084 and 087 numbers now banned for customer service lines

NFH

makemesumdosh wrote: »

Avios still continue to use the 0844 number for bookings

They're allowed to use surcharged numbers for sales (new business), but not for existing customers. The question is whether an existing holder of Avios has is an ongoing existing customer.

mije1983

NFH wrote: »

You're correct that standard rate mobile numbers are compliant, but EE has only published an 0844 number for existing home broadband customers.

If you have EE home broadband, do you have to take line rental with them as well? If so, are they not fine to do this as they say:

Calls to 0844 873 8586 from an EE home phone are free of charge

NFH

mije1983 wrote: »

If you have EE home broadband, do you have to take line rental with them as well? If so, are they not fine to do this as they say:

What happens if you need to phone them from another line, for example while at work or from home if your phone line has a problem? Using an 0844 number but making it free from only the line in question is not sufficient, as the consumer can be bound to pay more than the basic rate.

Ypaymore

Some media coverage regarding companies not yey complying.


http://www.sundaypost.com/that-s-life/raw-deal/high-street-firms-clings-to-rip-off-phone-numbers-1.434482

gycraig_2

Tech support and customer services are a completely different service.

Customer services you really have to provide tech support is something that is offered as a service so should have a small charge.

All this will do is put prices up. Ryan air etc have based there low costs on the call centres paying for themselves. If they don't flight costs are going to go up

NFH

gycraig wrote: »

Tech support and customer services are a completely different service.

Customer services you really have to provide tech support is something that is offered as a service so should have a small charge.

That's not always true. If the technical support is for helping the consumer with problems (e.g. potential faults) with the product, then this type of technical support falls under customer service, i.e. communications related to the contract concluded.

gycraig wrote: »

All this will do is put prices up. Ryan air etc have based there low costs on the call centres paying for themselves. If they don't flight costs are going to go up

That's fine if prices go up as a result because the costs of operating the call centre should be included within the headline fares. If a Ryanair customer suffers a problem (e.g. delayed baggage etc), there's no more reason for that customer to pay incrementally for the call centre's costs than another customer who didn't suffer a problem. These costs represent Ryanair's costs of doing business and should reasonably be spread out across all its headline fares.

Ypaymore

gycraig wrote: »

Tech support and customer services are a completely different service.

Customer services you really have to provide tech support is something that is offered as a service so should have a small charge.

Not always the case

See J12/13.

12. Where a trader offers a technical support line, this need not come under
regulation 41, provided it is a discrete service, and not one on which the caller
is also expected to call to discuss problems with a purchase already made.
Provided the trader makes it clear that it is a separate service for which a
separate fee (paid for through the enhanced cost of the call) is payable and
not one for post purchase problems, regulation 41 will not apply. Horoscope
and weather lines are similarly excluded. Regulation 41 applies where a
phone line is offered which allows a customer to contact the trader about a
problem which may have arisen with a product already purchased or to
exercise cancellation rights.

13. If, however, a consumer having contacted a ‘paid through a telephone bill’
service, is unhappy and wishes to raise an issue (for instance the recording
was muffled and they could not hear it properly) then, if the provider offers a
phone line for such complaints, that phone line should comply with regulation
41.



https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/310044/bis-13-1368-consumer-contracts-information-cancellation-and-additional-payments-regulations-guidance.pdf#page=23&zoom=auto,0,580

Roger1

NFH wrote: »

They're allowed to use surcharged numbers for sales (new business), but not for existing customers. The question is whether an existing holder of Avios has is an ongoing existing customer.

I wonder if Avios are relying on the same obscure exemption as Thomas Cook, who tell me:

1. There has been a change in the law, but this change does not apply to Package Holidays. (Please see the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 (regulation 6, 1 (g) for the exemption).

2. By continuing to use a 0844 number in relation to package holiday enquiries we are not breaching the law.

3. Where the law does apply, it still does not compel any business to offer a ‘freephone’ number. Any ‘basic rate’ number ranges are acceptable – these include any numbers beginning: 01, 02, 03, 07, 0800 or 0808.

4. Where we use a 0844 number, the cost of calls is 5.2p per minute from BT landlines (other networks may vary).

The reference to 'freephone' in that message is spurious as I requested a landline number.

Briefly, we bought a package from a Thomas Cook retail branch. The only contact numbers on the confirmation are 0844 numbers for phone and fax (fax? what's that?) with no indication of cost nor alternative landline numbers. The BT reference came later, ignores the BT set-up charge and of course is irrelevant to customers using non-BT or mobile lines.

I've seen that certain exemptions are being overridden and wonder if the regulators have caught up with the travel cowboys yet.

Roger1

Roger1 wrote: »

I wonder if Avios are relying on the same obscure exemption as Thomas Cook, who tell me:

The reference to 'freephone' in that message is spurious as I requested a landline number.

Briefly, we bought a package from a Thomas Cook retail branch. The only contact numbers on the confirmation are 0844 numbers for phone and fax (fax? what's that?) with no indication of cost nor alternative landline numbers. The BT reference came later, ignores the BT set-up charge and of course is irrelevant to customers using non-BT or mobile lines.

I've seen that certain exemptions are being overridden and wonder if the regulators have caught up with the travel cowboys yet.

The branch told me they only had 0844 numbers and didn't have an 020 number. I highly doubted that! Especially when they called me and the muppets forgot to obscure their 020 number. :rotfl:

NFH

Thomas Cook might be right; see Regulation 6(1)(g). However, given that they also sell non-package travel products, they cannot supply only a surcharged number in relation to post-contract communication regarding these products.