SAYNOTO0870.COM - Problems with 18185.co.uk

NGMsGhost

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #15 - Dec 12^th, 2009 at 6:05pm

Boxter wrote on Dec 8^th, 2009 at 2:17pm:

Now I have my bill sent every month to my email but for the last two months, I have not had any.

They only send a bill when you hit some preset expenditure limit such as £5 of calls if you are a low spender. For instance my bills from them this year were in January, March, May, July and September. If you spend a lot I expect they may bill you every couple of weeks, although most people would have an anytime landline call package or a mobile package with bundled minutes to mobiles if they were making that many phone calls.

Quote:

Well went in to my account last month and found that someone had put a star before the start of my email. Anyway took it out and saved it. Then this month the same thing happend again, went to look again and the star was back. I have not put it there so it must be 18185, why?. Anyway have tried to contact them and there is no way to get hold of them.

Not had their problem here.

Quote:

Next I just made a call and it now says, 10p per minute. Thats normal landline numbers. It's getting bad now. Well you do get what you pay for.

It always says zero p per minute when I call an 01/02/03 number. I have seen this reported by other 18185 customers a couple of times in the past on the forum.

Quote:

*mrblogs@anonymous.com

My email address with them seems fine with no stars in it.

If you want an alternative similar service from a different company then try www.call1301.co.uk but they charge more for mobile and international calls and tend to be engaged at busy times of day when you dial 1301 due to not having enough line capacity. They also do not show you any call history at all until they send you a bill. So you may not be able to look up calls you have made for several months if you don't spend a lot with 1301.

I find www.18185.co.uk far better than any of the dial through providers who use 0844, 0845 and 0871 numbers. These services are essentially a con as you often pay for a call to reach an international mobile for instance and then the call never connects after you have been on the line for a minute or two.

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Boxter

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #16 - Dec 14^th, 2009 at 4:59pm

Quote:

They only send a bill when you hit some preset expenditure limit such as £5 of calls if you are a low spender.

NGM I can assure you that's not the case. I have had bills from under £4 to about £15 and I still have had bills sent to my email. My last bill was over £10 and I did not get a bill. It not to do with that anyway, its to do with what I was talking about in my other posts. I don't know why some people, just can't except that.

Quote:

It always says zero p per minute when I call an 01/02/03 number. I have seen this reported by other 18185 customers a couple of times in the past on the forum.

That is correct but on that particular occasion, it was saying 10ppm. Even another member had the same. It's sorted now anyway.

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« Last Edit: Dec 14^th, 2009 at 5:01pm by Boxter »

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #17 - Dec 14^th, 2009 at 6:45pm

Boxter wrote on Dec 14^th, 2009 at 4:59pm:

NGM I can assure you that's not the case. I have had bills from under £4 to about £15 and I still have had bills sent to my email. My last bill was over £10 and I did not get a bill. It not to do with that anyway, its to do with what I was talking about in my other posts. I don't know why some people, just can't except that.

I realise you are expecting perfection but all I can say is that despite not having much customer service that the actual call quality is fairly good most of the time and the service is also operational 99% of the time unlike some of their cheap dial thru 0844 and 0871 competitors.

You could always try BT but they are expensive and their staff still rude and unhelpful.

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djsaddam

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #18 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 12:11am

Hi there,
I've just registered only to reply to this post..

I've had exactly the same problem as described by Boxter here.. but worse.
They did not notify me about the invoice (before, they'd always sent an email with invoice, amount, date) BUT processed the direct debit.. Since I use another card/account for internet payments (for safety) and only put money into it when I need to, I had my account empty at the moment they processed the DD.
Result? DD bounced back, my banked charged me for 'unauthorized overdraft' and my credit history is now downgraded.

And there is not way to contact 18185 (phone? email?). I used the contact form but to no avail.

Already contacted my bank to cancel the DD and local Ombudsman to demand a refund (bank penalty fee) and so that they rectify my 'credit' history since it was their fault.

It all happened in the beginning of December, so I suspect them having some IT issues.

They should at least let people know they had problems with their email notifications..

Anyway, I've always liked the service but will now cancel.
Can't trust them any more.

And by the way, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM? EMAIL? PHONE NUMBER? POST ADDRESS? It must be illegal not to offer any other way of contact than the 'contact form' on the website..

Regards,
djsaddam

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« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 12:13am by djsaddam »

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sherbert

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #19 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 7:47am

I would have thought cancelling the direct debit was good enough.

I took out an 'insurance' when I bought my lap top by direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit after a month and had no problems. The supplier wrote asking saying that the direct debit was returned and that was that. I never cancelled the insurance with the supplier as there was no need as they were not getting any money. Standing orders are a different kettle of fish as only the supplier can cancel them and not you.

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Heinz

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #20 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 8:51am

sherbert wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 7:47am:

I would have thought cancelling the direct debit was good enough.

I took out an 'insurance' when I bought my lap top by direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit after a month and had no problems. The supplier wrote asking saying that the direct debit was returned and that was that. I never cancelled the insurance with the supplier as there was no need as they were not getting any money. Standing orders are a different kettle of fish as only the supplier can cancel them and not you.

I think you're confusing Standing Orders with Continuous Payment Authorities on debit or credit cards.

You have total control of Standing Orders (I can just cancel any of mine with a mouse click) just as you have of Direct Debits (although, of course, the Direct Debit Guarantee gives additional after-the-event protection).

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« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 8:52am by Heinz »

After years of ignoring govt. guidelines & RIPPING OFF Council Tax payers using 0845 numbers, Essex County Council changed to 0345 numbers on 2 November 2015

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Heinz Supreme Member Offline Posts: 1,362 Essex	Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk Reply #21 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 9:02am djsaddam wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 12:11am: And by the way, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM? EMAIL? PHONE NUMBER? POST ADDRESS? 18185, Finarea SA, Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland. or 18185, PO Box 45574, London NW1 3YL
Back to top	« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 9:02am by Heinz » After years of ignoring govt. guidelines & RIPPING OFF Council Tax payers using 0845 numbers, Essex County Council changed to 0345 numbers on 2 November 2015 IP Logged

NGMsGhost

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #22 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 9:47am

djsaddam wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 12:11am:

And by the way, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM? EMAIL? PHONE NUMBER? POST ADDRESS? It must be illegal not to offer any other way of contact than the 'contact form' on the website

Try emailing the following:-

igor.tracchia@finarea.ch and/or register@finarea.ch

or write to Mr Tracchia at PO Box 5648, CH-6901 Lugano, SWITZERLAND

as listed at www.who.is/website-information/finarea.ch/ and www.aboutus.org/FinArea.ch and I have also personally had email read receipts and out of office response messages from igor.tracchia@finarea.ch (even though he did not reply to my emails)

Or try contacting their UK subsidiary Connect Telecom UK, that takes the payments and makes the necessary connection agreements with BT. I have the following contact details as also listed currently at www.phonepayplus.org.uk/output/Network-contacts.aspx

Quote:

Connect Telecom UK Ltd
Ms Louise Philips: 0870 799 1501
enquiry@connecttelecom.uk.com

You could also try copying in the below Finarea email addresses, from which I have also received read receipts at various times.

Quote:

info@finarea.ch
service@finarea.ch
finarea@wxn.nl
veruschka@finarea.ch

The only Finarea email address that I ever received a reply from to any of my emails was service@finarea.ch as below. This was in relation to the situation where certain calls I made with Finarea a year and a half ago and that I dialled correctly were routing to a number where the person answering the number put the phone down on a table or whatever and loud barking dogs were heard in the background. This happened to several other customers at the time.

Quote:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Finarea Telecoms Group Services to UK Based Customers
Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 14:59:03 +0200
From: <service@finarea.ch>
Reply-To: <service@finarea.ch>

16 May 2008

Dear Mr _________,

Thank you for your email. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Call18185 utilises the most up-to-date technology to ensure top quality connections, however it may be possible that carriers overseas employ different quality standards. In order to undercut BT pricing a complex network of international carriers is being used and as soon as we notice a carrier is not delivering the quality required or routing calls incorrectly we immediately deliver calls via alternative carriers; still for these prices we unfortunately cannot always guarantee BT quality connections.

We have added £20 credit to your account as way of compensation.

Yours sincerely,

Finarea SA

I don't think I ever got the promised £20 credit on my account by the way.

It does strike me that your strategy of running a near empty bank account with no overdraft buffer for relatively small payments is not actually a very sensible one as if a direct debit payment was incorrect you can still demand that it is refunded anyway.

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« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 10:53am by NGMsGhost »

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #23 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 10:04am

The wxn.nl email read receipts I have had recently from finarea@wxn.nl in response to emails sent only to finarea.ch email addresses are interesting as they suggest a possible link with major Dutch/German telecoms firm www.kpn.com

From www.robtex.com/dns/mail.wxn.nl.html

Quote:

DNS Records
base record name ip reverse route as
wxn.nl ns-soa ns1.comnet.nl
3 days old
62.208.20.209
Netherlands
62.208.0.0/16
DE-ECRC-62-208-0-0
AS1273
CW Cable and Wireless plc Melbourne Street Leeds LS2 7PS United Kingdom
ns ns1.comnet.nl
3 days old
62.208.20.209
Netherlands
ns3.comnet.nl
11 days old
62.41.84.81
Netherlands
62.41.0.0/17
AS286
KPN Internet Backbone
mx 10 mail3.comnet.nl
107 days old
82.94.184.10
Netherlands
maildrop.gidpro.nl 82.92.0.0/14
XS4ALL networking
AS3265
XS4ALL-NL XS4ALL Amsterdam the Netherlands
nl comnet.nl gidpro.nl

KPN (www.kpn.com/corporate/en/ir.htm) are a company that is in to internet connections, mobile telecomms and multi channel tv etc and I am also a customer of their Spanish virtual mobile network brand - www.simyo.es

The big boss at KPN is ad.scheepbouwer@kpn.com (see www.kpn.com/corporate/en/ir-3/Corporate-Governance/Board-of-Management.htm ) So it might be worth emailing him to see what connection (if any) there is between KPN and Finarea and whether he can help sort out your recent payment problems with the company.

I also just turned up this listing for finarea.ch at http://dawhois.com/

Quote:

FINAREA.CH - Geo Information
IP Address 62.41.84.5 62.208.20.133
Host finarea.ch
Location NL NL, Netherlands
City -, - -
Organization ComNet
ISP Koninklijke KPN N.V.
AS Number AS286 KPN Internet Backbone
Latitude 52°50'00" North
Longitude 5°75'00" East
Distance 1702.85 km (1058.10 miles)
Map Locationnew World Map Google Maps Yahoo Maps Microsoft Live Maps
Map location
FINAREA.CH - Whois Information

whois: This information is subject to an Acceptable Use Policy.
See http://www.nic.ch/terms/aup.html

Domain name:
finarea.ch

Holder of domain name:
Finarea SA
Dekker Monique
Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1
CH-6900 Lugano
Switzerland
Contractual Language: English

Technical contact:
Finarea SA
Dekker Monique
Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1
CH-6900 Lugano
Switzerland

Name servers:
ns1.comnet.nl
ns3.comnet.nl

So also try emailing Dekker.Monique@finarea.ch

Mr Monique also seems to be associated with the www.lowcaller.com telecoms brand

See http://www.who.is/whois/lowcaller.com/

Quote:

LOWCALLER.COM WHOIS
Updated: 14 hours ago
The Data in EuroDNS WHOIS database is provided for information purposes only.
The fact that EuroDNS display such information does not provide any guarantee
expressed or implied on the purpose for which the database may be used, its
accuracy or usefulness. By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will
use this Data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will
you use this Data to:

(1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited,
commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or
(2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to EuroDNS
(or its systems). EuroDNS reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

By submitting this query, you agree to abide by the above policy.

Domain: lowcaller.com
Registrar: Eurodns S.A.

[Registrant:Company: Finarea SA
Name: Dekker Monique
Address: Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1
City: Lugano
Country: SWITZERLAND
Postal Code: 6900

Administrative Contact:
Company: Finarea SA
Name: Dekker Monique
Address: Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1
City: Lugano
Country: SWITZERLAND
Postal Code: 6900
Phone: +41919335412
Fax:
Email: register@finarea.ch

Technical Contact:
Company: Finarea SA
Name: Dekker Monique
Address: Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1
City: Lugano
Country: SWITZERLAND
Postal Code: 6900
Phone: +41919335412
Fax:
Email:- register@finarea.ch

Original Creation Date: 2008-12-11
Expiration Date: 2010-12-10

Status:
clientTransferProhibited

Nameserver Information:
Nameserver: ns1.comnet.nl
Nameserver: ns3.comnet.nl

Information Updated: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:00:14 UTC

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« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 10:30am by NGMsGhost »

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #24 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 10:39am

Actually I think this person is Monique Dekker. Note the Dutch connection again.

See http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/monique-dekker/0/548/441

Monique Dekker seems to be a client executive at IBM according to her Linked In profile for members:-

Quote:

Monique Dekker
Client Executive at IBM
Location
Amsterdam Area, Netherlands
Industry
Information Technology and Services
Current
* Client Executive at IBM
Past

* Business Development Manager at IBM
* Client Executive ING at IBM

Education

* Haagse Hogeschool/TH Rijswijk

Connections

56 connections
Public Profile

http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/monique-dekker/0/548/441

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« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 11:29am by NGMsGhost »

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NGMsGhost

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #25 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 10:57am

See also this 2006 discussion thread on the Connect Telecom UK connection at www.telecomforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=1179.0

and this French discussion thread at:-

www.generation-nt.com/reponses/telesoldes-bibit-global-entraide-100926.html

Perhaps someone on the forum with free daytime calls to 0870 numbers could try giving Connect Telecom UK a call.

I'm now sure this lady's name is Monique Dekker and not Dekker Monique now.

See www.who.is/domain_archive-fr/telerabais.fr/

But note again the Dutch connection in the email address

Quote:

person: Monique Dekker
address: Finarea SA
address: 23, rue Balzac
address: 75008 Paris
address: FR
phone: +33 1 91 92 25 43
e-mail: beheer@plant.nl

and from the same web page:-

Quote:

domain: telerabais.fr
address: Finarea SA
address: po box 5648
address: 6901 LUGANO
address: CH
phone: +33 4 93 87 71 39
e-mail: No email specified

Note the phone number contact given for Finarea France and their www.telerabais.fr telecoms brand

And these contact details for Finarea in Switzerland on the same page:-

Quote:

nic-hdl: FS1193-FRNIC
type: ORGANIZATION
contact: Finarea SA
address: PO Box 5648
address: 06901 LUGANO
country: CH
phone: +33 4 93 87 71 39
e-mail:
changed: 09/10/2008
anonymous: NO
obsoleted: NO
idstatus: ok

So what is the Finarea French Connection then? Wink

I note that Monique Dekker's number is different from the other two listed for Finarea but that they are all French phone numbers.

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« Last Edit: Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 11:25am by NGMsGhost »

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sherbert

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Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk
Reply #26 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 11:21am

Heinz wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 8:51am:

sherbert wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 7:47am:

I would have thought cancelling the direct debit was good enough.

I took out an 'insurance' when I bought my lap top by direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit after a month and had no problems. The supplier wrote asking saying that the direct debit was returned and that was that. I never cancelled the insurance with the supplier as there was no need as they were not getting any money. Standing orders are a different kettle of fish as only the supplier can cancel them and not you.

I think you're confusing Standing Orders with Continuous Payment Authorities on debit or credit cards.

You have total control of Standing Orders (I can just cancel any of mine with a mouse click) just as you have of Direct Debits (although, of course, the Direct Debit Guarantee gives additional after-the-event protection).

I stand corrected. However a standing order is for a fixed amount whereas a direct debit isn't.

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NGMsGhost Supreme Member Offline The Forum Ghost of NonGeographicalMan<b r /> Posts: 2,720 Surrey, United Kingdom Gender:	Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk Reply #27 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 5:52pm I wondered if djsaddam was thinking of following up any of the above leads that I had provided?
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Dave Global Moderator Offline Posts: 9,902 Yorkshire Gender:	Re: Problems with 18185.co.uk Reply #28 - Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 7:54pm Off topic replies have been moved to This Thread
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