Down here in the London area, there is a hard hitting radio advert with a lady with a strong scottish accent which says something like....

"It costs £2.29 to answer each call and we need more money to answer more calls. "  "Call", guess what..."0870 609 3548"
to make a donation.

I 've noticed from their website that there are a lot of 0845 numbers quoted for all their local branches and a main number to call advertised as:-

"In the UK dial 08457 90 90 90, for the cost of a local call."

There is no such thing as a local call as we know!!

As regards to these all these numbers, this is simply a horrible surreptitious way of raising cash which borders on dishonesty.  Several other 0870 numbers are also quoted on the FAQ section of their website

These are their contact details from the webiste.  If enough people complain, they will have to stop.  Apart from someone phoning 0870 to make a donation, why should someone in distress have to phone a more expensive 0845 number from either a mobile or a call box? - I assume that they're more expensive and if phoned from a mobile 0845 numbers will not be included in any free minutes.   From their website.....

"Please send your complaints form or letter direct to:

The Quality Officer
Caller Services Department
Samaritans
The Upper Mill, Kingston Road
Ewell , Surrey KT17 2AF
Tel: 020 8394 8300
Fax: 020 8394 8301

Email: admin@samaritans.org
Web queries: webmaster@samaritans.org


Alternative (to non Geographic numbers!)

I can't speak on behalf of all phone companies, but the cable company I worked for in the Gatwick area and in the South West (now assimilated by Telewest) never charged for calls to the Samaritans and a whole list of other helpline numbers.
Although the 0845, standard national (01/02) or other number was dialled the call was stripped out during the billing process.  The details were 'dumped' into a special holiding account for internal accounting purposes but the caller was never charged.
This was to ensure that the bill payer would not see calls made to such helplines which could lead to problems in the home.
This is especially true of calls to Childline (which I know is free and wouldn't normally appear anyway!) or calls to lines dealing with violence in the home etc.
I can't speak for other companies but I believe that this is common practice.

wrote on Aug 18^th, 2005 at 2:55pm:

Although the 0845, standard national (01/02) or other number was dialled the call was stripped out during the billing process.  The details were 'dumped' into a special holiding account for internal accounting purposes but the caller was never charged. This was to ensure that the bill payer would not see calls made to such helplines which could lead to problems in the home.

If this was their objective they would have used an 0800 number which achieves exactly the end you suggest on a number marketed as free.

It is more likely The Samaritans were not charged because they have a special deal where they get the whole revenue share on their 0845 or 0870 calls because they are an especially worthy charity.  It would have been the usual con where their stupid marketing director was persuaded these were only ordinary local and national calls and of course they needed the money.

What you say about 0845 calls makes no sense.  0845 calls are charged and itemised to the caller in every case.

I tried pursuing this with The Samaritans a while ago but they were totally evasive and unhelpful over the matter.  They used the worst kind of avoid the truth tactics so favoured by the worst 0845 and 0870 call centre scammers.

The lady with the strong scottish accent is still there on the radio receiving donations when people phone up with their credit cards AND surreptitiously through the back-door by way of a revenue 'kick-back' when the unsuspecting benefactor rings on the 0870 number.

The first donation is necessary as a charity, the second is not!!!

wrote on Jul 9^th, 2005 at 10:34pm:

Down here in the London area, there is a hard hitting radio advert with a lady with a strong scottish accent which says something like.... "It costs £2.29 to answer each call and we need more money to answer more calls. "  "Call", guess what..."0870 609 3548" to make a donation.

This is not new.

The Samaritans 0845 phone number has been shown every BT phone book in the land for ages.

They seem content to break the law under Part III of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 by also claiming in the BT phone book that calls are "local call rate"

Presumably they work on the basis that if you are about to commit suicide you won't be worried about what will be on your next phone call!  Of course if the reason you were going to commit suicide was debt then anyone who called The Samaritans and talked for an hour or so in the weekday daytime might then end up committing suicide when they got their next phone bill!  If they called the Samaritans for an hour on their Pay as You Go mobile they might end up committing suicide when their calling credit on their phone unexpectedly ran out.

So they are encouraging the worst in people!!  Calling the Samaritans during the day from a land line & talking for an hour will cost the caller £1.80  and from a call box, more like double that and the main beneficiaries will be BT & the provider of the premium rate 0845 number!  The Sams will probably only get 0.5 per minute or less?!

wrote on Sep 17^th, 2005 at 11:28pm:

the main beneficiaries will be BT & the provider of the premium rate 0845 number!  The Sams will probably only get 0.5 per minute or less?!

What's the betting that BT are also the provider of the premium rate number?  They seem to have worked a nice little line in decit with most of the big uk charities.