Meteor surcharges for international phone calls

kuchma2000

Hi everyone.

Did anyone knew that Meteor has an international phone calls surcharge?
I did a lot of international phone calls from my meteor pay as you go phone but recently I fount that credit just dissapears from my account. When I called to Meteor customer sevice they said that Surchages started in July 2005, Next time I called and was told that it started in August 2005, after that I called them again and ask for a manager, he wasn't there - nothing unusual, and customer service representative said that manager will call me later on today or early morning tomorrow - never happened, 2 weeks later I decided to call them again (thanks God he was there), I explained to him what was the problem he confirmed that charges applied from 12 or 16 of July can't remember exactly, then I said that I found same overcharging earlier (16 of may 2005) so he put me on hold for about 5 minutes, then he told me that charge period started on date I gave him, then I told him that simmilar charges found before 16 of may 2005 he just confirmed that charge period started on 16 of may 2005.
That's my story.
Any ideas what to do?

Many THANKS.

cgarvey

What's the surcharge? International calls are always going to be more expensive, obviously, but is the surcharge fixed per minute, or a call set-up charge, or just an increase in the international rate? Is it the "new 25c" mentioned on this page?

As for the misinformation, I'd send off a letter to 'em detailing the conversation, and the various dates, and seek clarification of the start date. Get that established, in writing, first.

.cg

Urban Weigl

I was hit with this as well: the only reason I noticed was because I was looking at my bill (because of another issue with them overcharging me), and I noticed that even though some of my international calls were under a minute, yet were billed as if they were longer! (or so it appeared). For example, I tried to reach somebody in Germany, but they had their phone switched off, so the call only lasted 1 second each. Yet, I was charged a hefty setup surcharge each time.

Here is what Meteor [sic] do: In addition to normal per-minute charges, they charge a call setup surcharge on top of every international call. Mind you, they don't list this along with the price, you have to go hunting in the small print. Clever indeed.

Edit: As far as getting a manager to call you back, good luck! I've been trying that for weeks, they keep promising it, but never return my call. When I ask for a supervisor/manager, I am told that nobody is there. When I ask when they expect a manager to be there, they do not know, and are unable to find out.

The only logical conclusion is that the Meteor manager/supervisor/whatever is make-belief.

Our man in Havana

Tell them they can't be operating a call centre without a supervisor/manager. All of what meteor say is BS.

eircomtribunal

kuchma2000 wrote:

Any ideas what to do?

3.3.1 Access to printed tariffs and tariffs on the website
All service providers shall provide:
• Printed tariff information in response to an end-user request.

Ask Meteor for written tariff information applicable at the time of the disputed call charges. They have to send you those. (If they refuse or do not oblige [and they will!] ask ComReg to direct Meteor to send you written tariff information.

3.2 Comprehensive Tariff Information
The purpose of this principle is to ensure that consumers have access to
comprehensive tariff information in one location, and that tariff presentations contain sufficient detail to inform end-users about the particulars of different tariff options.
3.2.1 Minimum set of information
All printed, website or verbal tariff presentations shall state relevant details and additional charges/surcharges applicable to the tariff. For printed presentations, the additional information should be located beside the tariff information in a comparable font size. This includes
• the increments of time by which the service provider bills
• minimum Call Charges and/or Call Set up Fees
• the Peak/Off Peak and Weekend times

Check whether the printed tariff information (eventually sent to you) complies with the above ComReg tariff presentation rules, specifically whether the "additional information (minimum charges) is located beside the tariff information in a comparable font size".
A footnote with the information is not good enough!

If the written tariff information Meteor give does not comply with ComReg's tariff presentation guidelines, ask ComReg to act in two ways:
a) help you to get refunded by Meteor for the insufficient tariff information and
b) direct Meteor to follow the ComReg tariff presentation guidelines.

P.

eircomtribunal

cgarvey wrote:

Is it the "new 25c" mentioned on this page?

Meteor's tariff information on the web site page is arguably not in compliance with ComReg's tariff presentation guidelines. While the rules strictly only ask for additional charges like set up charges to be put "beside" the price in a comparable font, in "printed" information, it is not acceptible that the website information should only have an asterix besides the Band name. This is not in the spirit of the guidelines which for example specifically advises against any means of

3.1.2 Manipulation of tariffs
A service provider should not manipulate information in such a way that it makes the tariffs inaccurate and misleads end-users.

and in the consultation to the tariff guidelines ComReg outlines specifically that additional charges should be outlined prominently:

On the minimum set of information, ComReg considers that the information relevant to the tariffs presented should be located beside the tariff information, in a comparable font size. In relation to limitations of space on printed tariff presentations ComReg’s view is that key details relevant to the advertised price or tariff option should not be omitted, in the pursuit of simplicity. For example, where a service provider advertises ‘1c national calls’ it is perfectly reasonable to expect that conditions of usage relevant to the advertised price should be included; i.e. 1c national calls are subject to a call set up charge of 6c, calls are billed in 1 minute increments, and the rate applies to calls made on weeknights after 6pm.

P.

kuchma2000

yes, 25 cent connection surcharge, And as "Urban Weigl" mentioned even if your call was 2-5 sec. they still charge you for 1min 1sec - that's what appears on my call history

Urban Weigl

You can easily clock up several euros in just a few of seconds if you try to reach somebody who isn't there, is out of coverage or who has his phone switched off, especially if you're not aware of the surcharge (I was not, even though I had read the prices on their web site and even skimmed the small print). The way it is represented is purposefully misleading. Believe me, Meteor does not leave anything to chance: They are well aware of what they are doing.

If they wanted people to know, they would not have a surcharge at all, only a clear per minute rate, or at the very least present the price as "€0.50/min + €0.25 setup charge".

Blaster99

May I humbly suggest that you use Telestunt for your international mobile calls instead? It's 1520 932601 and this will cover most landlines in the world and some mobiles. It's charged from 20c upwards depending on mobile operator, O2 being the cheapest. I assume Meteor is the most expensive, they usually are outside of their special Meteor-to-Meteor deals.

kuchma2000

I found better companu to make international phonecalls (calls to most landlines abroad start from 1cent if calling from landline), have a look here:
http://www.dialwise.ie/index2.php

Blaster99

We're not talking about landline, though. You can use an 1890 number with Telestunt too, but not from a mobile. And even if you could, mobile operators tend to charge more for 1890 number than they do 1520 numbers.

bk

Blaster99 wrote:

We're not talking about landline, though. You can use an 1890 number with Telestunt too, but not from a mobile. And even if you could, mobile operators tend to charge more for 1890 number than they do 1520 numbers.

dialwise seem to have a 0818 that can be called from a mobile at national rates. According to the meteor site that number is charged at 25c/min, cheaper then any Meteor international rate, though I don't know if they have a surcharge on the number.

Good fnd I must remember that site along with telestunt.

Blaster99

Telestunt has an 0818 number too, but when I looked into this with O2, it was cheaper to call the 1520 number and you get access to more destinations. It depends on the mobile operator I guess. With 3 it's also cheaper to call a 1520 number.

Urban Weigl

Shouldn't 0818 numbers be charged at national rates? Meteor charge 25c/min for calls to 0818 numbers, yet charge 20c/min for calls to ordinary national phone numbers. Probably there is nothing there to stop them from charging extra compared to a normal national call, but I still thought it was interesting.

And yes, 1520 is your best bet with o2. With Speak Easy, it costs 20c/min to call, and I think Pay Monthly is less, 17c when I checked last (that was a while ago, but I think it's still true).