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0300 Telephone numbers

Yesterday I had to phone a 0300 number. There was no alternative number to call. It cost me £7.08 a minute on a BT Line. It cost me £56.64 + Vat. How can the government justify these charges. The call was to The Office of the Public Guardian in Birmingham. I believe the DVLA also have these numbers now also. There must be something we can do.

Comments

  • macman
    macman Posts: 53,128 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Calls to 0300 numbers come out of inclusive minutes, regardless of network. Where did you get your costs from?
    No free lunch, and no free laptop ;)
  • DonnyDave
    DonnyDave Posts: 1,579 Forumite
    Ditto macman's comments.

    03 numbers must be charged at no more than a call to geographical numbers which begin 01 and 02 from all providers. They are covered by inclusive packages where applicable.

    There are no BT call charges above £1.50 per minute. Where have you got the call price from so quick? I assume it can't be on your bill yet.
  • Heinz
    Heinz Posts: 11,191 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker Car Insurance Carver!
    plodder21 wrote: »
    Yesterday I had to phone a 0300 number. There was no alternative number to call. It cost me £7.08 a minute on a BT Line. It cost me £56.64 + Vat. How can the government justify these charges.
    Your 'calculations' appear to indicate the call was about 8 minutes long.

    Assuming it was fractionally over 8 minutes, you would have been charged for 9 minutes and so the call would have cost 9¼p connection + 9 x 5¼p (47¼p) = 56½p.

    Are you sure you have your decimal point in the right place?
    Time has moved on (much quicker than it used to - or so it seems at my age) and my previous advice on residential telephony has been or is now gradually being overtaken by changes in the retail market. Hence, I have now deleted links to my previous 'pearls of wisdom'. I sincerely hope they helped save some of you money.
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