118 118 and got a high bill on virgin

I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
I'm on virgin.

How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
it cost that much.

beware and not as stupid as me to check call rates first.

On Sep 30, 10:14*am, Peter smith <Peter324234_remov...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
> I'm on virgin.
>
> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
> it cost that much.
>

It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.

I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
short term rip over the long-term custom.

"Bill" <jbrewster1958@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:205e3d27-b27c-4c95-ae3e-8e74454ececb@v36g2000yqv.googlegroups.com...
On Sep 30, 10:14 am, Peter smith <Peter324234_remov...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
> I'm on virgin.
>
> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
> it cost that much.
>

It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.

I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
short term rip over the long-term custom.
>
>
Yes, but who is doing most of the ripping off in this case, The Number UK
Ltd
or Virgin Media.

From
http://www.118.com/static/products.html
Calls to 118 118 cost 29p per minute (charged per second) with
a one off 69p charge from most landlines. Costs from mobiles vary.


--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

In message <h9vg3k$qja$1@news.eternal-september.org>, Graham.
<me@privacy.net> writes
>
>
>"Bill" <jbrewster1958@googlemail.com> wrote in message
>news:205e3d27-b27c-4c95-ae3e-8e74454ececb@v36g2000yqv.googlegroups.com...

>It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
>in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.
>
>I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
>short term rip over the long-term custom.
>>
>>
>Yes, but who is doing most of the ripping off in this case, The Number UK
>Ltd
>or Virgin Media.
>

I doubt that the £4.20 was for looking up the number and sending a text
back to the mobile which is one of the options offered. Another option
is *put you straight through to the number you want* in which case it
would include the cost of the subsequent call.

--
Paul Harris

Bill wrote:
> On Sep 30, 10:14 am, Peter smith <Peter324234_remov...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
>> I'm on virgin.
>>
>> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
>> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
>> it cost that much.
>>
>
> It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
> in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.
>
> I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
> short term rip over the long-term custom.

Very true, I'm off to vodaphone soon on contract as this is the last
straw of a few straws of nonsense form virgin.

Graham. wrote:
> "Bill" <jbrewster1958@googlemail.com> wrote in message
> news:205e3d27-b27c-4c95-ae3e-8e74454ececb@v36g2000yqv.googlegroups.com...
> On Sep 30, 10:14 am, Peter smith <Peter324234_remov...@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
>> I'm on virgin.
>>
>> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
>> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
>> it cost that much.
>>
>
> It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
> in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.
>
> I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
> short term rip over the long-term custom.
>>
> Yes, but who is doing most of the ripping off in this case, The Number UK
> Ltd
> or Virgin Media.
>
> From
> http://www.118.com/static/products.html
> Calls to 118 118 cost 29p per minute (charged per second) with
> a one off 69p charge from most landlines. Costs from mobiles vary.
>
>

And the nerve of the man on the phone went on about some free add or
something and if he could text it to me, so they are charging me to spam
me ?!

Paul Harris wrote:
> In message <h9vg3k$qja$1@news.eternal-september.org>, Graham.
> <me@privacy.net> writes
>>
>>
>> "Bill" <jbrewster1958@googlemail.com> wrote in message
>> news:205e3d27-b27c-4c95-ae3e-8e74454ececb@v36g2000yqv.googlegroups.com...
>
>> It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
>> in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.
>>
>> I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
>> short term rip over the long-term custom.
>>>
>>>
>> Yes, but who is doing most of the ripping off in this case, The Number UK
>> Ltd
>> or Virgin Media.
>>
>
> I doubt that the £4.20 was for looking up the number and sending a text
> back to the mobile which is one of the options offered. Another option
> is *put you straight through to the number you want* in which case it
> would include the cost of the subsequent call.
>

I never ask to be put through, I always say NO THANKS and then just dial
the number right out of the text.

"Bill" <jbrewster1958@googlemail.com> wrote in message
news:205e3d27-b27c-4c95-ae3e-8e74454ececb@v36g2000yqv.googlegroups.com...
On Sep 30, 10:14 am, Peter smith <Peter324234_remov...@hotmail.com>
wrote:
>> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
> I'm on virgin.
>
>> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
> it cost that much.
>

> It's great business logic.... you rip a customer for £4.20 once, and
in return, they are likely to avoid being your customer in future.

> I never understand why companies do this - they seem to value the
short term rip over the long-term custom.

I can think of about 419 reasons...

It's usually better to call the networks own 118 service if you absolutely
MUST.

Eg:

118 118 is 90p connection charge to the operator PLUS 45p/min on Orange, so
a 1 min call is £1.35.

118 000 is a 69p fixed charge for up to 3 numbers, text to your phone.

Simon

"Peter smith" <Peter324234_removeme@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:h9v7hs$oui$1@aioe.org...
>I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS! I'm
>on virgin.
>
> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know it
> cost that much.
>
> beware and not as stupid as me to check call rates first.

Peter smith wrote:
> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
> I'm on virgin.
>
> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
> it cost that much.
>
> beware and not as stupid as me to check call rates first.
>
>
It's a shame CPW took over Onetel which had free 118111 enquires
As a Onetel callthrough subscriber i used to be able to get it on my mobile

Steve Terry

On 2009-10-17, Steve Terry <gfourwwk@tesco.net> wrote:
> Peter smith wrote:
>> I called 118118 and spoke for 2.32seconds and was charged £4.20 JESUS!
>> I'm on virgin.
>>
>> How that can be justified I don't know!! would have been cheaper to pay
>> 30p for the day go online on my phone and get the number I didn't know
>> it cost that much.
>>
>> beware and not as stupid as me to check call rates first.
> >
> >
> It's a shame CPW took over Onetel which had free 118111 enquires
> As a Onetel callthrough subscriber i used to be able to get it on my mobile
>
> Steve Terry

Don't Virgin have their own directory enquiries service? They charge 75p
per minute for calls to 118918 according to
<http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=payasyougo.what.it.cos ts.shop.sm287>

Perhaps the OP allowed 118118 to connect the call as well as look up the
number?

--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

in 31556 20091018 172359 Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> wrote:

>Don't Virgin have their own directory enquiries service? They charge 75p
>per minute for calls to 118918 according to
><http://www.virginmobile.com/vm/genericContent.do?contentId=payasyougo.what.it.cos ts.shop.sm287>
>
>Perhaps the OP allowed 118118 to connect the call as well as look up the
>number?

Don't need to connect.
For many years on various mobile phones I've had my home number set on speed-dial #2.
I recently bought a new phone from Virgin, an LG KS360. In general I love this phone
but on power-on it sets speed dial 2 to "Direcotry Enquiries" (sic) - 118918.
If I forget to reset it I can accidentally activate it, but I quickly cancel it as soon as
I realise what I've done.
Three times so far I've been billed 70p for a call to 118918 lasting 0 seconds.
What a racket!