ITV quiz phone line - heavy phone bills

[Mortie]

Has anyone been loaded on their telephone bills by calling 09016566000 - would much appreciate any feedback as I have - throughout the night when I know I did not make any calls just one to a prize quiz for Richard & Judy

[teleengineer]

Evening to you all,

I work for a major telecoms company and I have frequently had complaints escalated to my level for no reason. In my case (mobile network) The CDRs' (call data records) are sent from the network and are 100% accurate. Basically if the call appears on your bill then it is correct. Many years ago there were cases where by a customer could have 2 sim cards active at one time. This has since been removed as a posibilty with the advances in authentication and security on all networks.

The main "SCAM" with ITV and other TV channels currently trying to boost there revenue with these so called game shows is that you are infact charged for a call to the show even if all you here is a engaged tone. Most people will ring again and again until they get through or in the majority of cases give up. The small print on the website states that you are charged for each call into the show, not just the calls that get to the studio. In my opinion this is totally out of order and the least people should get if they are going to be charged is a message saying they have been unsuccessful..

Hope this helps in some way.

On quick piece of advise... Dont complain to your respective landline or mobile networks, complain to ITV etc.. They are the ones benefiting most.. Network operators do not get as big a slice out of the profit as you may think.

Thanks

P

[ads.uk]

Hi Gareth,

the exact same has just happened to my MOBILE on Virgin , (T-mobile network) - all the calls to 09016566000 and all on the 28th of May between 1 and 3:30 a.m .....

i have a pdf of the calls , and they have been made at 3 times a minute all lasting 12-18seconds.... i don't see how thats possible ?

Did you have any luck with O2 ?? Or anyone else have luck in avoiding paying for the calls ??

Cheers,
Adam

[gaz.lodge]

I actually forgot about this as O2 promised they would get back to me..... I will follow up on this again.

Out of interest what make & model of mobile was this with as O2 initially thought it could be an auto redial setting!

Can everyone else please give makes & models of phones?

Thanks.......

[Alphege]

I contributed a while back when my mum was charged for masses of calls she didn't make in small hours by Onetel. She has closed her Onetel account but now it has started on her BT bill. As soon as she lifted premium call barring she was charged for 22 premium calls made between 1-4am on 2 consecutive nights. This time the number is 09016560606. She is 91. If she calls a competition line ever it is not in the middle of the night and not at 3 minute intervals.
ICSTIS were of no help with the Onetel dispute. They did not answer emails and their reply to my letter showed no concern for what is going on. Everyone takes the attitude that if it's on the bill the calls were made.
Alphege

[Alphege]

PS In the event Onetel only refunded to my mother the cost of calls charged after we originally requested Premium call barring. She still had to pay for all the ones before that. At least with Onetel you get a statement each month. With BT it's quarterly and when I asked on phone last night if they could tell me if more premium calls have been charged for in current quarter they couldn't say. We are at the mercy of??

[wondermum]

I have just received a huge bill for this number on my Orange phone, of course Orange are swearing blind that these calls have been made. Does anyone know who to complain to? I have the number for ITVPLAY and isctis, sounds like a story for watchdog

[jiggy-gb]

Why don't you all bombard them with the link to this question, over and over again, drive them mad and ask them to come on here and explain why they're ripping viewers off. I know they're not the phone company, but they're the ones reading out the number for everyone to call!

[email protected]

[gaz.lodge]

That's a good idea but it's the telcos that are happy taking our hard earned cash that we should be targeting.

After a lengthy debate with O2 they are not refunding any of our charges. They apparently did a network investigation into this but will not divulge any further info!

Needless to say we will be renewing our contract with a different mobile company.

If anyone takes this further & needs any help or our evidence providing please get in touch via this thread.

[aidso]

to make a complint you best be is to contact OFCOM they look after telecoms

[gaz.lodge]

Actually as it is a premium rate service it's looked after by ICSTIS - they haver a web form for complaints - I'm going to leave a complaint today. As many people as possible need to fill this in - the page is here: http://www.icstis.org.uk/consumers/how_to_comp lain/complaintform.asp

[gaz.lodge]

I have done it - complained to ICSTIS!
Will advise if anything comes of this here......

[vwsplitty]

just received a mobile phone bill from genesis communications (vodafone) for �1277.00 for calls to 09016566000 over a 2 day period. Calls made 2 or 3 per minute throughout the night. No one made the calls s how can this happen? Help!!!!!!!!!

[steeshie]

Hi, I recently got my Bt landline bill in and according to that 82 calls were made to 09016 560606 between the hours of 3am and 3:30am. I have called Bt and complained that no one could have possibly made those calls but they are insisting that there is no other explanation. After reading about other people in the same situation i believe that this is some kind of scam. I have blocked all 090 numbers from being dialed out but will not be letting the matter rest there. For those people who posted there comments early this year did you have any joy from the likes of watchdog? Regards

Stephen

[Alphege]

I filled in complaint to ICSTIS way back and got no response whatsoever. I wrote to them and got a long letter back saying calls must have been made and they were satisfied that nothing was wrong.
Both Onetel and BT have dismissed any possibility of the fault lying with them. I would be glad to hear from anyone who has met with success. I do not understand why the phone companies will not take this seriously as it is quite obvious that someone has found a way of breaking in to phone lines so that innocent people are charged for these night time calls they haven't made. I've blocked )900 numbers for my mother but we got nothing back from phone companies.
Alphege

[gaz.lodge]

Finally got to the bottom of our problem....

Icstis sent a letter saying they would look into this problem but nothing since.
So I decided to call ITV who were very helpful indeed!

Turns out our guy actually got on the show & gave his name.
He has since admitted making the calls & has paid his bill.

ITV are even willing to provide evidence of the show in question but to obtain this you have to go through the police.

The threat of this alone made our guy hold his hand up & pay his bill.

My advice is simple - give ITV a call if you are unsure just in case the caller got through � they were very helpful��

[rudolf]

Hi,
I haven't any specific information on this scam but I do have the background details of a similar case that involved the use of rogue diallers in 2004.
The details relating to the 2004 case have been sent to my MP. He has asked the DTI to consider a criminal investigation. I would suggest you all do the same.

If you read this you may conclude that Icstis is a sham and the UK telecom industry is very corrupt indeed.
It concerns the internet dialler fraud that tens of thousands of families complained to Icstis about in this BBC program.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4397308.st m
A group of business men were behind a number of service providers using 3,000 to 4,000 premium rate numbers (0909 967 ****) supplied by Telecom One ltd.
Throughout 2004 Icstis recieved countless identical complaints about each number. Families were claiming they had not dialled the numbers, had not agreed to pay for any services and had not recieved any services.
Icstis claimed the services apeared to be compliant with their code and they couldn't understand what was happening. The network operators cliamed the bills must be payed.

I have just uncovered evidence that appears to show Icstis' claim from 2004 was at best rubbish.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/bulletins/comp_bull_in dex/comp_bull_ccases/closed_all/cw_833/
This case was opened May 2005.
Icstis had complained to Ofcom because Telecom One had failed to give details regarding the content of services or how their service providers were promoting the services.

The service providers and services in this Ofcom case are the same as the tens of families in the BBC program were complaining about in 2004.
Now, given the hi

[rudolf]

Now, given the high level of complaint in 2004 and Icstis' own admission in the Ofcom case from 2005 it now appears that Icstis had every reason to suspect the services were fraudulent .
I hope this has been of some interest.