Huge charge for calling my French bank

[natkins]

So I had to call my French bank in an emergency to sort out my buy to let. 

the French bank website said  to call on an 0810 number at ‘local rate eur0.09’

EE on my bill they charged my £5.33 per minute resulting in a massive £495 call charge!!

ee have said the number is premium rate and that eur0.09 only applies to the French.  They have also said this £495 went to the number I called not them. I’m not sure I believe them. 

There seemed to be no way for me to know what this charge was going to be in advance. 

I have no idea who to complain to or what my rights are but this seems outrageous.

Help! 

[natkins]

but the contract says there must be a warning when calling such a number. Like a said before. 

really confused why you don’t think that’s important 

[natkins]

 The contract clearly says they do this for calling France from the uk. 

and if they know to charge someone then they should also be able to play a warning. 

[BrendonH]

Where in the contract does it state they'll play a warning?

[XRaySpeX]

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@BrendonH wrote:

Where in the contract does it state they'll play a warning?

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p9 (Calling Abroad from UK) of my link above:

14. A pre-connection announcement will be played prior to connecting your call to an International Premium Service

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[BrendonH]

Ok and what's the say @natkins didn't hear that and though it'll be the euros mentioned on the french banks website.

EE isn't going to know how long the call is going to last for.

[natkins]

Ok. No pre-connection announcement. Doesn’t matter what it says. They didn’t do it and it’s in the contract. 

[XRaySpeX]

There is nowt to say that @BrendonH !

[natkins]

I called the number maybe 10 times. 

they could claim it was played 10 times. and I didn’t hear it. 

if it was ever discovered that wasn’t true and it wasn’t played then the consequences for them would be huge.

Would be a risky gamble for them for sure.