Tesco Home Phone billing fiasco.

Dakota_2

My home phone service is provided by Tesco home phone. For me it's moneysaving because you don't get charged for calls to other Tesco subsribers which saves me a lot of money. So far so good, but, in October Tesco changed it's billing system and made a huge !!!!-up. Myself and my friends were charged to calls to other Tesco home phone users. I've been overcharged £44 and so far I haven't got my money back. Not a huge amount I know but my investigations reveal that other customers have also been overcharged. So £44 times however many people are affected becomes a significant amount of money. Now, so far I've tried writing and I've phoned but I still haven't got my money back. I wonder if any MSE forum members are in the same boat? Have you got your money back and how did you achieve it?

JohalaReewi

I got mine back by getting the DD refunded under the direct debit guarantee scheme, then leaving Tesco Homephone and cancelling the DD so they couldn't grab any more money.

keefrto

Dakota wrote: »

My home phone service is provided by Tesco home phone. For me it's moneysaving because you don't get charged for calls to other Tesco subsribers which saves me a lot of money. So far so good, but, in October Tesco changed it's billing system and made a huge !!!!-up. Myself and my friends were charged to calls to other Tesco home phone users. I've been overcharged £44 and so far I haven't got my money back. Not a huge amount I know but my investigations reveal that other customers have also been overcharged. So £44 times however many people are affected becomes a significant amount of money. Now, so far I've tried writing and I've phoned but I still haven't got my money back. I wonder if any MSE forum members are in the same boat? Have you got your money back and how did you achieve it?

I would push their customer service and demand a response immediately on the back of the profits released today. Threaten to cancel your direct debit and move your custom elsewhere!

billsavings

Dakota wrote: »

My home phone service is provided by Tesco home phone. For me it's moneysaving because you don't get charged for calls to other Tesco subsribers which saves me a lot of money.

I tend to make most of my calls at Evenings and Weekends and i use Primus Saver 2 and every 01/2 number is free to call not just people that have signed up for Tesco.

I also use 18185 for the odd peak call i make and any mobile/intl calls .

Every little helps . Why paymore to Tesco.

JohalaReewi

That's exactly what I switched to although Primus still get some peak calls because other household members forget to do 18185. Despite that, the monthly bill from Primus is only about £1.50 and the 18185 bill is around £6 a quarter.

NOSONDDU

I got my money back because I threatened to take it further. Try emailing Watchdog, etc and tell them you are going to do it, I did.

ccit33

From my experience I would definetly not recommend Primus.

I was charged for another user acccount whilst my calls were routed through BT. 5 Months the problem still wasnt fixed.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=369781&page=2&highlight=primus

Madasafish seem a much safer bet. They have a cost calculator to find how much the call cost before you ring and unlike primus you can view an online summary and price of calls made, enabling you to keep a daily track on how much you are spending.

http://www.madasafish.com/talk/

Dakota_2

Update, finally got my money back. Can anyone point me in the direction of another home phone provider that doesn't charge for calls between people using the same provider?

Heinz

Dakota wrote: »

Update, finally got my money back. Can anyone point me in the direction of another home phone provider that doesn't charge for calls between people using the same provider?

Are you suggesting you plan to get all the people to whom you speak to change to that other provider too?

Sorry, that's unrealistic.

Why not have a read of the '7 steps' under the 'HERE' link in my signature below - the maximum you'd ever have to pay for a weekday call (of any duration) to any UK 01/02 number would be 5p and all your evening and weekend UK 01/02 calls (up to 90 minutes, redial to avoid charges) would be free.

Dakota_2

Heinz wrote: »

Are you suggesting you plan to get all the people to whom you speak to change to that other too?

Sorry, that's unrealistic.


No its not unrealistic at all. The people I speak to on a regular basis are all signed up to Tesco and were all hit by the billing fiasco. The problem wasn't dealt with efficiently so we are looking to move.

Last month my bill for call to non Tesco customers was £1.21. This free calls at evenings and weekends doesn't work for me. I speak to my friends when I want to and for business I use the internet. I also won't deal with firms who use 0870 numbers.

utilitybroker

Dakota wrote: »

Update, finally got my money back. Can anyone point me in the direction of another home phone provider that doesn't charge for calls between people using the same provider?

I dont recommend you use either of them,but Talk Talk and Telephone Plus offer the facility.