Have you been charged for premium calls that you didnt make?

[CT2kX]

well this has happened to us, we have just been asked to pay them 160 pound, around 80 pound of it has nothing to do with us, we were even at a funeral on one of the days we were meant to have made a call to a premium number

sadly we cannot afford this so its bye bye internet and everything in a few days or weeks, its been really good until now, im so angry with them its unreal, we argued with them on the phone for about an hour and they simply say "the number is on the screen, so you have to pay it"

i want to swear, but i like this forum. (or should i say liked)

[ciic]

I have had the same issue. VM have charged me £30 for dialling premium rate #s that i know we did not make. They sent an engineer to check lines and he says all fine but then one week later service goes dead. Second engineer comes out and says green box had been accessed and our line removed. Still arguing with VM as they insist no crossed line so must be us (claim that no-one can ever access green box - contradicting the later fault diagnosis?). I have requested itemised phone bill to see if they are stupid enough to charge for two calls at same time but failing this I have no choice but to pay I guess. The itemisation has also taken 4 weeks and still not here despite three phone calls. They have agreed to bar premium rate calls for 3 months at no charge. They also claim that they have never seen such a case - I understand that the everydas cs rep might not be familiar with some oif the cases I have seen on these threads but surely there ought to be a department that these things are escalated to that would then be aware of any other cases?

[CT2kX]

well after many phone calls, we FINALLY got them to remove the charges and they even gave us free premium call barring, we pretty much ended up kicking off on the phone saying we are sick of this situation and if it isnt sorted we will go to bt, we even mentioned that we have read up about it on the net and that they know its going on so they have to help us, especially since we have been with them for over year, moved to to the V.I.P package without any missed payments and explained how its totally unfair to drop this on us after such a good long relationship with them, they soon seemed more helpful!!

so dont give up, just keep calling and complaining and they should soon help you out, its a shame it takes all this to get anywhere, but you can if you stick to your guns and refuse to pay it.

[Jeepers]

When you get a call from a telemarketing company and your told this that and the other for more information press 5 2 or whatever number ,this is charged at premium rate to you even though they call you...
I have fallen for it twice solution is to hang up then dial 1471 and google it then report them..
Also register with the telphone preferance service this wont stop the calls but it will reduse them..if the call is also a recorded message hang up..

[Stuart]

I have a simple rule with any cold call. I hang up unless I know it is a company that has reason to call me (such as someone chasing a bill).

[Bovar]

I was charged £26.90 + vat on my recent virgin media bill for a premium rate phone call that I did not make. The number provides an 'adult service'.

I put the offending number into a Google search, and found recent reports that 3 other people had been similarly charged for a call to the same number that they claim not to have made. Two more examples along the same lines have been added this morning.

Six reports (including mine) on the internet probably mean that many more people have suffered this error. What is going on?

I rang customer services yesterday, and after a little negotiation, including the knowledge that I knew others to be affected, was told that my direct debit would be altered to remove this charge. Not all of the internet reporters have had the same sympathetic response.

Is this an accounting/network fault? Is it a scam that has resulted from a breach of the telephone network?

I am a retired person, and no kids have unrestricted access to my premises, particularly at 1.15 on a Monday.

I have no record of making premium rate 0908 phone calls on my telephone account, which is possibly why I received a sympathetic hearing from customer services.
If any customer has a similar £26.90 unexplained item on their bill, they will find a single site reporting the complaints by googling just the phone number concerned. I am avoiding giving the number here to limit the opportunity of other silly people adding unwanted comments to the site. Given the very specific search query, it is not very likely that many people will find the site by accident.

I am not the sort who posts to messageboards very often. I am concerned that it may be possible for customers to be billed for these calls mistakenly. How could this happen?

[Bovar]

09083149092

I have opened a thread on the newsgroup virginmedia.support.telephony. A non customer services person looks after this input. He does not seem to be getting any information through from customer services about this number. I think he is concerned after being directed to this site. If you arrive here concerned about being charged for a call you haven't made, do your best to access the site and assist him if you can. The newsgroups feed can be set up through outlook express, using the server news.virginmedia.com. Virginmedia have a help section on their website to set it up.

[vbnmu]

Shall be reading through the thread but:
1) Premium calls made from my line for 3 months in a row. Found out when i eventually opened bill. VM refunded around £40. Premium calls now barred.
2) Now have unbilled calls amounting to £165, which noone in household made. Under investigation.

[vbnmu]

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34...l#post34672359

I faced similar issues, see previous thread.

After numerous calls, and the technician being called out, no fault was found on my line. VM decided not to cancel the charges.
I was certainly not going to leave it to that. That is day-light robbery. I was therefore planning on what steps to follow and decided to email VM's CEO before taking it to legal bodies.
Am glad to say that a nice lady got back to me very quikly and tried her best to resolve the issue. It obviously meant that I had to swallow a bitter pill-not being able to clear myself of any doubt-but it did save me a lot of time in the process.
I will be setting up a credit limit on my account but that can not be done until the current bill is produced. Cross fingers that this does not take place until then.
The other problem lies in the fact that I have talk anywhere minutes. Even if a credit limit is in place, 'someone' could make calls within that call anywhere plan. I will give that some thought and see whether I actually need it.
I would have taken things to court if it had come to that. So if anyone needs any help, then I am more than willing to do so. I might have got a result but a lot of others didn't and VM are not dealing with a problem than can occur again.
Which leads me to this, what might have caused this problem? This engineer concluded that there wasn't a problem on the line, so far as he could investigate. Could it be there is a problem further down the line? Could it be that someone is tampering with the box and has managed to get away before the engineer came down? could it be a scam by VM-a way to make money out of its customers? Or could it be a technical issue with the billing system?

But above all, thank you yet again to some CF members who provided a guideline to resolving this issue.

[debs949]

I am having the same problem i got my bill from virgin and i noticed my Bill was high i phoned virgin and they said i had made a Premium rate call for 20 mins price 26.96 I knew i had never made the call and asked them to investigate They then told me i phoned 09826619604 and the Service provider was Vincent Jones Enterprises Gilbert Street Rawtenstall I don,t understand why they said i made the call because i live alone and only myself uses the phone This is happening to others too and i think its terrible it could cause a lot of couples to fall out blaiming each other for making the call. I myself won,t be paying this bill..........

[marting]

Dear All

This is a common issue with VM at the moment particularly around my area Rossendale. I have been charged £26.90 and after much arguing down the phone (and VM saying i HAD made the call) they sent an engineer out FOC. He came out and said there was a fault with my line (something I was a bit sceptical about as i had no other issues) however this engineer said this wasn't the 1st case he'd dealt with.

I told him i KNEW that as i had found other people in the same area regarding the same premium rate phone company for the same date/time, call duration and amount!!

The engineer said I wouldn't be paying for the call and that this issue would be escalated to the Fraud office. At the moment i need to chase VM as they have FAILED to credit me for this call even though they have now admitted i didn't make the call and have since taken the money out of my account.

The simple fact is VM are more than aware of this issue and do seem to be covering it up in the hope that most people will give up challenging it and just pay for the call. I am less than impressed by VM given the following:

1 - They failed to take my complaint seriously that this was more than a one off issue and needed investigating as a high priority,

2 - Despite completing an online complaint form a week ago I have still failed to receive any correspondance.

3 - Failed to receive any further contact 4 days after the engineer agreed i didn't make the call.

4 - Failing to credit my account for the phone call and taking the money out of my account.

I am seriously going to consider my options once my contract ends!

[Betterphone]

Originally Posted by eyeofthetiger

Hi everyone

i am a virgin media customer who is trying to get a list of customers who have been charged for premium rate calls they have not made from their phone and they do not have a dial up modem connection (to rule out a rogue dialler). I have recently come back from holiday to discover I have a £400 bill from calling premium rate numbers, calls were made whilst the house was empty.
The customer service I have received is shocking, and Virgin media are adament that I have made the calls. I have asked Virgin Media whether this is a common fault and they are saying that they have not come across anything like this before which is a lie as i have been reading other peoples threads on other sites.
I am writing to Ofcom, Watchdog and Virgin Media in the hope that they stop denying what is happening and charging customers huge amounts of money for calls they have not made.
Please leave your comments should a situation like this have affected you. The more comments I receive, the better the argument to stop this from happening again and getting something done about it.
Thank you

Hi Eyeofthetiger
We have just received our Virgin phone bill and guess what? Yep we have a charge for a premium rate number call that no one has made. We are the same as you cable broadband ,TV and Phone but no auto dialler. However the phone is abase unit with cable-less handset, is yours? .Very interesting to read about the Engineers comments because Virgin suggest that an Engineer comes out to check our local box also BUT will cost £75 if no fault found. WE ARE NOT BEST PLEASED and will try alternatives first. If some toe-rag has worked out how to access the local exchange box and knows how to switch the phone address leads back and forth then you can bet they will quickly pass on the method to their mates. No wonder Virgin don't want to admit anything is wrong!! Just like the banks with cash card fraud etc.
How do we catch TeaLeaf. Start would be the print left in your box, How to stop ? Seal box improve box defences.
Regards
PS do you mind if we use your letters in case against our Bill charge?

[migan007]

Originally Posted by eyeofthetiger

Hi everyone

i am a virgin media customer who is trying to get a list of customers who have been charged for premium rate calls they have not made from their phone and they do not have a dial up modem connection (to rule out a rogue dialler). I have recently come back from holiday to discover I have a £400 bill from calling premium rate numbers, calls were made whilst the house was empty.
The customer service I have received is shocking, and Virgin media are adament that I have made the calls. I have asked Virgin Media whether this is a common fault and they are saying that they have not come across anything like this before which is a lie as i have been reading other peoples threads on other sites.
I am writing to Ofcom, Watchdog and Virgin Media in the hope that they stop denying what is happening and charging customers huge amounts of money for calls they have not made.
Please leave your comments should a situation like this have affected you. The more comments I receive, the better the argument to stop this from happening again and getting something done about it.
Thank you

---------- Post added at 18:25 ---------- Previous post was at 18:03 ----------

Yes.
I was a Virgin Media customer who experienced basically the same thing.

Here is my story.

I vacated the house I was renting in June. When I receive my final bill there were premium rate calls on the bill made two days after we vacated the property for £419.11.
After receiving the bill I contacted Virgin media by phone but never got anywhere. I later wrote three letters attempting to get a response. I got a response for my last letter stating I am eligible and there is notting they can do. In the meantime their debt collector has been hassling us. I recently contacted ofcom who advised me to filed an application to CISAS,which I did. I am presently awaiting a response.

[Tarantella]

If Virgin Media cannot stop tampering with the outside boxes then Premium rate call services should be banned by default whenever services are taken out by a new customer.


Accusing customers down a phone line is cowardly business practice.

[nighteyes]

Originally Posted by vbnmu

http://www.cableforum.co.uk/board/34...l#post34672359

I faced similar issues, see previous thread.

After numerous calls, and the technician being called out, no fault was found on my line. VM decided not to cancel the charges.
I was certainly not going to leave it to that. That is day-light robbery. I was therefore planning on what steps to follow and decided to email VM's CEO before taking it to legal bodies.
Am glad to say that a nice lady got back to me very quikly and tried her best to resolve the issue. It obviously meant that I had to swallow a bitter pill-not being able to clear myself of any doubt-but it did save me a lot of time in the process.
I will be setting up a credit limit on my account but that can not be done until the current bill is produced. Cross fingers that this does not take place until then.
The other problem lies in the fact that I have talk anywhere minutes. Even if a credit limit is in place, 'someone' could make calls within that call anywhere plan. I will give that some thought and see whether I actually need it.
I would have taken things to court if it had come to that. So if anyone needs any help, then I am more than willing to do so. I might have got a result but a lot of others didn't and VM are not dealing with a problem than can occur again.
Which leads me to this, what might have caused this problem? This engineer concluded that there wasn't a problem on the line, so far as he could investigate. Could it be there is a problem further down the line? Could it be that someone is tampering with the box and has managed to get away before the engineer came down? could it be a scam by VM-a way to make money out of its customers? Or could it be a technical issue with the billing system?

But above all, thank you yet again to some CF members who provided a guideline to resolving this issue.

I was contacted by virgin last thursday..the woman told me my bill was £182
i normally don't pay more than £10 a month in call charges as i use my mobile.
She told me there was a call for 500 mins to a 0845 number , i phoned this number on my mobile and i got a fax / modem tone.
She informed me it could be my alarm system ( don't have the alarm hooked up to the telephone line ) or my sky box dialing out .
I phoned sky and gave them the 0845 , the very helpful chap searched his data base and informed me that was not any of the numbers sky use ???
Virgin media cs are really snotty , the woman told me they would send a engineer round but if no fault was found i would have to pay £99.
I am thinking of contacting the police as i never made those calls....

---------- Post added at 11:31 ---------- Previous post was at 09:57 ----------

Originally Posted by nighteyes

I was contacted by virgin last thursday..the woman told me my bill was £182
i normally don't pay more than £10 a month in call charges as i use my mobile.
She told me there was a call for 500 mins to a 0845 number , i phoned this number on my mobile and i got a fax / modem tone.
She informed me it could be my alarm system ( don't have the alarm hooked up to the telephone line ) or my sky box dialing out .
I phoned sky and gave them the 0845 , the very helpful chap searched his data base and informed me that was not any of the numbers sky use ???
Virgin media cs are really snotty , the woman told me they would send a engineer round but if no fault was found i would have to pay £99.
I am thinking of contacting the police as i never made those calls....

UPDATE>>>
I just did a bit of diggin around and found this website
http://www.phonespamfilter.co.uk/phones.php/08456042
Guess what the 0845 604 2470 number is a bleedin telemarking company???
I have went back through my bills from may 2009-todate and this number has being robbing me since then ...What can i do ???