070 & 076, not mobiles but £1.50pm!

DocHants

I was outraged to see Id been charged nearly £3 for calling what I thought was a mobile number.. starting with 07, so called my provider to query it...

They advised me that any number starting 070 is a "Personal Number" and has been requested by the customer! I questioned aren't all mobile numbers personal numbers?

Anyway, I would very much doubt anyone I know who know this, and after looking into it, would seem that 076 is also the same.

Thankfully I got my money back..

Anyone else out there know of these?

Tony5101

This fairly recent post will be of use to you - written by one of our extremely knowledgeable forum members.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5292529=

DocHants

Great post.. thanks!

Think its outrageous as I bet no one actually knows of these and assumes they are simply mobile numbers. I think any chargable calls outside of inclusive minutes should have a message informing you, similar to what you used to get when calling 0800 numbers before they were free...

LazyTyper

Consider yourself very lucky you got your money back! Normally your provider would say "Tough... up to you to check the tariff".

Where did you get the number from?

TadleyBaggie

I've known 070 are not mobile numbers for years, in fact I used to have a free one but never used it. Didn't know about 076 though.

DocHants

I emailed a business and the reply came back with that contact number on, so I called them assuming it was a mobile number... Think the owner of the number should really be informing people that they will be charged.. why should I pay for them to use a "follow me" service!

Silk

I got caught out by this a while back phoning a mate who was in hospital using one of those bedside tv/phone gadgets. Pretty sure I got a message saying what the costs were though.

Ian011

Once the current major project sorting out 08 and 09 numbers is out of the way, Ofcom will be reviewing 055, 056, 070 and 076 numbers, perhaps some time next year.

They have recently reviewed 0500 and decided to phase it out by 3 June 2017. Hopefully, these other non-standard number ranges will go the same way.

070 is used for personal or 'follow me' numbers and charged at a premium rate.
076 (except 07624) is used for pagers and a small number of 'automated and interactive services'.
They are classed as Controlled Premium Rate Services and subject to additional PhonepayPlus regulation. They have very high termination rates which subsidise or pay in full for the provision of the service. Revenue sharing was banned on 070 numbers in 2009.

07624 is one of the prefixes used by Isle of Man mobile phones (matching their 01624 landline area code). The remainder of the Jersey, Guernsey and Isle of Man prefixes are in the normal 071-075 and 077-079 ranges used for mobile phones.

Stompa

Silk wrote: »

I got caught out by this a while back phoning a mate who was in hospital using one of those bedside tv/phone gadgets. Pretty sure I got a message saying what the costs were though.

If it's anything like the hospital phones I've used, you'll have had to listen to a very long (and expensive!) message about the costs.

Ian011

Hospedia and their ilk have had some very negative publicity over the years. Given the price of the calls to their hospital lines, it would be more appropriate for them to use 09 numbers and properly declare the applicable Service Charge.

Essex_Jim

I have been dealing with Hospedia tonight.

My Wife went to get a £5 card for my Mother In Law. With the machine stating it would give change, she put in a £20 note. Mistake. No change given. Contacted Hospedia while standing by the machine and they said buy a £15 card and they would refund. After a long time on a mobile eventually they took bank details and agreed to do a Bank Transfer. Two days later, no transfer. Contacted them and told Bank Transfers only happen on a Friday and take 3 - 5 working days! I then asked how they would cover the costs of the telephone calls we made contacting them, they said to produce statements with call costs and they would consider it. Not helpful and not an impressive service.

BTW I was told it is free to call Hospedia from the bedside phone!