London Bombings - Profit oppertunity from the misery of others

pandas66

IvanOpinion wrote:

What I am obviously failling to get across and just can not comprehend is that given the deaths of approximately 70 men, women and children and the horrible injuries received by hundreds more how on earth can people start thinking about money - why would money even cross someones mind?. I am not getting at the OP, because similar questions have been posted on umpteen other chatboards, it is just that the cost of a phone call would not even enter into my mind ... I have ranted about the 'me me me' society that we are building but have we really become so fixated on money?

Ivan
Its not neceassarily that ones 1st thought has been for a profit to be made or gained nor someones 1st thought that I'm not ringing an 0870 No. cos of the cost but that as time passes a bill will enevidabley drop on someones doorstep that may be in a different financial position than a couple of weeks ago. This may lead to more upset and hardship, if for say they were on the line waiting for a while and a few calls were made.

burbs_2

This whole thread seems to have got a bit stupid now really. The OP asked the question, he did not like the fact that people did not bow down to him and some put another point across.

There are more important things to life than using an 0870 number to see if your loved ones have been hurt.

We have had people on here blaming Tony Blair, moaning about the hotels putting up their prices and now we have this moaning about the number used. Its happened and now life goes on, harsh at that may seem. We do not need people sitting at home thinking about new things to moan about with regard to this tradegy, lets just move on and show that we can bounce back.

trisontana

I agree with burbs. Don't forget the 2 minutes silence at noon tomorrow (unless anyone wants to object to that as well! )

bbb_uk

IvanOpinion wrote:

I think that given the reports that appeared within a few hours and statements made by various government officials before the end of the day the government realised that the use of an 0870 number was a total 'fubar'. Therefore the continual clogging of senior peoples emails telling them this is counter productive and a distraction (unless thery are totally stupid I think that they have got the message).

I agree. I've only ever emailed a specific person once and not bothered again.

I don't believe that the decision to use an 0870 number was profit driven - I don't know why it happened but assuming it was for no other reason than profit is like finding someone guilty before they stand trial. I don't understand the technicalities of it but I think I read somewhere that one reason was because they could immediately bring 5 times more operators on line than they could if they had have used some other number.

That isn't true. They could have chosen 0800 (freephone), 0844, 0845. These numbers offer exactly the same features as the more expensive 0870 numbers. With special equipment they could have done the same thing on geographical numbers. The government must already have this special equipment anyhow because the days before 0870 became popular (and everyone still used geographical numbers) then does that mean the government could only ever handle a maximum of 40 calls in these older days and especially in an emergency? I think you'll agree that this was unlikely!

In my opinion, the government used the bit about only handling 40 calls so as to deflect blame from themselves! Even if that was true about 40 calls maximum then why did they not use one of the lower cost numbers as mentioned above?

C&W even offered these numbers but PITO declined and chose the 0870! Was it because they were aware that these numbers generate revenue & therefore reduces the governments costs but increases the poor tax payers costs (especially from a mobile).

Most government departments are actually using 0870 (inc the Home Office) because they directly benefit from the revenue generated from these calls. Why in the last year or so have most (if not all) the government departments moved to 0870 numbers?

I think any profits made thru increased volume of calls should also go to the relevant charities.

I agree

What I am obviously failling to get across, etc ..... why would money even cross someones mind?...

I'm in agreement 100%. The last thing on peoples mind is how much the call costs but remember just how many people rang from a mobile to this helpline assuming it wouldn't cost that much (why should it as it was setup by the government!) just to get cut off after possibly minutes because their credit went so fast and then having to ring again to be held in a queue. From the reports I read, it appears that people ringing anyhow were not told anything they wanted to hear. The government had no idea about anything. All the information that was told is that they should ring back later or possibly visit the hospitals.

It would appear that due to the governments current thinking of always using 0870 numbers (for obvious reasons) then companies have actually made a huge profit from all this.

Virgin Mobile, I believe, charge 15ppm to call an 0870 number and therefore I'm assuming that Virgin still make a profit for this call then that means because most other networks charge around 30-40ppm (if not more), it is possible the networks profited the most by at possibly at least 15ppm.

bbb_uk

On Tuesday 12th July, I emailed the main four networks about the possibility of donating profits they made due to their customers ringing this expensive telephone number and have today received my first reply - from Brian McBride, MD, T-Mobile:-

We are looking at the mechanics of doing this. It's a small number of calls (less than 1000) and small revenue (£500). We will do what's right. We will not seek to profit from these terrible events.

Regards,

From Brian.

Now assuming it is from Brian himself as I think the way its been signed isn't professional, then at least we have one network willing to donate the profits. The other people on my list haven't answered yet but most have read the email I sent.

burbs_2

Thats ok then, as long as your one man crusade makes you feel good.

The rest of us will continue to live in the real world and get on with life, but thank you for taking up the fight for everyone of the people who have been affected by this, as if they really care.

pandas66

burbs wrote:

Thats ok then, as long as your one man crusade makes you feel good.

The rest of us will continue to live in the real world and get on with life, but thank you for taking up the fight for everyone of the people who have been affected by this, as if they really care.

I quite agree but with costs involed in the 0870 No. perhaps a guarantee from the phone Co's that if emergency No's are ever used again (for numerous issues like flood warnings etc) a free/local No would be appropriate. No cause for upset/loss again. Get that in writing while your at it.

CrazyChemist_2

burbs wrote:

Thats ok then, as long as your one man crusade makes you feel good.

The rest of us will continue to live in the real world and get on with life, but thank you for taking up the fight for everyone of the people who have been affected by this, as if they really care.

At least bbb_uk has the guts to do something like this and stand above the crowd. Is there something wrong with asking a multi-billion pound company to donate money (a few pence in their terms) to charity??

You seem to be one of the many empty-headed average people who is obviously easily swayed by idiots like IvanOpinion who are uninformed about the true facts here.

trace-j

In light of what has happened in this last week some people need to wake up and realise whats important in life.

It's only 1 week since the bombings there are more pressing issues being addressed. I doubt the 0870 fiasco will be resolved completely in the near future. I personally would like to see any monies paid to telecom companies to use this number paid into the fund for relatives of vicitms, hopefully it will end up where it's needed.

Ivan, although I don't always share your opinion, we live in a society where we are free to express our opinions, so keep them posts coming- I do like to p!!s my self on occasions:rotfl: :rotfl:.

burbs_2

CrazyChemist wrote:

At least bbb_uk has the guts to do something like this and stand above the crowd. Is there something wrong with asking a multi-billion pound company to donate money (a few pence in their terms) to charity??

You seem to be one of the many empty-headed average people who is obviously easily swayed by idiots like IvanOpinion who are uninformed about the true facts here.

Empty-headed average person swayed by idiots? And you are not doing exactly this with your useless and completly pointless fight against the phone companies who (shock horror) set up a phone number that you actually have to pay for. Grow up and find something to make your lives complete rather than going on about something that only pathetic, small minded people would worry about at a time like this.

I can just see the families who lost someone last week sitting around their tables mourning their lost ones, then thinking "i am really disappointed with that 0870 number we had to ring"

Nobody who was involved in this would care, they are the people who matter, not people like you who have nothing better to do with your time than moan and complain about everything. Would you rather the phone companies had never set up a number? Guess that you would moan about that too.

Why dont you go and do something worthwile instead of preaching to people who have more pressing issues with regard to this tradegy to worry about.