Rate for 800 number in France

[ngufra]

Last month, my mother was visiting and was sick, so we had to call her insurance in France at a french 800 number (+1133800xxx) to arrange a doctor's visit.
In the past I had called a freephone number in the UK (01144800xxx) and had had time to check the rate (0c/min) so i assumed it would be also free and did not spend the time to check.
Note that calls to land lines in France are included in sonic and calls to cells are areound 6 or 7c/min.

Then this month I got my new bill: $95 which included $15 of calls. in the details I see

Code: Select all

Start	            From	    To	            Type	        Minutes	Charge	Local	Bundled Minutes Used
2023-06-15 09:48:33	510xxxxxxx	01133800xxxxxx	international	20:58	$ 14.25	N	    0

So $14.25 for 21 minutes to a free phone number.


And in the rate lookup i see

Code: Select all

Country	Code	Rate
FRANCE, SPECIAL	+0113380	67.8¢

We are so used to calls not being metered and this was a freephone number; is there any way the free phone number can actually be free?

[brandonc]

Last month, my mother was visiting and was sick, so we had to call her insurance in France at a french 800 number (+1133800xxx) to arrange a doctor's visit.
In the past I had called a freephone number in the UK (01144800xxx) and had had time to check the rate (0c/min) so i assumed it would be also free and did not spend the time to check.
Note that calls to land lines in France are included in sonic and calls to cells are areound 6 or 7c/min.

Then this month I got my new bill: $95 which included $15 of calls. in the details I see

Code: Select all

Start	            From	    To	            Type	        Minutes	Charge	Local	Bundled Minutes Used
2023-06-15 09:48:33	510xxxxxxx	01133800xxxxxx	international	20:58	$ 14.25	N	    0

So $14.25 for 21 minutes to a free phone number.


And in the rate lookup i see

Code: Select all

Country	Code	Rate
FRANCE, SPECIAL	+0113380	67.8¢

We are so used to calls not being metered and this was a freephone number; is there any way the free phone number can actually be free?

Hi,

I'm sorry that you got charged when you were under the impression it would be a free call. The number you called unfortunately is not free and the 68.7 cent price per minute is accurate. This is due to the rates our upstream provider charges for the calls and we don't inflate the cost for profit to keep it as low as possible for these numbers, but we do need to charge for them.

I would just take the time to search the number in our Global Calling Rates prior to every new international number you call, just to be on the safe side.

Since this was a one-time accident, I've applied a $14.25 credit to your account to cover the fees for that call. I hope your mother is feeling well!

https://www.sonic.com/fusion-global-calling-rates

Kind regards,

[ngufra]

I think i suggested it before but it would be nice to have a recorded voice advertising the per minute rate after i dial and before i get the ringing tone.
Also is it possible to enable internation calls but only those that do not incur an extra charge?

Thanks

[brandonc]

I think i suggested it before but it would be nice to have a recorded voice advertising the per minute rate after i dial and before i get the ringing tone.
Also is it possible to enable internation calls but only those that do not incur an extra charge?

Thanks

We, unfortunately, do not have any way of blocking international calls based on whether they incur charges or not at this point in time. We can only enable international calling or disable it for now. However, those are both great suggestions.

I hope we can implement something like that in the future to avoid accidents like this!

Kind regards,