MSE News: 'Just been charged £183 for one call via 118 118' – that's more than a sex

shadowspy24

*Calls 118 because he didn't think to use Google*
*Proceeds to complain to Martin using Twitter*

Why are we assuming this is a pensioner who doesn't know how to use the internet?

izzy65

My father in law spends between £50 and £80 pounds a month on 118 calls, he is a pensioner and refuses to even turn on a computer and struggles with the very small print in the directories these days, he won't change his habits , I've tried

Igotothefootofourstairs

Martin Lewis you know that these numbers are targeting the naïve and gullible, elderly and disabled that do not realise what a con it is .... the adverts on TV do NOT state the call costs.

ALL premium numbers should be banned and you know cannot bar 118 numbers on your phone .... I tried this with post office phones and they claimed 118 numbers are not premium...

well if £183 for to get a directory enquiry isn't premium then what is?

You should use your celebrity and following to stamp these con men out of business.

Trinitrotoluene

The response to this should somewhere in the middle, where a phone call costs a pound a minute or more, regulate a readback of the cost to occur say every three minutes. Don't know how feasible this is, but it's not the problem of the phone call that only costs £5 or £6 that is being debated here, it's when people unknowingly run up bills in the hundreds.

Jemma-T

Hmmm -what a load of nonsense.

I note it says 'Just been charged £183 for one call via 118 118' and not actuaslly "Just been charged £183 for one call via 118 118" since the person being talked about wasn't charged it at all.

Lazy and misleading headling.

If people are stupid enough to use these services I guess they're not able to check the pricing structure either. Best just to allow them to play with sponges.

geerex

Just another idiot in the never ending cycle of "but I didn't know, honest" merchants.
People should be given IQ tests before being allowed to sign up to any type of contract.

Money-Saving-King

£10 wrote: »

both are priced more clearly than 118 118.

Although he doesn't own the site any more I never remember Martin displaying the amount of money he made from each link you click which has made him a multimillionaire.

poppasmurf_bewdley

Currently, there is no way of barring calls to 118 numbers from a landline. BT offer call barring to premium rate lines but this does not in include 118 calls.

I think Martin should be pressing Ofcom to make it a legal requirement to offer call barring on all premium rate services, including 118 numbers.

awolo1

This is rubbish. Anybody who calls 118 118 from a mobile should have no reason to underestimate the costs that are about to hit them once they are connected to the call handler.

It is a RIP OFF service and always has been, although I understand some people use it for convenience.

However I wish Martin Lewis would write a story about using WI-FI which airlines sell in flight because it is also a RIP OFF, but there is a reason why, it is a NICHE market.



And why did the call last for over 30 minutes?! Stupid.

Viberduo

Only used 118 twice in 6 years, first was when on train at a station with a maximum signal(and before smartphones were widely available) and I wanted to order a taxi from my stop, first 2 calls they put phone down on me, 3rd I got through and they claimed the company didnt exist and I had to wait a few minutes.

Only other time was about 2 and a half years ago I noticed online takeaway had a new one on its list and as far as I knew that was a small unit barely big enough to fit in a computer and filing cabinets in both rooms not enough for a takeaway, I was right as it was a fake address, shame I had to pay to check but saved me a 15 minute walk.

It is crazy prices though.