0844 number

Fen1

I hold up my hands. I was stupid. I phoned a business with 0844. I'm usually good with using the alternative number website, but was in a rush this time and forgot.

Is a business obliged to put the cost of their phonecalls anywhere on their website? Preferably somewhere obvious and not on a sub-page of a sub-page in FAQ?

On a lot of websites there is an *"calls charged at" on their Contact page. I cannot find this on this particular website. 

matelodave

The calls will be charged at the rate determined by your phone provider, so you need to check their website to see how much it's going to cost you.

From the Ofcom link below it could be any random number you like between 0 and 65p a minute depending on your supplier,  contract or what's included in your bundle.

here's what Ofcom have to say - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/how-much-does-a-phone-call-really-cost

Neil_Jones

Fen1 said:

I hold up my hands. I was stupid. I phoned a business with 0844. I'm usually good with using the alternative number website, but was in a rush this time and forgot.

Is a business obliged to put the cost of their phonecalls anywhere on their website? Preferably somewhere obvious and not on a sub-page of a sub-page in FAQ?

On a lot of websites there is an *"calls charged at" on their Contact page. I cannot find this on this particular website. 

In this era of multiple phone providers, it's not really plausible to say your call will be charged at 8p per minute, because that may not be the case.   The provider only has to display the service charge that they are charging.  The access charge, as above, is anywhere up to 65p per minute on top of that.

There are only really two criteria where the call is guaranteed a specific amount - 0800/080 numbers (which are free) and calls to 999, 111, 112, 119, 101 and 105 which are all free.  Everything else is either inclusive in your phone package, charged at a regular rate or follows the service/access charge pattern.

Fen1

"The provider only has to display the service charge that they are charging. "

I cannot find that on the business's website. They just have a phone number and nothing else. Is this against Ofcom rules? 

I apologize if I seem a bit daft, but I want to make sure that all the rules are in place and are being followed properly by this ( and every other ) company.

Neil_Jones

Please see the Ofcom link already posted.

Fen1

Ok. Got it, thank you.