Is your telephone bill higher than usual or higher than you expected? You can avoid this situation if you get informed on your provider’s tariffs. The tariffs, as well as further information related to them must be provided in your contract, be it a subscription or a prepaid card.

      Read your contract. Pay special attention to:

• the number of minutes (national or international)/ SMS/ MMS/ video calls included in the subscription or in your bonuses/ extra-options; N.B. When the service is activated/ the tariff plan is amended/ the contract terminates in the course of a billing month, you will receive a smaller number of minutes/ SMS/ MMS/ video calls, proportionally to the period when you have actually used the respective offer.

• whether the number of minutes/ SMS/ MMS/ video calls included are available in the provider’s network and/ or in other national networks;

• the tariffs charged when exceeding the included national or international minutes /SMS /MMS/ video calls, itemised by the network they are used in (the provider’s own network or other networks), or by time intervals (peak/ off-peak);

• whether the tariffs include the VAT or not;

• validity term for all the options, bonuses or other discounts granted;

• the usage order of the included minutes /SMS /MMS /video calls;

• whether the included national minutes/ SMS/ MMS/ video calls that have not been used within one month are carried forward and under what terms;

• the provider’s definition of the ”national minute” or of the ”on-net minute”;

• call charging method;

• SMS charging method; N.B. An SMS spans 160 characters. If you use diacritics or other symbols, the initial text will be fragmented into 3 different SMS by default, spanning 70 characters each and you will be charged 3 SMS.

• delay penalties in case of failure to pay the bill within the due term, as the case may be;

• amount of the reconnection fee, when the service has been suspended, as applicable. 

Moreover, there is additional information you should ask from your provider or look for on the provider’s website.

For example, if you have a subscription with included minutes for international calls­ you should know that no providers can offer you the possibility to make calls to whatever networks outside the country, but only to those networks with whose providers they have concluded agreements. Moreover, your provider may offer you different tariffs for different networks in one country.

If you activate the roaming service or you have already activated this service upon the contract conclusion, find out from your provider what the applicable tariffs for such calls/SMS are.

Pay attention when you make a call or send an SMS to a short number for services of national/local interest (taxi numbers, the time etc.). By law, the tariffs for calls to these numbers cannot exceed the tariffs for the national/local calls charged by your provider. Check in the contract whether the calls/ SMS to such numbers are deducted from the included minutes/ SMS/ extra-options/ bonuses. Address your provider for clarifications if you have queries regarding the charging of such calls/ SMS!

There are some other services you can access from your telephone, as well:games and contests, horoscope, directory enquiry etc. These so-called ”content services” may be available from your telephony provider, but, most often, they are offered by various companies. In the latter situation, the telephony provider will only ensure technical support and invoicing for the content services. Usually, the calls/ SMS to numbers assigned for content services have a special tariff and cannot be deducted from the included minutes/ SMS, extra-options/ bonuses. Check your contract for details! Find out what are the tariffs for such services from your provider or from the company that offers the respective service.

About what, how and where you can complain

ANCOM may take steps if you have concluded a contract that does not provide the above-mentioned information. Find out how you can Complain to ANCOM!

If your provider has breached its contractual obligations (for example, it has invoiced your calls at a different tariff than stated in the contract), you may address the National Authority for Consumers Protection. In this situation, ANCOM can provide counselling and mediation, but cannot sanction the provider.