Excessive bill amount of R2405.05 for call to UK FreePhone

<p>I am writing this email to escalate a billing dispute regarding an international phone call. I quote the relevant entry from the bill below with the phone number redacted:</p> <p>Invoice number,Row description,Number called from,Number called to,Date of call,Time of call,Duration of call,Final number called,Description,Tariff,Cost of call,Call type,Source data,Surcharge/SCall<br />604C***0,Call Details,*** *** ***X,*** *** ***X,***9,32735,1710,+***,United Kingdom Freephone,P,2405.050,3,2250,0.000</p> <p>The chain of events thus far:</p> <p>1. On 29th March, I made a 28.5 minute call to a UK Freephone Number +*** from a ZA landline.<br />2. Later during April, I received a bill for this call, charging me R2405.05, or approximately R84 a minute for this call.<br />3. On 19th April I posted a complaint on TelkomZA facebook wall.<br />4. On 24th April I logged a billing dispute (number ***3) with the Telkom Call Centre<br />5. A Telkom employee called Lee ***) phoned me on 28th April and informed me that Telkom would not reduce the amount of the call. She told me that she was unable to provide a reason for why I was charged R84 a minute and suggested I call the International Call Centre (10903) to ask for the reason.<br />6. On 29th April I phoned the International Call Centre (10903) who told me that they were unable to give me the reasons for the charge. They said that I should phone billing (10210).<br />7. On 29th April I phoned billing on (10210) three times.<br /> - I spoke to consultant who promised to log details regarding the call and direct me to someone who could help. During the transfer, the line was cut.<br /> - I phoned 10210 again and spoke to another consultant (Ayanda Nkhosi) about the issue. I escalated to the consultant's manager asking for an advertised price on the call rate. The supervisor mailed me a PDF showing April 2016 rates of R32 a minute for a UK freephone (but not the R84 a minute0 and promised to re-open the issue.<br /> - I phoned 10210 again. The consultant, Nosipho noted that no issue had been re-opened and re-opened the issue once again providing reference number ***4.<br />8. I also mailed *** on 29th April, an email address that I'd been provided either by Lee or the first consultant. This email was never rep**** to.<br />9. After receiving no contact on the matter, I phoned 10210 on 12 May and spoke to Daleen Julianne Theron about the issue. She told me that:<br /> - Lee had closed the issue on 3rd May. (I was never informed about this)<br /> - I once again asked where the R84 a minute charge was advertised on either the Telkom website or phone book. Once again I was directed to the PDF with the April 2016 rates. When I queried about the R32 vs R84 a minute, Daleen mailed an internal memo listing an R84 a minute rate to UK freephone numbers.<br /> - I then queried as to how, as a consumer, I could reasonably be expected to discover the R84 a minute charge from an unadvertised internal memo that I did not have access to. Daleen's response was that I should ask Lee about it.<br />10. On 13 May I phoned Lee asking why the call had been closed and, once again, how I could be charged an amount based on an unadvertised internal memo. She stated that she did not have the authority to change the amount and gave me the email address of the Telkom escalation centre.<br />11. On 18 May I mailed the Telkom Escalation Centre. To date, I have received no response besides an automatic reply acknowledging receipt of my email.</p> <p>I note that many other consumers seem to have been surprised these rate charges. See http://www.rdm.co.za/business/2016/04/25/international-calls-phone-at-your-peril for instance, where Sue Mitchell was charged R350 for a four minute call to a UK bank. Quoting the Consumer Goods & Services ombudsman on incorrect pricing http://cgso.org.za/dl/cgso%20advisory%20note%20%20incorrect%20pricing.pdf</p> <p>1] Suppliers are bound to provide goods at lowest advertised or displayed prices<br /> i.e. they bear the risk and costs associated with errors;<br /> 2] I n the case of displayed price errors, the supplier is bound until the consumer is informed. If the consumer acts in a manner consistent with buying the item prior to being informed of the error, the consumer is entitled to pay the error price e.g. the consumer takes the item (or the product details if to be delivered or collected from dispatch) to the till with the intention of paying for it or places the order with the sales assistant and the cashier/ sales assistant then informs the consumer of the error;</p> <p>As Telkom did not publicly advertise the rate of R84 a minute, I therefore request that the amount of this call (including the VAT charged on it) be substantially reduced. I would consider R10 a minute reasonable considering I phoned before the beginning of April and the advertised price regarding UK Freephone numbers.<br />Regrettably the billing consultants who I have previously spoken to do not seem to understand the implications of charging a customer at an unadvertised rate. I would hope to negotiate the reduction of the bill amicably, but failing that I will have no other recourse but the consumer ombudsman.</p>