Phoned BA, put on hold. HUGE phone bill.
 

I am absolutely annoyed with BA. I called the BA Executive Club line several times over a weekend last month. Each time, I was left in the eternal loop from hell without being able to talk to anyone at all (I gave up).

My phone bill arrived today. I was charged nearly £60 for the calls. During that music loop, at no point was I made aware that they were charging a ridiculous amount of money for me waiting to be served (50p a minute).

I would rather have a ring tone at the end of the line without being charged than listen to a jingle and be charged more for it than a concert ticket.

Has this happened to anyone before?

You need to change your phone company if you are being surcharged 50p per minute. Which number did you call?

What number did you use? The UK numbers I have for BAEC are 020 so don't cost anything on mobile. If calling the US line I use skype for free.

Were you calling a UK number from the UK? I didn't think any of the exec numbers (or any BA contact numbers) were 50p per minute?

I think the UK exec numbers are 0844 for blue and 0800 for silver, gold, and GGL.

They don’t, but there are some greedy telephone services who charge huge markups on 08 numbers - the mobile phone companies are the worst culprits.

The number I used is the one they provide on their website (which is a 0844 number).

Phone provider is usually good (i.e. these phone calls are the only phone calls they've charged me for this month). I have dialed 0844 numbers before but I guess I was never left in a loop like BA did!

I didn't know that. So for 0844 I understand the charge is 7p per minute according to BA, and the other 43p per minute presumably is the OP's phone company. I would be quite annoyed as well if my phone company was adding such a hefty charge.

Do they do any check on the geographical origin of the caller if you call the 012* number?

I seem to remember BA’s tardiness in migrating from 08 to 03 numbers like much of the service industry has been flagged on here a few times before?

Given BA’s current modus operandi, the phrase “what else would you expect from a dog but a bite” seems apt.

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Sorry OP but I think a significant amount of this is down to you. I am not one to blame the poster but you should have checked the cost of the calls from your provider first.

I appreciate being on hold is not your problem/fault but would have thought if you experienced this on one call you would have considered the cost/length of the call for the subsequent ones.

Furthrrmore £60 at 50p a minute is 2 hours. Not great for 2 or 3 calls but when you start getting down to 4 or more calls in the billing period this isn’t that unusual if you have an issue to deal with as only 30 minutes a call. My last call to BA lasted over 20 minutes and there was minimal hold time.

or find a less greedy phone supplier perhaps, 43p per minute additional charge by them is shocking

But I understand the phone company keeps this 43p and it doesn't go to BA so what has it got to do with keeping fares low?

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But madfish... this is the thing. Some service numbers don't actually immediately go into the loop of hell! There is often a time where you just hear the phone ringing and sometimes it's combined with a message that they are busy, would you like to try later. You don't actually get charged anything for the wait!

It is wholly BA's choice to actually make the call 'LIVE' from the get-go.

This was during the time of that first hurricane in Florida. We weren't there, but were going to travel around that time, so had to call when loads of people were probably calling, too.