I am about to buy a 0870 number and would like your advice.
I want to charge national rates to all calls and will display this on our site clearly and all adverts.
My competition is charging premuim prices such as £1.00 a minute.
I do not want people to know i am based in the North West becuase i am looking to attract South customers so what am i to do?

0845 and 0870 can no longer be described as local or national rates anymore as they are not.

If you are using 0870 to gain revenue then beware that it is expected that OfCOM are going to remove the revenue sharing from this number.

To give us a more clear picture, what business are you in and what is the line going to be used for - sales, c/s, or a premium rate tech support, etc?

It is going to be used for customer service, it is a car parts website and users can order can parts via the web or by ringing a telephone number.

I do not want to charge them and make money off the number, but i want them to be charged a national rate so anyone in the uk rings they get charged the same.

Also i do not want the users to know where i am based , so i wish to hide my 0161 number.

Thanks for yor reply

Would you have any objection to calling your own customers back, if they have 0870 and 0871 numbers, whilst you pay a monthly fee for free calls to numbers beginning with 01, and 02?

Also, alongside your 0870 number, you could have a call me back facility which some websites have, where callers put in their number, and the company calls them back in a 1 hour, or half hour window.

I trust you wouldn't mind if all people put in their own 0870 number, which would cost your company alot more than if people put in a geographic number.

I live in the South West, and I have no objections to doing business with a Scottish or Northern phone number.  In fact I'd prefer that, to an 0870 number.

0870 isn't national rate anymore.  They are actually more expensive to ring than for example you calling from Manchester to London, or from London to Scotland, etc.

Charges to 0870 vary from around 8ppm to about 30/40ppm from a mobile/payphone depending on tariff and network.

ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) now state that you would have to advertise that in fact calls cost upto 8ppm from a BT landline and may cost more from a mobile.

This may put off people ringing you.

If your website is going to have your address on then they will know what are you are in anyhow regardless of your phone number.

I'm afraid that if you sell anything to the public then under Distance Selling Regs and another regulation (can't remember which one) then you will have to provide a geographical address and not a PO box address.

Is it essential that you hide your location as I personally dont care which area I do business.

If you do not want to make money out of your customers I cannot see the need for a non geographic number.  I certainly would not dial a premium rate number or an 0870 number so you would have lost my business.  I would suggest that a most people would dial a geographic number irrespective of the code and with new pricing structure as I understand it, it is the same price wherever you dial from so you appear to be achieving what you want without making any changes

You could (to attract more business) operate a freephone 0800 number.  Depending on your expected turnover, etc it may be worth it.

Freephone numbers obviously cost nothing on all landline providers and from payphones (i think) but some networks do charge for freephone numbers though.

If you think you don't receive more than 700 minutes in a month then for a monthly fee of £4.95 you could have a freephone number from Call08.co.uk.  After you have received more than 700 minutes worth of incoming calls a month then it is only 2ppm thereafter for the remainder of that month.

Now I don't have a business of my own but I believe that it is excellent value compared to many other providers out there.

wrote on Aug 17^th, 2005 at 6:59pm:

It is going to be used for customer service, it is a car parts website and users can order can parts via the web or by ringing a telephone number. I do not want to charge them and make money off the number, but i want them to be charged a national rate so anyone in the uk rings they get charged the same. Also i do not want the users to know where i am based , so i wish to hide my 0161 number.

On 1/7/2004, BT moved most of its residential customers onto BT Together Option 1.

If your business is in Manchester, it now costs a customer 3p per minute to call you from a BT residential landline in Manchester on a weekday - exactly the same as it costs a customer to call from a BT residential landline in Exeter, Edinburgh, Cardiff, or Norwich (or anywhere else in the UK).

Advertise a normal (01 or 02) number and you won't join the plethora of firms fleecing their customers with rip-off 08xx telephone numbers.

Why do you want to hide your 0161 location?  Do you intend to default on orders?  Do a bunk with customers' money?

ok all , here is one up and coming company who will firstly look into 0800 numbers for free calls and if i cannot do that i will use the 0161 number .

I will say no to 0870  - ok thanks for your feedback.

Why not use one of the web based 020 numbers, or other southern codes?

wrote on Aug 17^th, 2005 at 7:39pm:

ok all , here is one up and coming company who will firstly look into 0800 numbers for free calls and if i cannot do that i will use the 0161 number . I will say no to 0870  - ok thanks for your feedback.

Good decision.

Good luck with the business.  I regret I won't be a customer because I've reached the age now where car parts are things someone else deals with when I tell 'em to!

Car Parts eh?

Do you sell wiper blades by any chance? ;)  I bought some Bosch wipers for £24.99 last year and they've already worn out, despite low mileage (6,000 per annum).  

I've been quoted £5.31 for a pair of "Valeo" blades but I've never heard of this brand. ???

solman,

I wish you all the best for your business, but cannot understand why you are ashamed of your Manchester connections?

Why? I would not dream of doing business with you if you had an 0870 number, would hesitate if you had an 0207 number but would instantly call you on 061, 021 or 031.

Having a London number means big bucks for rubbish, 061 means value for money.

Have no axe to grind - born in Yorkshire - live in the South!

juby

Solman - you're crazy!!!  ;D

To us folks in London any number NOT 020 means: good value; good service and friendly folk.

I'm always ordering for my business - and I make a point of always trying to deal with people up north. You should make a thing of being based in Manchester - and say how this can give your customer better prices and services. If you have a good delivery service items take just as long to ship from Manchester as they do from anywhere else.

Good luck - and well done for dumping the 0870 idea.

wrote on Aug 17^th, 2005 at 10:00pm:

Car Parts eh? Do you sell wiper blades by any chance? ;)  I bought some Bosch wipers for £24.99 last year and they've already worn out, despite low mileage (6,000 per annum).   I've been quoted £5.31 for a pair of "Valeo" blades but I've never heard of this brand. ???

OT I know but wiper blades are one of the few 'car repair' things I do still deal with because MOT testers often fail a car for split blades and, to be fair, rotting rubber due to age (not mileage) is the cause.

I therefore replace the wipers every year just before the MOT is due - and I buy whole wipers from The Range for £1.99 each (total cost £5.97 for my hatchback).

wrote on Aug 18^th, 2005 at 8:24am:

OT I know but wiper blades are one of the few 'car repair' things I do still deal with because MOT testers often fail a car for split blades and, to be fair, rotting rubber due to age (not mileage) is the cause. I therefore replace the wipers every year just before the MOT is due - and I buy whole wipers from The Range for £1.99 each (total cost £5.97 for my hatchback).

That seems a good price, but what is "The Range"? :-/