Talk Mobile - Voicemail in inclusive minutes?

makara

I just joined Talkmobile, by taking out a 24 month contract and a Samsung Galaxy S2 (via "E2save") - for £18 per month with 300 minutes, 1000 texts, Unlimited Internet.

I phoned 5888 (TM's Customer Services) from my handset, and the girl I spoke to told me that any calls to 5888 do not come out of your inclusive minutes - nor do they get charged.

However for Voicemail she said it will cost 10 pence per minute.

But...that contradicts THIS link -

http://www.talkmobile.co.uk/paymonthly24smart.html

- if you click the "View all call charges" link near the bottom of the above link, it states -

Inclusive minutes on tariffs can be used for calls made in the UK to:

• Standard UK landlines (starting 01, 02 or 03)
• 07 numbers allocated to UK mobile network operations
• Voicemail

- now it does NOT say "Inclusive minutes can be used for Voicemail" if you click on the SIM ONLY links on the TM website.

So I guess there are slightly different rules - i.e. perhaps Handset contracts allow you to use inclusive minmutes for Voicemail - and Sim-only contracts do not

- BUT I notice my "300 minute" Tariff is not on the above TM link...

...so maybe the "Inclusive voicemail" is only for the very specific Tariffs on TM's OWN website (as opposed to any TM phone and contract you buy from a third party like "E2save").


I am just wondering...is it possible that the "Voicemail can be used in inclusive minutes" ONLY if you buy DIRECTLY from TM themselves? As opposed to (say) like I bought from E2save?


I know E2save are part of Carphonewarehouse - and that CPW also owns TM - but does anyone know for sure if they charge for Voicemail or not?


What worried (or got to me most) was when I debated (not argued) the point with the Customer Services Assistant, she told me "Well, even if you haven't been charged for Voicemail up to now - from NOW ON you will be".


Didn't realise they could do that!! Mind you, it was obvious she was "reading off a script" of the tariff details - so perhaps she just went by her own interpretation of what it said - without finding the detail I had found.

OneADay

Been using 121 to retrieve voicemail and not been charged. Its only when you have used up your monthly allowance of minutes, then you will get the charge.

And my contract was not directly with talkmobile but through online retailer.

From vodafone site -

"UK Voicemail charges are taken from your monthly minute allowance and only charged once this has been used up."

Talkmobile may charge depending on tariff, check here if you can

http://self-help.talkmobile.co.uk/SelfHelpTM/request.do?view()=c{2ddb55c0-fb1c-11e0-7b7c-f21c09006c3c}

And I am pretty sure 10p voicemail cost is the Out of bundle cost

badmumof1

no such deal on their site
unless you pay for the handset

makara

badmumof1 wrote: »

no such deal on their site
unless you pay for the handset

Thanks - still not sure if that applies to me too buying a TM handset via E2save though.

makara

OneADay wrote: »

Talkmobile may charge depending on tariff, check here if you can

http://self-help.talkmobile.co.uk/SelfHelpTM/request.do?view()=c{2ddb55c0-fb1c-11e0-7b7c-f21c09006c3c}

And I am pretty sure 10p voicemail cost is the Out of bundle cost

Thanks - the link you pasted is what I was looking for! I had found it before (by accident), then couldn't find it - yes, so it seems if you buy a handset with a TM contract it should come out of your inclusive.

And yes, I also thought that 10 pence is for "Out of Bundle" costs.

What concerns me is that for ANY network I have been on (Orange, O2 even) is the amount of inconsistency in the knowledge of the Customer Service call centre folks - you will not believe how many people in Orange told me my Inclusive minutes cannot be used to retrieve Voicemail - when others told me it could!

Luckily with Orange my tariff did allow it - BUT I now hear for most NEW tariffs, all the Network providers are following the T-Mobile route of NOT allowing voicemail usage from inclusive minutes??

O2 were excellent when I was with them from 2005 to 2010 - no charge for Voicemail AND it didn't come out of inclusive minutes - and I was only on a 200 minute Tariff! Superb stuff it was...

One thing I have to say for Talkmobile's 3G reception - I used the Android "Skype" app and my unlimited data bundle (no charge on my online bill so far...I keep hoping it remains so...) to make a Skype call (of 2 minutes as a test) to my Niece on her Laptop's Skype - her webcam picture was crystal clear and smooth - and the TM (i.e. Vodafone) data is MUCH faster than Orange's was.

makara

OneADay wrote: »

And my contract was not directly with talkmobile but through online retailer

Your above words give me renewed hope...thanks...

OneADay

I am pretty sure about the voicemail, having never been charged myself so far but I have not gone over my monthly limit to find out if I start getting charged.

Talkmobile reception is good - but that is down to vodafone in the end as that is the network talkmobile runs on. Even my 2G phone blackberry runs fast for browsing which made a change from virtually dead reception on t-mobile in my area previously.

For your data not showing up on online billing, keep an eye on it - it can take 24-48 hours before it starts appearing (delay is between talkmobile and vodafone systems I assume).

makara

P.S. The girl also told me my Internet is capped at 1 GB - I told her that there are (or maybe WERE) TWO different tariffs - both offering 300 minutes and 1000 Texts - but one offering 1 GB data - and the other Unlimited - and at E2save you pay more for the Handset if you want the Unlimited one.

She didn't argue with that, but responded with a kind of "Oh I see".

So it's clear that the information of TM's various plans is not up to date - even for their own staff.

OneADay

Norm to have a fair usage limit even with the "unlimited data".
As long as its not lots of videos, you are safe I think - I hardly use 100MB of my 1Gig allowance a month. Skype etc might eat into your allowance, never used it myself so no idea how much - best to keep an eye out and work out your limits.

makara

OneADay wrote: »

For your data not showing up on online billing, keep an eye on it - it can take 24-48 hours before it starts appearing

Thanks, and yes - I will be monitoring it daily.

That said there was similar debate elsewhere on Google about TM's unlimited data plans not showing up on people's TM online accounts - and from what I gather (as I suspected) the reason people on unlimited plans may not see any data usage on their online TM accounts is precisely because it is "unlimited".


We will find out over the next few weeks I guess - the girl at TM said once my first bill is published, everything else should "appear" thereafter.

On a similar note - Orange gave me Unlimited Texts - and therefore did not bother publishing a Summary of "how many Texts sent" on my Bills - although they did appear as individual lines on the "detailed" part of the outgoing calls/texts.

OneADay

Talkmobile do have an online summary of data - not easy to understand unless you do some maths. Currently only used 18MB on my account, only 10 days to next billing date - not a heavy user me.

When the bill arrives (online), it shows all the data connections you have made and when, lists them all - I am happy with that.