My mother and stepfather recently rang my home phone from a mobile. At the time I was forwarding my calls to an internet VoIP line, and although I can prove that the call only lasted a few seconds, TalkTalk’s billing system has logged it at over 10 hours and has charged them £207. Both their mobiles were cut off, and the couple – who are pensioners and rely on their landline to be able to phone doctors etc – were threatened with that being cut off, too.
We have complained, spending hours on the phone. A 50% discount – which I had turned down as, in my view, it needs to be written off completely – was withdrawn. In the end, my parents paid £140 to keep their phone connected. CJ, Winchester
We wouldn’t have thought a modern mobile could even make a 10-hour call as the battery would fail, but TalkTalk insists that having investigated the case, that is what happened.
Each minute was charged at 40p. You say that you can prove the call lasted a few seconds. If that’s the case, take the matter to Ombudsman Services – or the small claims court.
TalkTalk says: “We have provided a goodwill gesture to recognise the distress caused when Mr P received a higher-than-expected bill. Customers can set usage limits for their mobile phone accounts, but still need to be careful about making very long calls as it can take a day or two for data usage to be added to accounts.”
Has anyone else had problems with calls from a mobile to a VoIP number? Email us at the usual address.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number
