Good morning,
Just had my bill come through and there is a call charge of £6 for a call i made to my doctor, I have called my doctors many times and never had a call charge befor, why all of a sudden have I got 1.
Charge is £5 + vat.
I don't understand this charge, can someone at virgin explain.
thanks
Aaron
It looks like you were probably in a queue waiting to get through to the doctors as the call length is 85 minutes. The charges depend upon which call package you are on, and if the call was made out of the specified hours.
However you are possibly on the Anytime Chatter (the same as myself) in which case you should redial after one hour (calls are free up to one hour in length) else you are charged by the minute if you go over that time limit.
Info below from The Legal Stuff > Home Phone section https://www.virginmedia.com/landline
Zero-rated tariff applies to the first hour of direct-dialled local and national geographic voice calls only (numbers beginning 01, 02 and 03) and UK mobile numbers. Excludes indirect access, dial-up internet, 0870, 0845 and other non-geographic numbers, 070 personal numbering, and 076 paging charge-bands. Re-dial before 60 minutes to avoid call charges. Calls over 60 minutes will be charged at standard rates. Charges apply outside of inclusive minutes. Fair usage policy applies. Full details of call charges/connection fees set out in our Tariff Guide.
Unfortunately in a case like this it's not possible to redial after 60 minutes because you lose the place in the queue and have to start again.
If you redial after one hour won't you lose your place in the queue and have to start all over again.
Yes, so I always use my mobile if calling the doctors, or if calling elsewhere and I think the call will last more than an hour.
I'd finding submitting an early morning (after 7:30am) request via the NHS Login to be much easier than hanging on the telephone for ages, plus I have my request submitted 30 mins before the GP service desk opens.
Forum TeamThanks for reaching out to us with this 4aron and we're sorry to hear that you received this unexpected charge to your account.
To investigate this further, we will send you a private message shortly.
GPs support online access, mine uses PATCHS whilst others may use Patient Access or SystmOnline. The NHS app can also be used to make appointments if the surgery supports it. Sometimes an old-fashioned physical visit to the surgery is effective in making appointments.
