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Assen9
11-08-2006, 16:24
My parents recently agreed to a Telewest door to door salesman selling them a Telephone and basic TV package. My Mother made it quite clear that calls to Spain were her main priority for changing from BT. These were to be 3p per minute, very nice.
Now to the bills, the actual cost of call to Spain is 17p per minute! My mother obviously complained, but has been given the brush off. It has been impossible for her to speak to anyone who can do anything about this.
If it was me and I had been treated like this the equipment would be in the street. Door to Door selling like this, where one thing is promised and another ( unwanted ) service is delivered should be outlawed.
I have warned my Parents about buying ANYTHING at the door, but my Parents thought that they could trust Telewest. How wrong can you be.
Does anyone know if the 30 day cooling off period for this applies from when the first bill arrives ( after all prior to this my Parents were under the impression that they were getting the deal promised, not a significantly more expensive one )
Mind you, I think a tame Solicitor is the next port of call.

I don't beleive Telewest, How dare they treat pensioners in that way.:mad:

Paul K
11-08-2006, 16:29
30 days from taking service I believe. Did your parents get anything in writing in respect to the price of calls?

danielf
11-08-2006, 16:33
According to the telewest site, calls to fixed lines in Spain are 3p/min provided you subscribe to the 'talk international' call plan, which costs £3 per month.

A pdf with Talk International Tariifs can be downloaded at the bottom of this page:

http://www.telewest.co.uk/html/telephone/callcosts.html

Assen9
11-08-2006, 16:37
I shall have to get these details before I take the matter further.

I personally think the 30 day cooling off period is irrelevant as you dont get a bill usually within this period, therefore how do you know how much you are ACTUALLY paying, not what some pressure salesman SAYS you will pay.

---------- Post added at 15:37 ---------- Previous post was at 15:34 ----------

Thanks danielf, that's interesting, but it is the principle. If that is what a service costs SAY SO.

Do not con elderly people with empty promises, then tell them to pay extra.

danielf
11-08-2006, 16:42
Thanks danielf, that's interesting, but it is the principle. If that is what a service costs SAY SO.

Do not con elderly people with empty promises, then tell them to pay extra.

Oh, I agree totally. However, it does raise the possibility of this being a case of misunderstanding rather than misinformation (3p/min is not a fictional tariff).

Regardless, with the £3/per month, this may still be an attractive deal for your parents.

Assen9
11-08-2006, 16:59
Thanks again danielf, Yes, that is not a bad deal.

It is the way that Telewest has gone about it. Yes, it is possible that my Mother was confused, but the fact is she wasn't and she has the international tariff card with the prices on that was used as proof of the 3p per minute offer.

She will probably pay the extra £3- per month, but don't expect any recommendations , quite the opposite. Disgusting. :mad::mad:

tekman
17-08-2006, 14:29
I'd make an official complaint to telewest and make it clear that your parents were NOT advised about the "Talk International" option, even though the sales man was told about the potential calls to Spain.

Telewest might ( although no gaurentee) make some kind of refund as a good will gesture.

I make loads of calls to the US and only pay 3p a minute with the Talk International option.

Robster
17-08-2006, 19:05
Surely if the rates discussed at the time they signed up were in relation to the International Call plan then this should have been part of the account when it was set up.

SnoopZ
17-08-2006, 19:18
I recommend using phone cards (http://www.1st4phonecards.com/) which can work out at 1p a minute + the cost of a local telephone call(actually it might be a free phone number). I used to do this alot a few years ago and it worked out very cheap.

Using phone cards / calling cards

Phone cards do vary by supplier. The following guidelines will explain approximately how they are used.

1) Using a touch tone phone, dial the access number (usually free phone / toll free or local access).

2) At the prompt, enter your PIN number (sent to you via email or on the back of your phone card).

3) Your balance for this card is normally announced at this point.

4) You are next asked to dial your destination phone number. In many cases this will be the full international dialing code. (International Access Code, 00 in Europe, 011 in the USA, then the country code for the country you require).

Example 1: From the US to UK dial 011 44 1772 493226 would be a valid number.
Example 2: From the UK to US dial 00 1 212 ...... would be a valid number, etc.

5) With most cards you are then informed of how many remaining minutes you have for making a continuous call to this number.

6) After finishing the call you can then normally enter a follow-on call using a code (phone card specific). This normally is the ###, or **, at which point you go back to step 3).

7) Alternatively you may hang up the phone.

The next time you use the phone cards, repeat step 1).

With each call, the balance of your phone card / calling card will be reduced until the value on the card is reached or expires (which ever comes first). You then simply purchase another card.

Not only can you use phone card to make great savings on international calls but they also make it easy for budgeting the money spent on such calls.. so no more nasty phone bills at the end of the month!

tekman
17-08-2006, 20:01
Surely if the rates discussed at the time they signed up were in relation to the International Call plan then this should have been part of the account when it was set up.

That's correct.

It could be that the sales guy simply ommitted to tick the Talk International option on the form when it was being filled in.

The manual forms are pretty badly layed out and could easily happen.

However, he should have went over the completed form in detail with the customer before it was signed and dated.

I'd still persue it with Telewest and see what happens.

Assen9
18-08-2006, 14:54
Thanks for all the replies, I have contacted Telewest via e-mail and was royally fobbed off. My Mother contacted Telewest who have been less than helpful ( to say the least )

Telewest will lose many more customers with this sort of service.

Thank god I'm with NTL,

Hang on, isn't there a rumour about NTL/Telewest merging?

Thanks again to all.:p:

LiviGordo
19-08-2006, 01:11
Unfortunately NTL and Telewest are one entity now so you and your parents can expect the same level of customer service as the rest of us "enjoy".