0844 numbers - cheapest way to call?

martyp

Hi all,
I'm an avid user of SayNoTo0870 and also use Google searches to try and find alternatives to 0870 etc numbers but can't avoid the 0844477 number used by my local surgery which I've had to call quite frequently recently.
On Virginmedia it's a PG6, costing about 7p a minute.
I tried using both 1899 and my VOIP phone and both gave a message saying they don't allow calling of that number...

Can anyone advise?

456789

Can you see in the phonebook what their local number is? or maybe someone still has the local number from when they used to advertise that?

Heinz

456789 wrote: »

Can you see in the phonebook what their local number is? or maybe someone still has the local number from when they used to advertise that?

If the surgery has a 'SurgeryLine' telephone system installed by NEG, the old geographical number will have been taken out of use - they and the doctors are interested in the money they make from NHS patients queuing, at 5p/minute or more, while they wait to speak to someone, so they'll have stopped that sly little loophole.

martyp

456789 wrote: »

Can you see in the phonebook what their local number is? or maybe someone still has the local number from when they used to advertise that?

That's something I hope to find through googling. Google results do list the surgery with a local geographic number but when I call it I get a message 'You have dialled an incorrect number...'. They must have cancelled their old number and have a new one which is masked by the horrid 0844 one. I even tried altering the last digit on their fax number which is geographic and see if that was an adjacent number...

bryanb

Our's has online booking system, have you checked their website?

martyp

Heinz wrote: »

If the surgery has a 'SurgeryLine' telephone system installed by NEG, the old geographical number will have been taken out of use - they and the doctors are interested in the money they make from NHS patients queuing, at 5p/minute or more, while they wait to speak to someone, so they'll have stopped that sly little loophole.

That sounds just like it. When you call the number it says it's transferring you through to the surgery so I guessed it was like a central number or something.
0844 numbers aren't free on BT either are they? Not that I'd change phone services just to call one number but was wondering about getting someone else to call for me

bryanb

martyp wrote: »

0844 numbers aren't free on BT either are they? Not that I'd change phone services just to call one number but was wondering about getting someone else to call for me

At least then someone else would be paying.

martyp

To add to the pain, I get an e-mail today from Virginmedia to say they're increasing the cost of calling specifically 0844 numbers by 2p per minute...[FONT=Helvetica, Geneva, Arial, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]
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