Can you get regional phone number for other areas?.. if you get me, let me explain...

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jobber_2
jobber_2 Posts: 27 Forumite
in Small biz MoneySaving
For example... is it easy to have a 0121 number or an 0161 number for my office in London so I can attract business from these areas by giving the impression of a local presence?

How do you get these and how much does it cost?

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  • Alfie_E
    Alfie_E Posts: 1,293 Forumite
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    If you have a broadband Internet connection, you can use Voice over IP to achieve this. Look a Vonage's Virtual Phone Number feature.
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  • pricefighter
    pricefighter Posts: 2,829 Forumite
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    jobber wrote:
    For example... is it easy to have a 0121 number or an 0161 number for my office in London so I can attract business from these areas by giving the impression of a local presence?

    How do you get these and how much does it cost?

    There are a few suppliers around one is callagenix.
    See https://www.callagenix.com/numbers/numberregional.htm
    PF.
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
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    There are Advertising Standards Authority complaints upheld all the time relating to companies doing precisely this. It is not acceptable to pretend you have a presence somewhere you do not.
  • Alfie_E
    Alfie_E Posts: 1,293 Forumite
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    MarkyMarkD wrote:
    There are Advertising Standards Authority complaints upheld all the time relating to companies doing precisely this.
    It doesn't seem to be quite as cut and dried as that. Using a different geographic national number group, without an address, isn't automatically a problem – see adjudication 35024. While, in that adjudication, the advertiser had subcontractors at the location, adjudication 36843 shows that a location can be referred to, if it would be natural to expect that the advertiser would be travelling to the location to perform the task.
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  • stripeyfox
    stripeyfox Posts: 474 Forumite
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    I used to work for a company based in a small midlands town but with national coverage (installing security systems). We used to advertise in local yellow pages with a local number and it was hugely successful at attracting business (particularly in London where people seemed reluctant to accept that anyone outside the M25 had evolved out of the trees yet, let alone be able to provide a hi tech security system). There are companies who provide these numbers but I can't recall who we used.
  • jobber_2
    jobber_2 Posts: 27 Forumite
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    MarkyMarkD wrote:
    There are Advertising Standards Authority complaints upheld all the time relating to companies doing precisely this. It is not acceptable to pretend you have a presence somewhere you do not.

    Its not my intention to pull the wool over anyones eyes, rather just make it more appealing to call the local number rather than a more expensive distant number.


    Vonage looks good... has anyone had any experience of using it?
  • Lindsay100
    Lindsay100 Posts: 182 Forumite
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    Get a virtual office in that place?
    Like my avatar, took the photo myself with the free digital camera I bought from boots with all my free points! I love moneysaving.
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912 Forumite
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    Good research, Alfie. I'm sure there are other cases than those - and you are quite right that the ASA definitely doesn't stand for listing "virtual" locations with their telephone numbers unless they are genuine operating bases.

    Jobber's point about calling "a cheaper local number" simply doesn't apply any more ... nearly all UK calls cost the same amount with most providers.
  • pricefighter
    pricefighter Posts: 2,829 Forumite
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    What would be the situation if some one listed a series of say 0845 numbers in there ads eg contact us
    London.084561xxxxx
    Manchester.084562xxxxx
    Glasgow.084563xxxxx
    and all the calls went to say London as they only had one office in London. Would that breach ASA guidelines.
    PF.
  • stripeyfox
    stripeyfox Posts: 474 Forumite
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    The company I worked for, as I said, had adverts in many, many yellow pages with a local number, but also with the actual address in Leicestershire. The customer would then call a local number and we would be invoiced for the "rest" of the call by the operator.
    If someone asked where we were to come and collect goods then we told them that the factory was based in Leicester.
    Are you saying that this practice is now "outlawed"?
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