utv rip off

Our man in Havana

Got my phone/internet bill from UTV today and I found a call costing €5 for 15 mins to a UK 0870 number. That is about 35cent a min.

I know they say that non geographic numbers cost more but do Eircom even charge this much for 0870 numbers? Can anyone advise?

Thanks

007

Sponge Bob

that looks similar to eircoms charge . iirc it would cost 35c a min to a UK 0800 number too.

BT Ireland Rates are here

https://home.btireland.ie/echannel/res.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=res_products&residentialProducts_actionOverride=%2Fpageflows%2FresidentialContent%2Fproducts%2FadvantagePricing

BT lumps 08 AND 09 (premium) numbers in with 07 and calls them all UK Mobile, charges about 24c - 29c depending on time of day.

niallb

Got my own UTV bill today, and found retrospective billing
for calls made through 1520932601 (Telestunt).
The calls were made between early October 2004
and end of May 2005, and <I>have already been paid for</I>.

When I get a chance, I'll look through the rest of the old bills. I used that number for mobile calls at national rates, and a different one for national at local.
It may be just those that got billed, and the 1520 didn't.
I had a look at October 2004, and at least the first few calls aren't on the UTV bill - I'll need to find my eircom bill for the same period also.

I'll post back when I have that absolutely clear.

I have now received a 14.59¢ additional charge for each of these calls.

Telestunt's website doesn't offer a telephone number, and the
contact form seems to only get you their newsletter.

Anyone experience the same? Any suggestions?

I would not be using UTV for telephone calls if
it were not part of my internet access package,
so I feel such billing discrepancies as Bond-007 and
my own have some bearing to Ireland Offline,
but mod it to a comms forum if it seems more fitting.

I am already paying through the nose for ISDN line rental
and dialup access, and this kind of thing just feels like
another kick in the teeth.

NiallB

NiallB

Sponge Bob

you cannot be "retrobilled" , UTV are supposed to ALWAYS apply the correct rates per minute, according to their licence to operate, and if they don't then its their problem not yours .

Complain straight away to UTV and if the retrobill is not taken off your account by friday week (they have 10 days ) then get onto Comreg . Don't take any crap from those lazy fools in Comreg either , its their job to ensure that billing is correct .

Gegerty

niallb wrote:

Got my own UTV bill today, and found retrospective billing
for calls made through 1520932601 (Telestunt).
The calls were made between early October 2004
and end of May 2005, and have already been paid for.
I have now received a 14.59¢ additional charge for each of these calls.

Telestunt's website doesn't offer a telephone number, and the
contact form seems to only get you their newsletter.

Anyone experience the same? Any suggestions?

I would not be using UTV for telephone calls if
it were not part of my internet access package,
so I feel such billing discrepancies as Bond-007 and
my own have some bearing to Ireland Offline,
but mod it to a comms forum if it seems more fitting.

I am already paying through the nose for ISDN line rental
and dialup access, and this kind of thing just feels like
another kick in the teeth.

NiallB

NiallB

If they don't give you your hard earned money back then that's grounds to stop paying them. They think they're so clever with their poxy 12 month contract and their "we'll treat you like sh!t and give you a sh!te service and there's nothing you can do about it hahahaaahaa" attitude.

geecee

I was retrospectivelly charged by UTV on my bill today also...
For calls to telestunt....
Good thing i'm going to be free of them in the middle of the month...

Incidentally they charged my for a full month of Clicksilver for this month... despite the fact that it was meant to be finishing in the middle of the month...

I presume I am entitled to a refund on that also?

kevinmcc

We were billed for calls to telestunt dating back from Septemebr 04 - April 05 with UTV when I checked the new bill today also.

Rang UTV who refused to refund the money. Said that their carrier have only billed them for these calls now. Im giving Comreg a ring about this.

paulm17781

kevinmcc wrote:

Rang UTV who refused to refund the money. Said that their carrier have only billed them for these calls now. Im giving Comreg a ring about this.

Let us know how that goes. I'm not a UTV customer (would be had they not been so incopetant they never processed my order ). I am just curious to hear what Comreg say.

kevinmcc

Ok just after giving them a ring. They said that you will still have to be billed for the calls, there is no regulation over it but that in a similar case a while ago with eircom they made eircom offer a payment plan so customers could pay it back over time. They said that this is the first they have heard of UTV doing this so they are going to keep an eye on it so anyone else affected please give Comreg a ring on 1890 229668 just to log it with them.

Sponge Bob

Note Please.

niallb wrote:

and end of May 2005, and have already been paid for.
I have now received a 14.59¢ additional charge for each of these calls.

Were you billed for those calls and rebilled for a supplementary amount as NiallB said when he originally raised this issue , that is a most important distinction.

Had UTV not billed you AT ALL , and then 'found' the calls later , it would likely be acceptable for them to charge you for them (you did make them ) but it is not acceptable at all to charge twice .

If UTV find a sizeable number of calls that they have never billed you for , through their own incompetance may I add , they they should give you an installment option for paying them back .

NiallB, what was the sum of the original and supplementary charges, a call to a 1520 number is typically 15c incl VAT !

Sponge Bob

Bond-007 wrote:

Got my phone/internet bill from UTV today and I found a call costing €5 for 15 mins to a UK 0870 number. That is about 35cent a min.

To clarify this all . UTV say they charge the "Eircom Standard rate" to all UK numbers that do not begin 01 or 02 .

http://u.tv/talk/tariffs.asp and at the end.

Non geographic calls (Channel Island, Isle of man, Internet, Premium Rate and International Mobile) are not eligible for discount and will be charged the same as Eircom Standard rate.#

Eircom have one tariff for these UK numbers ( +445 +447 +448 and +449 ) which is 34.57c Daytime and 27.65c eve and weekend . These are the Band 1a charges as Eircom calls them

The same clause in the quoted section above also commits UTV to charging 15c a minute to 1520 numbers at all times because 1520 is a premium number .

all prices per minute and include VAT

The relevant Eircom standard rates are all here and have not changed in ages to those destinations.

http://www.eircom.ie/About/Activities/Sn1_pt2.pdf

Mad Mike

Whoa there - let's hear more about this retrospective billing for tele-stunt.

I am a UTV customer who has been using telestunt to ring Australia regularly for the last year or so. I use the 1890 943 123 number for telestunt. As far as I can tell these calls have all appeared on my UTV bill as Locall non-geographic calls and I have been charged at local call rates for them. I got no retrospective billing on my July statement.

Should I expect to be charged extra for these calls (and on what basis)?

niallb

Many of my telestunt calls also used the 1890 numbers, and I have already been charged for them on my UTV bill - which is
why my immediate reaction was that I had already paid for all the calls. It appears that only the 1520 numbers were rebilled today, and checking through the old bills, those calls were not billed at the time. As far as I can see, there's no problem with the other numbers.

NiallB

Mad Mike

Thanks for the clarification NiallB. I don't use the 1530 numbers so it looks like I won't be getting any nasty surprises.