Out of interest..............

Legacy_user

Out of interest, why do companies/organisations go to the trouble of having either an 0870 or 0845 prefix, when they know many people avoid or try to avoid using them due to cost implications.

DonnyDave

Probably because there's far more people who are unaware of the cost than are aware.

Mr_B_13

It was on the front page of Financial Mail today that Ofcom (? not in front of me, but you know who I mean!) are investigating given the costs involved.

Read article: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/news/article.html?in_article_id=396918&in_page_id=2

Mr B

Fatboy_NSS

It can be any number of reasons. An 08 number can be considered more professional looking than an 01 or 02 number, plus some companies don't like giving away the location where calls are answered so use non geographic numbers to disguise it. Remember as well that 0845 is officially "local rate" and 0870 is "national rate", so many companies probably don't realise that they actually cost a lot more to call than a normal landline number.

Edit: After reading that This is money article it seems like Ofcom have the wrong end of the stick. Rather than complaining about companies using 0870 numbers they should crack down on the phone companies. If 0870 is marketed as national rate then a phone company shouldn't be allowed to charge me more than a call to a standard landline.

System

I thought it was yet another of my "dumb" questions, but clearly it was yet another eye opener. I hope others have welcomed this informative tit-bit.