I was shocked on receiving my firs telephone bill from sky talk to find a number of 0870 numbers on my bill.  I dial land line numbers for all my phone calls using the wonderful say no to 0870 siteand can't believe that the land line number I used for Lloyds Bank TSB for example is showing on my sky talk phone bill as Cable and Wireless 0870 010 6633, another opal telecom 0844 844 8000 = Next Directory, Telewest Ltd 0870 888 0225  = Thomson Cities Holidays and in  BT Nationalca – 0870 240 4040 =  Sky. beware!!

Ann,

Just one post about this would have been appreciated - not three across separate threads. Anyway, thanks for the heads up. It seems Sky will stop at nothing to make money out of people who try to avoid ringing the local numbers...

So do I understand that you dialled 01X or 02X and that Sky treated that as though you had dialled 0870?
Surely Ofincomp can not avoid addressing that?

Sky are obviously using number translation. But surely that is illegal, and theft as they are charging more than is due.

Surely if you physically dial a 01/02 Geographical Number,thats the number that will appear on your bill.

>:( ohhh my god i cant belive this. even if you are ringing a GN , sky will trace their NGN and charge you for NGN?`
i have joined sky talk and didnt get my first bill yet, so what about if you are ringing a 0800 number? how can they do this? is there any solution to this?
gudman

Sky Talk's code of practice is here:

http://www.sky.com/Assets/PDF/StaticFiles/379710.pdf

Page 4, clause 3:


Quote:

if you have any quereies or concerns about premium rate or number translation services or if you would like to discuss any charges for premium rate and number translation services found on your bill please call Sky Talk customer services on 0870 905 9051

On page 5 of the code:


Quote:

Alistair Hosie is responsible for ensuring that Sky Talk complies with this Code of Practice. If you have any questions about our compliance with this Code please contact: Alistair Hosie Compliance Manager Sky Talk Carnegie Campus Dunfermline Fife KY11 8GH 01383 816 009 email: alistair.hosie@bskyb.com

As far as I'm aware Sky can't easily find out what the non-geographical number is of any alternative number (geographical) you ring.

Only a few companies would know this and unless Sky was the owner of the number then I can't seem them knowing any other way except to search our database for the geographical and charge as if dialled the non-geographical number.

Sky is just an OCP (Originating Communications Provider) meaning the call leaves their network but they have no idea what the underlying number is because only the telephone company that owns the number knows the real geographical number or non-geographical number rang.

For example, say I'm on Sky (I'm not) and I ring the real geographical number (01 or 02) for the DVLA then Sky would need to know and have access to the database the telephone company that owns the DVLA number.  What normally happens is that Sky would just route the call as normal regardless of whether it's geographical or not because only the telephone company that owns DVLA's number would know this and have access to it and Sky don't and this is why other providers generally charge higher than BT for non-geographical calls simply because BT charges their rate for non-geographical numbers so in this example Sky would then just add on a little bit to make a little profit from the call.

Are you sure it wasn't the OH or someone else?

Even if it were possible (which I don't think it is) for Sky to know either the real geographical number for a non-geographical or the non-geographical number for any geographical number rung, then I do think this would be illegal because you're technically being billed for calls that you haven't technically made regardless of whether or not the number translates to another number.

If you think about it, if it were that easy to determine the non-geographical number for any geographical number rung then that would mean they could do the same when a customer of theirs rings a non-geographical.  If Sky could do this then they could save money because if a customer of theirs was to ring a non-geographical number then Sky could charge you for ringing that non-geographical number but yet their system translates this into a geographical number so it only costs Sky the geographical rate to route the call and not the non-geographical rate - saving Sky money but obviously while still charging their customers the rate of the non-geographical number.

Sorry if I've confused anyone!  ;)

Are we sure that someone using the OP phone didnt actually dial the NGN Numbers.

This seems to be a very serious issue, if indeed Sky has somehow been charging NGN rates for geographic calls. Mary, I think we really need you to confirm very clearly that you have NOT dialled the NGN numbers you see on your account - or has been suggested, someone else hasn't dialled them?  ;)

If this really is the case, then I think that there is every opportunity to throw the book at Sky! I would imagine that charging for a NGN call just because the called party possessed a NGN number, when you actually dialled the geographic equivalent would be theft at least!

mikeinnc wrote on Apr 10^th, 2007 at 6:29pm:

Mary, I think we really need you to confirm very clearly that you have NOT dialled the NGN numbers you see on your account - or has been suggested, someone else hasn't dialled them?

Who's Mary?

Had anyone else noticed that this first-time poster hasn't responded to any of the replies to her(?) first post?

Yes, where has "Mary" come from lol... her username was "annm19". Maybe she hasn't been back (and probably hasn't got notifications on).

Despite that, it is completely despicable what Sky is doing (assuming that "Mary" has dialled the local numbers) - but how long do you think it will take Ofcom to do something about it? Probably as long as it usually does - NEVER.

OK, my fault. It was Ann - not Mary. Maybe too many glasses of wine when I wrote it........ ;D

And....sorry, ANN

ann reply to another post here as well, there also says about these charges
c'mmon ann tell us the truth- wher are you?
gudman