For months now I have been charged for calls made from my landline, always to the same 021 telephone number. I know this number (friend of mine) but I have not called him that many times. Last year those calls added up to over $95.00 in one month alone. Sometimes there are 4 or 5 calls showing up on my monthly invoice for the same day to that mobile no. Has that ever happened to any one of you? Is there an Ombudsman available to help? Or just call Spark? I never wrote down when I called him but I know it definitely was not that often. Since October last year, it has mounted up to $100s for which I have been charged. I paid most without question but I cannot continue to do so. What am I going to do? My landline telephone does not show up any numbers I called, It was a cheapy from Warehouse originally.
Does anyone have any experience with this or any ideas for help? I would be most thankful.

gonefishing16 - 2021-05-07 13:59:00

Try changing your provider to one who gives you free cellphone calls, or a certain amount every month

Or try using your cellphone if you have one. Sometimes they are free to the same provider.

tygertung - 2021-05-07 14:08:00

Thank you but I still would have to pay the present charges. I do not have a cellphone I wondered as I have not made 4 or 5 or 8 or 9 mobile calls from my landline on the same day to the same 021 number, and all the charges relate to the same 021 number. It is all very strange. Does any one have any idea at ll please?

gonefishing16 - 2021-05-07 14:24:00

Unplug the phone for a month and see what happens. Is your dwelling shared by another who knows your friend??

Edited by spyware at 2:36 pm, Fri 7 May

spyware - 2021-05-07 14:34:00

Well they don't make themselves, probably rang it more than you thought.
Don't ring a cellphone off a landline, if you use a cellph instead you can get plans with so many free mins.

lythande1 - 2021-05-07 14:37:00

Hubby got his mum on a plan with Slingshot. Was $56 per month for 'Free' national calls and $10 of that $56 paid for her to call mobiles up to 1000 minutes in total per month. If you're paying more than that you're getting ripped off. You can change providers and keep you existing number easily.

And changing providers is very easy it's just a phone call.

Edited by nice_lady at 2:53 pm, Fri 7 May

nice_lady - 2021-05-07 14:45:00

Thank you all for your ideas. Very useful and appreciated. Yes, I can see now that I have been ripped off too with my plan. Again, many thanks.

gonefishing16 - 2021-05-07 15:35:00

Ask your friend if you're ringing that often. Maybe they're picking up the call and no one's there, so could be some redial fault with your phone? Otherwise ring Spark.

oakcottage - 2021-05-07 15:37:00

are you by any chance ringinging and not getting an Answer? You get charged for accessing the Cellular Network whether the call is connected or not.
Spark are a horrible networkto be dealing with anyway.

axelvonduisberg - 2021-05-07 15:39:00

axelvonduisberg wrote:

are you by any chance ringinging and not getting an Answer? You get charged for accessing the Cellular Network whether the call is connected or not..

No you don't.

nice_lady - 2021-05-07 15:46:00

gonefishing16 wrote:

Thank you all for your ideas. Very useful and appreciated. Yes, I can see now that I have been ripped off too with my plan. Again, many thanks.

Ring your provider before going off & changing .
It's possible the line has been crossed with another or hacked or any other number of possibilities.
They will be able to see both ends of the call times & probably sort it out in 5 minutes, maybe even with a part refund ....

Call them first, otherwise you will never really know the truth about why it happened.

mrfxit - 2021-05-07 15:50:00

Ask your friend to look at their cellphone's list of recent calls, to crosscheck it against your phone bill.

Could there be someone else at your house ringing your friend, perhaps they're trying to organise a celebration without you knowing.

gyrogearloose - 2021-05-07 17:33:00

The member deleted this message.

mr-word - 2021-05-07 23:01:00

Thank you all. Yes, I will definitely do this on Monday -who knows. I think it is high time to change providers and to get a mobile anyhow again, after Monday.

gonefishing16 - 2021-05-08 21:08:00

Does your wife know something that you don't?

tegretol - 2021-05-08 22:11:00

gonefishing16 wrote:

Thank you all. Yes, I will definitely do this on Monday -who knows. I think it is high time to change providers and to get a mobile anyhow again, after Monday.

Why change provider just to go to a cell ph?
There will be a reasonable reason why you are having "problems" with your bills.
You won't know till you contact Spark & talk to them.

Hint: getting argumentative with ANY provider, won't get you far.
Play nice & it will get sorted quickly.

mrfxit - 2021-05-09 09:16:00

gonefishing16 wrote:

For months now I have been charged for calls made from my landline, always to the same 021 telephone number. .............. Last year those calls added up to over $95.00 in one month alone. Sometimes there are 4 or 5 calls showing up on my monthly invoice for the same day to that mobile no. ..................Since October last year, it has mounted up to $100s for which I have been charged. I paid most without question/quote]

Why wouldn't you question this the first time it happened and then why would you 'pay most without question' ?

Surely you've contacted your provider ?

nice_lady - 2021-05-09 11:23:00

nice_lady wrote:

No you don't.

You get charged if voicemail picks up at all even if you leave no message or they haven't even set up voicemail mailbox but you get a message. No charge only if it continues ringing with no answer or you get a network message that the call cannot be connected at this time.

Ps. I have a relative who rarely leaves a message but will just keep tying till we answer lol.

OP, carriers don't automatically try to rip you off. There will be some kind of explanation. Do you have the number stored in a cordless phone memory, or quick dial numbers or is there any chance the phone handset is mistakenly activating a "redial" function etc. Try writing calls down temporarily. With some telcos you can also log on to your account and see pending u billed calls so you can see ones that have not yet been billed. Try wiping the stored number from the address book if your home phone handset has that function and leave that slot blank.

dinx - 2021-05-09 17:42:00

dinx wrote:

You get charged if voicemail picks up

That's a connection.

Edited by nice_lady at 6:20 pm, Sun 9 May

nice_lady - 2021-05-09 18:19:00

nice_lady wrote:

That's a connection.

Yes, but so many people make that mistake, I used to work for a telco and it was a frequent query.

dinx - 2021-05-14 02:35:00

My ISP doesn't charge me for a cell phone call.

fishb8 - 2021-05-14 06:30:00

fishb8 wrote:

My ISP doesn't charge me for a cell phone call.

You'll be paying somehow

nice_lady - 2021-05-14 07:25:00

my question is why on earth do you have a landline with spark i am with slinshot landline internet and caller id...
Now to a story i have to dig up in my head how exactly it worked .. i cant clearly remember who the providers was but the problem had nothing to do with the provider in my case. But the blame game did mean it was never going to be resolved.
Here is what the problem was . I could not call any mobile phones from the landline they could call me ok ...
I fixed the problem by dumping this isp and phone and moved providers and the new provider said i had no account .. i said yes i do ..... Turned out they're done something wrong in the switchboard exchange ... because the new isp fixed this apparent no account and i could call mobiles again.
The switchboard techs always said no problem when i reported this problem for years... finally i have had enough and switched isp and There we go i found who should have been blamed.
Your case is basically exactly the opposite of what i had.

intrade - 2021-05-14 10:37:00

A problem resolution depends a lot on who you get at the provider end with as Tech help. Some are very good - others have no idea and simply work from a scripted lot of questions many of which are irrelevant and indeed quite illogical to the situation at times.

nice_lady - 2021-05-14 10:40:00

You can set up a callbar on landline to mobiles . Make sure you get the activation in writing then you will have proof for a court case ombutsman fair go etc. In my case it did not cost money but i have had almost no cell reception and not able to call mobiles one day tipped me over the edge to take action.= i could not really take it anywhere is i did not suffer any obvious financial loss as you seem to.

intrade - 2021-05-14 10:42:00