International Calling Card

HOW IT WORKS

• What is a calling card?

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  • The international calling card allows you to make low cost international calls to destinations all across the world from any phone primarily from the UK. You can use any landline phone, any mobile or even a payphone.

• Where can I buy it?

  • • Online: Click here to buy a virtual calling card online. We will email you all the information you will need, and we can even send you a free text containing the details. You'll be able to make a cheap international call straight away!
    
    • In-store: You can buy cards in any Tesco store in the UK and Northern Ireland, subject to availability. In Tesco Express (our smaller High Street stores) they can be found near the front of the shop where you queue for your purchases. In all our other larger Tesco stores, they can be found next to the conveyor belt, and at the self-service tills.
    
    • Over the phone – Just dial 0800 097 3300 and follow the prompts.

• How do I buy online?

  • To purchase a new card:
    1. Click “Buy Now”, which will navigate you to a screen with two options. As a first time customer, you will need to click “Buy a Calling Card now”.
    2. Choose the amount you wish to top up, £5, £10 or £20.
    3. Below the top up amount tab, there is a field for your email address. This is to enable the confirmation of your purchase to be sent to your email account, or you can fill in your mobile number to have the details sent directly.
    4. Fill in card payment details - this is mandatory and must be filled in correctly. Any mistakes will incur delayed purchases.
    5. Final page will show two options “confirm purchase” to continue the buy or “cancel purchase” if no longer needed
    

    Top-up an existing card
    1. Click on tab “Top up existing calling card”
    2. Type in the long number starting from 894488, situated at the bottom left corner (if you do not have the number, simply purchase a new card using the “Buy now” button).
    3. Select the top up required, £5, £10 or £20, and fill in your email address for the confirmation to be sent after purchase has been made, then tab “next”.
    4. Fill in the “card payment details” - this is mandatory and must be filled in correctly. Any mistakes will incur delayed purchases.
    5. Final page will show two options “confirm purchase” to continue the buy or “cancel purchase” if no longer needed.

• Who can help me if I have a problem with the card?

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  • Be sure to check the number you are dialling first. If this doesn't solve the problem, please call customer services on 0845 025 5000 or email care@tescocallingcard.com. (If emailing please include your 19 digit reference number, located at the bottom right of the card).

• How do I top-up the calling card?

  • Simply go into any Tesco store and hand over the calling card at the till.
    You will be asked what amount you wish to top-up the calling card.
    For your convenience - top-ups start at only £3.00 and we of course also offer the more popular top-up amounts of £5.00, £10.00 or £20.00.
    If you make lots of calls, don't get caught out with running out of credit and go for a larger amount such as £10.00 or £20.00.

• When does the calling card expire?

  • The card expires 90 days after purchase. Where the card has been topped-up, then the expiry data also resets from 90 days of that top-up. There is no limit to the number of times you can top-up the card and every time it is topped-up, the expiry will reset to 90 days. Once the card has expired any amounts left on the card is forfeited.

• Can I call every country in the world?

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  • Yes every country is accessible.

• Does your service always work 24 hours a day 7 days a week?

  • Yes the service is 24 hours, seven days a week - though no Telephony service can offer 100% guaranteed service due to reliance on other telephony companies - but we do our best and use quality suppliers only.

• I have had quality problems with other calling cards what is your quality like?

  • If you cannot connect to who you wish to call or the line is a poor quality then this is not great service for you. We have put in place quality checks to help avoid this from happening and banned the "cheap and nasty" call termination methods from our service. If you do have quality problems, lets us know the number you are trying to call with an email on care@tescocallingcard.com and we will look into it. (Please include your 19 digit reference number, located at the bottom right of the card).

• Can I call premium numbers or non geographic numbers?

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  • General rule is our service is geared up for calling to mobiles and landline numbers only.

• What is the Access Number?

  • To use your service, you need to first connect to our technology platform. You do this by calling the Access Number, and on connection just follow the simple instructions.

• Which Access Number should I use?

  • Any of the Access Numbers will work.
    We simply offer more than one Access Number to give you a choice.
    Generally the local Access Number is the cheapest when calling from your own landline or mobile. If you are calling from someone else's phone or a payphone, it may be better to use the 0800 number.
    
    The Access Numbers include:
    London ..................................................................................................................0208 097 2468
    0800 or Payphone ...............................................................................................0800 097 2468
    National .................................................................................................................0845 025 2468
    

• Which Access Number do I call when calling from my mobile?

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  • Use the Access number 0208 097 2468.
    It is generally cheaper to call the London Access Number 0208 097 2468 and use your bundled minutes than 0800 where this is usually charged.

• My PIN doesn't work, what should I do?

  • Firstly check you clearly see all 10 digits of the code correctly and have fully scratched off the silver cover.
    If problems persist please call customer services on 0845 025 5000.

• Where is the PIN?

  • The PIN is underneath the scratch panel next to "STEP 2"" on the calling card. It is a 10 digit number.
    You should use a coin to scratch off the panel.

GETTING MORE

• What is PINless dialling?

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  • We have a pretty smart technology platform that can remember your phone number. After you have called the Access Number and entered your PIN, simply press ***.
    In all future calls to the Access Number, it will recognise your mobile number and take you straight to STEP 3
    If you wish to stop PINless dialling, simply dial **0."

• How do I call back to the UK whilst overseas?

  • You can use our service from 7 other countries outside the UK. These are Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Spain. Simply call the local Overseas Access Number from that country to access the service. Not only can you call back to the UK from those countries but you can call anywhere in the world.
    Belgium (Brussels) .................................................................................................02 808 3788
    Belgium (Antwerp) ...................................................................................................03 808 2468
    France (Paris)............................................................................................................017661 8212
    Germany (Dresden) ................................................................................................0351 445 2468
    Germany (Grünberg) ...............................................................................................0640 195 2468
    Ireland (Dublin).........................................................................................................01 437 2468
    Italy (Roma) ..............................................................................................................06 8110 0228
    Italy (Verona) ............................................................................................................04 5711 0105
    Netherlands (Amsterdam).....................................................................................010 742 2468
    Netherlands (The Hague)......................................................................................070 262 2468
    Spain (Madrid) .........................................................................................................911 822 707

• What is the most convenient way of calling from my mobile?

  • "Provided you have already setup PINless dialling, you can store all the dialling requirements to your phone's address book useing the speed dialling + pause dialling features by adding the Access Number, a pause and the destination number.
    Pause dialling is where the phone pauses (usually for 3 seconds), and then continues to dial.
    Normal stored number....................0061396069606
    Speed dial with pause dialling..........02080972468p0061396069606#

• How does my mobile store the number for speed dialling on the calling card?

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  You first need to ensure PINless dialling is setup on your phone.

  • STEP : 1

    Add the Access Number

  • STEP : 2

    Add the pause key

  • STEP : 3

    Add the destination number, and

  • STEP : 4

    Add hash at the end "#"

  Normal stored number......................0061396069606
  Speed dial with pause dialling...........02080972468p0061396069606#
  
  Nokia:.............................................Press star (*) key 3 times for the 'p' to appear
  iphone:...........................................Go to the +*# keypad and select pause for the ',' to appear
  Sony Ericsson:................................Press and hold the star (*) key for the 'p' to appear
  Motorola:........................................Press and hold the star (*) key for the 'p' to appear
  Panasonic:......................................Press and hold the zero (0) key until the '+' appear
  Siemens:........................................Press and hold the zero (0) key until the '+' appear
  For other phones, consult your phone manual.

CHARGES & RATES

• How much can I top-up the calling card with?

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  • For your convenience - top-up starts at only £3.00 and we of course also offer the more popular top-up amounts of £5.00, £10.00 or £20.00.
    If you make lots of calls, don't get caught out with running out of credit and go for a larger amount such as £10.00 or £20.00.

• How can you offer such low ppm rates of 1p per minute + a one off 4p per connection fee to over 50 countries - what's the catch?

  • There is no catch!
    Unlike our competitors we proudly put our name on our product as we know we are selling it to you honestly with no hidden charges. Our costs are lower as we are running this business very efficiently and as a large company - we have buying power and all this value is passed back to you the customer.

• How many minutes does a £5.00 card get me?

  • If you are calling to one of over 50+ destinations at 1p per minute destinations like India, EU etc - £5.00 will give you around 440 minutes £10.00 will give you around 880 minutes £20.00 will give you around 1760 minutes (assuming average calls are 1/2 hour each)

• How do I get charged?

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  • You get charged only when you make a connected call. There is a charge per minute, rounded up to the nearest minute and also a connection charge of 4p for each call connected. Calls via 0800 access incur a 1p p/min surcharge and calls from BT payphone incur a 20p p/min surcharge. There are no other charges.

• Do you have any hidden charges?

  • None at all.
    Many of our competitors advertise lots of minutes with their cards but then sting you with other charges like daily maintenance fees and hidden termination charges and on top of this competitors may also have very short expiry periods.

• What is the surcharge for calling from a payphone?

  • There is a 20p per minute surcharge for calls from a payphone in the UK. This is in addition to the cost per minute of calling your destination number. This is to cover charges imposed on us by payphone operators.

• What is the surcharge for calling the 0800 Access Number?

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  • There is a 1p per minute surcharge for calling our 0800 097 2468 Access Number. This is in addition to the cost per minute of calling your destination number. This is to cover additional charges imposed on us.

• Do you charge extra for calling the Access Number from a hotel?

  • We do not charge anything extra for calls from a hotel but we also have no ability to influence any charges imposed by the hotel for calling our Access Number.
    Check with your hotel which Access Number is the cheapest Access Number to call from, but generally the 0800 Access Number works out as the cheapest solution.

• Do you charge extra for calling the Access Number from a mobile?

  • We do not charge anything extra for calls from mobiles.
    Just remember, some mobile operators charge for calls to 0800 so it is generally cheaper from mobiles to call the London Access Number 0208 097 2468 and use your bundled minutes.

• What is the rate for calling the UK?

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  • Calls to UK landlines are 2p per minute and mobile calls are 8p per minute. Calls to UK landlines are 2p per minute and mobile calls are 8p per minute.
    Calls to non geographic numbers including 0870, 0845 and 0844 (up to the 8p rate) are also charged at 8p per minute.
    Calls to 0800 numbers are charged at 2p per minute.

• What is the Overseas Access Numbers surcharge?

  • As we only offer "geographic Overseas Access Numbers", there is no surcharge. Please be aware the phone you use to call from is likely to charge you for calling the Overseas Access Number.

GENERAL QUESTIONS

• What time is it in the country I want to call?

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  • It's best to use available information on specialist websites as this is the most up to date (though please note we don't guarantee the accuracy, quality or safety of any external website). An example would be http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

• What is the international dial code for the country I want to call?

  • It's best to use available information on specialist websites as this is the most up to date (though please note we don't guarantee the accuracy, quality or safety of any external website). An example would be http://countrycode.org/

• How do you dial the destination number?

  • Destination number should be dialled as: 00 + Country code + Area code + Phone number + #
    Note: in many countries you need to drop the preceding 0 in the Area Code. For example to call within Australia locally the number is 03 9606 9606. The same number dialled from the UK is 0061 3 9606 9606