Well seem to be having problems now with 18185 and am thinking of closing my account down. Now I have my bill sent every month to my email but for the last two months, I have not had any. Well went in to my account last month and found that someone had put a star before the start of my email. Anyway took it out and saved it. Then this month the same thing happend again, went to look again and the star was back. I have not put it there so it must be 18185, why?. Anyway have tried to contact them and there is no way to get hold of them.

Next I just made a call and it now says, 10p per minute. Thats normal landline numbers. It's getting bad now. Well you do get what you pay for.

Example

*mrblogs@anonymous.com

Do you mean www.18185.co.uk rather than .com?

From their web site......

Your 18185 account number can be found in the subscription confirmation email from 18185. You can also call our freephone number 0808 170 1818 from a registered telephone for a customer number reminder.

I have posted under "Call Providers". There does appear to be a serious problem

sherbert sorry about that, ment .co.uk.

It's nothing to do with my account numbers, i have that. It's to do with 18185 messing up my email deliberately, so I don't get my bill sent.

Btw that 10p call problem seems to have been sorted. There is still no working email to get hold of them. I did try > service@18185.co.uk but it was rejected.


So far poor service. Any others that offer cheap calls like 18185?

Could the reason your emails are being rejected is because you are putting .com at the end (as you quotes in your original post) and not .co.uk?

Just a thought.

sherbert my email is 2000% correct. I have not had this problem before and has only started in about the last three months.

It's 18185 playing about. There must be something wrong with them, keep putting a star at the start of my email. Thats why I don't get my bill sent to my email at the end of the month.

But apart form that, there is no way to contact them. Thats the trouble with a faceless company like 18185.

Edit. Even some others have had problems contacting 18185.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1061959&highlight=contact+18185

Boxter wrote on Dec 8^th, 2009 at 5:58pm:

Even some others have had problems contacting 18185. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1061959&highlight=contact+18185

But that was last year!

Are you sure you are supposed to have received a bill? I joined both 18185 and 18866 a while ago, but have never received a bill. I only use them on the rare occasion I need to make a daytime call or call a mobile, so I only have a small balance on each and assumed there is a minimum before they actually send a bill. Do you have a large balance?

Unless they send you final demand notices, what's the problem with not receiving a bill? It just means you don't have to pay now!

No star in my e-mail address, though.

Yes I am sure. I have been with 18185 for over a year now and have always had an online bill sent to my email. Only in the last few months have problems started.

I use 18185 quite a bit, so it does matter and I would like a bill. Just because you don't need a bill, don't mean I should not have one. Everyone to there own.

sherbert that just proves that getting hold of 18185, is a big problem. So how old that topic is, is really irrelevant.

I receive monthly bills from 18185 via email but last month the first I knew was when the direct debit was taken from my account. I have just checked my account details and like the OP found that my email address had a x in front of it, hence the reason for not getting my normal email. I have removed it now and will see what happens this month.

Boxter...

I notice on their web site this...

.......... you can check all your invoices via your personal pages on this website.


Perhaps they have decided to stop sending emails?

sherbert do you work for 18185 or something?

I know I can see my bill online but I have it sent to my email. There is nothing on there website to indicate they have stopped sending emails.

Thanks for telling us Ricardo, I'm glad it's not just me. 18185 if you are reading this, sort it out, or i dump your rubbish service.


Maybe sherbert can get is sorted. ;)

Boxter wrote on Dec 9^th, 2009 at 4:18pm:

sherbert do you work for 18185 or something? Maybe sherbert can get is sorted. ;)

No I don't work for them, just trying to help you out with some ideas. I think I will cease now as you don't seem to appreciate what I am trying to do for you. You came on this site asking for help and advice and that is what I was trying to do. :'(


Remember people who help out on this site do so voluntary and in their own time as they like to help other members. So thanks instead of rudeness would be appreciated.

Boxter, there's no need to be rude. I meant that there may be a threshold below which you will not receive a monthly bill. I haven't paid for any calls at all, it isn't that they simply haven't e-mailed me an invoice to tell me how much to pay. Have they actually taken money from you in the months you received no invoice?

jrawle  I'm not being rude but if sherbert wants to sulk about it, then thats up to sherbert.


Anyway Lets get this straight. I came on here to warn others of problems and to see if anyone else had, the same problems with 18185. As we can see, someone else has.

It seems some of you like to defend 18185. There is no threshold, limits or anything else, only 18185 being a pain in the backside. If there was limits, I would of found out by now or it should be stated on there website. Sayno to 0870 does recommend 18185, so I think it's only fair that, people are aware of any problems with them.

I pay my bill DD but I still like and have always had, a bill sent to my email. Why now has 18185 started to be stupid and put a star in emails, to stop people getting them.

Still no one can tell me how to get hold of 18185, so I can ask them.

If anyone else has had problems with 18185, please post here. We would all like to know.  :)

Thank you.  :)

Boxter wrote on Dec 8^th, 2009 at 2:17pm:

Now I have my bill sent every month to my email but for the last two months, I have not had any.

They only send a bill when you hit some preset expenditure limit such as £5 of calls if you are a low spender.  For instance my bills from them this year were in January, March, May, July and September. If you spend a lot I expect they may bill you every couple of weeks, although most people would have an anytime landline call package or a mobile package with bundled minutes to mobiles if they were making that many phone calls.


Quote:

Well went in to my account last month and found that someone had put a star before the start of my email. Anyway took it out and saved it. Then this month the same thing happend again, went to look again and the star was back. I have not put it there so it must be 18185, why?. Anyway have tried to contact them and there is no way to get hold of them.

Not had their problem here.


Quote:

Next I just made a call and it now says, 10p per minute. Thats normal landline numbers. It's getting bad now. Well you do get what you pay for.

It always says zero p per minute when I call an 01/02/03 number.  I have seen this reported by other 18185 customers a couple of times in the past on the forum.


Quote:

*mrblogs@anonymous.com

My email address with them seems fine with no stars in it.

If you want an alternative similar service from a different company then try www.call1301.co.uk but they charge more for mobile and international calls and tend to be engaged at busy times of day when you dial 1301 due to not having enough line capacity.  They also do not show you any call history at all until they send you a bill.  So you may not be able to look up calls you have made for several months if you don't spend a lot with 1301.

I find www.18185.co.uk far better than any of the dial through providers who use 0844, 0845 and 0871 numbers.  These services are essentially a con as you often pay for a call to reach an international mobile for instance and then the call never connects after you have been on the line for a minute or two.

Quote:

They only send a bill when you hit some preset expenditure limit such as £5 of calls if you are a low spender.

NGM I can assure you that's not the case. I have had bills from under £4 to about £15 and I still have had bills sent to my email. My last bill was over £10 and I did not get a bill. It not to do with that anyway, its to do with what I was talking about in my other posts. I don't know why some people, just can't except that.


Quote:

It always says zero p per minute when I call an 01/02/03 number.  I have seen this reported by other 18185 customers a couple of times in the past on the forum.

That is correct but on that particular occasion, it was saying 10ppm. Even another member had the same. It's sorted now anyway.

Boxter wrote on Dec 14^th, 2009 at 4:59pm:

NGM I can assure you that's not the case. I have had bills from under £4 to about £15 and I still have had bills sent to my email. My last bill was over £10 and I did not get a bill. It not to do with that anyway, its to do with what I was talking about in my other posts. I don't know why some people, just can't except that.

I realise you are expecting perfection but all I can say is that despite not having much customer service that the actual call quality is fairly good most of the time and the service is also operational 99% of the time unlike some of their cheap dial thru 0844 and 0871 competitors.

You could always try BT but they are expensive and their staff still rude and unhelpful.

Hi there,
I've just registered only to reply to this post..

I've had exactly the same problem as described by Boxter here.. but worse.
They did not notify me about the invoice (before, they'd always sent an email with invoice, amount, date) BUT processed the direct debit.. Since I use another card/account for internet payments (for safety) and only put money into it when I need to, I had my account empty at the moment they processed the DD.
Result? DD bounced back, my banked charged me for 'unauthorized overdraft' and my credit history is now downgraded.

And there is not way to contact 18185 (phone? email?). I used the contact form but to no avail.

Already contacted my bank to cancel the DD and local Ombudsman to demand a refund (bank penalty fee) and so that they rectify my 'credit' history since it was their fault.

It all happened in the beginning of December, so I suspect them having some IT issues.

They should at least let people know they had problems with their email notifications..

Anyway, I've always liked the service but will now cancel.
Can't trust them any more.


And by the way, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM? EMAIL? PHONE NUMBER? POST ADDRESS? It must be illegal not to offer any other way of contact than the 'contact form' on the website..


Regards,
djsaddam

I would have thought cancelling the direct debit was good enough.

I took out an 'insurance' when I bought my lap top by direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit after a month and had no problems. The supplier wrote asking saying that the direct debit was returned and that was that. I never cancelled the insurance with the supplier as there was no need as they were not getting any money. Standing orders are a different kettle of fish as only the supplier can cancel them and not you.

sherbert wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 7:47am:

I would have thought cancelling the direct debit was good enough. I took out an 'insurance' when I bought my lap top by direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit after a month and had no problems. The supplier wrote asking saying that the direct debit was returned and that was that. I never cancelled the insurance with the supplier as there was no need as they were not getting any money. Standing orders are a different kettle of fish as only the supplier can cancel them and not you.

I think you're confusing Standing Orders with Continuous Payment Authorities on debit or credit cards.

You have total control of Standing Orders (I can just cancel any of mine with a mouse click) just as you have of Direct Debits (although, of course, the Direct Debit Guarantee gives additional after-the-event protection).

djsaddam wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 12:11am:

And by the way, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM? EMAIL? PHONE NUMBER? POST ADDRESS?

18185, Finarea SA, Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1, 6900 Lugano, Switzerland.

or

18185, PO Box 45574, London NW1 3YL

djsaddam wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 12:11am:

And by the way, DOES ANY ONE KNOW HOW TO CONTACT THEM? EMAIL? PHONE NUMBER? POST ADDRESS? It must be illegal not to offer any other way of contact than the 'contact form' on the website

Try emailing the following:-

igor.tracchia@finarea.ch and/or register@finarea.ch

or write to Mr Tracchia at PO Box 5648, CH-6901 Lugano, SWITZERLAND

as listed at www.who.is/website-information/finarea.ch/ and www.aboutus.org/FinArea.ch and I have also personally had email read receipts and out of office response messages from igor.tracchia@finarea.ch (even though he did not reply to my emails)

Or try contacting their UK subsidiary Connect Telecom UK, that takes the payments and makes the necessary connection agreements with BT.  I have the following contact details as also listed currently at www.phonepayplus.org.uk/output/Network-contacts.aspx


Quote:

Connect Telecom UK Ltd Ms Louise Philips: 0870 799 1501 enquiry@connecttelecom.uk.com

You could also try copying in the below Finarea email addresses, from which I have also received read receipts at various times.


Quote:

info@finarea.ch service@finarea.ch finarea@wxn.nl veruschka@finarea.ch

The only Finarea email address that I ever received a reply from to any of my emails was service@finarea.ch as below.  This was in relation to the situation where certain calls I made with Finarea a year and a half ago and that I dialled correctly were routing to a number where the person answering the number put the phone down on a table or whatever and loud barking dogs were heard in the background.  This happened to several other customers at the time.


Quote:

-------- Original Message -------- Subject:      Finarea Telecoms Group Services to UK Based Customers Date:      Fri, 16 May 2008 14:59:03 +0200 From:      <service@finarea.ch> Reply-To:      <service@finarea.ch> 16 May 2008 Dear Mr _________, Thank you for your email. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience caused. Call18185 utilises the most up-to-date technology to ensure top quality connections, however it may be possible that carriers overseas employ different quality standards. In order to undercut BT pricing a complex network of international carriers is being used and as soon as we notice a carrier is not delivering the quality required or routing calls incorrectly we immediately deliver calls via alternative carriers; still for these prices we unfortunately cannot always guarantee BT quality connections. We have added £20 credit to your account as way of compensation. Yours sincerely, Finarea SA

I don't think I ever got the promised £20 credit on my account by the way.

It does strike me that your strategy of running a near empty bank account with no overdraft buffer for relatively small payments is not actually a very sensible one as if a direct debit payment was incorrect you can still demand that it is refunded anyway.

The wxn.nl email read receipts I have had recently from finarea@wxn.nl in response to emails sent only to finarea.ch email addresses are interesting as they suggest a possible link with major Dutch/German telecoms firm www.kpn.com

From www.robtex.com/dns/mail.wxn.nl.html


Quote:

DNS Records base      record      name      ip      reverse      route      as wxn.nl      ns-soa      ns1.comnet.nl 3 days old      62.208.20.209 Netherlands      62.208.0.0/16 DE-ECRC-62-208-0-0      AS1273 CW Cable and Wireless plc Melbourne Street Leeds LS2 7PS United Kingdom ns      ns1.comnet.nl 3 days old      62.208.20.209 Netherlands ns3.comnet.nl 11 days old      62.41.84.81 Netherlands      62.41.0.0/17      AS286 KPN Internet Backbone mx      10      mail3.comnet.nl 107 days old      82.94.184.10 Netherlands      maildrop.gidpro.nl      82.92.0.0/14 XS4ALL networking      AS3265 XS4ALL-NL XS4ALL Amsterdam the Netherlands nl   comnet.nl   gidpro.nl

KPN (www.kpn.com/corporate/en/ir.htm) are a company that is in to internet connections, mobile telecomms and multi channel tv etc and I am also a customer of their Spanish virtual mobile network brand - www.simyo.es

The big boss at KPN is ad.scheepbouwer@kpn.com (see www.kpn.com/corporate/en/ir-3/Corporate-Governance/Board-of-Management.htm ) So it might be worth emailing him to see what connection (if any) there is between KPN and Finarea and whether he can help sort out your recent payment problems with the company.

I also just turned up this listing for finarea.ch at http://dawhois.com/
     

Quote:

FINAREA.CH - Geo Information IP Address      62.41.84.5   62.208.20.133   Host      finarea.ch Location      NL NL, Netherlands City      -, - - Organization      ComNet ISP      Koninklijke KPN N.V. AS Number      AS286 KPN Internet Backbone Latitude      52°50'00" North Longitude      5°75'00" East Distance      1702.85 km (1058.10 miles) Map Locationnew      World Map  Google Maps  Yahoo Maps  Microsoft Live Maps Map location FINAREA.CH - Whois Information whois: This information is subject to an Acceptable Use Policy. See http://www.nic.ch/terms/aup.html Domain name: finarea.ch Holder of domain name: Finarea SA Dekker Monique Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1 CH-6900 Lugano Switzerland Contractual Language: English Technical contact: Finarea SA Dekker Monique Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1 CH-6900 Lugano Switzerland Name servers: ns1.comnet.nl ns3.comnet.nl

So also try emailing Dekker.Monique@finarea.ch

Mr Monique also seems to be associated with the www.lowcaller.com telecoms brand

See http://www.who.is/whois/lowcaller.com/


Quote:

LOWCALLER.COM WHOIS Updated: 14 hours ago The Data in EuroDNS WHOIS database is provided for information purposes only. The fact that EuroDNS display such information does not provide any guarantee expressed or implied on the purpose for which the database may be used, its accuracy or usefulness. By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to EuroDNS (or its systems). EuroDNS reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by the above policy. Domain: lowcaller.com Registrar: Eurodns S.A. [Registrant:Company: Finarea SA Name: Dekker Monique Address: Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1 City: Lugano Country: SWITZERLAND Postal Code: 6900 Administrative Contact: Company: Finarea SA Name: Dekker Monique Address: Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1 City: Lugano Country: SWITZERLAND Postal Code: 6900 Phone: +41919335412 Fax: Email: register@finarea.ch Technical Contact: Company: Finarea SA Name: Dekker Monique Address: Viale Carlo Cattaneo 1 City: Lugano Country: SWITZERLAND Postal Code: 6900 Phone: +41919335412 Fax: Email:- register@finarea.ch Original Creation Date: 2008-12-11 Expiration Date: 2010-12-10 Status: clientTransferProhibited Nameserver Information: Nameserver: ns1.comnet.nl Nameserver: ns3.comnet.nl Information Updated: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 20:00:14 UTC

Actually I think this person is Monique Dekker.  Note the Dutch connection again.

See http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/monique-dekker/0/548/441

Monique Dekker seems to be a client executive at IBM according to her Linked In profile for members:-


Quote:

Monique Dekker Client Executive at IBM Location  Amsterdam Area, Netherlands Industry  Information Technology and Services Current      * Client Executive at IBM Past        * Business Development Manager at IBM        * Client Executive ING at IBM Education        * Haagse Hogeschool/TH Rijswijk Connections    56 connections Public Profile    http://nl.linkedin.com/pub/monique-dekker/0/548/441

See also this 2006 discussion thread on the Connect Telecom UK connection at www.telecomforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=1179.0

and this French discussion thread at:-

www.generation-nt.com/reponses/telesoldes-bibit-global-entraide-100926.html

Perhaps someone on the forum with free daytime calls to 0870 numbers could try giving Connect Telecom UK a call.

I'm now sure this lady's name is Monique Dekker and not Dekker Monique now.

See www.who.is/domain_archive-fr/telerabais.fr/

But note again the Dutch connection in the email address


Quote:

person:      Monique Dekker address:     Finarea SA address:     23, rue Balzac address:     75008 Paris address:     FR phone:       +33 1 91 92 25 43 e-mail:       beheer@plant.nl

and from the same web page:-


Quote:

domain:      telerabais.fr address:     Finarea SA address:     po box 5648 address:     6901 LUGANO address:     CH phone:       +33 4 93 87 71 39 e-mail:      No email specified

Note the phone number contact given for Finarea France and their www.telerabais.fr telecoms brand

And these contact details for Finarea in Switzerland on the same page:-


Quote:

nic-hdl:     FS1193-FRNIC type:        ORGANIZATION contact:     Finarea SA address:     PO Box 5648 address:     06901 LUGANO country:     CH phone:       +33 4 93 87 71 39 e-mail:       changed:     09/10/2008 anonymous:   NO obsoleted:   NO idstatus:    ok

So what is the Finarea French Connection then? ;)

I note that Monique Dekker's number is different from the other two listed for Finarea but that they are all French phone numbers.

Heinz wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2009 at 8:51am:

sherbert wrote on Dec 23rd, 2009 at 7:47am: I would have thought cancelling the direct debit was good enough. I took out an 'insurance' when I bought my lap top by direct debit. I cancelled the direct debit after a month and had no problems. The supplier wrote asking saying that the direct debit was returned and that was that. I never cancelled the insurance with the supplier as there was no need as they were not getting any money. Standing orders are a different kettle of fish as only the supplier can cancel them and not you. I think you're confusing Standing Orders with Continuous Payment Authorities on debit or credit cards. You have total control of Standing Orders (I can just cancel any of mine with a mouse click) just as you have of Direct Debits (although, of course, the Direct Debit Guarantee gives additional after-the-event protection).

I stand corrected. However a standing order is for a fixed amount whereas a direct debit isn't.

I wondered if djsaddam was thinking of following up any of the above leads that I had provided?

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