118866 rip off

bunking_off

bbb_uk wrote:

As it is dialling an extra '1', is it not possible that it would dial 1 141 18866 instead of 141 1 18866 and thus the call would fail?

Yes, that could happen (114 isn't currently used, reserved for European harmonisation). However, it could equally happen that you dial 141118866, or 141181866 or 141188166 etc etc, all of which fail. The OP didn't mention failures like that. This is why I've always been dubious about the "click inserting a 1" theory...I think the answer to this mystery lies elsewhere, e.g. that the individual Orchid unit's got a glitch.

bbb_uk

bunking_off wrote:

...I think the answer to this mystery lies elsewhere, e.g. that the individual Orchid unit's got a glitch.

I agree and believe its the most likely cause.

bunking_off

bbb_uk wrote:

April2 provided me with a link that listed DQ operators and RingTrue solutions (who own 118866) showed up more than once. It is possible that the call centre used by 118866 is just transferred to their other DQ service (or something similar). Therefore except for possibly paying license fees (assuming they have to) for operating a DQ service the 118866 in theory wouldnt cost that much to run but the return benefits could be lucrative to say the least.

A significant number of the 118 services - regardless of who they're registered to - actually terminate on call centres run by a handful of companies.

It's like everything else in Telecoms - branding. Example : Cable & Wireless run the majority of OneTel, Tesco and the Post Office's fixed line telephony services....they're just branded as a more well known company and the brand owner does the billing side of things. Similar for Thus, Energis etc.

chalkysoil

118866 rip off charge appearing on BT bill when 18866 actually automatically dialled. Charges were for 0.2secs = £1.285 p.

Any advice for me to pass on to my oap mum? My advice was to change to 18185...

Heinz

chalkysoil wrote:

118866 rip off charge appearing on BT bill when 18866 actually automatically dialled. Charges were for 0.2secs = £1.285 p.

Any advice for me to pass on to my oap mum? My advice was to change to 18185...

Perfect advice (particularly if she's calling mobiles often).