I use 18866 every day. Inevitably I misdialled recently (doubling the 1).
Waiting to catch the inadvertant, is 118866 a directory enquiry number that has a £1.50 connection charge!!!

Is this purely a scam?
After all who would use a directory enquiry service with a £1.50 starting charge?
There are NO contact details on the company's Website (Ringtrue)
The telephone number that ICSTIS has for them is a false number

ICSTIS told me they had had other complaints about this.
A nice little earner.
Perhaps 18866 should change their number?

Eljay

Why not change to using 1899 (www.call1899.co.uk)?  It's cheaper and safer.

See:  http://www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1119288685/11#11

Of course the best (i.e. cheapest) DQ service is 08000 192 190.

To the person who was looking for the contact details of RingTrue, a WHOIS Search brought up:

Ringtrue Solutions
Monreith House
Dumfries
DG1 4BP
GB

Regd Co. No.: 4019094

Searching that co no on Companies House brings up the following details:

RINGTRUE SOLUTIONS LTD
PEMBROKE HOUSE
11 NORTHLANDS PAVEMENT PITSEA
BASILDON
ESSEX SS13 3DX

HtH Rich

This is the info from icstis site

This is what we know about the number you entered (118866).

We have the following information about this number.
This is a directory enquiry number-checking service. Please note that many companies also give the option of 'call-completion', so you can be connected to the number you checked without having to redial. This is provided at an additional cost and is likely to explain the more expensive calls. This service costs will vary per call.
We also have contact details for the company that provides this service. If you have any queries about it, please get in touch with them to find out more.

118866 Ltd
Monreith House
Crichton Business Park
Dumfries
DG1 4ZY
01387 709952

If you keep mentioning the free 0800 service it will surely be cut off. ;)

wrote on Jun 17^th, 2006 at 12:00am:

If you keep mentioning the free 0800 service it will surely be cut off. ;)

It has been, the number is now dead

Eljay wrote on Jun 14^th, 2006 at 12:16pm:

Is this purely a scam?

Yes it is purely a scam by the sharks who run Ring True designed to ripoff unfortunate 18866 customers who misdial.  RingTrue also run one of the cheaper directory enquiry services on another 118 number that only costs 30p or so a call.

If Ofcom weren't a legalised charter for scammers then they would refuse to issue 118 numbers that might be confused with or misdialled as another existing service.

But as we know Ofcom only ever act 5 years too late after thousands of customers have already been scammed. ;) >:( >:(

Hi, I had this too, on a couple of bills. It works out at £9 per MINUTE (17 seconds on the last bill)!!
I just put in a complant to phonepayplus org, but here is a downer in their "standard info" at the end of the process:
"
PhonepayPlus does not have the power to force a service provider to refund consumers. You may contact the service provider direct to request a refund; however, if your request is denied, we can only advise that you seek independent legal advice (e.g. Citizens' Advice Bureau).  

This is not something that PhonepayPlus can help with and we will not be able to comment on this issue. "
So what is the point then!! Does ICSTIS have more teeth than PPP?? Hovever, according to their own recent adjudications, they have fined some companies frpm £500 to £250,000, AND I spotted text that stated the provider must pay back anyone that complains. Can ayone comment on this "double-speak"?

BTW - I note that PPP shows RingTru details as:
OWNERS: Ringtrue Solutions Ltd c*jane@hotmail.co.uk Pembrooke House 11 Northlands Pavement Pitsea Essex SS13 3DX (why a hotmail account - edited by me in case it caused an issue - although it is public knowledge).

TD1947 wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2007 at 5:23pm:

. . . It works out at £9 per MINUTE (17 seconds on the last bill)!!

I wasn't aware that anyone could charge £9 per minute?


TD1947 wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2007 at 5:23pm:

. . . This is not something that PhonepayPlus can help with and we will not be able to comment on this issue. So what is the point then!! Does ICSTIS have more teeth than PPP??

PPP is ICSTIS ! They recently changed their name.

wrote on Jun 19^th, 2006 at 5:16pm:

Eljay wrote on Jun 14th, 2006 at 12:16pm: Is this purely a scam? If Ofcom weren't a legalised charter for scammers then they would refuse to issue 118 numbers that might be confused with or misdialled as another existing service.

There are hundreds of each

In Germany a few years ago, I tried to call a friend's UK mobile phone. I missed out a 4 and ended up speaking to a woman in Norway: +47 instead of +447. Who do I send my complaint to about the unfair design of international phone numbers that causes untold millions of other misdial traps?

By the way that directory service was on its number first.

derrick wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2007 at 1:21pm:

TD1947 wrote on Nov 2nd, 2007 at 5:23pm: . . . It works out at £9 per MINUTE (17 seconds on the last bill)!! I wasn't aware that anyone could charge £9 per minute?

I'm pretty sure that they can't and in this case, I think you'll find that like most services, is precharged at £1.50/min whatever part of a minute you use.

So 59 seconds would still have cost you £1.50 for the call.   :-/


andy9 wrote on Nov 8^th, 2007 at 2:07am:

By the way that directory service was on its number first.

So it just goes to show you that it's always best to check who was set up first before you start shouting about supposed SCAM services !!

I'm not saying that the problem didn't need pointing out to hopefully stop people falling into the trap.
Just that this was an accident waiting to happen ! (Like the Russell Hobbs kettle handle) ::)

118866 is charged at dq30 rate - £1.50 connection plus 30p/minute at all times.

http://www.downloads.bt.com/pricing/SpecialisedNos.pdf

DaveM wrote on Nov 8^th, 2007 at 4:08pm:

I'm pretty sure that they can't and in this case, I think you'll find that like most services, is precharged at £1.50/min whatever part of a minute you use. So 59 seconds would still have cost you £1.50 for the call.   :-/

On BT, whole minute charging does NOT apply to 118 directory enquiries, 09 premium numbers, 08 numbers and some others. For a list of what it DOES apply to, see here:


Quote:

Duration Rounding - All Residential Customers The duration of the following call types will be rounded up to the next whole minute Inland geographic Calls (including g21 rate and ISDN64k calls) Calls from Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic Calls to Channel Islands Fixed-to-mobile calls (excluding ISDN 64k) International Calls (including calls to international mobiles but excluding ISDN 64k and satellite calls e.g Inmarsat) The above call types from Private Payphones The above Call types via Operator Assistance (specially assisted) All other call types will be rounded up to the next whole second unless otherwise stated in the relevant section of the Price List.

Dave wrote on Nov 8^th, 2007 at 5:27pm:

On BT, whole minute charging does NOT apply to 118 directory enquiries, 09 premium numbers, 08 numbers and some others. For a list of what it DOES apply to, see here:

But I think you'll find that on TalkTalk & others now, that is not the case.

Most peculiarly, contrary to the info about the DQ30 rate from Magenta Systems, I have also found the rate charged by 118866 shown here at 49p connection, 9p/min and then again here 160p connection, 35p/min.