Eastlink is apologizing to some of its phone customers and promising to reverse a charge that was erroneously billed to their accounts.

Two Stellarton customers say they were charged $38.88 for an "op assist" call they didn't make.

Kerry Boudreau noticed a charge of $38.88 under "Local Phone" on her February Eastlink phone bill.

She called Eastlink and was told the call was made at 1:12 a.m. on Feb. 16 to an American number.

"They told me it was type of phone number that you call in the U.S. where you vote on something and that was what the charge was for. I said that absolutely did not happen from my number," Boudreau said.

Dead end with Triton Global

Eastlink referred her to a third-party provider, Triton Global. When she called there was no answer so she again contacted Eastlink. She says the customer service rep told her the charge would be reversed.

Her neighbour, Sheri Austin, wasn't as fortunate. She, too, discovered the charge on her bill for a call that was logged at 5:13 a.m. on the same day.

Eastlink told her to call Triton Global. Austin spoke to a Triton representative who told her she must pay the charge. When she tried to explain she did not make the call, Austin says the representative hung up on her.

She then contacted Eastlink again and their rep said they would investigate.

In an email to CBC News, Eastlink spokeswoman Jill Laing said one of the company's third party providers "has identified an issue on their end, which resulted in the billing of incorrect charges for a few of our customers, and we are currently in the process of reversing those charges."

Laing said Eastlink "recognizes that we made a mistake in referring this customer's inquiry to the third party vendor." She said it is not their standard practice.

She said it's important to note this impacts other service providers, as well.

Check your bills

Laing said there are a range of charges — some long distance, 900 services and collect calls — that Eastlink, like other providers, receive from third parties and pass on to the customer's bill.

Both Boudreau and Austin are urging people to check their Eastlink bills for the erroneous charge.

"There's an awful lot of people that I know that have automatic payment and they just receive the bill in the mail, they know it's paid and taken care of and don't think anything further of it," Boudreau said.