Help please

kate1976

I had a call from NTL today to tell me that my phone bill this month was looking unusually high, I asked how much higher than the average £60/70 a month, the answer I got nearly knocked me for six, this month my bill is over £200!! :eek:

I asked why it was so high and was told it was due to calls to quiz tv, now I've never phoned this and the only other person in the house is my 10 year old son, nobody else has access, no family, friends or babysitters etc nobody!!

I did mention this to the nice chap who unfortunately had nothing he could do, somebody has used my phone, don't know how, don't know when but somebody has!

Anyway the real question I want to ask is I pay by direct debit, if they take over £200 out at the end of the month then I will be horrifically overdrawn, can I call them tomorrow and ask if they can leave the direct debit this month and I'll pay bits off when I can with my paypoint card! There's no way I can get the money in my account, I'm on benefits and struggling as it is, (which is another reason I'd never phone a premium rate)

Do you think they'll let me off with this months direct debit or will I have to go overdrawn and then pay bank charges?? :rolleyes:

Any help given will be gratefully received as I'm really panicking about this! I also have nobody I could take a loan from so that's out of the question!

Thanks in advance and apologies for the long post, I had to vent!! :mad:

bonnie_2

r u sure it wasnt your son on your phone, i cancelled my phone in the end we all have mobiles now , my 13 year old can spend hours on phone so can 9 year old.i'm sure theyll let you pay in bits if you offer a set ammount each month but they tend to put you on incoming calls only if you dont pay bill in full. this happened to me and a few other people i know if you ask for an itemised bill it will tell you when calls are made what times etc, then you know if it was you or not.

kate1976

I'm positive it wasn't my son, he's not a phone person plus I don't think he's heard of quiz tv, I hadn't!! He only watches nicktoons! Plus I'm always here so I know it's not him!

I can live with incoming calls only, I will put it to them tomorrow when I call. Thanks.

pricefighter

Is this the same Quiz TV that got a mentioned on Watchdog last night.They tend to have a different correct answer, to everybody else,s very strange?.
Calls to there 0901 number cost 75p a go,someone would have had to make approx 170 plus calls to them to send your bill over £200 quid from its normal level.
Ask them for a fully itemised bill to be sent to you pronto,check who was at home when the calls were allegedly made.
Ask them in the meantime if they will not collect disputed amount until you have a chance to check it out.

kate1976

I'm not sure if it was on watchdog but the chap I spoke to at ntl said they charged 75p everytime! He said the bill will be sent at the weekend (they like to call if there seems to be an unusually high bill) I have itemised bills anyway but as I said in my opening post there's no way that me or my son would've called (especially as we've never heard of it)

I've just asked him casually if he'd ever heard of quiz tv, he said no straight away (even though there's no way he could've called so many times without me knowing)

I know I'm going to have to pay the bill one way or another but it's really irritating me now and I'm starting to wonder if there's a scam that could do this? I'm clutching at straws really!

pricefighter

It is possible to get calls put on your phone bill that dont belong to you,this happened to me and after some discussion they took them off.If you dont think they come from your number complain,and if you dont get anywhere from NTl take it to the next level,and so on.They will have an established laid down complaints procedure for you to follow.

In the meantime make sure you get them to bar calls to premium numbers,in case this happens again.

kate1976

I will be complaining tomorrow as I think I was in shock when they called today! He already said that they've now put a bar on premium rate numbers which I'm glad about and will make sure they keep it on!

Thanks once again and hopefully I can get this sorted before I get any more stressed!! :rolleyes:

April2

I hope you get that sorted kate1976 but, whilst you are doing so, can I urge you to sign up TODAY for call1899.co.uk, start making all your calls to UK 01 or 02 numbers via their 0808 1 708 708 cable landlne access number for 3p connection and 0p per minute (instead of at NTL's 5p connection plus 3p/minute weekdays, 2p/minute evenings or 1p/minute weekends) and get that ridiculous £60 or £70 a month down to a reasonable level.

If in doubt, consider how many 01/02 calls you could make on 1899 for the £60 you're currently paying NTL - TWO THOUSAND.

kate1976

Thanks for that April2, I'll look into that now.

knuckledragger

kate1976,
as mentioned above. Inform NTL that the calls to quiz.tv are disputed and ask that the charges for those calls are set aside whilst you make enquiries. This is not you refusing to pay them and won't result in NTL cutting you off/ getting the bailiffs in.

If it was impossible for the calls to be made by you/your son then inform NTL of this. Have you checked your computer to make sure that you haven't picked up some "rogue dialler" software. If all the calls were made over a physically impossibly short space of time this would be the most likely cause.

Good luck and don't give in.

Good advice re 1899 BTW. There's no way monthly bills on NTL should be £60+...

kate1976

Thanks knuckledragger. can rogue diallers work through broadband?? I'm not really 'techie'!! I have the basic tv package, cheapest broadband and my phone so £60/70 is normally my average, (especially as I'm one of those people that always ends up phoning somebody back :rolleyes: ) but I'm definitely going to dispute the calls as there is no way on this earth me or son have done it!!

Thanks to everyone for your help!