LANDLINE CALL COSTS

[ALF28]

TALK MORE ANYTIME

Are all call free up to one hour (60 minutes), and if it runs over how long before it appears on the current bill?

Like so many calls these days, mine was to the tax office (0300 code) it went 42 minutes of music and eventually answered but then put on hold for approx 15 minutes  so I rang off as they never came back, so my call was 70 minutes, so not sure if I would pay for the extra 10 minutes and what the cost would be, my account shown no call costs yet.

I rang again, got through to the tax office HMRC and then they cut me off again and said ring back later. I will have to try again- what a nightmare to speak to a person.

I also saw today on the news that costs are due to increase in April  for virgin by an average of  13.8 per cent, most providers are increasing the fees.

As call waiting times are often up to an hour these days or more, it may be wise to limit the calls to say half an hour waiting/music so they do not go beyond one hour and just keep trying to get through. It is very frustrating that most companies now have long waiting times to answer customer calls, and if there is a one hour restriction it may not be enough these days.

[Travis_M · Accepted solution]

Hi @ALF28

Thanks for your post

Anything after 60 minutes whether this is 61, 62 etc. If ended before 60 mins and another call takes place you wouldn't be charged, if this makes sense to you? 🙂

My apologies for any inconvenience

Regards

[ALF28]

LANDLINE HANDS FREE OPERATION

If I put virgin landline phone back down on the phone  but have have left the hands-free button on showing green, would the call still be cancelled, I may have left it like that a few hours and not sure if still connected? and not sure if the dial tone was there.

The call had been cut off at the other end, but usually the dial tone sounds?

Would that cause a large bill?

How long do landline call charges take to show on the current bill charges?

Call costs, 

I presume the first hour is uncharged, if it goes and anything beyond the hour is chargeable, if it is private call it is easy to stop and redial, but for business calls can not easily do that so end up paying the extra. It seems odd that you can make any number of call less than 1 hour with no cost yet one call over 1 hour starts charging, I suppose this is to stop people being on for long periods.

[Kain_W]

Thanks for the response there ALF28,

I wouldn't be sure whether or not you'd be charged as we'd require the full call to be cut off from the equipment you're using.

When was the call made? 

Regards,

[ALF28]

I did  the call a few hours ago today, I made 3 calls in total between approx. 2.00pm and 3.00 pm on the landline, the last call may have been not cut off at my end, but the last call was cut off at the hmrc tax office and was not actually answered, had music and then they said call back later  (after just a few minutes) and the call finished and was cut off at their end, and had left it in hands free mode listening to music which then stopped.

So It may have been off the hook for over  1 hour?, yet not connected so I would not expect a charge as the call halted within 10 minutes.

Usually the phone makes aloud noise if left off the hook., it was only by chance after 4.00 pm I saw the green hands free light was on as the phone was silent?

I then cancelled hands free mode and the dial tone resumed.

Just hope my bill is not big, not sure of the cost/minute on 0300 calls.

[ALF28]

current VM bill

How do I check my current bill/landline telephone costs, the one showing in my account is up to 10th  January, where can I see charges for after 10th January or is the current or part bill not yet available  until the  10th February?

The older  VM web site did used to show the current bill, so you could monitor ongoing current charges which was better.

As my last bill was paid on 26/01/2023, and it is now 7 days past that, my account should be showing the new bill jan/feb, not the old one dec/jan  surely?

Please advise.

[Kain_W]

Ahh okay, 

You wouldn't be able to view current calls I'm afraid, apologies for that.

I would advise that if the call was dropped and the phone was placed back in the holder then there shouldn't be a charge however I've dropped you a PM to discuss further.

Regards,

[BringBackHub2]

Almost two weeks, in my experience. I went seconds over, under 61 minutes and when nothing appeared in the recent usage charges section as it’s supposed to, I thought it must have been fine (as obviously the person didn’t answer as soon as I dialled.) Nope, 20p charge on the next bill.

[ALF28]

Thanks for that,so looks like the landline phone charges do not happen in real time and may only appear after several weeks or when the bill is due.

I have made several calls today, one nearly 1 hour, which was a hmrc tax office  call, and I was cut off again, so I made another call to another  hmrc tax number which took approx 50 minutes on music but finally did get through to sort my tax at last, and went over the hour but still no phone costs on my bill for the calls over the last 3 days, or can I assume it is £0.00 as shown today on 1/2/2023

This has changed, because in the past it was possible to see current phone charges, and it is important to be able to monitor your phone costs.

I am awaiting a response via PM having supplied my details.

It is not satisfactory in my opinion to not know what bill you have run up to date.

My bills is sometimes out of date on the home page, so I suspect the bill will only be correct on the due  date which is the 10th of February in my case.

Most of my other accounts update in real time or at least by the next day, so not sure what has happened to virgin billing, there is no current bill update showing just says £0.00 on  my itemised phone bill.

Still  an unresolved issue.

Perhaps this may be due to the switchover to digital phones via the hub with the phasing out of landline phones, are the hub connected phones showing a current bill?

[BringBackHub2]

Yes, they definitely used to do call charges within an hour or two of the call - this was how we once realised that we were being charged for calls having just agreed a contract for a package with Anytime calls. If the same happened to another customer now, they might be unaware for almost a month and it might well be a bigger issue to be sorted. In our case it was only around a £6 credit that we needed to chase, as well as getting the Anytime added properly.

If your usage charges since the last bill are not going to show landline calls, then this section should be removed from the site, because it’s misleading.