Capital One have now started using 0845 No's in place of their 0800 numbers and are describing them on their website and the back of their CC bills as "local rate", another company joining the pigs at the trough

I would have thought a report to the ASA was in order depending on the context.

Let us hope 0800 using MBNA does not follow Capital One's shameful example.

As you know, ASA do not police websites and personally addressed mail. There is only Trading Standards, and they don't give a t*ss

They do police websites if the number is used in a sales context but not in just a merely general information scenario.

Not what they have always told me,( unless they have changed very recently), they always have pointed me to TS.

Clare Bowley, Dept Director of Collections, Capital One (01158 436664) was helpful.

For more help from the Directors, including Debitas, try:
Michael Woodburn, Vice President 01158 432361, or
Scott Woolveridge, Director of Ops on 01158 433608, or
Valerie Lipton, Director Collections on 01158 436113

I hope they can be as helpful for you as they were for me.

I have been corresponding with Capital One since July 2007, here are some of the recent replies and the last one from me to them, which as of today I have had no response; -

Dear Mr ******   dated 29-07-07

Thank you for expressing your concern to Capital One over the advertising of our 0845 numbers.

Customer feedback is important to us and on receipt of your complaint we immediately looked into this issue.

In order to ensure customer clarity we will be updating our explanation of the 0845 number. We will be updating how we communicate this to our customers in a phased approach in the next few months.  This will include written, verbal and on line communications.

Thank you again for taking time to write to me about this issue.

Kind regards

Sally

Sally Camm

Head of Corporate Affairs • Risk Department
0115 843 3676 (TL 455 3676) or 07879 885 329
Assistant:  Joan O'Connor (TL 455 8827 or 020 7756 8827)
sally.camm@capitalone.com


Mr ******,  dated 05-08-08

Thank you for such a swift response.  I would like to reiterate that I do appreciate your concern and interest and offer my apologies if you were expecting a call from Michael.

I do not have any further information to share with you at this time and would like to reiterate that we will be updating our communication as a priority.

Kind regards

Sally Camm


Dear Mr ******  dated  16-09-08

Thank you for your ongoing communication.  

Further to my early messages which outlined that we were currently reviewing our materials and making the appropriate changes I can now confirm that the majority of the updates should be made across our communication channels by 01 October.

Kind regards

Sally Camm


Dear Ms Camm,   dated 16-09-08

Thank you for your communication, can I assume that means you will be removing the illegal wording from your website,(and credit card statements), that is still there nearly 4 months after I first told Mr Woodburn about it? https://www.capitaloneonline.co.uk/CapitalOne_Consumer/Login.do and https://www.capitaloneonline.co.uk/CapitalOne_Consumer/AcctContactOutside.do

It is not rocket science for your IT department to remove this wording in minutes, you still have it there after 4 months of being informed about it!

I will wait until 01 October, (I assume that is 01 October 2008?), if it has not been removed by 02 October 2008, I will report Capital One to the relevant authorities for breaking the Consumer Protection Act 1987 (part III) Misleading price indications, a CRIMINAL Act with penalties of unlimited fines.

The only reason you are using 0845 is GREED  as it is a revenue sharing number, and even if you tell the same tale as most others, that you receive no revenue, there will be a financial incentive in the form of reduced outgoing calls, free or subsidised hardware, (phones, switchboard  etc), free switching of calls etc.

I do hope that you come through as an honest company and use 01, 02 or 03 numbers, or at least put those numbers alongside your 0845 if you must persist in promoting it, there is a geographical number that lies under the non geo number, would you kindly supply that to me if you are not going to use a geo number in place of your 0845  number?

As an American company you would not get away with charging more than a normal call in the USA, hence why you use toll free numbers there!


Regards

I have only recently begun communicating with Capital One and was given the details of SAYNOTO0870.COM by a friend. I've read through the other posts on the forum and would like to add my 2p worth - without of course a 7p connection charge first!  ;D

I am most annoyed at the increasing use of 0845 numbers and so far have had the following e-mail conversation:-

     
Date Submitted      30 September 2008
Subject      Transactions
Message      To the disputes section. Further to my letter to you of September 3rd and your subsequent reply (asking for a repetition of the information already provided in that letter) regarding my dispute with (name withheld). You asked me to telephone the 0800 number quoted on the letter you sent me, however it is unobtainable. Further more when I tried to telephone your landline on 0115 993 8002, this appeared to be faulty as well. I am totally against 0845 and 0870 numbers since these are a complete rip off - it costs me nothing at all to dial a land-line number. I am therefore advising you that Trading Standards have managed to sort out (name withheld) and forced them to comply with legislation and I am no longer in dispute with them.

Status      Completed
Memo      Thank you for letting us know that you have resolved the dispute with (name witheld). I've made a note of this on your account. I'm sorry to hear that you aren't happy with the charges for calling our customer service telephone number. All of our customer communications that quote the 0845 number advises that this is charged at a local rate and the cost will vary depending on your service provider. If you call from a mobile your network provider may also advise you of the cost of the call before they connect you. If you need any other help, please call us on 08458 400 400*. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (*Typical call charge from a BT landline is 7p connection fee plus up to 2p per minute. Calls from other networks and mobiles may be higher. Calls may be recorded/monitored for training purposes.)

     
Date Submitted      01 October 2008
Subject      Transactions
Message      Transactions Completed 30 September
Further to your message, I am indeed not happy with your 0845 service, it is an absolute money-making con! 7p connection plus 2p per minute is ridiculous - especially to be kept waiting in a queue, transferred to someone for whom English is not their first language and then more often than not kept on hold whilst they try to contact the appropriate department! It costs me nothing at all to call national or local land-line numbers and therefore I do not see why your 0115 number is only publicised for use by members whilst abroad. Perhaps if all your members got themselves 0845 numbers and asked your customer services to use these numbers for contact - you would see why numerous consumer web-sites advise a total boycott of these calls.

Status      Completed
Memo      Thank you for contacting us about our previous message. We always try to answer and deal with our customers calls as quickly and efficiently as possible. I apologise if you feel you have been waiting longer than you think is acceptable. However at times, we may experience a higher than normal number of calls coming into our customer service centre. When we do, this can affect our holding times. Our quieter periods are usually between 2.30pm to 4pm, so you may prefer to call us between those times. Please note that the cost depends on your service provider. This is capped at 5 pence per minute from landlines. Calls from mobiles may vary. It may also cost more to call from abroad. If you need any other help, please call us on 08458 400 400*. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (*Typical call charge from a BT landline is 7p connection fee plus up to 2p per minute. Calls from other networks and mobiles may be higher. Calls may be recorded/monitored for training purposes.)

     
Date Submitted      02 October 2008
Subject      Transactions
Message      Completed 01 October 2008. I accept your apologies for the amount of time customers have to wait on your 0845 number, however I also note that you have chosen not to comment on the fact that these numbers are a complete con. Nor have you chosen to comment on the fact that most phone users these days have free calls to local and national land-lines. You have failed to answer my question as to why the landline number on your statements is only publicised as being for use by customers from abroad. I shall therefore be publishing your comments on the Martin Lewis Money Saving Expert site which has well in excess of 1,000,000 members, and an active boycott of these 0845 numbers.

Status      Completed. Thank you for contacting us about our phone service. I've passed your message onto our relevant department and they'll reply to you by letter within the next two weeks. I'm sorry that I can't give you an immediate answer.


I would just like to ask if there is anything else I should be doing - apart from changing my CC company  ;). Needless to say, I will not be phoning them at all and will continue with either e-mails, faxes or letters.

Incidentally, I have changed my details with them - so if they want to speak to me, they will have to phone my mobile  :P.

Two things. One, you can tell them that  there is no such thing as a local number and there hasn't been for years. (It costs the same to call your neighbour as it does to someone the other side of the country) and two why don't you telephone the international number putting 141 in front? This way they don't know where you are calling from.

Quote:

I'm sorry to hear that you aren't happy with the charges for calling our customer service telephone number. All of our customer communications that quote the 0845 number advises that this is charged at a local rate and the cost will vary depending on your service provider. If you call from a mobile your network provider may also advise you of the cost of the call before they connect you. If you need any other help, please call us on 08458 400 400*. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (*Typical call charge from a BT landline is 7p connection fee plus up to 2p per minute. Calls from other networks and mobiles may be higher. Calls may be recorded/monitored for training purposes.)

Don't you just love it? Sorry you aren't happy with the cost of phone calls. These are the costs. If you want more help, please call the number you're not happy with calling.

How about changing credit card? You can probably shop around for a better deal that also provides an 0800 number.

sherbert wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2008 at 10:20am:

Two things. One, you can tell them that  there is no such thing as a local number and there hasn't been for years. (It costs the same to call your neighbour as it does to someone the other side of the country) and two why don't you telephone the international number putting 141 in front? This way they don't know where you are calling from.

I will certainly do as you suggest with the 141 - if I have to phone them at all, which I try to avoid anyway as I get a bit sick of having to repeat myself to various people, non of whom seem to have English as their first language. This is not a racist slur by an standards as most of them manage better than I would speaking their language - but I also object to large companies taking advantage of cheap labour by putting their call centres in other countries and contributing to the number of unemployed call centre operatives over here!

I have my number withheld on all calls, so does putting 141 still help?

Thanks for your reply.

jrawle wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2008 at 10:51am:

Quote: I'm sorry to hear that you aren't happy with the charges for calling our customer service telephone number. All of our customer communications that quote the 0845 number advises that this is charged at a local rate and the cost will vary depending on your service provider. If you call from a mobile your network provider may also advise you of the cost of the call before they connect you. If you need any other help, please call us on 08458 400 400*. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (*Typical call charge from a BT landline is 7p connection fee plus up to 2p per minute. Calls from other networks and mobiles may be higher. Calls may be recorded/monitored for training purposes.) Don't you just love it? Sorry you aren't happy with the cost of phone calls. These are the costs. If you want more help, please call the number you're not happy with calling. How about changing credit card? You can probably shop around for a better deal that also provides an 0800 number.

The reason I changed to Capital One was for the 'Cash Back' offer and since I pay the full amount every month I don't incur charges. I would rather just keep on at them to change things to be honest - but everyone needs a hobby  ;) ;D

Victoria_Meldrew wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2008 at 11:21am:

sherbert wrote on Oct 3rd, 2008 at 10:20am: Two things. One, you can tell them that  there is no such thing as a local number and there hasn't been for years. (It costs the same to call your neighbour as it does to someone the other side of the country) and two why don't you telephone the international number putting 141 in front? This way they don't know where you are calling from. I will certainly do as you suggest with the 141 - if I have to phone them at all, which I try to avoid anyway as I get a bit sick of having to repeat myself to various people, non of whom seem to have English as their first language. This is not a racist slur by an standards as most of them manage better than I would speaking their language - but I also object to large companies taking advantage of cheap labour by putting their call centres in other countries and contributing to the number of unemployed call centre operatives over here! I have my number withheld on all calls, so does putting 141 still help? Thanks for your reply.

If you have number withheld then call the international number and see what happens.

My sentiments entirely about the non English people, especially as I am very hard of hearing and have huge trouble understanding them. I even have trouble with the Scottish!!!

sherbert wrote on Oct 3^rd, 2008 at 11:34am:

If you have number withheld then call the international number and see what happens. My sentiments entirely about the non English people, especially as I am very hard of hearing and have huge trouble understanding them. I even have trouble with the Scottish!!!

Fortunately I live far enough north - that the border isn't too far away, so I don't find too much problem except with the Glaswegian accent. I was once in B&Q and asked for some advice - suffice to say I had a lovely conversation with this guy - mostly comprising me nodding and smiling, but not having a clue what he was saying. I visit family there quite often now though so I am picking it up.  ;) ;)