Yorkshire warns of "extortionate" third-party call connection services

Yorkshire Water has warned its customers about call connection services on the internet that charge “extortionate” sums of money to call its customer contact centre. It has posted an alert about websites that advertise on search engines but offer premium-rate telephone numbers on which customers can contact a range of companies including Yorkshire. “Some of our customers are unwittingly using the call connection service and being charged £6 for the privilege,” the company said. Yorkshire said: "We object to these call connection service charges for a simple phone call to us which should be charged at a local rate. In April 2017, the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) issued a £645,000 fine to a similar call connection company called DK Call which charged customers £3.60 a minute to call well-known organisations such as Sky and HMRC.”