Comedy gig hotline bill was no laughing matter for Notts dad

A NOTTS man fears thousands of people could end up paying for calls to an engaged ticket hotline.

Alan Dyer's daughter made 108 calls to Capital FM Arena's number while trying to buy Michael McIntyre tickets, but got the engaged tone every time.

As no connection was made, Mr Dyer assumed there would be no charge but when he checked his bill online the next day he realised he'd been charged 19p for each call – a total of �20.52 plus VAT.

He is now worried that other people in Notts will be unknowingly charged as well.

"I was shocked," said Mr Dyer, of Awsworth. "An engaged tone you put the phone down and ring again and if it's tickets you keep trying, because obviously you want the best seat.

"I only checked my bill online the day after by chance and it showed 108 calls to that number.

"There's a lot of people potentially who could have rung this and just thought their bill was a bit high and not realised it was because they'd been charged for engaged calls to the arena."

Mr Dyer contacted the Capital FM Arena, but received no reply to a letter he sent.

But when the Post contacted the venue they said that, if Mr Dyer sends in his bill, they would refund the calls.

Geoff Huckstep, chief executive of the Capital FM Arena, said: "The 24-hour ticket hotline is operated by our ticket agency, See Tickets, and during popular on-sales the phone lines do get incredibly busy.

"Inevitably customers will therefore sometimes experience difficulty getting through straight away but I must stress there is no charge applied by See Tickets when an engaged tone is received.

"However, depending on the network carrier the call is contracted to, charges may still apply.

"This can vary from carrier to carrier and is typically higher from mobile phones.

"We would advise the customer to take it up with their phone company and, if they have trouble getting through on the phones in future, I would encourage them to try our website or the box office."

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/32715/f/503354/s/143c185b/l/0L0Sthisisnottingham0O0Cnews0CComedy0Egig0Ehotline0Elaughing0Ematter0Carticle0E34548820Edetail0Carticle0Bhtml/story01.htm

Wildlife Christina Aguilera Stephen Carr European banks Debit cards Butterflies