Why do we have to pay customer help calls

InsideInsurance

cool888 wrote: »

I realise over the last years nearly all companies make you use 0845, 0844, 0870 etc numbers that will charge you for calling their customer support centres, I feel this is ridiculous so the suppliers are making us pay for them to help us which should be part of their service, its insulting and greedy for the fact that mostly the reason one is calling is because one has a problem with their product or service

First of all check, both my mobile and landline include both 0845 and 0870 in my inclusive minutes just leaving 0844 and 0871 being billable

Companies have been using the 0 and 5 versions for donkeys years, the difference recently is the increase of inclusive minutes. Historically, before this, you'd pay for all calls and the 0845 was called Lo-Call number as it was billed at the same as local were.

As to your last point, companies charge for them because people are becoming increasingly price sensitive and can shop around easier with the increase of the internet and price comparison sites and so companies have to cut their margins to get sales and then look for other methods of generating revenue to compensate.

Lets be realistic though, on an 0844 your making 3-4p a minute so £1.80-£2.40 per hour so well below the cost of having someone sat there taking the calls. Much more a cost reduction than real income generation.

meer53

Is it really that big an issue ?

Thought not.

JKSandy

I have a Virgin Media phone package, I can call 0845 and 0870 number free of charge.

Ever since I changed to this package the only numbers I ever seem to call are 0844 which are chargeable.

False economy springs to mind!

WelshRarebit

Since telecom Companies (esp, BT) started including 0845 and 0870 numbers in the calling packages there has been a noticeable shift to companies using 0844 numbers. Coincidence?? I think not.

An 0844 call may be advertised as only 5p per min but if you are kept on hold for 20mins that's £1 before you even got to speak to someone.

The truth of the matter is the vast majority of UK customer services centres will never switch to 0800 numbers because they know they can get away with using chargeable numbers because us Brits just put up with it. That coupled with an industry watchdog that's got about as much backbone as a garden worm ensures companies are free to make a healthy profit from customers calling to get support on the expensive and often shoddy products they sell.

In the US however the majority of customer support centres are free call from both land line and mobile, sorry cell phone! Simply because Americans expect it and will shout, scream and stamp their feet until they get what they want.

iAMaLONDONER

Deleted_User wrote: »

I don't think it's ever been so cheap for customers to call companies, with being able to find the numbers behind the premium rate lines, email, texts, facebook and so on.

The trouble is we do now seem to be breeding a generation who believe everything should be free.

Rather a generation that treats personal responsibility with contempt..

InsideInsurance

WelshRarebit wrote: »

An 0844 call may be advertised as only 5p per min but if you are kept on hold for 20mins that's £1 before you even got to speak to someone.

Thats £1 you will be charged but that doesnt all go to the company you are phoning, HMRC take their VAT, your telephone company takes their share, the companies telephone company takes their share etc. Realistically 2-3p a minute would go to the company at absolute most.

With the exception of Sky, I dont know any company that I routinely call that always has 20 minute waits. Most are sub 5 minutes.

jamesml

As has already been said, use resources like https://www.saynoto0870.com and avoid paying these charges at all. Its very rare that a company doesn't have a number listed which you could use instead of the 0844/0845/0870 number (or even the 0800 number if you need to call from a mobile).

I can understand companies wanting to use 08xx numbers though - particularly SME businesses who want to portray the impression that they are large enough not to be regionally-driven, although I was thinking the other day that I'm not sure that a a geographical number would put me off doing business with someone...

chattychappy

You could apply the same argument to all kinds of issues. Why should I pay a court fee when I'm suing someone who has wronged me? Why should I pay for petrol for my car when I'm returning a product to a shop?

There are two sides to any dispute. If you "win" and you have incurred costs on the phone, then CCs will often give you something towards your phone costs if you ask them.

What we know is that if something is "free" at the point of use, it is abused.