Calls to 03 numbers within the UK charged at premium to incoming roaming customers

[adrian6]

Hello,

I've had here someone who has called a Royal Mail number beginning with 0344 using a Deutsche Telekom pay monthly contract during their stay in the UK last month using O2 UK network. Last week the bill has arrived and that call has been charged as a special/premium rate number. The charge was € 1.47/min as a supplementary charge. This has been raised with Deutsche Telekom and they have said that they rely on the data from the roaming partner when billing the calls and O2 UK has communicated that such a 0344 number is a special rate number. Also, Telekom was surprised that there was no announcement from O2 as the call was getting setup that this would be a call to a premium rate number. As a good will gesture the Telekom has announced a credit for the value of the call. So, on this one occasion the customer won't pay the extra charge but the Telekom will be charged for the premium rate call because O2 has declared that it is a premium rate number and it appears as such on the person's list of calls.

I would like to ask, why is O2 classifing calls to 03 numbers within UK as premium rate numbers, if they cost the same as calls to UK landlines and the Ofcom's National Telephone Numbering Plan is saying the same?

If necessary, I will be able to provide the details of the call, if that would enable anyone from O2 to take a look into this.

Thanks in advance,

adrian6

[Cleoriff]

@adrian6 

03 and 070 numbers

Calls to 03 and 070 numbers cost the same as other standard fixed line numbers starting 01 or 02, and are included in your minutes and texts as part of your tariff.

https://www.o2.co.uk/help/account-and-billing/other-numbers-and-charges 

So O2 isn't charging calls to 03 numbers as premium rate.

However, the call was made from a Deutsche Telekom number, which isn't O2.

This would be why they were charged.

[adrian6]

@Cleoriff: I know that the calls to 03 numbers cost the same as those to 01 and 02 numbers. The point is that O2 has reported to Deutsche Telekom the details of the call and named the number as a special rate number, where it should have been handled as a call to a UK landline. The Deutsche Telekom contract consists of an unlimited allowance to call landlines and mobiles, so if O2 would have reported this call as a one to a UK landline, then the extra charge wouldn't have been applied.

[MI5]

@adrian6 

As customers like yourself we wouldn't know why the call was handled this way unfortunately.

It really is something that DT should address with O2 as it may be something in the way their network registers when roaming.

The fact that they have agreed to waive the costs suggests that they may know they are at fault.

[madasaf1sh]

@adrian6

Roaming cost are applied by the users own network and have nothing to do with the host network,

All o2 do is pass on the call details to the users network, and the billing is then done by Deutsche Telekom.

This is a pure billing error by Deutsche Telekom, and as such needs raising to them as @MI5 says

[adrian6]

Hi @madasaf1sh and @MI5 ,

I'm aware who is charging for the calls.

However, Deutsche Telekom claims that O2 has said that the number is a special/premium rate number. That is why it would be interesting to know how O2 actually categorise the call.

The Ofcom's National Telephone Numbering Plan has been provided to DT as part of the complaint and I believe that could have incluenced the provider to waive the charge. On the phone, they insisted that it was O2 that categorised the number as premium rate and next time one should use a local phone. The latter is of course not a solution because it is not possible for normal customers to distinguish between regular landlines and special numbers that are supposed to be charged at a rate to landlines due to legislation are not going to be just because either provider decides to ignore the rules.

I am not suggesting that it's O2's fault. I just would like to know how did they categorise the number. Also, something like this could also happen to customers with O2 contracts roaming in other countries, that is why this could also be useful for the community here.