Councils and 0845

Farway

Although use of 0845 etc by local councils may be annoyingto those who phone them, beware of "law of unexpected consequences" if they were forced to use 01 etc, my guess is Council Tax would go up even more to cover lost revenue

Either way councils need money to proved services, even if we do not use some of the services provided, and it has to come from somewhere, including Government, which is not "free money" as that only comes from tax as well

My council does give out 01/02 numbers and is also contactable by e-mail at zero cost to user [ignoring council clerk's time paid for from Council Tax]

FannyHill

But if the council need to use revenue sharing numbers what's next a £5 fee when you call at their office to see someone about a repair to your council house ?

Jemma-T

Farway wrote: »

if they were forced to use 01 etc, my guess is Council Tax would go up even more to cover lost revenue

LOL, it's thinking like that that's got people ripping us off. 0845/0844 etc are not telephone numbers, they are designed to make money off the caller.

Telephones were designed for the caller to contact someone through a telephone number. People phoning a Council or other legal authority aren't playing bingo, casino or asking for sex talk. I don't mind private companies making money (if charges are clear) but not legal authorities or people contracted them.

Main problem is the scumbags that sell these numbers are going around saying it's only a "local call" and the idiots/ignorant that run surgeries and other places have no idea what they're doing. Add to this they provide the service for "free" to the surgery etc. Of course it's f***** free for them but not the person who has to phone and expects a service they've already paid for via their National Insurance. That's the profit and that's disgusting.

JohalaReewi

Farway wrote: »

Although use of 0845 etc by local councils may be annoyingto those who phone them, beware of 'law of unexpected consequences'. if they were forced to use 01 etc, my guess is Council Tax would go up even more to cover lost revenue

Quite often, it isn't the company you are calling that gets the revenue. The middleman takes a cut for providing the free features.

The revenue from 0845 is fairly small so after everyone else gets their share, there won't be much for the council. A lot of the time, the council have probably fallen for the 'local rate for all' sales pitch.

Companies who want to raise real revenue go for 0871.

Heinz

JohalaReewi wrote: »

Companies who want to raise real revenue go for 0871.

And those which want to be honest about that fact, go for 09xx numbers.

derrick

lookafterthepenny wrote: »

Saynoto0845 just type it in your search box and bang there is a directory to search for either a land line number or a free phone. we recently had a car accident and it would of cost me a small fortune on phone calls without the use of saynoto0845. the website gave me a free phone number for my insurance company!

That actually, (eventually), takes you to the "saynoto0870" site, so you might as well go there first. The first result from typing in "saynoto0845" is "saynoto0870" anyway :rotfl:The second one, (saynoto0845 and 0870), takes you to WHICH, that then tells you to go to "saynoto0870"