T-Mobile - calls to 07404 (Lycamobile) excluded from allowance

chattychappy

T-Mob are entitled to change T+Cs - but if it's materially detrimental then you have a right to cancel.

I think this is the issue - they don't want people to cancel.

Ofcom's position seems to be that T-Mob are entitled to charge if they want to, but must be transparent. I think they are sitting on the fence - but have already demonstrated how useless they are but will perhaps do something if people continue to complain. There must be thousands of people who haven't noticed this charge that has suddenly be introduced. On my first bill the calls were shown as "international". My guess is that T-Mob will always refund to avoid any complaints being escalated too far, even though their standard practice seems to be refund the first time but say they won't do it again.

bribri_2

I have just cottoned on to this.

Does anyone know when the T & C were changed to exclude 07404 numbers? And do you have a hard copy?

Thank you

robbies_gal

ive got an 078 number i noticed this on the list of possible excluded numbers

how are u supposed to know whos included and whos not!

Ypaymore

gabbyevs wrote: »

ive got an 078 number i noticed this on the list of possible excluded numbers

how are u supposed to know whos included and whos not!

078228,078920,078931,0782210, are the only ones that are excluded .

ijebuman

I have a similar issue with T-Mobile.
I have 3 business lines on the Business Unlimited plan with T-Mobile. My monthly bill is normally around 91 pounds. In October I noticed my bill came to £320.07. I contacted TMobile's customer service to find out why my bill was so high and was informed that one of the numbers on my business account called "07424 XXXXXX" which T-Mobile regards as a "Premium" number and not part of my monthly allowance.

I informed the customer service person that according to the information on OFCOM's website - 'Numbers 071 to 075 and 077 to 079 are UK mobile numbers'. I also pointed out that T-Mobile's Business Unlimited plan clearly states that "Business Unlimited gives you unlimited inclusive minutes and unlimited texts from the UK to customers of UK mobile networks and numbers starting with 01, 02 & 03 at any time." The customer service person countered that the numbers belonged to Lycamobile and were "channel island telephone numbers".

I spoke to OFCOM about the matter and they agreed that Lycamobile numbers are Mainland UK numbers not Channel Islands numbers. The OFCOM person informed me that it was purely a commercial decision for T-Mobile to exempt Lycamobile numbers from their unlimited plans.
I have asked that the amounts deducted from my account in September (£3.20) and October (£230) be refunded back to me but so far there has been no response to my letters and emails, except 3 phone calls from customer services.

I've now referred the matter to CISAS, lets see what the outcome will be.

ijebuman

ijebuman wrote: »

I have a similar issue with T-Mobile.
I have 3 business lines on the Business Unlimited plan with T-Mobile. My monthly bill is normally around 91 pounds. In October I noticed my bill came to £320.07. I contacted TMobile's customer service to find out why my bill was so high and was informed that one of the numbers on my business account called "07424 XXXXXX" which T-Mobile regards as a "Premium" number and not part of my monthly allowance.

I informed the customer service person that according to the information on OFCOM's website - 'Numbers 071 to 075 and 077 to 079 are UK mobile numbers'. I also pointed out that T-Mobile's Business Unlimited plan clearly states that "Business Unlimited gives you unlimited inclusive minutes and unlimited texts from the UK to customers of UK mobile networks and numbers starting with 01, 02 & 03 at any time." The customer service person countered that the numbers belonged to Lycamobile and were "channel island telephone numbers".

I spoke to OFCOM about the matter and they agreed that Lycamobile numbers are Mainland UK numbers not Channel Islands numbers. The OFCOM person informed me that it was purely a commercial decision for T-Mobile to exempt Lycamobile numbers from their unlimited plans.
I have asked that the amounts deducted from my account in September (£3.20) and October (£230) be refunded back to me but so far there has been no response to my letters and emails, except 3 phone calls from customer services.

I've now referred the matter to CISAS, lets see what the outcome will be.

A quick update, after I got in touch with CISAS, T-Mobile has now agreed to refund the full amount.

MelodiousThunk

I was also caught off by this, and ended up being charged £16.45 for a 1 hour 4 min call to an 07405 number. I called customer services, and they agreed to refund me half the cost of the call. Peculiarly, the person I spoke to didn't seem to be aware of the 22 phone codes not beginning with 0740 listed on T-mobile's "inclusive allowances" page that they treat as non-UK numbers.

I've written a letter of complaint to T-mobile, asking them to provide an automated warning to customers trying to call any of these numbers, as they currently do when we try to call 0800 numbers. I've made the letter publicly available on Google docs, in case anyone else wants to use it as a basis for a similar letter. I'm a new user, so I can't post the full URL, but the bit [dot] ly address is /dLS1q8 . Some of you have spoken about making a complaint to OFCOM, but the OFCOM website says we should take such issues up with the service provider first, and only complain to alternative bodies if we cannot settle the dispute with the service provider. So, I'll wait and see what they say.

Ose

gfhmon1

Hi there, another person caught out by this. Got refunded half of the cost after much time spent on the phone. T-mobile weren't too helpful and tried to blame Lyca and failed to show me where in the T&Cs or on the website it says I can't call certain prefixed numbers but instead stated it's not a standard mobile network operator hence it was enough to charge. They also stated Ofcom had said no charges needed to be refunded and were only refunding half as a 'goodwill gesture'. I also asked if they did caps/limits on how much you can be charged if you go over allowances to which they said no.

Although I got a decent contract I'm starting to see why they came bottom of all the networks for customer satisfaction and I'm only 2 months into a 24m contract!

I'm going to contact Ofcom and Watchdog because I see the charges as not being transparent or clear. Doubt it will do much good though frankly.

chattychappy

I've come to the view that OFCOM are just toothless on this. Their OPs just don't appear to understand the issue.

Perhaps the OFT is more appropriate - seems like it's bordering on fraud to me? Also the ASA perhaps as these deals are widely advertised.

When I renewed my contract (in a shop) there was a separate sheet saying Lyca would be charged outside of a the allowance and they wanted this signed too. So I don't really have grounds to complain now. Plus I just don't know anyone with a Lyca number anymore.

MelodiousThunk

T-mobile gave the following response to the letter of complaint sent them, which I mentioned in my previous post:

Thank you for your letter regarding the charges for calling certain 07 prefixed numbers.

Your comments on this matter are acknowledged. We are comfortable that we have taken appropriate steps to inform our customers and information on all of our charges can be found in our ?What it Costs (non-standard charges)? guide which forms part of the terms and conditions. I have fed your comments on this matter back to our Billing department where they will be taken into consideration when we are reviewing our procedures and policies in this area.

So no real progress yet. I think more people need to send T-mobile letters of complaint, to ensure that they take the issue seriously.