0844 calls

shady2me

Has anyone noticed the hike in prices of, not only 0844 calls, all other providers of calls abroad? on 12th August I used 0844 428 25 25 to call a spanish mobile and was charged 60p for a 15 min call (4ppm). Today for the same 15 min call but using the number 0871 772 40 40 (7ppm) would now cost 2.30p, a near fourfold rise!!! This is due to the charges using the 0871 prefix. and the 3ppm hike.
According to the company CJM you, the provider, receive a 3ppm payment for the 0871 prefix?? Anyone else have a perspective?
I am on BT Unlimited Anytime Plan

Ypaymore

Perhaps you should make it clearer your talking about the supplier " 0844 Calls " and not 0844 call prices in general which still remain the same from BT.

Intl Call suppliers do take a share of revenue sharing numbers. This is a legitimate use of the numbers.

Sister company www.phonecheap.co.uk offer a slightly cheaper price via a 0871 6p a minute number,plus connection charge of course.

spain (wireless)0871 754 42 42

shady2me

Yes, thanks Ypaymore, I should have made it clearer that I was talking about 0844calls.co.uk. The point I was making was that in August the call cost 4ppm no other extras and now the calls cost 7ppm with a 3ppm payment to the company therefore the company 0844calls now receive 10ppm and in my case I have to pay a further 15ppm for the first minute and 7.83ppm thereafter.

I ask what do you think caused the companies to change prices (apart from the obvious) when it was charging a fair price at 4ppm to the consumer to an extortionate price to the consumer depending on what telephone call plan you are on?

In your answer you say that using a 0871 number is a legitimate use for businesses that supply an international call service but in this case do you think the whole industry is right to do the same considering what they were charging before?
A rough calculation would suggest a price hike of around 260% for a two minute call in my case. Rather an illegitimate use of the 0871 prefix dont you think?

Thanks for the info regarding phonecheap.co.uk.

wobblywill

It is absolutely disgusting that so called local rate numbers are now in fact premium numbers. Virgin Media for instance charge 10P pm minimum for these numbers.:mad:

SAYNOTO0870.com lists many alternative numbers for other 08 numbers.:A

Alternatively if your query is not urgent and you dont mind writing using snailmail (Royal Mail), then put your query in writing, give your contact details including phone numbers.:cool:

IMPORTANT if you write, let the company know you will not respond to requests to phone back on premium rate numbers. Advise them you will only respond in writing but expect them to deal with your enquiry with due diligence. I normally find after a couple of letters that I am given a normal number to return calls on.:D

ON AVERAGE IT COSTS THE COMPANY £25 TO DEAL WITH EACH WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE (ie letter):j

It costs you a bit of time and 32P for the stamp. It saves you 10ppm on the phone which can typically run to £2 :mad: on your phone bill each time you make an enquiry.

If enough people deal only in writing then the companies will hopefully eventually realise that not having a local rate number is uneconomical.:eek:

PS this will not work if you send them an email, it is only effective if you cost them that £25 :T

raaboo

0870/0871 numbers are gradualy used less and less - mainly because they are seena s premium rate numbers, - the people who own the number make money from it, however due to them being withdrawn, 0844 came along.
This allows them to still get money from you calling the number, just not as much - best thing about them is that they are similar to 0845 numbers, so naturally you don't associate the cost - very clever marketing tool!

AND a complete rip-off!

Heinz

raaboo wrote: »

AND a complete rip-off!

Except for those used legitimately as gateways - see the MSE CallCheckers.

wobblywill

Heinz wrote: »

Except for those used legitimately as gateways - see the MSE CallCheckers.

All 0844 and 0845 numbers (amongst others) on Virgin Media are charged at 10ppm. Even those used as gateways. You end up with a premium rate one way or the other.

I think the target of this thread is the abuse by companies and service providers of the "local rate" tag that is misleadingly applied to the numbers.:mad:

OldGreyFox

wobblywill wrote: »

All 0844 and 0845 numbers (amongst others) on Virgin Media are charged at 10ppm. Even those used as gateways. You end up with a premium rate one way or the other.

I think the target of this thread is the abuse by companies and service providers of the "local rate" tag that is misleadingly applied to the numbers.:mad:

1. All 0844 and 0845 numbers are not charged at 10p a minute by Virgin Media.

The cost of 0844 calls varies depending on charging band. 0845 calls cost 6.84p a minute at all times.

http://allyours.virginmedia.com/websales/product.do?id=3001

One things for sure their normally a lot cheaper then VM Intl direct dial rates.:eek:

2. The OP was talking about the fact that his supplier called ( 0844 calls) and other suppliers in the callchecker list had put the cost of calls to Spanish Mobiles up considerably. It was you that has tried to change the slant of the thread.

The majority of cheap call suppliers in the call checkers list are run by the same company but (different names and sites) they buy cheap air time in bulk and costs go up, so this is probaly why all the prices to the Spanish Mobile Destination have increased not due to price fixing in the industry in general.

Heinz

wobblywill wrote: »

All 0844 and 0845 numbers (amongst others) on Virgin Media are charged at 10ppm. Even those used as gateways. You end up with a premium rate one way or the other.

Sorry, I overlooked the fact that you were talking about the most expensive voice telephony firm in the country.

Virgin Media does charge excessively for 0844 calls but not 10p/minute for all of them. For example, 0844200xxxx numbers (0.5p/minute on BT) are charged at just under 3p/minute (an incredible 6 times more). They make similar extra charges for what should be 1p, 2p, 3p, 4p and 5p per minute 0844 numbers. Both companies charge a call set-up fee (BT's is currently 8p and Virgin's 10p).

BT has to charge the proper rates for 0844 calls - and then the gateway use is good value, not a rip off.