Addiction To Calling & Financially Crippling Phone Bills

Gosh darn it, I've slipped off the wagon...

I'd lasted 40 days without calling, but today I rang to wish one of the babes a happy new year and a speedy recovery because she's had a recent bout of flu.

It was, as ever, intended as a quick call, but the trouble is, it took me several attempts to get through - so several call charges on top, plus listening into her and a "pay piggy" that kept calling her back and beating me to the punch each time.
We eventually had a pleasant chat and I had the sense to end the call before it timed out, but I've just checked my phone bill app and discovered I've run up £58 in call charges

I am well aware that when I say "trouble is, it took me several attempts to get through", the truth is what really happened was trouble is, I'm a God damn addict, used my mild concern for her wellbeing as an excuse to dial her channel and should have left well alone.

So, there are 3 things I need to do;
1) Not bloody call again
2) Make sure I leave £91 in my bank account to cover the cost
3) Hang my head in shame

Oh, and there was this bizarre illogical reasoning, where I went, "Oh no, I've wasted money without even getting to chat, so I'd better try again and again, until successful, otherwise the money I just threw away will be all for nothing!"

Madness.

Its not madness Ducky just human nature I'm afraid, when i worked in the casino industry people would come in and lose their entire months salary trying to chase the money they had lost on the first spin of the wheel or hand of cards they had played. As a manager i was supposed to identify potential problem gamblers and try and help them. One thing they all had in common was the belief that the next spin or hand would be the one and so they kept on playing until the money ran out. Sometimes they would cancel their membership in disgust at themselves but they would soon return and it would start all over again.

Like yourself when i used to call the channels i would often spend more money waiting to get through than speaking to an actual girl but still i persisted in the hope i was next in line.

Don't be too hard on yourself when you succumb to temptation it happens to the best of us.

Jeez Ducky, £58 is a big hit to pay for some meaningless chit chat If you had been ripped off by any other form of business, you would be trying to rip their throat out to get your money back. Bit of glamour, and we put them on a pedestal, when in reality these girls are just phone whores, nothing more nothing less. Took a long time to see the light, but one nurse is worth more than all these channel girls put together. At least a whore has to put some effort into her work, more than most of these prima donna,s do.

Good news! (providing it works as expected) I've just accessed my EE account on their website and went to the Data Content Control screen.
From there, it gave me the option to opt out of being able to call abroad and/or make premium rate calls.
Now, obviously, I could deselect the self-imposed ban, but with it taking up to 24 hours to implement said change, it means that I can't do so on the fly and that should mean any momentary lapses in will-power cannot lead me to grant myself any spontaneous call permissions.

I hope this is helpful to anyone else here who may find themselves in a similar predicament.

Below: Screen capture of where to find the Block option.
   

If there are any ways around this ban then please keep it yourselves

I've also contacted EE customer services (via an EE website chat box thingy) and requested that my payments come out of my account a few days after my monthly pay day, so it won't feel as impactful and it'll spare me the agony of having to wait until the 17th for this to finally be over

well there is one obvious one

still Sky bet paid for that call so i can live with it and its back on the waggon

Has anyone got any tips on avoiding call queues and the cheapest method of calling all the channels?

It's just in case I have a lapse, I want to get in and out as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

i like Rampant you can call all the channels £1.50pm apart from S66 thats 2£ pm you can pay by card and used normal telephone number

i like rampant because for the BS girls they have a popup when the girl gets off the line and i does give you some warning before the stream shows they are off the line but that doesnt meant there isnt a mad rush when someone else is racing on there

Cheers HannahsPet

Rampant doing a Double Credits offer on first topup after midnight tonight all weekend so if your going to lapse do it this weekend where you get double the credit