London Bombings - Profit oppertunity from the misery of others

IvanOpinion

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

Thanks Ivan! I'll try to work out what DT is and check it out! Still finding my way around!

Apologies, DT = Discussion Time
Heres the thread

Ivan

EDIT - Cross posted with aliaojo so you get 2 links for the price of one .. true money saving
EDIT AGAIN .. just noticed that aliasojo has pointed to a different thread ... the link in mine is the one I meant.

Gingham_Ribbon

:rotfl: Thanks to both of you. Found it. :T

IvanOpinion

bbb_uk wrote:

I have also just received a reply from Orange and they also state they have donated £100k as well. I'm not going to quote their reply as it would be too long for this forum and didn't contain anything different or new (just that they were shocked and ensured that their staff were safe, etc).

I've yet to receive a reply from Vodafone though the email I sent to Arun Sarin has been received and read.

Just wanted to bring this back to the end of the thread to put it back on topic. Its good to see that the telecom companies are donating so much to charitable causes.

Ivan

bbb_uk

The Daily Telegraph have done on article on just how much money some government departments running 0870 are getting and it lists a lot of government departments (some even I didn't realise were using 0870).

See the thread started by pricefighter here in the HomePhone section.

LukeSkywalker_2

I'm glad that the Daily Telegraph (my favourite paper! :j) are now latching on to this. It will help inform the public about this scam.

I didn't realise that "National Rate" for 0870 actually meant premium rate, so I am glad that there is a protest group at saynoto0870.com . :beer: I also didn't bother to check my phone bill to check on the rate of these numbers and took the companies' words about this

Ivan, you are entitled to your opinion, but I would like to say that this campaign is useful and helps break the scam taking place here. About the London Bombings, I'm sure people are bothered about phoning a premium rate number but there isn't much they can do, is there?

It's best to be informed about the facts before you charge off in a particular direction. The fact here is that someone somewhere is profiting from this tragedy. That in my view is wrong and is one of the reasons I am now strongly in favour of the campaign. Keep up the good work fellas :T

IvanOpinion

LukeSkywalker wrote:

Ivan, you are entitled to your opinion, but I would like to say that this campaign is useful and helps break the scam taking place here. About the London Bombings, I'm sure people are bothered about phoning a premium rate number but there isn't much they can do, is there?

It's best to be informed about the facts before you charge off in a particular direction. The fact here is that someone somewhere is profiting from this tragedy. That in my view is wrong and is one of the reasons I am now strongly in favour of the campaign. Keep up the good work fellas :T

So far I have not read anything that makes me think anybody is deliberately profiting from using an 0870 number due to the London bombings (although I have not yet read the link in bbb_uk's latest post). It is obvious the telecom companies are donating a lot of money to the disaster fund and the government were definitely never going to profit from it.

I think from my first post I agreed that the 0870 campaign is useful - however there are circumstances where 0870 is a fair way of providing a service, and, as I have stated, disaster help lines are NOT in this category. However I believe it is fair for certain government departments and private companies to use 0870 as a means of cost-effective communication in some circumstances. I even started a thread in DT to try to define those circumstances but it has received total nonchalance - maybe I will get it moved elsewhere.

Rather than me repeating again, please, read some of my older posts with an open mind to see what I am trying to say ... we appear to be fixated with money and cost at a time where there are much more important and much bigger issues ... why? A lot of bodies had not even been retrieved and yet the media and various bulletin boards were getting more interest in the use of 0870 rather than the actual disaster itself ... I have always said we are getting to be a much more selfish society, but this is an extreme case of perspective and balance going out of the window.

You are correct though it is only my opinion and what saddens me the most is that I think I am in the minority by believing the use of 0870 is totally and utterly irrelevant given the events of 7th July 2005.

Has anybody bombarded the media with demands for them to donate significant amounts to the disaster fund .. after all the ghoulish nature of society will have caused many more papers etc. to have been sold.

Ivan

aliasojo

IvanOpinion wrote:

EDIT AGAIN .. just noticed that aliasojo has pointed to a different thread ... the link in mine is the one I meant.

I knew that.

Sheel

IvanOpinion wrote:

You are correct though it is only my opinion and what saddens me the most is that I think I am in the minority by believing the use of 0870 is totally and utterly irrelevant given the events of 7th July 2005.

You're not alone Ivan , I think exactly the same as you

bbb_uk

I only started this because (like I've said before) no-one (or company) should have profited from the misfortunes of others. The government issuing this number meant huge profits for Cable&Wireless and the networks because they charge 4/5 times as much compared to landlines providers.

I use the word profits carefully as I do believe that a company has to survive and don't have a problem with them earning a profit (to a certain degree) but I believe under these circumstances no-one should have profited at all.

Now you can go on about who has profited because C&W and the networks (well most) have agreed to donate their profits from this number. That is true but C&W only did this when they were interviewed by the Mirror newspaper (I think it was them) over the use of this number and the huge profits it was collecting. Then after that and because of emails I sent to the networks and Hazal Blears from HomeOffice had also sent a letter to the networks asking if they would consider donating profits they made or not charging their customers for ringing this helpline.

None of the networks (except o2*) had donated that i'm aware of or even mentioned anything about donation until my email (and possibly others) and the letter from Hazal Blears from the HomeOffice. At this point did most say they would donate.

* O2 had already donated the following day £100k and given 50 free phones with unlimited credit to the disaster centre for their use and this was before I had even emailed or before Hazal Blears got involved.

So forgetting all arguments for a moment, I do believe that o2 have acted very generously in deed and went well out of their way. I do thank them and I suspect many of the unfortunate families do as well.

WHA

Ivan, I'm with you too! A massive over-reaction in the media and on boards such as this. And now people still arguing about the Govt making profits on the line - as in lots of other posts, people forget that "the govt" is really us taxpayers. I'm glad that the huge donations made by the "naughty" businesses have been publicised. As for the "overcharging hotels" - again complete silence after the first couple of over-sensationalised stories in the press and on this board. I've seen far more stories about hotels "helping" by providing blankets, food, facilities, etc than for over-charging. I'm all for the campaign against the use of the premium rate numbers for "anything" to do with the public sector and customer service, but this really is a non-story in these circumstances as far as I'm concerned. There are lots of other "real" issues which need addressing as regards terrorism, the public sector in general, and business in general. In my opinion, discussions like these are a complete waste of time and effort under the circumstances.