Call costs don't add up to balance

[#1]

I've been on Home Phone for a couple of months and I'm confused about how the Account Balance field in the Account Summary screen is worked out.
My Account Balance currently shows as -£2.30 which I guess should mean that I have made £2.30 worth of chargeable calls since my last bill.  However, if I look at the Itemised Bill since my last billing date (4/1/08) it shows a total call cost of £0.74.  Quite a difference!
If I look at all the Calls Made since the 4/1/08 they add up to £0.74 too.  Even if I include the unconfirmed calls (which I guess shouldn't be included until confirmed) I only get £0.92.
So can anyone tell me where the £2.30 has come from?  Am I missing something obvious or is this a mistake?

[#2]

Hi there,
I'll need to take a detailed look at your account but if you give me an hour or so I reckon I'll get to the bottom of this.

[#3]

Thanks Mand

[#4]

Any update on this Mand?
My Balance now says -£2.73 whereas the call costs are shown as £1.17.
Thanks

[#5]

I've now opened a ticket (23861902)

[#6]

Does anyone else have a problem with their Home Phone Current Balance not showing the correct value in the portal?
Mine currently is showing as -£2.81 whereas adding up the Calls Made since my last billing date and looking at the figures shown in the Itemised Bill both come to £1.25.  So the current balance is still £1.56 out.
The slightly worrying response to my ticket was that it is not much of a discrepancy but they will investigate if I really want them to!
I don't know if the Credit Balance is used for billing anywhere or whether it's just used to enforce the Credit Limit (I suspect the latter), but I would like to be able to trust all the figures shown on the portal. 
So, anyone else got a discrepancy?

[#7]

The difference could be calls that were unconfirmed last month being carried forward to this month's bill. At you last billing point did you have any unconfirmed calls - if so these are added to this month's bill.
Bob

[#8]

Unconfirmed calls should no longer affect the Balance according to this post by Mand on 1/11/07
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,523.msg25537.html#msg25537

Quote

Yep, one of the changes as part of the recent project was to only adjust the credit balance as a result of a confirmed call being received. This is a fundamental change in the way that we adjust the credit balance, but is entirely in your favour.

[#9]

Hi robr,
Firstly apologies that I wasn't able to look at this for you before now, Friday was a bit manic. 😕
I've added an update to your ticket now which hopefully will provide further assurance.
The issue is not that unconfirmed calls are affecting your balance (you are correct in saying that this is no longer the case). The problem in this case is related to an issue we were experiencing in December, where call records were not being processed, and so not added to customer accounts.
This means that a few customers now have confirmed calls from a previous month, which were not added to the account in time for December billing and so are added to January's bill, and therefore affecting the credit balance.
The confusion here is that the unconfirmed call data will appear in December's bill, so you would have to check both months bills, and charges, in order to work out why the credit balance is as it is.

[#10]

In which case I think I've got the same problem.
I've got a £0.18 difference between the "Current balance" in "My Account" and my Itemised Bill for this month. This equals the cost of 3 unconfirmed calls made on 17 December - the day before my billing date.
What should have happened then? Should the 3 unconfirmed calls for December have been added to the calls for January so it all balances out?
Bob

[#11]

Hi Bob,
That's right.  Although the call records will show up under December, the costs for those calls will appear in January's invoice.

[#12]

Quote from: Mand

This means that a few customers now have confirmed calls from a previous month, which were not added to the account in time for December billing and so are added to January's bill, and therefore affecting the credit balance.

Thanks Mand - that now makes sense.  If I was undercharged for December by £1.56 then the extra £1.56 on this months balance is understandable.

[#13]

Yep, I've put the actual figures on your ticket, but for obvious reasons haven't posted that here.
Apologies for the confusion, in hindsight this issue could have been highlighted in the final Service Status message for the problem.