A friend has been charged for calling mobiles from his Sky landline, even when these were not answered. This is obviously wrong and Sky have a history here: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=612555

AFAIK no other call provider does this. Can anyone point to some obscure T&C which allows Sky to do this? Any thoughts on best remedy? Especially as this must affect lots of users, not just my friend.

Other than the obvious, that Sky are charging for unconnected calls, the only thing I wonder is if the calls in question went through to voicemail (or something else that causes the meter to start) and that this was the case when equivalent calls were made from BT, but calls below a set amount weren't itemised, therefore your friend never became aware that the calls were charged.

Also, why is the MoneySavingExpert.com thread now closed?

Dave wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2012 at 1:00pm:

Also, why is the MoneySavingExpert.com thread now closed?

I don't think it is.  I think it's one of those which couldn't be fully recovered after the denial of service attack a while back and now just 'hangs'.

Sky advisor responds to the question of charging for an unconnected mobile call,s.

"Hi, I've had it confirmed that the connection fee applies when the mobile rings."

http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Billing-Payments/Charges-for-unconnected-calls/td-p/189849

Question also raised here http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Account-Billing-Q-A/why-do-you-charge-for-unconnected-calls-to-mobiles/qaq-p/749956 recently .(Unhelpful answer me thinks  :-?)

My guess is that if anyone complains formally they get refunded but the illegal practice goes on regardless. Can't prove this but it seems likely. If they handle it like this, resolving each complaint that's made with minimum fuss, they don't get a referral to the regulator and so can carry on regardless.

bigjohn wrote on Dec 3^rd, 2012 at 6:01pm:

Sky advisor responds to the question of charging for an unconnected mobile call,s. "Hi, I've had it confirmed that the connection fee applies when the mobile rings." http://helpforum.sky.com/t5/Billing-Payments/Charges-for-unconnected-calls/td-p/189849

He however subsequently recognises that this is not how it should be -
Hi, since responding to the earlier post we have had clarification that the information given about when a connection fee applies was wrong.

It appears that nothing further was done to achieve a resolution.

This has echoes of the Virgin Media situation with overcharged calls, where false information was being passed from a third party and was being used for billing purposes.

There is no question that "unanswered calls", as described here, should not be subject to a charge. It is clearly not the policy of Sky to charge in this way, however there appears to be a glitch in their arrangements which is causing this to happen under some circumstances.

If victims would like to forward evidence of the effect and the reaction from the Sky billing department to the fair telecoms campaign, we will be happy to take this matter up at an appropriate level. (We will need sufficient detail for the case to be identified but no personal information.)