UK telecom regulator to look into high bills complaints

UK telecoms watchdog Ofcom has called on consumers to get in touch if they if they have received unexpectedly high bills for mobile, landline or ­broadband over the past 12 months.

The regulator is looking to tackle high bills where consumers end up having to pay huge amounts for using mobiles abroad, making calls beyond their monthly allowance, having their phone stolen and calling expensive or premium-rate numbers or downloading data.

Rules already in existence call for clear information about contracts and bills so they could decide whether the service was right for them.

Ofcom said it planned to collect information from consumers across the UK and then decide whether it merited a full investigation into billing problems in the industry should be carried out.

According to a preliminary survey by Ofcom, 6 per cent of mobile phone customers had received a bill that was far in excess of what they had expected over the past 12 months, while 5 per cent of landline users had experienced the same problem. Around 18 per cent of those mobile customers were charged at least £100 more than their expectations.

According to the regulator, ''unexpected'' costs for services - such as making or receiving calls while overseas and making calls exceeding the monthly allowance, as also calling expensive or premium-rate numbers or downloading data – could be extremely high.