Billing not by preferred provider

Occasionally, the TIO receives complaints from customers who have received a bill from a provider that is not their preferred provider, i.e. not the company they selected to receive bills from. This can happen when a customer calls an information (190) service or accepts an operator assisted (reverse charges) international call . It can also occur when a customer claims they dialled - or didn't dial - a particular override code and has received a bill from the wrong service provider.

Unlike long distance calls where a customer's preferred provider will bill them, information calls are not preselectable, nor can they be made via an override code. The call must be billed by the company that has entered into the agreement with the 190 content provider.

Content providers are not required to advertise which phone company will carry information calls. Therefore, customers will be unaware of the billing provider until they receive a bill.

Providers are within their rights to pursue payment in these situations. The TIO is therefore unable to investigate complaints about this issue.

Similarly, an overseas telephone exchange's agreement with a service provider will take precedence over a customer's preferred billing option, where international telephone companies apportion reverse charge calls through local companies who make the call connection.

For complaints concerning the use of override codes that do not include calls to information services, the TIO will investigate where it is alleged that a customer has not been billed by their preferred provider. In investigating such complaints, the TIO will usually seek from the provider the 'network' or 'raw call' data associated with the disputed calls. 'Network' or 'raw call' data includes the information normally contained in a customer's account, but also additional data such as the A-party number, the exchanges through which a call was routed, and any override codes dialled. If raw call data supports a complainant's case (i.e. if it shows that an override code was dialled or not), the TIO will expect the phone company to ensure that the customer is billed no more than their preferred provider would have billed for the same calls.

Billing not by preferred provider may also be a result of an unauthorised transfer. This issue is covered in the section unauthorised transfers.

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