Cable Forum - View Single Post - HELP! charges for phone calls not made by me

byar · 19-08-2010, 01:06

I encountered a problem with my telephone service going back to at least February of this year, whereby another persons call charges have been appearing on my telephone bill. These charges appeared on the March bill. I can't check the extent of this problem as although I was informed that I could receive itemised bills for the previous 6 months, (and not be charged for these bills if the problem was a recurring one), no itemised bills have been forthcoming.

I have reported this problem, yet still, every month, I receive a telephone bill which has calls made by another party (i.e. no-one in my household). Although my telephone usage charges are being credited, every month I have to contact customer services and report the fraudulent use of my telephone, upon which my account will be credited. At the moment, I believe that my account is around £100.00 in credit – and this amount can only increase, as the calls made by the 3rd party far exceed my charges for TV and line rental.

Apparently, 2 engineers have been despatched to check on the line – the first engineer stated that there were “corroded nodes” but the fault had been rectified. The second engineer stated that there was no problem.

I have lodged a formal complaint by e-mail (automated form) and as I received no response I sent another.

I then finally received another call back and some effort has been make to attempt to deal with this matter and investigate by telephoning the numbers that appear on the itemised bill to ensure that they do not know me. However, upon receipt of the August bill (for calls made during July), once I finally managed to contact the person at VM, although I was issued another credit against my account, they've that they don't know what else to do and cannot suggest anything else, but has passed this on to an engineer. Apparently an additional £15 worth of calls have been made between the last call date on the bill and the last telephone call to VM.

Every month I am waiting on tenterhooks for my bill. I then have to contact Virgin Media to ensure that I am not paying for calls I have not made, and hope that my account is credited. I am led to believe that this credit is discretionary, which would suggest that at any time, Virgin Media may decline the credit. For the past few months I have made little or no use of my phone, so that it may be obvious to any investigation that any calls made have not been made by me. At no time has credit for my line rental been offered. I have suggested a change in phone line, but apparently, that would not rectify the problem. My only real solution would be to change suppliers but I have been told that I would have to pay a penalty for ending my contract early.

Help - what do I do next? The engineer was supposed to phone me and hasn't. Customer Services have washed their hands. Any ideas?

19-08-2010, 01:06	#1
byar Inactive Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 3	HELP! charges for phone calls not made by me I encountered a problem with my telephone service going back to at least February of this year, whereby another persons call charges have been appearing on my telephone bill. These charges appeared on the March bill. I can't check the extent of this problem as although I was informed that I could receive itemised bills for the previous 6 months, (and not be charged for these bills if the problem was a recurring one), no itemised bills have been forthcoming. I have reported this problem, yet still, every month, I receive a telephone bill which has calls made by another party (i.e. no-one in my household). Although my telephone usage charges are being credited, every month I have to contact customer services and report the fraudulent use of my telephone, upon which my account will be credited. At the moment, I believe that my account is around £100.00 in credit – and this amount can only increase, as the calls made by the 3rd party far exceed my charges for TV and line rental. Apparently, 2 engineers have been despatched to check on the line – the first engineer stated that there were “corroded nodes” but the fault had been rectified. The second engineer stated that there was no problem. I have lodged a formal complaint by e-mail (automated form) and as I received no response I sent another. I then finally received another call back and some effort has been make to attempt to deal with this matter and investigate by telephoning the numbers that appear on the itemised bill to ensure that they do not know me. However, upon receipt of the August bill (for calls made during July), once I finally managed to contact the person at VM, although I was issued another credit against my account, they've that they don't know what else to do and cannot suggest anything else, but has passed this on to an engineer. Apparently an additional £15 worth of calls have been made between the last call date on the bill and the last telephone call to VM. Every month I am waiting on tenterhooks for my bill. I then have to contact Virgin Media to ensure that I am not paying for calls I have not made, and hope that my account is credited. I am led to believe that this credit is discretionary, which would suggest that at any time, Virgin Media may decline the credit. For the past few months I have made little or no use of my phone, so that it may be obvious to any investigation that any calls made have not been made by me. At no time has credit for my line rental been offered. I have suggested a change in phone line, but apparently, that would not rectify the problem. My only real solution would be to change suppliers but I have been told that I would have to pay a penalty for ending my contract early. Help - what do I do next? The engineer was supposed to phone me and hasn't. Customer Services have washed their hands. Any ideas?