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tony1001
02-02-2009, 00:23
Hi all,

New to this forum, stumbled across it the other day while looking for information regarding my current plight.

Got my VM bill on 27.01.09 and was horrified to find a charge for a premium rate phone call I'm alledged to have rung on 10.01.09 at 10:02 in the morning. The call is for a duration of 21 mins 0 seconds exactly, for which I'm being billed £26.90 +VAT. Having done some digging the number is an adult chatline (or similar) and the 'companys' registered office is geographically based in a town just 10 miles from me! co-incidence?

I should point out that I am a broadband VM user with 20 meg connection and no phone line connected to my PC - so that counts out any rogue dialler software? My phone line simply connects to the DECT phone and no other devices in the property.

At the time of the alledged call I was still in bed, sleeping off the jetlag having just returned from the states. The only other person in the household is the missus, who was, as far as I know fast asleep.

I rung VM on 27.01.09 and spoke with a guy who denied any knowledge of problems like this and tried to deflect the situation, saying he would need to report it to the complaints department.

On the 30th Jan I got a response from the complaints dept. saying that the call HAD been made from my phone line and that I would need to pay for the call.

I really am totally disgusted by this accusation but need to know what to do next?

Could anybody offer some advise, please.

Cheers, Tony

chickendippers
02-02-2009, 01:25
Follow the official complaints procedure: http://allyours.virginmedia.com/pdf/code_of_practice_0208.pdf

Let Virgin Media know you are dissatisfied with their response to your previous letter, and if a solution cannot be agreed then you will contact the independent adjudicators.

Tinky
02-02-2009, 10:01
Here is a similar thread
http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34554257-post1.html

mr,m
02-02-2009, 11:10
This same thing happened to about 7 years ago.I had just moved into a new property and was issued a new number.Almost immediately I started getting calls asking for someone,I assumed it was just wrong number,but it went on and on.Eventually my bill arrived and was shocked at the amount,nearly £700! I refused to pay as did'nt recognise any of the numbers,apart from a few I'd dialled (not premium).I refused to pay and was cut off,while I was cut off I got another bill for a similar amount,as the dates proved it coud'nt be me vm looked into it further.It turned out I had been allocated the same number as a local business.VM claimed this was impossible,but in the end had to admit it had happened,they cleared the bill and reconnected me,I was given a fair amount of free call time as compo.Strange but true.

tony1001
02-02-2009, 16:19
Hi, thanks for the replies.
Just done a little further digging in the link above and the sum of £26.90+VAT seems to be a common amount. The link below pertains to the above thread (page six or so) and whilst not the same number or location exactly the same amount.

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/09083149092

cheers

mr,m
02-02-2009, 16:34
By the way,after reading more about this I remember having VM put a premium rate blocker on my line,it's impossible for me to call any premium rate lines,of course I can have the block removed but feel safe with it in place.I will scrutinise my bills much more closely in future!

Chris
02-02-2009, 16:37
The advice in that forum seems to be to ask them to perform a 'call log investigation'. Have you taken your complaint with them any further yet?

piggy
02-02-2009, 20:49
Hi all,

New to this forum, stumbled across it the other day while looking for information regarding my current plight.

Got my VM bill on 27.01.09 and was horrified to find a charge for a premium rate phone call I'm alledged to have rung on 10.01.09 at 10:02 in the morning. The call is for a duration of 21 mins 0 seconds exactly, for which I'm being billed £26.90 +VAT. Having done some digging the number is an adult chatline (or similar) and the 'companys' registered office is geographically based in a town just 10 miles from me! co-incidence?

I should point out that I am a broadband VM user with 20 meg connection and no phone line connected to my PC - so that counts out any rogue dialler software? My phone line simply connects to the DECT phone and no other devices in the property.

At the time of the alledged call I was still in bed, sleeping off the jetlag having just returned from the states. The only other person in the household is the missus, who was, as far as I know fast asleep.

I rung VM on 27.01.09 and spoke with a guy who denied any knowledge of problems like this and tried to deflect the situation, saying he would need to report it to the complaints department.

On the 30th Jan I got a response from the complaints dept. saying that the call HAD been made from my phone line and that I would need to pay for the call.

I really am totally disgusted by this accusation but need to know what to do next?

Could anybody offer some advise, please.

Cheers, Tony

if any of your neighbours are with vm check with them they might have the same problem

tony1001
03-02-2009, 00:42
Hi all,

Further to the aforementioned letter from VM dated 29.01.09, I decided to telephone VM to ask for a 'call log investigation'. The guy at the complaints department said this had already been done! and that they could now interrogate their system in such a manner to rule out any tampering with the green box.

I re-iterated that the call had definately not been made from my premises which was met with a certain level of cynicism. I told them that I was prepared to take this all the way to ofcom and CISAS. He then again tried to get me to swallow the bill, informing me that it was only £26.90 +vat and that to get an engineer to check the line would cost £100 (presuming no crossed connections).

Eventually I asked for him to speak to his superiors, to which he promptly returned with the offer of a full refund.

After speaking to him (once the conversation and my blood pressure had returned to a normal level) he told me that the premium rate provider in question had come to his attention on at least 4 occasions in the last week, but with different call numbers!! He also went on to inform me he was not satisfied with the manner in which VM operates in respect of such claims.

As a side note, does anybody consider that my DECT phone base could have been accessed remotely? I do know for a fact that my next door neighbour has the identical phone. Is it possible he could have ultimately made the call from his phone but accessed my base unit?

Anyway, all's well that ends well.
For anybodies information out there, the number I was alledged to have called is 09826619636.

The number pertains to :-

Vincent Joyce Enterprises,
6 Gilbert Street,
Rawtenstall,
Lancs
BB4 7JP

Cheers all,
Thanks for the advise,
Tony

Chris
03-02-2009, 01:54
With old fashioned analogue radio cordless handsets your base station could have been accessed by someone else, but it shouldn't be possible with DECT.

tony1001
05-02-2009, 01:32
Ok thanks for the replies.

marting
05-02-2009, 14:33
Hi Tony

Slight coincidence NOT!!

I live within the Rossendale area.
I'm a Virgin Media customer.

I have received a bill which includes a premium rate call that neither myself or my wife know ANYTHING about as we both work full time and this was during the early afternoon of a Wednesday.

The concerning thing is the telephone number is for the exact SAME company as well as a call duration of 21mins AND a call amount of £29.60. Tel number 09826619601.

Something has to be going on here. I've spoken to VM last night and they were the same with me - either I had made the call or they would have to send an engineer out to check the line and that if no fault is found i would have to pay for that. After much arguing they are sending an engineer out FOC on Saturday as well as a credit of £15 but I agreed to this before I saw your post - and MANY others!! I have now sent a threatening email to their complaints department to get a FULL refund.

How can VM get away with this!!??

SandyL
05-02-2009, 23:45
I also live in Rawtenstall, Rossendale and am a Virgin media customer.

I have also received a bill which includes a premium rate number that I nor my husband have rung on Wednesday 7th January for surprisingly enough a duration of exactly 21 minutes and an amount of £26.90 + VAT. The number concerned is 09826619602 and is also registered to Vincent Joyce Enterprises. 6 Gilbert Street, Rawtenstall, BB4 7JP.

I have spoken to VM today and they said that I must have made the call as no fault was found on the line and would not refund the amount.

After searching the internet and finding this website we rung VM back and spoke to a customer services manager informing him that it was not a one off incident he is now investigating the problem and will get back to me in the next few days. Still haven't been promised a refund.

Just wondering if any one else had any strange calls or messages left on your answering machine on the day of the alleged phone call.

marting
07-02-2009, 12:47
Well good news.

Had an engineer come out to me who confirmed there was a fault with my line which he has repaired HOWEVER he has had a number of these recently and after speaking to a collegue of his it's apparently a BIG fraud case and they have been receiving these for the last few weeks.

I have passed all details to the engineer who said this is going to be escalated to the Fraud office to get to the bottom of.

If you have this issue - ask for an engineer FOC so they can see how many of these they are getting. Unfortunately it seems as though its only the engineers within the area that know of this issue - pity the call centre's don't.

tony1001
09-02-2009, 01:11
Hello Marting & SandyL,

Its rather annoying having to get so heated with VM before they'll yield. Keep on at them and I'm sure you'll get a refund.

Marting, did the engineer mention the nature of the fault? Was it at the green box down the road?

Have not had an engineer to my line yet so I guess I'd better pursue this.

Cheers

marting
09-02-2009, 11:14
Hi Tony

Yes it was the green box - all he mentioned was that there one section of the wire touching another so this had the potential to cause an issue. In all honesty though i think he might have just said this to assist in proving that i didn't make this call becuase he knew of all the other instances within the local area. Not got a problem with this as long as the matter is fully resolved.

tony1001
09-02-2009, 13:40
Ok cheers marting,

would really like to know whats been happening here with VM, but we'll probably never fully know.

Just dreading next months bill popping through the door.

Cheers