best 'virtual' office / answering service info please

yallapilko

HI,
Do any of you use a virtual office/answering service?

If so how much do you pay?

Can you recommend one?

Thanks
Yalla

barginboyrob

I've heard of some for £1 a call,

check ukbusinessforums

there's a thread on it!

yallapilko

Thanks for that. But it does seem a little expensive still.
I was hoping to find an all inclusive package if anyone knows of one.

ukbill69

Get a freephone number, a new mobile number and do it yourself for free!

jasmin10

Look up "virtual assistant" I use to be one and they do retainer agreements. i.e. they handle your calls for a set fee per month. They would charge per call if it was ad hoc work but if a regular thing it would be cheaper as a retainer. They have their own phone switchboard and would answer the call in your company name.
hth

thebaldwindowfitter

ukbill69 wrote: »

Get a freephone number, a new mobile number and do it yourself for free!

this works out expensive because you are charged for the free phone cost to which it has to go to land line then the divert to mobile .buzz networks is a company that does virtual assistant service for fixed charge and are part of thomson local they can offer all types of numbers .free phone numbers dont seem to work like they did more people are using mobiles and you are charged for these calls and not included in service plans.we have had seven freephone numbers in different adverts and now get more calls from local numbers than we did from from free phone nos

jasmin10

I used sipgate for my 0845 number and it was free to used. Like the other posters have said, you can still use sipgate and select to choose an 0800 number, but it would still cost albeit about 5-£10 a month. I can't remember how much it was. Best thing to do is to browse. I also managed to get a fax number for when I was in business, although it was an 0870 at least the customer had a choice whether to use it or not.

ukbill69

a6windows wrote: »

this works out expensive because you are charged for the free phone cost to which it has to go to land line then the divert to mobile .buzz networks is a company that does virtual assistant service for fixed charge and are part of thomson local they can offer all types of numbers .free phone numbers dont seem to work like they did more people are using mobiles and you are charged for these calls and not included in service plans.we have had seven freephone numbers in different adverts and now get more calls from local numbers than we did from from free phone nos

Yes they do work if you advertise the 0800 number and local number, costs me 10p per min on 0800 and customers rather use 0800 when using a house phone than a local rate that costs them 4p per min in day. We are in a credit crunch you know!

olly300

ukbill69 wrote: »

Yes they do work if you advertise the 0800 number and local number, costs me 10p per min on 0800 and customers rather use 0800 when using a house phone than a local rate that costs them 4p per min in day. We are in a credit crunch you know!

You are obviously in a market space where people will call you on a landline. Not everyone is in the same market space.

When I've had to call for car problems (I've locked myself out of the car) I had the local number stored in my mobile phone not the free phone number as the free phone number costs me from a mobile while a local number won't.

I also only give out a mobile number for business purposes. If people insist on a landline number I give out an 0870 number as the only people I want calling me at home are family and friends. My actual business number (local rate) is attached to a fax machine.

thebaldwindowfitter

ukbill69 wrote: »

Yes they do work if you advertise the 0800 number and local number, costs me 10p per min on 0800 and customers rather use 0800 when using a house phone than a local rate that costs them 4p per min in day. We are in a credit crunch you know!

In one of the yellow pages that we advertise the book covers 3 areas with area codes starting 0161,01204 and 01942 we used to use 0800 number in 2006-07 book, we were advised to use local numbers and our calls have more than doubled and have found that we are getting work in the 01942 district were before we wernt getting any.we have also found that the calls are more serious enquiries