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Unadvertised premium rate phone calls

I recently made some phone calls from my T-Mobile phone to the Isle of Man. Since the number looked like a standard UK geographic number (ie beginning with 01) I assumed that I would be charged the normal rate for these calls. Imagine my surprise when I got my bill and found that the calls appeared on the "International and premium calls" section of my bill and that I had been charged 43 p per minute for the calls. I phone T-Mobile who said that this is absolutely correct and that they do charge calls to the Isle of Man at premium rates.

My understanding of premium rates is that it should be obvious from the start of the number whether you are going to have to pay premium rates, and that if you dial a number beginning with 01 you can be confident it is not charged at a premium rate, but that doesn't seem to fit with how T-Mobile see the world. Are they within their rights to charge a premium rate for these calls?

Many thanks

Adam

Reply to
Adam
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Calls to such numbers (01x's) are not classed as premium rate numbers by Ofcom. Neither are 08x numbers. Mobile operators charge varying rates. They are probably using the term premium in the wrong context.

Some years ago the mobile networks started to charge for calls to IoM and Channel Island 01x numbers - either at normal rates or higher, rather than out of inclusive minutes. This may not be true for all contracts or tariffs but is generally the case.

Reply to
Colin Forrester

Well, that's clearly true of T-Mobile. My question is how do I, as a customer, know that I'm not going to be charged a premium rate before I dial? The number looks like any other normal geographic number, so there seems to be no way for me to tell. Should I phone T-Mobile customer service on their freephone number before I make any phone call to an area code that I've not used before to ask them their rates? I can't help thinking that charging premium rates (whatever the correct terminology, I certainly call it a premium rate if I'm charged 43 p per minute) without any kind of warning can't be entirely legal.

Adam

Reply to
Adam

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