West Ham’s last season at the Boleyn Ground together with a terrific FA Cup run and a sell out Mark Noble testimonial has led to an increase in complaints about the premium line telephone number used used by the club for the West Ham ticket office hotline.

One West Ham fan received a phone bill of £105 this week for three phone calls to the West Ham ticket office and another paid a £75 bill but they are not alone with many others making similar complaints.

Many of the fans have been caught out by using their mobiles to call the West Ham ticket office. 0871 numbers are regarded as premium numbers and not included in mobile call plans.

West Ham do point out the costs in the small print on the website. The cost to the ticket office phone line it is 13p per minute plus an access charge from phone operator.

Vodafone charge their customers up to 45p per minute access charge to call 0871 numbers so the combined cost is 58p per minute or £34.80 per hour to wait on the West Ham ticket hotline.

EE charge their customers up to 44p per minute access charge to call  0871 numbers so the combined cost is 57p per minute or £34.20 per hour to wait on the West Ham ticket hotline.

O2 charge their customers up to 35.8p per minute access charge to call 0871 numbers so the combined cost is 48.8p per minute or £29.28 per hour to wait on the West Ham ticket hotline.

If you use a BT landline it would be cheaper at a combined 23.24p  per minute so £13.94 per hour.

Speaking to one of the supporters who faced a £75 bill Steve told Claret and Hugh:

“My wife rang the ticket office on her mobile to try and get tickets for the Liverpool FA Cup replay she was on hold for a long time but was gradually working her way down the queue when she got to number 4 in the queue it jumped her back up to number 70 for no reason.

“I have emailed the club the same complaint twice and had no reply and if I do not get a reply will be taking them to the small claims court. We eventually got tickets online as we never actually managed to get through on the phone. I have spoken to citizens advice about it and they have basically said I have a case against the club and as bad as it is to have to take action against my own club I feel the lack of communication and lack of care shown by the club needs action.”

Another supporter said ” We rung from an EE mobile and got a £45 bill, it was for the Watford tickets. I am a member and it said I could buy up to 4 tickets, so when I called the first time and eventually got though they said I could only purchase 1 and had to wait until they went on general sale to get the other 3 as they wasn’t members!! I called at least 3 times I also tried to book online to no avail :-(“

Another fan said  “My lad just had a 02 bill in for £42 when trying to get tickets for the Liverpool cup game. He got cut off! Rang club twice and was told they would be in touch but still nothing” 

Update: Since writing this article the club has contacted all those who complained  about phone bills with an email reply. We will continue to follow.We will continue to follow their complaints with interest. Contact us with your story if you received an unexpected phone bill after calling the West Ham ticket office.