Page 1 - Your Services

Balance Brought Forward: Any amount that you owe VM from previous, un-paid bills.

Service Charges: Total charges for all the services you take. Don't forget that these are paid in advance.

Telephone Useage Charges: Any calls you made that were not part of your inclusive calls package..

IMPORTANT TIP : If you are going to add something to your services (for example you decide to get the Sky Movie channels for a month, then it is best to do so on the first day of your billing cycle. (You will find this on Page 3.) This will then stop any "partial month" charges which can get really confusing!

Also bear in mind that, because you are charged in advance, not arrears, that if you do decide to take - for example - the Sky Movie channels for a month, you will actually (and properly) be charged for TWO months. However, you will also see a rebate on you bill the month after you cancel.

Example:

My billing cycle starts on the 19th of the month. So, on Dec 19th I will add the Sky Movie channels for a month over Christmas; a treat for myself!

So, on January's bill I can expect to see a charge of £39 (£19.50 per month on XLTV pack; 1 month I've had already and the 'month in advance' for January). However, when I cancel the channels, on January 18th, this will generate a refund of £19.50 which will show up on my February bill.

Page 2 - Payment Summary

Balance Brought Forward: Any amount that you owe VM from previous, un-paid bills.

Previous Bill Balance: The amount you owed last month.

Payment Details: Details of what you paid last month

Page 3 - Service Charges

Total Service Charges: The total amount you have been charged this month.

Refunds And Adjustments: Just what it says. May include things like refunds for loss of a service; gratuitous refunds for missed service call-outs, etc. Currently in effect is a refund reflecting the lower rate of VAT.

Advange Charges: As usual, you pay for your services in advance, not in arrears. These are those charges.

NOTE: The thing that seems to confuse most people about their VM bill is the fact that the actual, listed cost for their services is higher than on the website. As I understand it, this is simply because of the way VM's accounting system works.

We are all charged the full, retail, price for the service and then a "Loyalty discount" is applied to reduce the price to that which you agree to when signing-up to take VM's services. Yes, there's no doubt it's weird, but that's just the way it is. Basically you just need to check the actual figure shown under "Advance Charges".

Page 4 - Telephone Usage Charges

Total, Call Charges breakdown (detailed on Page 5) and VAT component.

Page 5 - Call Details by Date

Here you will find a list of the charges for any calls you made outside of whichever 'inclusive' call plan you are on. As you can see, mine is only for "calls below 50p" but this is from the days when itemised billing costs extra. I believe it is now free but haven't bothered chasing this up with VM!