NTL and Call18866

newnhak

Hi

I registered with Call18866 about two months ago. Got a statement end of February for about £3 and everything looked good. My NTL bill came in and call charges were £1.94. OK I thought - that is probably because we are not always using the Call18866 number (changeover period etc etc).

But this month I have £4.53 of calls to be invoiced on Call18866 and £7.00 of calls on NTL. I know I have used the Call18866 number for practically everything except when using my laptop to dial into work and these are itemised on my NTL bill so I can see these only account for £2.50.

Does this sound right? I thought the call to 18866 was free as far as NTL were concerned and I would just get billed for it by 18866.

I am confused!

Karen

Edinburghlass_2

No 18866 is not free but 0.5p with NTL plus the connection charge per call is now 2p so this could explain the rise in your calls?

Sorry misunderstood your post, is it the NTL bill you are querying? Are the calls not itemised on your NTL bill?

Matt83UK_2

My guess is all your calls are not itemised. Or alternatively you have spyware/diallers on your PC connecting to some slutty 0871 line (I imagine 09x/0891 would be itemised in all cases)?

bbb_uk

Karen,

As mentioned by Edingburhlass, Call18866 charge 0.5ppm (& 2p connection charge). If you were to swap to Call1899, it would work out cheaper as there is no pence per minute charge to landlines, only a 3p connection charge. Therefore, Call1899 would charge only 3p per call to landlines whereas Call18866 charge a 0.5p per minute charge & their 2p connection charge.

I'm not sure about NTL but calls to freephone numbers normally don't attract a connection charge therefore those calls on your NTL bill will (I assume) just be calls you've made without dialling the Call18866 freephone access number, or as mentioned by Matt, are calls to 087x, etc. If you were to ask NTL for a fully itemised bills, you could check further.

If you were to invest in an Orchid Dialler, it can be programmed to automatically dial the freephone access number of Call18866/Call1899 (or most other providers). See MSE Martin's thread about the Orchid Dialler.

Hope this makes sense?

esalan

Karen - with NTL there should be NO charges (including so-called connection charges) by NTL relating to the 18866 service. Unfortunately, unless you pay NTL extra, you do not get a fully itemised bill. Could these 'extra' calls simply be ones where you have forgotten to use the 18866 dial code? At 5p a time connection charge for calls via NTL, plus their call charges, this could soon mount up and such calls are not itemised!

newnhak

Thanks for all the replies.

I am querying the NTL bill as I thought the call costs would be cheaper as no call charges would be showing on here if I was using 18866 and instead the connection charge and call charge would show on my Call18866 bill. I am using the 18866 number for everything I dial except for my laptop and these calls were itemised. That leaves 40 calls unaccounted for. My partner is at home during the day but he says he is using the number also and not dialling direct. I guess the only way to know for sure is to get NTL to send an itemised bill but last time I rang to do that (for my laptop calls) they said they couldn't do it retrospectively.

I don't really trust NTL anyway - they have messed up my bill before but without seeing the price for each call it's not easy to say is it? Do BT charge for call itemisation?

Karen

knuckledragger

newnhak,
as a cable customer you should really be using 1899 and NOT 18866 as 1899 are cheaper for calls over 2mins duration. Same company effectively but less money

bbb_uk

esalan wrote:

.....Unfortunately, unless you pay NTL extra, you do not get a fully itemised bill...

Do NTL actually charge extra for fully itemised billing. Telewest (and I therefore assume BT) don't so they may one of only few that do charge.

newnhak

bbb_uk wrote:

Do NTL actually charge extra for fully itemised billing. Telewest (and I therefore assume BT) don't so they may one of only few that do charge.

Yeah they charge £1 per month and they will only do it from the moment you ring up - definitely not retrospectively. I have just rung up to do it for one month just to see what's going on.

newnhak

knuckledragger wrote:

newnhak,
as a cable customer you should really be using 1899 and NOT 18866 as 1899 are cheaper for calls over 2mins duration. Same company effectively but less money

Thanks knuckledragger.
I thought I had picked the right one but I will go and check 1899 out. I am guessing I can leave 18866 anytime?

esalan

I will go and check 1899 out. I am guessing I can leave 18866 anytime?

Newnhak-- you don't have to 'leave' 18866; just stop using them! They MAY be cheaper now (or maybe in the future) for some calls (e.g. to mobiles) compared to 1899. But for all UK landlines, any call over 2 mins is cheaper on 1899 than 18866. And at least half of NTL's prices!