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Charged £14 to call customer service about a service interruption?

procrastinator
Tuning in

My broadband service was down on Sunday 26th May and I had to make a call to customer services. Actually two calls. Just received a message from my phone provider to warn me of a premium rate number charge. So two calls, the first 12m36secs charge £5.98, and the second call 15m52sec charge £7.53!

I feel like I've been caught in a trap. How are these premium rate numbers even legal any more, do OFCOM know about that!

Thanks Virgin!

27 REPLIES 27

If your internet is down, how would you access their website for a number?

one would assume most people have a mobile phone with internet access.
seems like you are looking for a reasons now for why you dialed the wrong number.

the 0800 and 0345 numbers are plastered all over the virgin website, and are the top results if you google too.

you dialled the wrong number, you made a mistake. stop looking to blame others for the mistake you made.

jbrennand
Very Insightful Person
Very Insightful Person

@procrastinator wrote:

If your internet is down, how would you access their website for a number?


Call directory enquiries (or one of their modern equivalents 118118?) and ask them for the correct number.


--------------------
John
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I do not work for VM. My services: HD TV on VIP (+ Sky Sports & Movies & BT sport), x3 V6 boxes (1 wired, 2 on WiFi) Hub5 in modem mode with Apple Airport Extreme Router +2 Airport Express's & TP-Link Archer C64 WAP. On Volt 350Mbps, Talk Anytime Phone, x2 Mobile SIM only iPhones.

 


@jbrennand wrote:

@procrastinator wrote:

If your internet is down, how would you access their website for a number?


Call directory enquiries (or one of their modern equivalents 118118?) and ask them for the correct number.


 

I would not ring 118118 or similar, only if you'll like hefty charges for that call and then they may give you the 0845 number. lol

If you have Virgin Landline, you can call Virgin's directory 118180 up to 10 times a day free 🙂

---------------------------------------------------------------
BB 200 - Hub 3, Phone Talk w/ends, Mobile Sim only. Customer since 1993.

Number beginning 084 have a service charge going to the called organisation, so VM makes money from these calls.

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection


@Roger_Gooner wrote:

Number beginning 084 have a service charge going to the called organisation, so VM makes money from these calls.


no one is denying that, but the 084 number isn't published as the contact number, so anyone that does call if more fool them.

The 0845 number was published so some people stored it in their phones. Why would it be foolish for them to call the number? If VM wanted to be helpful the number could have been terminated years ago.

--
Hub 5, TP-Link TL-SG108S 8-port gigabit switch, 360
My Broadband Ping - Roger's VM hub 5 broadband connection

so if they terminated it and those customers who had it stored called and got a dead tone, then they would complain that the number they had no longer works.

no win situation.

The law on this matter is The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.  Regulation 41 says:

Help-line charges over basic rate

41.—(1) Where a trader operates a telephone line for the purpose of consumers contacting the trader
by telephone in relation to contracts entered into with the trader, a consumer contacting the trader
must not be bound to pay more than the basic rate. (2) If in those circumstances a consumer who contacts a trader in relation to a contract is bound to
pay more than the basic rate, the contract is to be treated as providing for the trader to pay to the
consumer any amount by which the charge paid by the consumer for the call is more than the basic rate.

It would perhaps have been better if the words "be bound to" had been omitted.  If that had been done, the situation would be clear: anyone who calls the 0845 number by mistake would be entitled to claim the cost back from Virgin Media.  However, nothing in the law prevents a trader from operating an 0845 number for customer service *in addition* to a standard-rate number.  In that case, the customer isn't "bound" to pay more than the basic rate but chooses to do so (albeit by mistake).

Still, it's clearly against the spirit of the law for VM to continue to operate an 0845 number for this purpose.

"i guess it would only be a trap if they were publishing the number for people to call, but they don't. the number published on their website is an 0800 and 0345 number."

I'm sorry but you are wrong in every respect. This is the number I was given ON THEIR WEBSITE THIS MORNING 29.02.2020 and I was charged £5 for a straight forward customer service call.

Secondly, since Virgin Media is NOT offering any kind of premium service, they have no business maintaining, let alone inducing customers to use this chargeable number.

I am quite disgusted by Virgin media in this instance.