanking you in anticipation.

Sensemaya

Received Primus notification that my account will be de-activated on 23rd. Given I am to receive a tenner ( it was supposed to have been given last month,but they forgot ) as a gesture of goodwill, I hope I won't have to pay anything this month!

No reply from Ms Byrne as of yet and as I'm leaving their wonderful service,it's doubtful I will.

Sensemaya

Heinz

I'm not knowledgeable like you regarding all of this,but I thought it useful to inform everyone with this problem about contacting Primus Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) scheme.I'm also inclined to fill in Ofcom's consumer monitoring survey form.

Details can be found here:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/complain/landline/company/prs/

Sensemaya

Just thought I would raise this thread's head again given people are now complaining Primus is charging for 0800.

Thank goodness I'm not with them anymore.However,I still think there is stormy weather ahead sorting out the last bill. Despite being reassured the " tenner" - gesture of goodwill - would show up on the bill,it hadn't.

As a precaution I have cancelled my DD and have told them I will send a cheque to them once the final bill comes in. I will make sure they have to email / phone me a few times before they get it.

I have been messed around too much with them and they never contacted me with regards to details in earlier posts.

New provider is Euphony. So far they seem very efficient and courteous on the phone. I also have it in black and white 0870 nos are barred. Lovely!

Heinz

Sensemaya wrote:

New provider is Euphony. So far they seem very efficient and courteous on the phone. I also have it in black and white 0870 nos are barred. Lovely!

Oh dear. Frying pan and fire spring to mind.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=220141

Sensemaya

Hi Heinz

Yes,I saw that thread!!!

Who is the best phone company then?