Signing up for call1899/18866/18185

jasonwatkins

1899 are getting on my nerves ..

they bill on random dates, and when i actually managed to get someone from customer services to email me back last week, they said the next invoice was probably going to be due on the 8th of November with payment 5 days after.

after that email, they invoiced me and tried to take the payment 24 hours later !!

it's the 2nd time in 2 months that's happened - i've tried to explain to them that as i'm on a limited income, i keep a tight reign on what goes out and when and i need to know when to expect the 1899 invoice, but it just seems utterly random ..

are any of the other, similar companies like 18185 any better ?

Heinz

jasonwatkins wrote: »

are any of the other, similar companies like 18185 any better ?

They're all the same company and operate the same accounting procedures.

I've just checked my bills:

18185 - 2/11/08, 2/9/08, 2/7/08, 2/5/08, 2/3/08, 2/1/08, 2/11/07.

18866 - 27/10/08, 27/8/08, 27/6/08, 27/4/08, 27/2/08.

1899 (I haven't used them for a while although 20 calls show on my account) - 25/6/08, 25/4/08, 25/2/08, 25/12/07.

All exactly bi-monthly.

jasonwatkins

well my two invoices so far are : 10/09/2008 and 28/10/2008

so i really haven't got the faintest idea when the next one will go out.

the routine seems to be that they attempt to take it, it fails, i put the money on the card to cover it and email them and then they take it so i might have to stick it out like that.

Heinz

Ah, I didn't twig you were quite a new customer.

The way it normally works is they take one payment to check your payment method works and then they set a date for future bills.

In your case, provided you're not a high spender (say, spending less than £5/month), you'll probably settle into regular bi-monthly bills now - so your next one will be on 28/12/08, then 28/2/09 and so on.

If you are a high spender (no, I don't know what the cut-off is) , they may issue monthly bills.

I've noticed too that, when you change payment methods (a new card if you're brave enough to allow CPA or a change of bank A/C if you use DD), they take a payment almost immediately - again to check it works I expect - and then revert to bi-monthly.

jasonwatkins

that's really helpful to know - thanks for that.

madkid88

hi guys ive changed my phone line to virgin media so now is the price still the same for 1899/18185 services. my mums tried but she told me its double to ring canada then it was on bt. we ported the same number over of bt to virgin. advise be appreciated thanks

Heinz

madkid88 wrote: »

hi guys ive changed my phone line to virgin media so now is the price still the same for 1899/18185 services. my mums tried but she told me its double to ring canada then it was on bt. we ported the same number over of bt to virgin. advise be appreciated thanks

If you mean Virgin Media cable, you can't use the likes of 1899 any more and you're stuck with paying Virgin Media whatever they want to charge for your calls.

madkid88

Heinz wrote: »

If you mean Virgin Media cable, you can't use the likes of 1899 any more and you're stuck with paying Virgin Media whatever they want to charge for your calls.

there are no other options

Heinz

madkid88 wrote: »

there are no other options

Virgin do non-cable telephony and broadband too (to try to get customers outside of cabled areas).

http://www.virgin.net/allyours/phone/index.shtml

homealone_2

i am getting a bit confused so could someone please clarify, my line is the basic bt package which i think includes some free calls but i also dial 18185 on the understanding that it charged 5p connection but was then free to local and national calls so should i use bt or 18185 then saw on here somewhere that primus saver did not charge a connection fee but was also free local and national calls. now i dont know what to do. i make a mixture of local,national and mobile calls both daytime, evening and weekend so who is best. as for 0845/0870 i never know who to use so just call them from bt?