0870 Consultation closed 6 Dec

MSE_Martin

Annoyed with hideous 0870 numbers.... urgently have your say

Call to complain about a company and if its got an 0870 number, you're paying up to 8p a minute and its getting a cut of the revenue from it. The telecoms regulator Ofcom's launched a(nothter) consultation on this. The deadline for Consumers to have their say closes on 6 Dec. Their suggestions are a big improvement, but they could go further.

Newbies where to learn about 0870 numbers

If you're unsure of the 0870 issues, start by reading the full article.

For those who understand the issues

Ofcoms proposals are a definite improvement. Here's the brief highlights

A. 0870 prices should be reduced to those of normal phone calls, and revenue sharing should be stopped. This means companies shouldn't be able to profit from offering them.

B. All adult calls should be premium rates making them all easier to block

C. 0871 numbers can still be revenue sharing and fixed tariff, but they will come under the jurisdiction of premium rate numbers, so they can't keep you on hold for long periods.

These all sounds great. Yet read beneath the small print and you'll find there are some inconsitencies. The use of the word 0870 numbers 'should' cost the same as normal phone calls. This means they won't have to, yet where they don't you should be told that at the begining of the call.... not much use if you've alreay made the call.

More info

The website saynoto0870, which i sponsor, has done much more detailed work on this. It also has details and forms for you to make your views known to Ofcom, something i would encourage you to do.

Martin

DonnyDave

Thanks for starting this thread Martin. In addition to the issues you highlight, Ofcom also propose to do nothing about 0845 numbers for at least two years, when they will look at them again. Should 0870 numbers be reduced to geographical rates, this will mean that 0845 will cost more than 0870! So all those companies that operate on 0845 because it's cheaper than 0870 will be at a disadvantage!

There are infact two consultations. The other one is on pricing information of 08 and 09 services. At present there is very little pricing information given by both the telephone companies and the companies operating on these 08/09 numbers.

The Say no to 0870! site has a section dedicated to these consultations:
http://www.saynoto0870.com/consultation/

Heinz

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=1152029&postcount=421

bbb_uk

Thanks for this Martin.

The deadline for this is only 10 days away.

As mentioned earlier, visit http://www.saynoto0870.com/consultation/ for more info on the two consultations.

The latest government department to use these numbers to gain revenue is Plymouth Primary Care Trust and Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust. Going by news report they expect to earn £100,000 in revenue a year at the expense of us ringing them on their soon-to-be non-geographical number.

dc

Even more information, and MSEers views over the last few weeks.


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=105801


dc;)

d.ylan

possibly on a marginal tangent off from the topic, but i have been looking for some way of complaining about misinformation regarding 0870's.

Basically in some recent dealings with Dell they were being unduly difficult and I refused to spend another hour on their 0870, and their rep via email assured me that the 0870 number was [exact quotation] "The # given is a TOLL free # for our UK customers".

Of course I disputed this fact but I think the person was somewhere on the other side of the globe and was having non of it, assuring me it was absolutely toll free. Needless to say I ended up having to use the number anyway.

Do you think this would be a valid point to include on my comments to ofcom on their proposals, or could anyone suggest a more appropriate place of complaint? There is obviously a lack of education about these numbers amongst the staff on the other end.

Heinz

d.ylan wrote:

There is obviously a lack of education about these numbers amongst the staff on the other end.

Unfortunately, some firms (and I've just added serial 0870 abusers Dell to my list) deliberately 'train' their staff to give such false information if asked. The usual ones are, "It's the same as a local call" or "Its national rate."

I've heard of people who dial Dell's Irish numbers direct. According to SayNoTo0870.com, each of their 0870 907xxxx numbers translates to 00 353 1204xxxx so, if you use 18185, you can call for 4p connection and ½p/minute instead of 7.51p/minute for the 0870 equivalent via BT.

jonnylondon

Martin,

Your link above "More info .. The website saynoto0870" isn't working. You forgot the '.com' at the end

Thanks for your good work

Jonny

MSE_Martin

artin,

Your link above "More info .. The website saynoto0870" isn't working. You forgot the '.com' at the end

Thanks for your good work

Jonny

Thanks Jonny

Fixed it

digitalhen

Thanks for the link Martin :beer: I've submitted my thoughts to Ofcom...

gdh82

I've had my say too! :mad:

Have you had your say yet ?

You can read the responses by the public so far:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/nts_forward/responses/

If you disagree with misleading and overpriced 0870 calls etc, you'll see YOU ARE NOT ALONE !