Power Report: Rude shock as Telkom dials up overseas costs

Phoning overseas just got a lot more complicated - and costly.

If two readers' Telkom experiences are anything to go by, dialling a number abroad without first checking call tariffs is something best reserved for the brave.

Gone are the days of just landline and mobile options. Now up to 10 or more different lines can be dedicated to a single destination; from so-called metro and non-metro, standard to "special services".

And scores of them - just over 100 at last count - have been hit by some seriously hefty tariff increases.

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Those affected are considered "irregular" numbers or destinations and include lines in far-flung Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Equatorial Guinea.

But not all are as remote. There's currently a Netherlands Special Service at a new rate of R56.90 a minute, while Sweden's Fix Paging line comes in at a staggering R298.40. Certain lines in Finland, France and Germany have also become far more pricey for South Africans to call.

Calls to any UK Freephone (you have to love the irony) services, which used to cost locals just 53c a minute, now cost R31.85 a minute. Consumers should be grateful; in February it leapt to R84.39.

But it's changes to certain call rates to Australia (10 different categories are listed) that have caused the most upset.

Seems our readers made calls to fixed lines in "non-metro" areas. These irregular and low-volume lines are premium-rated numbers charged at higher than regular charges.

When Bruce Alexander's elderly mother got hit with a R300 bill for a 16-minute call to her sister, he wanted Telkom to explain itself.

"The same call used to cost around R12," said Alexander. "I was told the call tariff to Australia had increased from 72c per minute to R20.11 per minute. That, in anyone's book, is an outrageous increase," he said.

An 80-year-old woman unfortunately doesn't pay that much attention to things [such as Telkom's recording] she doesn't understand and would not be able to check up on a website

What irked him more, however, was that nobody at the call centre, including a supervisor, could tell him why there'd been this "phenomenal" increase.

"This smacks of disdain and disregard for customers."

After querying further, Alexander was eventually told the increases were due to service provider hikes.

Pensioner Sari Botha was equally horrified when she received her bill, with a R1,438 charge for a call she'd made to a Melbourne landline in May. She'd called the same number in February - for an almost identical length of time - and paid just R41.

"I was told the rate went up from 72c to R20.11 per minute in March! That equates to a 2,693% increase," said the 63-year-old Muizenberg resident.

"At no stage did I receive any notice of such an incredible increase, nor have I seen any reference to it in the press or anywhere else. How can they do this to their customers?"

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She said the first call centre agent just laughed when she complained, the second told her the rates had been hiked and to check the website.

It's taken Telkom several weeks to formally respond to my query.

Seems Telkom has been "substantially" undercharging us for international calls to certain destinations. It has now "had to take steps" to recover its input costs, which has resulted in higher-than-normal increases.

"While operators charged different wholesale rates, Telkom effectively absorbed the risk by charging a single rate to its own customer," said spokeswoman Jacqui O'Sullivan.

"This worked effectively in the past, but international call volumes are in significant decline and this model is no longer effective or profitable for Telkom. Calls to these 'irregular destinations/numbers' were and remain significantly low in volume compared to regular international call volumes to more popular destinations," said O'Sullivan.

"While these rates are subject to fluctuation and are affected by exchange rates, Telkom has had to take steps to correct any under-recovery. The correction required Telkom to apply the actual international call termination cost to the destination, along with Telkom's own wholesale and retail costs."

She said it was not unusual for different interconnection rates to be set by different operators in the same country.

"In this instance the operators are Australia-based and Telkom pays for the call termination on the foreign operators' networks in US dollars ... these charges fluctuate with changes in our exchange rate."

Termination is the handover from the Telkom network to another network, which then completes the connection.

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"Telkom is also subject to price increases from time to time for termination from network operators abroad."

But has Telkom adequately warned its customers of these huge increases?

Yes, said O'Sullivan. In February, Telkom introduced an automatic recording when dialling international country codes, which refers customers to a tariff list on its website. It admits that following a technical glitch, some callers didn't get the message but it has granted manual credits, and fixed the problem.

Customer invoices in the March 2016 bill run included a notice stating it would be "adjusting some tariffs". There is also a number "lookup list" for customers to check .

"We are currently updating a call-rate calculator, which will allow customers to secure an approximate quote from a Telkom number to an international destination."

Both Alexander and Botha are unmoved.

"An 80-year-old woman unfortunately doesn't pay that much attention to things [such as Telkom's recording] she doesn't understand and would not be able to check up on a website," said Alexander.

Botha said she had heard no recording nor saw any notice on her invoice.

What she does recall, though, was promotional material on her e-mailed invoice that encouraged customers to join Telkom's new online community to "talk to each other, solve problems and discuss what's hot and happening ..."

Contact Megan Power

E-mail: consumer@sundaytimes.co.za

Follow Megan on Twitter: @Power_Report

Please note: Other than in exceptional circumstances, readers sending me complaints must be willing to be identified and photographed.

Tune in to Power98.7's "Power Breakfast" (DStv audio channel 889) at 8.50am tomorrow to hear more from Megan