Very distressed Mum - advice needed please

Toffeewoman · 07-04-2009, 22:27

Hi board

I'm so glad I found this forum as I have no idea what is the best thing to do. My mum called me today panicking and upset, as she'd just received a call from a man from Virgin. She's disabled and lives on her own (my dad passed away last September) 200 miles from me, so it's difficult trying to sort problems out from afar.

The man said he was worried because over the last weekend her call usage had shot up and the bill for those few days was 90 pounds!! Apparently lots of Premium Rate calls had been made around 3 and 4am in the mornings (Sat/Sun just gone). She definitely didn't make them (fast asleep then), there is no one else in the house who could have made them and she NEVER calls those numbers anyway.

She has a TV and phone package which she already pays about 90 quid a month for all in (lots of TV channels - I think this sounds expensive anyway). The caller said she should ring Customer Services and tell them about it in a bid to sort it out. She did, and this person is sending an engineer to check the line on Thursday afternoon.

What happens if he doesn't find the source of this? It would be criminal if she has to pay for something she didn't do. I just want to be able to give her appropriate advice when she calls me tomorrow in advance of the engineer coming. She doesn't do the internet so I said I would try to find out.

She's so worried (on her pension so not much money) and even thought that someone might be in the loft!http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/im...es/shocked.gif

Sorry to be such a long post but I appreciate you reading, so thank you in advance anyway.

Toffee

07-04-2009, 23:34

as you say the price for TV & phone does seem a tad high - calling customer services to have it checked may be an idea.

I'm not sure about the alleged premium rate calls - maybe one of the VM staffers can help with some advice ??

Raistlin · 07-04-2009, 23:41

There are other examples on the forum here of people who have been mistakenly billed for premium rate calls that they didn't make, if you do search for 'premium' you should be able to find some of them.

I would suggest that you need to immediately contest the calls and get Virgin to put a bar on all premium calls from that line. Some people have had this done in the past, but premium calls have still been made on the line somehow - this seems to have been proof that there's an error somewhere in Virgin's system.

martyh · 07-04-2009, 23:44

it might be a long shot but does the house phone keep a log (mine keeps the last 20 dialled )if it does you could cross ref. those against the calls virgin say are being made
nice to know someone at virgin is keeping a eye on things though.

Toffeewoman · 07-04-2009, 23:52

Hi there and thanks for the welcome!

I forgot to add that that is the total bill monthly, and includes call charges. She doesn't watch half of the channels so it would be an idea to cut a lot of them out. Next time I'm up there I'll sort that out for her.

Maybe it's best to see what the engineer says, and then come back here if it isn't sorted out then?

I was worrying for her and probably posted a bit prematurely. I don't understand how this happens though. I've heard of BT engineers making calls from the junction boxes on other people's bills - does that happen with cable?

All the best and thanks again

T

Raistlin · 08-04-2009, 00:00

I'd certainly suggest waiting to see what the engineer says, but if she doesn't need premium calls I'd certainly get a bar put on straight away - that way they can't possibly charge her for any more premium calls as it shouldn't be possible to make any from the line.

08-04-2009, 00:02

calling up to have premium rate calls barred in the interim before the engineer calls, as Rob suggests, sounds like a very good idea

martyh · 08-04-2009, 00:05

i may be wrong but i've just asked my wife and she said that premium rate calls are or were when we had our vm phone put in 3yrs ago barred by default you have to ask to have them unbarred ,same applied to our orange contract

moaningmags · 08-04-2009, 00:07

I pay £1.75 per month for premium call barring. Worth it though as the kids ran up £100 in call charges to mobiles on one bill.

Toffeewoman · 08-04-2009, 00:37

Well there's hatfuls of good advice there!

The calls have now been barred as per the guy who called her, so at least that's done. Martyh, great idea re the call logging - will check that out with her and see if it does that. As far as I know they didn't have to request to be 'unbarred' years ago when they first joined Virgin. It may well have changed since. And moaningmags (LOL @ name) - yes, it seems worth it to pay that anyway as they can't try and charge if, as Rob says, a few may get through even after doing this.

Thanks a million all! I'll certainly let you know what happens and fingers crossed it'll be sorted very soon.

What a fab board!
Cheers
T

lauzjp · 08-04-2009, 13:28

Toffee, not that I mean to diss any Virgin Media staff, but can you check that your Mum definately cannot make Premium rate calls now.

Just incase the person you spoke to says they've done the barring, but

may not have...

weesteev · 08-04-2009, 13:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauzjp

Toffee, not that I mean to diss any Virgin Media staff, but can you check that your Mum definately cannot make Premium rate calls now.

Just incase the person you spoke to says they've done the barring, but

may not have...

So you want her to call a premium rate number and be charged for the privelage to see if a free barring service has been added to the line?

How about call customer care directly and check that the service is now fully active? That would be a free call surely?

lauzjp · 08-04-2009, 13:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by weesteev

So you want her to call a premium rate number and be charged for the privelage to see if a free barring service has been added to the line?

How about call customer care directly and check that the service is now fully active? That would be a free call surely?

I didn't say for them to call a premium number directly, of course they could phone another person at Customer Services to check

if they are that trusting of vm

I would try dialing one meself, personally.

weesteev · 08-04-2009, 13:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by lauzjp

I didn't say for them to call a premium number directly, of course they could phone another person at Customer Services to check

if they are that trusting of vm

I would try dialing one meself, personally.

Haha, and your not alone there. It is the safest way to make sure the service is blocked I suppose :-) Just call a "cheap" 09 number and not one of the £1.50pm numbers!

To the OP - If you want to find out the content of the 09 numbers that appear on the bill then this website may be useful in tracking down what content the numbers are listed to...

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/numbe...er/default.asp

Its unlikely that the calls will be a fault unless there has been a crossed line but your mother would know as her line would be unusable until a technician was called out. If you need any assistance with this then feel free to drop me a PM.

Hope this helps!

Toffeewoman · 08-04-2009, 14:17

I have to wait until she calls me later, but according to the original VM employee who called her (and thank God he did! Definite thumbs up there) he did put the bar on straight away. I didn't make that clear in previous posts - I haven't called them at all. I appreciate what you say, lauzjp, but given that she's never dialled such a number in all of her call history, I think it may complicate things if she suddenly did! I think weesteev has a point.

Re Rob_M: I did that search... OMFG. This has been affecting people for at least a year according to the "Have you been charged for premium calls that you didnt make?" thread. Now THAT is a serious unresolved issue if these things are still happening. I had no idea. What worries me further is the amount of people that will a) not notice and b) pay anyway because they fear debt or can't handle switching suppliers etc, such as OAPs. This is absolutely shocking. I'd like to say I'm speechless, but that patently isn't true!

T

---------- Post added at 14:17 ---------- Previous post was at 14:08 ----------

weesteev: very helpful, many thanks. She hasn't been billed yet - the guy who called was warning her after the unusual activity over the early hours of last weekend, so we don't know what the number/s are yet. He just confirmed they were premium rate.

On reading that thread I mention above, some people have been OK as the engineer has said there is a fault as he'd seen this happen before (when there technically wasn't) and that person was refunded. However, many don't get this and so the CS Advisers apparently just get the info on their screen as 'yes, the customer did make the call'. And so the battle commences. Christ. Not sure what to make of all this, but first up is waiting for the engineers' decision. Even though we know there is nothing wrong with the phone, I suppose it has to be ruled out. Subterfuge is afoot...!