Southern Water 0845 customer service number 27 April 2015 at 3:38PM in Water bills 13 replies 3.7K views

oliverbrown

Southern Water still use a 0845 customer service number:

https://www.southernwater.co.uk/call-us

Is that still legal?

poppasmurf_bewdley

The first line answers your question.

http://www.newvoicemedia.com/blog/using-0845-numbers-for-customer-service-think-again/

Ian011

Whether the usage of an 0845 number is a breach of Regulation 41 of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 or not, Southern Water will be caught by new Ofcom regulations that come into force on 1 July 2015. From that date they will have to declare the Service Charge for their number, thus stating that they are directly charging customers for making contact by telephone.


See also (post 11 onward)
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5223890

footyguy

You can call them for free using 0800 0270800 using most landlines.

Some mobile operators may charge. Contact your own mobile operator for details.
(or consider using 0800buster)

oliverbrown

footyguy wrote: »

You can call them for free using 0800 0270800 using most landlines.

Some mobile operators may charge. Contact your own mobile operator for details.
(or consider using 0800buster)

Everyone on this forum knows of course about saynoto0870. But that isn't the point. The point is that the number they advertise to their customers is 0845, on both their website and at the top of peoples' bills, which apparently is in breach of the law.

poppasmurf_bewdley

oliverbrown wrote: »

Everyone on this forum knows of course about saynoto0870. But that isn't the point. The point is that the number they advertise to their customers is 0845, on both their website and at the top of peoples' bills, which apparently is in breach of the law.

So are you waiting for someone else to take up the cudgel and take the company to court?

If you are so concerned, you could always do it yourself. Just think of all that time you could spend contacting Ofcom, the company itself, solicitors, the press, television, forums like this, etc, etc.

oliverbrown

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

So are you waiting for someone else to take up the cudgel and take the company to court?

I thought the Consumer Council for Water were meant to look after water customers' interests, but they think 0845 numbers are perfectly legal for billing enquiries.

Ian011

They probably think that 0845 numbers are 'local rate' calls even though this hasn't been true since 2004.

Once the requirement to declare the Service Charge is in force, everything will become clear and they will not be able to justify this additional charge.

The new call price system is all about transparency. Many organisations have fought the introduction of these measures, but now have only seven weeks to comply.

oliverbrown

Well at least Southern Water have published their customer service 0845 number service charge (2p per minute), but they did not use the opportunity to switch it to an 03 number.

oliverbrown

Actually, they did switch it to 03, I was looking at the automated service line.

matelodave

oliverbrown wrote: »

Well at least Southern Water have published their customer service 0845 number service charge (2p per minute), but they did not use the opportunity to switch it to an 03 number.

Have you checked your provider's connection fee which could add another 5-15p to the call. 2p a minute sounds reasonable until you have to press seventeen buttons, listen to rubbish music for twenty minutes or more and then argue with someone at the other end for 10 minutes or so.


You could still ramp up a quid or so