Yourcalls.net and o845 and 0870

On 18th Feb 2009 yourcalls.net sent customers the following email clearly telling them that calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers would from now on be included as free calls in their inclusive calls allowance minutes:-

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Original Message

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Subject: Important Service Update
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:16:39+0000
From: Yourcalls Notifications <noreply@yourcalls.net>
Reply-To: [EMAIL="noreply&#64;yourcalls.netOrg"]noreply@yourcalls.netOrg[/EMAIL]anisation: Yourcalls

Yourcalls.net[SIZE=-1]

Dear Mr ________,[/SIZE]

Great news for all Yourcalls.net customers

[SIZE=-1]If you ever phone a bank, utility provider or large company you will probably have to phone a 0845 or 0870 non-geographic number. Calls to these numbers can be costly especially if you are placed on hold or have to wait in a queue for some time.[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=-1]So to further reduce your monthly bill and give you added peace of mind, as a Yourcalls.net customer calls to these numbers will now be FREE when phoning them during the hours of your inclusive call package[/SIZE]?[SIZE=-1]. Just one of the many ways that Yourcalls.net saves you money![/SIZE]

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[SIZE=-1] If you haven't already why not take full advantage of these FREE calls and upgrade to our inclusive Anytime Saver Contract Offer? For just £3.90 per month not only will you receive all your UK, 0845 and 0870 calls inclusive, but also receive a 30% discount on your calls to mobiles! To do so simply [EMAIL="customer.services&#64;yourcalls.net"]email[/EMAIL] Customer Services with your request.[/SIZE]

Up to 8Mb Fast Broadband just £4.99 per month

[SIZE=-1]Sign up today to our best ever Broadband offer and get a fast reliable up to 8Mb connection[/SIZE]?[SIZE=-1] for just £4.99 per month (first 3 months only, then £7.49 per month thereafter). Plus you'll also get a FREE plug and play router, email anti-virus and spam protection, 5GB monthly download, and up to 5 email accounts. To order or simply find out more, please phone our UK based Customer Services on 0845 450 5020.[/SIZE]

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?[SIZE=-2]Free up 60 minutes per call, after which time standard non-geographic rates apply. Free and inclusive calls are subject to fair usage policy. For details of this and other price changes, please view the price list at www.yourcalls.net. 12 month contract applies to Anytime + 30 Discount on Mobile Offer.[/SIZE]

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?[SIZE=-2]Subject to local availability and compatibility. Additional download after 5GB allowance is charged at 50p per GB (Gigabyte). Offer based on provision of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). If you live in a non-LLU area the broadband charge will be £10.99 per month. Router delivery charge applies. 12 month renewable term and early termination fees apply. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion. Prices include VAT.[/SIZE]

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[SIZE=-2]© Yourcalls.net, Premium House, The Esplanade, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 2BJ. [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]Yourcalls.net is a trading name of Comms Factory Ltd, part of the OneBill Group. [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]VAT Number 825 3125 51.[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] Registered in England No. 04613736.[/SIZE]

But on 8th April 2009 they then sent the below email now saying you would only get free 0845 and 0870 calls if you also took your broadband service with them and grudgingly saying they would only make your 0845 and 0870 calls for the last two weeks in February free, even though customers were clearly under the impression their 0845 and 0870 calls were also free for the whole of March and for 8 days in April:-

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Original Message

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Subject: Important Service Update - April 2009
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 15:12:34 +0100
From: Yourcalls Notifications <noreply@yourcalls.net>
Reply-To: [EMAIL="noreply&#64;yourcalls.netOrg"]noreply@yourcalls.netOrg[/EMAIL]anisation: YourcallsTo:

[SIZE=-1]Dear Mr ________,[/SIZE]

Great news for all Yourcalls.net customers[SIZE=-1]

If you ever phone a bank, utility provider or large company you will probably have to phone a 0845 or 0870 non-geographic number. Calls to these numbers can be costly especially if you are placed on hold or have to wait in a queue for some time. So why not get these calls FREE by switching your Broadband to us?[/SIZE]

[SIZE=-1] [/SIZE]

Up to 8Mb Fast Broadband just £4.99 per month[SIZE=-1]

Sign up today to our best ever Broadband offer and get a fast reliable up to 8Mb connection[/SIZE]*[SIZE=-1] for just £4.99 per month (first 3 months only, then £7.49 per month thereafter). Plus you'll also get a FREE plug and play router, email anti-virus and spam protection, 5GB monthly download, up to 5 email accounts and now FREE calls to 0845 and 0870 numbers during the calling time of your inclusive call package.

To order or simply find out more, please phone our UK based Customer Services on 0845 450 5020 or sign up online at www.yourcalls.net.

Please accept our apologies for an error made in a previous communication last month. The announcement of FREE 0845 and 0870 calls should have been in conjunction with the sign up of our new Broadband service (see above). When we recognised our error we decided to give everybody these calls free in February. However to ensure you now get these calls FREE, simply switch your Broadband to Yourcalls.net.
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Yourcalls.net - Still top of the comparison sites
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Each month we check our products to ensure we remain ahead of the competition on price. The independent comparison sites continue to show Yourcalls.net as providing the best value for money home phone service. As a Yourcalls customer you benefit from the cheapest available call rates and inclusive packages, along with our award-winning UK based Customer Services.[/SIZE]

*[SIZE=-2]Subject to local availability and compatibility. Additional download after 5GB allowance is charged at 50p per GB (Gigabyte). Offer based on provision of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU). If you live in a non-LLU area the broadband charge will be £10.99 per month. £29.99 activation and £7 router delivery charges apply. 12 month renewable term and early termination fees apply. Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other promotion. Prices include VAT.[/SIZE][SIZE=-2]

© Yourcalls.net, Premium House, The Esplanade, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 2BJ. [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]Yourcalls.net is a trading name of Comms
Factory Ltd. [/SIZE][SIZE=-2]VAT Number 825 3125 51.[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] Registered in England No. 04613736.[/SIZE]

Hi NonGeographicalMan - sorry to hear you're having problems with Yourcalls.net.

Sadly, I no longer work for this company or I'd try and help out; although you may remember from the time I tried to introduce the CPS-only package (link to MSE thread where CPS-only product was ready to go but pulled at the last minute) - I had my pants pulled down by the powers that be, so would probably be of limited influence anyway.

The parent company, Comms Factory also used to run the much complained about Onebill Telecom, but a quick look at their website suggests this has now been sold off to XLN Telecom (who I'm sure you know all about from their having been one of the top ten most complained about telecoms companies in 2006)

Onebill website:
http://www.onebilltelecom.com/MyAccount

XLN website:
http://www.xlntelecom.co.uk/MyAccount

Striking similarity, no? I'm not sure [STRIKE]whether XLN have bought Onebill or the other way around or[/STRIKE] I]Update: [URL]http://www.zeusprivateequity.co.uk/press_rel13.htm[/URL] - XLN bought Onebill[/I whether this also extends to the Yourcalls.net brand; whether this is also now at the hands of Christian Nellemann and chums or not, it wouldn't surprise me if the quality of service continues to decline regardless.

Anywho... when I was involved with Yourcalls.net I did my best to make sure it was a 'do no evil' business - and whilst we may have made mistakes along the way, the vision (in my mind at least) was always to be one of the good guys. I pretty much WAS customer services for the first six months - and probably spoke to each of our first 3,500 customers individually - it was my signature you will have seen at the bottom of each welcome letter.

I left when it became clear that the management were more interested in profit by any means than providing a decent service. It's very sad - I put a lot of myself into Yourcalls.net, into trying to create something really genuinely good, and demonstrate you can run a successful, profitable business without being a complete b**tard about it.

Good luck getting them to change; they won't. Time to move on, my friend, as I did around March 2007.

As for a complete price list, is this not what you were looking for?
https://www.yourcalls.net/Documents/yc_pricelist.pdf