Hello,

Am off on my hols very soon and just noticed that the 24hr claim line for my travel insurance (Direct Line) is an 0870 number.

It's 0870 241 4628.

My main concern is that they've given no international number; they just suggest +44 870 241 4628, and I understand from lurking here that phoning 0870 numbers from abroad doesn't always work.

Have checked on DL's site, this site and in the forum itself and come up with nothing. [url="http://www.directline.co.uk/travel/travel01.htm"]The DL site[/url] says that faxed claims can go to 0141 204 4754, so it may be something similar to that. But that is the office hours line.

I'd rather not be bleeding to death at 4am while an Italian doctor tries to get through to Direct Line but can't because the company wants to earn money off incoming calls... [smiley=undecided.gif]

Does anyone have the geographical number for the 24hr hotline?

TIA
Q

Oops. I meant this link. BBCode and I are not friends.

And in looking in your link we find:
"0870 241 4628 Calls may be recorded.  Max call charge from a BT landline is 3p per minute.  Calls from other networks may vary."

L**rs as well now?

Direct Line use 0845 numbers elsewhere, so perhaps 0870 was used in this case because it can be called from abroad (all but expensively). Obviously no one told the department doing the website that calls to this number are more expensive than they claim (I suggest you make a complaint about this). In any case, the maximum cost of an 0845 number from a BT line is not 3p/min, but 3.95p/min for those few on 'non-discounted' tariffs like BT Light User Scheme. I notice that there is a toll free number for calling if you are in the US.  ::)

Anyway, to get back to finding a number for you, I have had a look at the DL site on Internet Archive and this is what I've found:

This page lists, what appear to be contact numbers for customer services:
London 0181 680 2121 [now 020 86802121]
Birmingham 0121 616 2121
Glasgow 0141 226 2121
Leeds 0113 245 2121
Manchester 0161 839 2121
Bristol 0117 938 2121

Note how they all end with the same digits. I have noticed that other DL geographical numbers do this, so if you find a number for one office, you *may* be able to work out what it is at the others. Perhaps this goes back to the days when they used to use geographical numbers on their literature.  :-/

I think that we are looking for a pre-2000 number. However, it may be that the destination of the 0870 number has changed since then. Perhaps they do, or have in the past, sub-contracted out their 24 hour helpline. For example, http://www.directline.com/travel/coverAnnual.htm]this page[/url] from 21/08/2001 shows the emergency contact numbers (with the same 0870) with a fax number 01243 773169.

Bear in mind that DL is now part of RBS, so they *may* have consolidated all 24 hour operations into one office. 0141 204 does seem to be used for RBS offices, see Google results.