Meteor Charging for Checking voicemail

padser

Has anyone else found that Meteor are charging them for using their voicemail?

I had suspected this before but never had the time or certainty to ring them and check. I did yesterday.

It turns out that when your phone receives a voice message if you click 'Listen to voice message' the default (and unchangeable) settings on some (both phones that I have checked so far) phones ring 087 (5) xxxxxxxx for which meteor charge.

However if you rinf 171 its a free call.

I actually accepted this yesterday but will be ringing back later (prob next week before I have time) to look for refund as in my view its unnacceptable - since it doesnt look for a pin once you are ringing off your phone its obvious that the computer realises its a call from your phone - but still charges even though voicemail charges are free.

Anyone else had similar complaints?

Random

Sounds liek a reasonable complaint when you make the point about the PIN - have you checked the T&C to make sure they haven't covered themselves on the 08x5xxxxxx ?

Gadgie

I only noticed this myself yesterday - did you ever get anywhere with them about it?

I emailed to complain and asked for all billed voicemail calls to be refunded. They responded today telling me that I should have been calling 171, but credited me €5 on my account 'as a gesture of goodwill'. However I'm not very happy with this as I'm sure if I were to add up the calls over the years it would be much more than this.

I completely agree that it is unacceptable, as as you say the default setting on phones is the 08x5xxxxxxx number and not 171, and the computer obviously knows who is calling as it doesn't ask for a PIN. They must be making a tidy amount with this little scam.

craichoe

Gadgie wrote: »

I only noticed this myself yesterday - did you ever get anywhere with them about it?

I emailed to complain and asked for all billed voicemail calls to be refunded. They responded today telling me that I should have been calling 171, but credited me €5 on my account 'as a gesture of goodwill'. However I'm not very happy with this as I'm sure if I were to add up the calls over the years it would be much more than this.

I completely agree that it is unacceptable, as as you say the default setting on phones is the 08x5xxxxxxx number and not 171, and the computer obviously knows who is calling as it doesn't ask for a PIN. They must be making a tidy amount with this little scam.

171 doesnt work on some phone networks when roaming

If you wanted to change the billing for that number it would require adding a rule for every single customer. If your on the free meteor to meteor calls package however it should be free.

Ste.phen

craichoe wrote: »

If you wanted to change the billing for that number it would require adding a rule for every single customer.

No it wouldn't, there's a very clearly identifiable pattern to it
+3538X5xxxxxxx

Since the person calling will have an MSISDN that's the same, except for the extra '5', it'd be trivial to see when they're calling their own voicemail

Paulw

Igy wrote: »

No it wouldn't, there's a very clearly identifiable pattern to it
+3538X5xxxxxxx

Since the person calling will have an MSISDN that's the same, except for the extra '5', it'd be trivial to see when they're calling their own voicemail

Actually, while it sounds trivial, it's actually not. The systems that control charging for events are a lot more complex, so you would need to specify exceptions for free calls.

The pattern matching idea doesn't fit in to the logic that the system understands. Numbers come in in different formats - 3538x, +3538x, 08x.

It's not an easy and quick fix.

Sam Vimes

Paulw wrote: »

Actually, while it sounds trivial, it's actually not. The systems that control charging for events are a lot more complex, so you would need to specify exceptions for free calls.

The pattern matching idea doesn't fit in to the logic that the system understands. Numbers come in in different formats - 3538x, +3538x, 08x.

It's not an easy and quick fix.

but the system can already recognise that it's the person calling their own voicemail because it doesn't ask for the pin

foggy_lad

then they should just program all meteor phones with 171 as the voicemail number as this is what customers think they are ringing and we are told that our voicemail calls are free!

you press the 1 key and you assume you are ringing your voicemail and that the call is free as you should be ringing 171.

Paulw

Sam Vimes wrote: »

but the system can already recognise that it's the person calling their own voicemail because it doesn't ask for the pin

It's not just 1 system. There are many systems involved in making a phone call. They all use different data to recognise what is happening, and act accordingly.

The voicemail system may recognise that the incoming call is for the user's voicemail, but the voicemail system is not involved in the charging for calls.

A simple call from one number to another number can go through 6 systems to connect the call, and only one of them is responsible for charging. But, the other 5 can use information about the call to make sure it's routed properly.

Just to clarify that I don't work for any operator.

Sam Vimes

Paulw wrote: »

It's not just 1 system. There are many systems involved in making a phone call. They all use different data to recognise what is happening, and act accordingly.

The voicemail system may recognise that the incoming call is for the user's voicemail, but the voicemail system is not involved in the charging for calls.

A simple call from one number to another number can go through 6 systems to connect the call, and only one of them is responsible for charging. But, the other 5 can use information about the call to make sure it's routed properly.

Just to clarify that I don't work for any operator.

i realise there are different systems involved. i was making the point that the voicemail system already has the required logic so that same logic could be used in the charging sytem. you say they use different data and that is true but all of the systems have the user's MSISDN and the dialled MSISDN which are the only pieces of information necessary to implement the logic

there might be some work involved in changing the charging system to recognise 08x5 etc but it's not impossible and it has to be done

Paulw

Sam Vimes wrote: »

i realise there are different systems involved. i was making the point that the voicemail system already has the required logic so that same logic could be used in the charging sytem. you say they use different data and that is true but all of the systems have the user's MSISDN and the dialled MSISDN which are the only pieces of information necessary to implement the logic

there might be some work involved in changing the charging system to recognise 08x5 etc but it's not impossible and it has to be done

Don't forget that there are numbers (08x5) that are chargable. It's only your own voicemail number that should not be charged for. But, if you dial someone else's voicemail number, you should be charged.

See, the logic is not quite that simple.

Just because the systems have the data, does not mean that the logic is easy to develop or deploy.

It might just be easier if the system that sends you the notification is set that the callback number is 171, rather than your actual voicemail number.

Sam Vimes

Paulw wrote: »

Don't forget that there are numbers (08x5) that are chargable. It's only your own voicemail number that should not be charged for. But, if you dial someone else's voicemail number, you should be charged.

See, the logic is not quite that simple.

Just because the systems have the data, does not mean that the logic is easy to develop or deploy.

no it's not that simple, i never said it was but my point is that the logic has already been written and is in use in the voicemail system so it's just a matter of porting it to the charging system rather than working it all out. and just in case it does need to be worked out, here it is written in java

String destNum="003538753333333";
String customerMSISDN="+353873333333";
		
String netPrefix=customerMSISDN.substring(customerMSISDN.length()-8,customerMSISDN.length()-7);
String customerNumber=customerMSISDN.substring(customerMSISDN.length()-7,customerMSISDN.length());
				
		
if(isFreeNumber(destNum)){
	System.out.println("don't charge");
}
else if( destNum.substring(destNum.length()-9, destNum.length()).equals(netPrefix + "5" + customerNumber)&& 
		(
			destNum.startsWith("+3538" + netPrefix) ||
			destNum.startsWith("003538" + netPrefix) ||
			destNum.startsWith("3538" + netPrefix) ||
			destNum.startsWith("08" + netPrefix)
			//there may be more combinations which can be added here
		)		
){
	System.out.println("don't charge");
}
else{
	System.out.println("charge");
}

that'll be €20,000 please

Paulw wrote: »

It might just be easier if the system that sends you the notification is set that the callback number is 171, rather than your actual voicemail number.

this is true but the number should be free anyway

Paulw

I'm not a programmer, so your code is safe.

The charging systems used by the operators differ. Obviously I can't comment about specifics, but lets just say that they're propitiatory. So, simple logic code just won't fit in that easy.

Anyway, I better limit my input to this topic, on the technical side, since I know too much.

I'm sure if enough people complain, then Meteor will come up with a solution to resolve the problem.