Yes - same here, Reggie

Also call quality on 18185 has recently been poor - long delays between dialing and ring tone, 'number not recognised' recording when I did dial correctly (stored number)

Any techie person know what's going on?

I wasn't aware of the problem but am glad my Orchid is programmed to use 18866 for UK 01/02/03 calls (although it still sends calls to Spain and our occasional calls to UK mobiles via 18185).

I had a very distressing case of a correctly dialled call to my Mum's mobile phone (she has recently been in hospital for a hip replacement) using 18185 misrouting to another telephone without me realising this was the case a few weeks ago.

Basically my Mum wasn't available on her home number but as she still couldn't drive after the op she was unlikely to have gone out.  She was out at 1pm which could still have been a friend taking her out to lunch so I tried again at 3.30pm.  No reply on the landline so I called her mobile with 18185.  The call rang and was answered by a rough sounding man but I asked if my mother was there by her first name.  He said "hang on" and put the phone down and then talked to a woman and she said "is that the son" and there was further discussion while what sounded like a huge slavering Alsatian or Rottweiler barked fiercely and constantly in the background.  At the same time the sound of Bloomberg television could be heard and this didn't tally at all with the very rough couple I heard talking to one another.

The chap left the phone on the table or something and there was then the continued sound of the fearsome hound barking.  For all the world it sounded like my Mum's house had been broken in to and they had knocked her over the head or tied her up while she was watching Bloomberg tv (which she does watch as a keen stocks and shares person).

In the end it was obvious the chap was not coming back so I hung up and redialled but the first time and all times after that the phone went on to my mum's voicemail.  I then checked what happened by calling my own mobile from my landline if the caller on the landline suddenly hung up while the mobile phone was still receiving the call - answer the call on the mobile immediately ends and returns to standby condition waiting for calls.  I tried my Mum's mobile again - still going on to voicemail .  In the end in a panic I drove to my Mum's house (an hour's drive away) fearing the worst to find her sitting in her chair in the living room watching tv.  It seems she had been out for a long lunch with friends.

I logged in to and checked my 18185 account.  I had called her number correctly as it was shown on the call history at the time I called with a 5 minute long call (the length of time I listened to barking dogs etc for).  But it had clearly misrouted to another mobile phone or possibly just another landline phone.  But with 18185 there is no way at all to get something like this investigated because they do not answer customer emails.

You have been warned.  If a 18185 call reaches someone other than the person you dialled it 18185 getting it wrong and not you!

I wonder if anyone else has had a similar experience to me with 18185, I dial a mobile number, a English speaking foreign voice answers, says Hello........a few seconds pass, says Yes........a few seconds pass, says Hold On.......and then you wait, you hear a TV in the background, dog barking and you wait........and wait..............at whatever the pence per minute charge is. This has happened to me 6 or 7 times now, I have started to say nothing when the voice answers the phone and the same "Hello Yes Hold On" is said.
The first couple of times it happened I presumed I had dialed the wrong number, then as my suspicions grew I started to press the redial button on my phone. When I press the redial button I always connected to the correct number I origionally wanted so I had not misdialed. This is clearly a recording designed to keep you waiting on hold at 6ppm. Somehow I think the calls are being misrouted but we are being charged. I am not saying that 18185 are doing anything underhand but something does seem suspicious, has any other 18185 users had a similar problem?
Many Thanks
Werlynne

At this very moment I'm talking to someone on the phone, not a member here, who has had the same thing a few times, the dog, the TV in the background, etc

And I've seen comment in a couple of other forums to the  same effect

It's must be recording, but who knows why? Probably not 18185 themselves, but their suppliers, as I've had the same from Voipcheap

NGMsGhost wrote on Apr 19^th, 2008 at 12:31am:


Perhaps you could get Mr Stewart or any other Ofcom personnel to be more interested if you followed more conventional procedures and did not introduce off-topic information

NGMsGhost wrote on Apr 18^th, 2008 at 11:15am:


It would be getting ahead of the facts to make a pre-emptive report to Ofcom about a lack of resolution to a complaint you have not yet even made

Or just at the moment misleading to imply that you already have

It is possible that this fault, which I agree is inconvenient and potentially alarming for some callers, is not yet reported to the company in either detail or extent, so kindly send in a report first, before you try to close the firm down


As for your advice to use only slightly more expensive calls providers, this blindingly obvious suggestion, if used as a double-check at the time, might have saved your alleged travel expenses

On 17 April 2008 I asked 18185 to remove the charges for two calls I made which were routed to the dogs (which were to two different numbers I had for a builder). I plan to give them till 1 May to reply, and if I don't get a satisfactory reply, to complain to Trading Standards and Ofcom. I may also use the Direct Debit guarantee to insist on a refund of any direct debit payment which includes the calls to the dogs.
Somebody must have gone to some trouble to set up the dog recording. Although at present I have no evidence that would enable me to make any specific accusations, the possible suspects include Finarea itself, or one of their suppliers. One of their suppliers could presumably be charging Finarea, say, 5p a minute to deliver a call that is actually being answered by the dogs on a loop in their switch, or something. Can any techie reader comment further?