Hi All,

Although the recent publicity that was in several big newspapers and on TV as well is good for us so we can highlight the fact that 084x/087x numbers are premium rate numbers in disguise and very few consumers are aware of this, it does have a some drawbacks.

One of these drawbacks is that some numbers listed in the main verified database, or as mentioned in any thread we have of a company/organisation/government department in the Geographical Requests section you may unfortunately notice will no longer work.

The likely reason for this is that the company/organisation/government department concerned has gone through all the trouble of removing any such geographical number or freephone number so as to force you to ring their premium rate 084x/087x numbers instead so they can more than likely continue to earn revenue for every minute you are on the phone to them via their normal contact method (084x/087x).  A perfect example of this is Sky and I'm sure a lot of other companies now check this site periodically and find out what, if any, geographical number have been found and take steps to remove this number.

I believe this is very underhanded of the company concerned as it costs them money to remove such a number from existence but shows how bad these companies actually are at wanting to keep these revenue-generating numbers and force you to ring them.

If anyone finds that a number that no longer works then please let us know so we can remove it.  This can be done by one of several methods:-

• Posting in the relevant thread for that company concerned in the Geographical Requests section and mention which geographical/freephone number no longer works;
  
• or if no thread exists, create a new thread in the Geographical Requests section and mention the company name and geographical number/freephone that is no longer working

I believe the only way these companies will give-in or stop going through all the trouble of removing geographical numbers we may find, is to write a letter/e-mail the company concerned and complain.

Hopefully, if enough people ring then consumer-driven power may cause these companies to rethink their decision to have a stealth premium rate number.

Below is a (currently draft) letter/email you may wish to send to such a company who has deliberately removed their geographical numbers...

Below is a draft generic letter/email you can use as a template to send to any company/organisation/government department who is using a stealth premium rate 084x/087x number.

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To whomever it concerns,

Your Contact Number

Lately there has been a lot of newspaper articles and news items on TV about companies such as yourself that use numbers beginning 084x/087x.

In most cases a company using such numbers actually earns a revenue from each minute that us consumers are on the phone to you.  This revenue you receive varies depending on the number but can be upto around 4p/min (higher in some high useage cases).

These numbers are commonly misleadingly advertised as 'local' or 'national' rate and Ofcom, the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) and Trading Standards have agreed that describing any number beginning 084x/087x as either 'local rate' or 'national rate' is misleading. The reason is that the cost of the calling these numbers varies and in most cases costs more than a normal geographical (those beginning 01 or 02) calls.  In fact, it can cost anywhere upto 40p/min (on some mobile networks) to ring these numbers.

The newspaper articles about the use of these numbers are available in the following links:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5405620.stm
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2389087,00.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=408660&in_page_id=1770
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2005300000-2006460369,,00.html
and a BBC news video:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/nolavconsole/ukfs_news/hi?redirect=st.stm&news=1&bbram=1&bbwm=1&nbram=1&nbwm=1&nol_storyid=5410232

I would hereby like to make a complaint about your number, (insert their number(s)), and the fact that you are most likely are receiving revenue from us calling on these expensive numbers as mentioned in the above newspaper/TV articles.

Due to continuing use of these numbers, Ofcom has announced that a new number range beginning 03x should be available from January/February 2007.  This new number range will offer the exact same facilities/network features like IVR (Interactive Voice Response), Intelligent Call Routings, etc that are available now on existing 084x/087x numbers EXCEPT these new numbers will not cost us consumers anymore money than a normal geographical call and will actually be free for us consumers that have inclusive call plans (the existing 084x/087x numbers in most cases isn't included in any plans).

Yours faithfully




(your name)

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The above letter/email is just a draft so if anyone can think of something I should include or thinks I should amend something then please let me know.

Off topic replies have been moved to This Thread.

Hi PeterLittleton,

I've moved your post to the existing post on Sky in the Geographical Chat section as it was more related to Sky.