08nn FoneRipOff numbers.

[pipme]

.... Last week The Sunday Times suggested a way to get round paying rip-off rates to call banks and other companies on these numbers.
So-called special service numbers such as 0845 and 0870 do not work when called from overseas. The banks must therefore give customers an alternative number if they are travelling abroad. But these numbers also work from within Britain - you simply remove the +44 UK code and add a zero. Alternative local-code numbers for many well-known firms are also available through the website Saynoto0870.com

 

[ninebob]

0845 is local rate anyway though. Even 0870 is only national, so the only way you'd save is if you happen to be in the same dialling code...

 

[david and julie]

This may tell you more.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1086555604,78422,

 

[jtaunton]

ninebob is correct for landlines, but these 'non-geographic' numbers aren't include in the inclusive minutes that you get with a mobilem, so you would end up paying for them then, when you wouldn't pay for the alternative number

 

[Scoby_Beasley]

Could I as a householder get an 0870 number then I could make money out of all those folks who are chasing me for money !!

 

[pipme]

Tis more a battle against being 'placed on hold' ..... giving 'em stick however small, this bl##dy communications game is out of hand IMHO.
I wonder just how much dosh is made through people not knowing the system -- the game is to just pluck enough goose feathers without too much hissing -- Seems to be the mantra of today !

 

[pipme]

ninebob is correct for landlines, but these 'non-geographic' numbers aren't include in the inclusive minutes that you get with a mobilem, so you would end up paying for them then, when you wouldn't pay for the alternative number

If you were obtaining your calls at 1p per min, 087 at 7.5p might be a shock ... why allow these ba st ards to profit from customer calls ?
Also those numbers not included in BT free mins schemes either.

... the discount you receive for calling a Specialised Number is lower than for geographical calls or that the call is excluded from the discount scheme... Bt-Together options 1,2&3 ...Numbers prefixed 0845, 0870, Internet calls, Premium Rate Services, mobile numbers, information and paging services are excluded. Other exclusions and terms and conditions apply.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

It's all about customer choice, deregulation has given the consumer a dazzling array of choices in which he can decide the best way to be ripped off. Quite simple really...

Sort of 'connected' my service provider has increased my bandwidth, Again!, now I have more bandwidth than I can shake a Sony Memory Stick at!!! (do you see what I did there?)

I'd rather they just gave me the existing service at a lower cost personally... They offer reduced prices to newbies, why not give it to loyal existing customers who pay regularly each month...

It's not about keeping customers tho, it's generating new business. And do you know why, it's because they know people won't chop and change because it's nothing but a complete headache too! Please phone customer services on 0870.... and be kept on hold for twenty minutes whilst we transfer your call to Bangledesh...

So, I've come full circle then! Back on topic!!!

 

[AdamW]

Whilst sitting on hold the other day, I got to thinking:

Whilst I am on hold with a company that uses an 0800 number, their cost works out to probably way less than 1p per minute (I believe they buy capacity rather than paying per minute), but let's say 1p anyway.

A phone operator earns probably about £8 an hour in a typical utilities company. Take into account overheads and it would be considerably more.

60p per hour to keep someone on hold, versus £8 per hour to pay someone to answer the phone... I would not be surprised if when they work these things out, they have a graph showing how many people hang-up after so long on hold, and have an acceptable number of hanger-uppers (after all, you WILL call back sooner or later). Just so long as all operators are in a call at all times, they are running efficiently. So it helps smooth out the peaks a bit.

Doesn't mean we don't get pi**ed off with it though!

 

[breezer]

one thing no one has mentioned.

Alrarm companies use 0870 / 0906 because it is less hassle. I shall explain.

Most alarms will "call the police" when required. Most alarm comanies have a "alarm receiving centre" the alarms used to phone them "direct" eg. 01 ***** (01 being for London) Then OFTEL changed all the prefixes, so 01 became 07 / 08 then it became 0171 /0181 and now 020 7/8

Now each time oftel did this alarm engineers had to go round to EVERY alarm and physically change "some bits" obviously this was expensive. So after the 2nd change most alarm companies with an ARC in London Changed to 0870 /0906 numbers so that if /when the numbers changed they were no longer effected.

Also if one ARC has a problem they can transfer the 0870 / 0906 to another ARC "at the flick of a switch"

I believe alot of call centres do this too, to "balance the call load" also at night, rather than have say 3 or 4 call centres open 24/7 3 will close leaving just one for "the night shift" (less callers) so the 0870 / 0906 number do have their uses too.