Billing and Payment

Paying your bill
We will prepare a bill each month and send it to your registered billing address (or billing e-mail address). Unless we agree otherwise, you must pay your account by the due date shown on your bill.

We will add any monthly charges for your services, such as Line Rental fees to your current bill. Your bill will clearly describe the service(s), together with the charges that apply to you and any discount you may be entitled to.

Telephone calls are charged in arrears. On your most recent invoice, calls made in the last billing period will be charged to your account. If any call details have not been received by us, we will include these charges on a future invoice.

Please remember to pay your bill by the due date to avoid receiving unnecessary reminders or late payment charges, or having your account suspended.

Ways to pay
Unless otherwise agreed payment by Direct Debit is mandatory. Direct Debit is safe and fully protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee.

Under special circumstances we may also accept payments by cheque, bank transfer (BACS) or credit/debit card.

For a guide on 'Paying Your Bill' please click here (pdf)

If you do not pay by Direct Debit, we normally charge you an extra fee for administration. We will add this to your bill.

Currently our standard Non-DD Fee is £1.00 per month.

Extra charges
If you don't pay your bill on time, we may charge you interest on overdue amounts or an administration fee.

If you pay your bill by cheque, credit or debit card and your bank refuses to make the payment, we may charge you for the bank charges and extra administration costs.

If you pay by another currency other than pounds sterling, we may also charge you for the bank charges and extra administration costs.

See also Billing & Late Payment Charges (below).

Billing & Late Payment charges
These additional charges can be due to a number of factors, including:

• Not paying by Direct Debit;
• Late payment;
• Having service restored after it has been restricted or suspended following late payment; or
• Early termination fees (terminating a contract within the specified minimum contract period).

Schedule of Charges

All charges exclude VAT unless stated.

Itemised bills*
We offer three options for itemising your telephone calls:

Your itemised bill will also describe other important pieces of information that are relevant to each call you have made including:

The date of the call
The length of the call (duration)
The number making the call (this applies to phone calls only)
The destination of the call (this applies to phone calls only)
The time of the call; and
The cost of the call

To add itemised billing to your account or change the type of itemised bill you receive please contact Customer Services on 0800 505 3210.

Lines are open 0900 to 1700, Mon-Fri

Customers* also receive a Destination or 'Summary' Report which shows the total number of local, national, international, mobile and special (e.g. 0845) calls made.

* Applies to Calls Only / Calls & Lines products only.

Bill queries
When we prepare bills, we check them thoroughly to make sure we have charged you correctly. If you have a query regarding your bill, please call one of our advisors immediately on 0800 505 3210 so we can explain your charges or, if necessary, investigate the matter further.

If we have made a mistake, we will adjust your account accordingly. You can also e-mail us at cs@4telgroup.com or write to us at:

Customer Services
4tel Communications Limited
1st Floor,
Carrick Business Centre
Commercial Road
Penryn.
TR10 8AR

Unexpectedly high bills can sometimes arise from using premium rate services. We appreciate that this can be by accident or because you may not be aware of the cost.Calls made to live services or chat lines are charged at premium rates, and you should be told of the charge before you go ahead with the call.

If any call is made without your permission or knowledge, you should contact one of our advisors on 0800 505 3210 immediately.

They'll make sure that it's investigated and a credit will be applied to the account where appropriate.

PhonepayPlus (formerly ICSTIS) regulates the content and promotion of premium-rate services through an industry Code of Practice. For more information or to make a complaint about a premium-rate service, you should contact PhonepayPlus on 020 7940 7474.

We may charge you an extra fee for administration. We will add this to our bill.

You can also see the PhonepayPlus Code of Practice on their website at www.phonepayplus.org.uk

Your credit status
When you register with 4tel you agree that we can carry out credit and fraud checks against your personal details. We use other agencies to collect this information and we will pass your personal information to outside credit reference agencies, counter fraud agencies and their customers. If you would like full details of these agencies, please ask us.

In some cases, we may need proof of your identity (for example, if you've moved recently, we may not be able to find your credit history). We will return any documents to you as quickly as possible.

Prepayments
In some cases, we may need a prepayment (for example, if you don't meet our credit terms or if you go over your credit limits). We work out the prepayment using the type of service you have asked for and the results of your individual credit score. We will use your prepayment to pay any charges to your account.

Credit limits
We may apply credit limits to your account for charges you run up in each billing period. We will base your credit limit on the results of your credit score and payment history. We will tell you what your personal credit limit is.

If you go over your credit limit, we may demand that you pay your outstanding balance immediately, or we may suspend the service.

If we suspend your service, you'll still be responsible for all charges you run up, including those over your credit limit.

To find out what your credit limit is or if you feel your credit limit is not appropriate, please phone an advisor on 0800 505 3210.

As well as credit limits, we also monitor unusual calling patterns made from your phone lines. We may contact you to make you aware of any change in pattern to protect your interests. We may also suspend your service to prevent the service being used until we investigate further.

Contacting Us
If you have a payment query on your account, please contact the Credit Control Department on 0800 505 3210*.

If you have a general query on your account or telephone services please contact Customer Services on 0800 505 3210*.

*Lines are open 0900 to 1700, Mon-Fri