Hi

This is really quite disturbing - especially if others are affected and not just us.

Ok - I'll try and keep it as brief as poss.
Our telephone bills from SPANTEL for the last 6 months have been considerably higher than usual. However, we've had family illness in UK so were phoning home more and didn't think too much of it. 

Then we happened to check our Nov/Dec  invoice. The big one that caught our eye was the 7 calls to our English mobile in November - a cheap PAYG that we use when we are in Uk. The thing is, neither of us were in the UK in November and the phone was in the drawer switched off! I had been there in October though, so dug out the bill and every call that my husband had made to me in October from our Spanish landline was duplicated in the Nov/Dec bill. The time, duration and cost was exactly the same. We then started to go through the bill with a fine tooth comb....

I had apparently made two calls to my bro in USA on 12th Dec. One for  41mins the other for 22mins. The strange thing is I somehow managed to make these 2 calls at exactly the same time: 23.18. 
On 19th Dec I apparently called my sister twice, thus: 
Time 19:50:59 for 55m 38s and again at  20:41:19 for 1h 6m 
According to my arithmetic- I managed to phone her again whilst I was still on the line. Clever eh? 

So, I have spent the last 6 hours trawling through invoices back to January 2012. THIS STARTED IN FEB/MARCH!! 

Every single invoice since February has calls duplicated from the month before! The date may be one day out so it goes something like this: 
A call to 1234567 on 10th Feb 2012, at 21.32. for duration 6:59:26 cost 2.5 Euros. 
On 10th March  the call to 1234567 appears again, at 21.32. duration 6:59:26 cost 2.5 Euros. 
This has happened time and time and time again. It is NOT coincidence! And you wouldn't know unless you got the previous bill out to compare!! 

In addition, we found that some months we have not been receiving  the 100 free mins to the UK. And the calls that were duplicated were using up part of the 100 minutes we are supposed to get. 

I would be extremely interested to know if any of you have had similar problems with Spantel. I find it hard to believe that it can be just our bill - month after month! PLEASE - if any of you are with Spantel - go check your invoices. I haven't been in touch with them yet (Well I tried but they were closed for a local fiesta) If others have the same issues we have supporting evidence that all is not kosher with Spantel billing system. 

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seems spantel is not so great from a few google searches i did

sure there is complaints about all companys but they seem to really suck

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 Thanks for your reply - Could you give me a link to where you found stuff about Spantel?  I did a search but couldn't find anything. 
Cheers

Edit: I have just found one article posted 5 days ago. Similar problems:  http://digame-torrox.blogspot.com.es/2013/01/problems-with-spantel-service.html

Have a feeling we are onto something nasty here. :( 

This message was last edited by rookie on 02/02/2013.

This message was last edited by rookie on 02/02/2013.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, We would like to offer the following statement.......

 

Spantel recently discovered an error in our billing program that has caused some incorrect monthly telephone invoices to be sent out to our valued customers. We are currently reviewing all customer invoices for the period in question and will make the required adjustments to the accounts of our customers. We encourage any of our customers who may have received an incorrect invoice to contact us so we can review their account immediately and make the required adjustment.

Spantel values the business of all of our customers and we are committed to providing them premium service at a reasonable price. We apologize to all of our customers who may have been affected by this and will do everything possible to ensure it does not happen again.

Contact tlph.  902 02 02 02

Email:- info "at" spantel "dot" es

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nice bit of reputation management there.

spantel delivers.

so maybe i was wrong that spantel sucks

and i was wrong that spantel is a scam

and i was wrong that spantel give bad service.

rock on spantel

you do a good job spantel

thanks for updating the thread spantel

spantel for the win

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 I intend to keep this thread updated with our progress on getting a full refund from Spantel.

I emailed Spantel very early on 6th February. I explained in detail that between March  2012 to January 2013 we had found: 209 duplicated phone calls which comes to about 200 Euros + Vat. In addition there will be money owed from calls we have paid for which should have been within the 100 free minutes per month (to Europe)  

I politely requested that the email was passed to "a senior person in the accounts department who can examine our invoices call by call as we have done,  and who has the authority to refund the charges that have been made by these errors" 

It is interesting that Spantel  found 2 forums on which to post their statement within 24 hours of my email. Yet, 2 and a half days later I stil have not had a personal reply to my email.  Just an acknowledgment would have sufficed:  "we have received your email and we will look into this issue and get back to you as soon as possible"  What most of us would regard as common courtesy ¿No? 

I urge anyone who uses Spantel or knows someone who does to check their invoices for all of 2012 to the current date. 
 

 

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yeah its usual that compannys like spantel reply the threads in forums.

quite often people google things like `spantel scam` `spantel billing``spantel sucks`

so they do it for new customers.

interestesting that spantel have spent more time on these forums than they have sorting out your spantel billing problem

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An update:
 

After my first email to Spantel on 6th Feb, a week passed with no reply. I sent a 2nd email on 13th . Must admit the lack of response had me a bit twitchy and I expected that I was going to have a fight on my hands.

But..on the 14th I received a reply from them with an apology for the errors, an  explanation and a promise of a full refund.  On the 15th the full amount of 305.33 Euros was credited to our bank account! Well done Spantel!

So in the the end it was resolved quickly and relatively easily. Would have been better not to have had the bother of it in the first place of course. Presumably, all accounts affected will now get a refund automatically (whether or not the client has noticed  the overcharges)

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Hiya,

I have also had the same problem with Spantel invoicing me twice.     Last July they reinvoiced many calls that were made to the UK in June.     I would have never noticed this double billing but for the fact that we were not in Spain in July.     They did apologise and later refunded the 14.43 euros over charge but I thought that this was a one off and did not realise that others had also been double billed.      They did not contact me but left it to me to find out and then chase them.     It does make you wonder if something more sinister is at work here,    I will now certainly check my other invoices.     lgprg.

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 Hi lpgrg

So you found some errors last July and alerted them to it. 
In December 2012 we know that someone else contacted them about the same thing. He received a refund and then the following month had more errors (see blog post on my original post) 
In January 2013, I contacted them with a list of duplications going back to FEB 2012. 
They refunded 305Euros and since then our bills have been correct. 

HOWEVER, the fact that they quickly refunded our money once we discovered all the errors,does not stop me agreeing  with you that it all seems very suspicious. 

• From your experience they have been aware of the problem since at least last July. 
• In Spantel's response below they say --- We are currently reviewing all customer invoices for the period in question and will make the required adjustments to the accounts of our customers
• This clearly hasn't happened.  Once again it was left to you the customer to notice the errors and then chase them about it. 
• Spantel informed me in February by email that the error was due to a "bug" in the billing software which  was updated in JANUARY 2012 which affected a specific batch of customers. A "bug" that was accidental or intentional I wonder? 
• So it is now April and the problems appear to be continuing.
• Therefore the questions that remain are
  1. Why haven't they fixed the bug?
  2. Why haven't they contacted and refunded all the customers in the"batch" that they know about.?

 

I think the answer to these questions is simple. Their silence earns them a lot of money.  Is it too cynical to think that it is much more lucrative to keep the "bug" and just refund anyone who questions the errors? 

I would certainly check all your bills going back to at least January 2012. And encourage anyone else you know who uses Spantel to do the same. 

 

 

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Thanks Rookie, I will certainly let you know the results of my other invoice checking.   Rgds lgprg

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Hi,

Since Spantel changed its prefix from 1030 to 10787 / 107069, I wanted to find out if their rates had changed and I stumbled upon this post.

I remembered I had a strange charge, so I checked the bills since 2012.

I found numerous duplicate charges. The first one is on the bill from June 2012, the last ones on the bill from February 2013.

Spantel never refunded me for the extra charges, so I will now do my homework myself and ask them for a refund.

Since I am with the OCU, a Spanish consumers' rights group, I will inform them and hope they will make this public and maybe press charges.

Regards,

Wim

Tip for finding duplicate charges: those calls have exactly the same start time and duration, and the date is about 30 days later, p.e.:

Original (May): 08/05/2012   19:49:15   5m 15s   1,3905 €

Duplicate (June): 07/06/2012   19:49:15   5m 15s   1,3905 €

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They have been stealing for years. I you return invoices, also have closed and they have set up a new company minute media 21 (MM21) with think it continue stealing, careful to denounce the police and especially if they change him comp any who know that it is illegal, do not pay their bills.
It is not an error, I know what I mean.

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Since making my last post and getting a refund from Spanel for double charging on one invoice, I have sent 3 emails and made several phone calls asking for a copy of a missing invoice.     No invoice has been provided despite promises from them - I wonder why!

Further in February this year, without my knowledge or permission, my account, (line rental and calls) was moved to Moviestar,      I still cannot find out why?     I asked Spantel and was advised to start using their prefix again but the prefix number did not work.   

March, April and May invoices were from Moviestar, then in June, inexplicably, I received an invoice from Spantel for calls made in June.

Can anyone explain what is happening?      Getting clear answers from Spantel is virtually impossible.

lgprg .

 

 

 

 

 

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Hi.

On June 24, 2013, I wrote an email to Spantel, telling them that they that overcharged.

I told them to calculate the amount themselves.

Finally, after sending them a reminder, they replied on July 9 that they had overcharged a total of 16,52€. I agreed to them crediting this amount towards future bills.

Now, on August 8, I have received an email from them with an attachment, with date June 21, 2013, in which they announce that “MINUTE MEDIA 21 S.L. Telecom” will take over their customers and that as of July 21, invoicing will be done by them.

Contacts given are: a free phone, 900 900 373 and a website, mm21 (ended in dot+es)

 

Good luck in getting you money back!

 

Regards,

Wim

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Hi there,

             Had the same problem with Spantel last year (2012) from January to August, total of €52 overcharged, my account was credited and no bills sent until April this year when the credit ran out. In May  my  "terra es" email service was withdrawn, despite several emails to Spantel they have not updated to my new address therefore no online bills received. Today I have received a bank statement with a payment to Minute Media 21 SL, internet search has brought me to this forum.   Can anyone give me their website or contact email address please.

                                                                                                    Thanks, Jeff

 

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Hi.

As you can read in my post just below yours:

<<< snip >>> “MINUTE MEDIA 21 S.L. Telecom” <<< snip >>>

Contacts given are: a free phone, 900 900 373 and a website, mm21 (ended in dot+es)

Sorry but this site does not allow me to put links, but the website is (without the blanks):

m m 2 1 . e s

Regards,

Wim

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This is my first ever blog so hope I am following procedure!! I am a Spantel customer. Only use the phone once or twice a month at most. Tried to use it last night but didn't work with 1030 prefix so called there 902 number and noted two new prefix numbers from recorded mesage. Neither worked so decided to search the net from work today and came across this thread. I will try the prefix on their website again when I get home. In the meantime I did some more Google searching and came across the following that might have something to do with the switching to Movistar....

I get the feeling that I may have a long trek ahead of me to get sorted but as I use the phone so infrequently at least it isn't critical.

lorena81

 

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We also had problems with spantel earlier this year. We had previously had our line rental with spantel but suddenly noticed we weren't being charged for line rental, then found they had switched us to movie star. Then we got charged 160 euros for calls and found we weren't on inclusive call package anymore. Anyway all got sorted and we haven't been paying until our credit has been used up. The note about mm21. There web site idles not have any English and is not interactive. When I tried to translate the ino on the contact us site it seemed to e a lot of rubbish! See below. Still ablt to make calls and use the Internet but no idea what's going on!!!

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Our Address
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Principal Ciudad, Country 12345-6789

Maecenas

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My story is even worse. I was a customer of Spantel many years ago but closed the account and changed company. They have kept my bank details all this time and I recently discovered they have been embezzling my account every month since July. I am awaiting a response so will keep this updated.

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