Just a quick one.

Could any advise where we stand if a telecoms company has been repeatedly overcharging us for time spent on the phone

invoiced for 156 hours

only been on the phone 26 hours

we have proof as we have a call tracker.

Checked previous 4 months bills and they are all incorrect.

The telecoms provider is not bothered said we should have checked bills before.

We have contacted the ombudsman and as we have more than 10 employees they can not do anything.

We have been advised to take it to the same claims court.

Just wondering what peoples views were.

If you have got evidence which you think will stand up in court then certainly you should take it to the County Court. As you are suing a business and you are business ourselves, if there is a hearing then it will be in the provider's local court.

What is the value of the claim?

So they are saying youve made 156 hours of calls but actually only 26 hours?

Sounds weird...

Not data to is it?

Hi,

Yes we do have evidence over the last four months.

It was only bought to light as we were changing suppliers as our bills were getting rather high,

and on checking the itemised bill to our tracker system we could see that the invoice was very out.

We can only go back four months as this is how long our call tracker system stores information.

We have contacted the supplier who advised us that under our terms and conditions we can not do anything about previous bills as in our terms and conditions it says we need to bring in to light witin 7 days.

He does not seem to be bothered and told us to take it legal.

I have a feeling that we are probably not the only customers this has happened to.

He has no explanation on why we have been overcharged for many months.

Thread title amended to reflect B2B.

Name and shame ?

Andy

The seven day rule is nonsense. You are being misled. If there is a breach of contract then you have six years.

If I were you I would go over previous telephone records and start extrapolating. What is the value of the ascertainable claim? How long do you think the problem has really gone on for? – And yes name and shame.

Hi, thanks for the replies. I am not actually sure how long its been going on for, as our bills are just paid by the accounts department, as i said it was only bought to light as we were leaving and had an issue with something. i pulled a couple of other bills and one of them we have been billed for was 241 hours on averge we use below 30 hours. Until i have gone back and found as many bills as possible i am not sure of the value of the claim.

First of all I suggest that you read our customer services guide and having implemented the advice there, that you telephone them again and get them to repeat their position that you only have seven days to complain. I think this would be very useful against them at some point.

Secondly, you must absolutely discover the value of the claim – even if it is only for the ascertainable amount. This should not be difficult to do because you have got your figures from your tracker and their figures from their bill.

You should also go back to your records until you discover what you consider to be the proper pattern of charges, and then the elevated pattern and that will give you some idea of how long it has gone on for and how much you might have been overcharged. As the rate of calls now gone down to the more normal level or is it still elevated?

And still we advise you name the company..its amazing how their attitude changes once they are named on CAG...and you will tend to see a lot of guests viewing the thread.