Fife Council has recently imposed new 0845 numbers on its tax payers. Details are here. They've even gone to the expense of designing a logo for it!


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There have been lots of changes in the telecoms industry and Fife Council has a duty to make sure it gets the best prices it can.

...At the expense of callers that is. These "changes" are presumably the opening up of competition. So by getting 0845 numbers they can effectively bypass this and charge pretty much what we all paid before these "changes". Still, the council gets its "improved communications system".


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Calling an 0845 number starts from just 1p per minute (evenings) or 3p per minute (daytime) from a BT landline - the same as most local rate calls.

What planet are these cretins on?  ::)

I reckon there'll be a lot of people calling the council whilst they're abroad  ;) - 141 01592 551199.

Does anybody know if anything came of OFCOM's consultation about this? From the linked page:

• 0845 and 0870 services are often advertised as local rate and national rate calls respectively. However increasing competition for fixed-line telephone calls has resulted in a broad range of prices and discount call packages for local and national calls to geographic numbers. This means the cost of calling an 0845 number can be higher than the cost of a local geographic call, and the cost of calling an 0870 number can be higher than the cost of a national geographic call.

I thought I remembered reading a while ago that they had actually issued Official Advice in some form, saying that companies shouldn't use misleading phrases like "for the price of a local/national call", but I can't find any references to that now.

Can anybody help?

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7322462.stm

Phones pick up 100 faults a month

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More than 100 faults a month are being recorded on Fife Council's new multi-million pound telephone system.

Figures obtained under Freedom Of Information legislation show that engineers were called 358 times in the three months to February.

The new £20m system, where callers have to dial 17 digits to get through, integrates the authority's telephones with its computer network.

The council has insisted that most of the reports were for minor faults.

Contacting the council

There have been claims that the system is plagued with problems and has not improved the level of service the council provides.

Around Christmas, an older part of the authority's computer network had to be shut down because of concerns that data would be lost.

Labour leader, Cllr Alex Rowley, told the BBC Scotland news website: "The biggest problem I have with it is that people always have difficulty contacting the council.

"You can't just phone your office like you used to be able to. You find it very difficult to get though.

"It is not a very user friendly council."

[...]
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Source: Fife Council

http://fifefire.gov.uk/topics/index.cfm?fuseaction=news.display&subjectid=A91694C8-4BE0-425E-92E1767D59C85550&facid=82885EA8-FD9E-415A-B83771C8E944CE96&objectid=7B0FDDBD-087E-0E69-8085F2ADBC46411C

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Council explains telephone call costs

Archived news: published on Monday 26 Nov 2007 by Fife Council

Fife Council is reassuring the public that calls to it on its existing and new 0845 telephone numbers are not costing premium rates.

Customer Contact Manager Donald Duff said he understood how people could be confused about call costs and which of these are not classed as premium rate numbers.

"I cannot stress enough that 0845 numbers are not like those used for telephone competitions or helplines which can cost upwards of 75p a minute. Fife Council does not make any money or profit from calls to 0845 numbers.

"More than 550 of our main buildings ranging from schools to swimming pools as well as sections dealing with adoption to allotments still have local telephone numbers and dialling codes," he explained.

Donald added: "Our advice would be if you call us or any other 0845 numbers regularly check with your telephone service provider as to what is most suitable package or deal for you."

He explained calls to 0845 numbers typically cost a maximum of 2-5p per minute at peak rate and 1-2p per minute off peak - depending on a person's telephone supplier.

Full information about the new numbers is available in the '2007 Useful Guide to Council services and our new numbers' or the BT Phone Book.  A 2008 edition of the 'Useful guide will be available next Spring.

Main Fife Council telephone numbers are also available online at www.fifedirect.org.uk
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Fife Council persists with the 0845 numbers, although the lies about it being "local rate" have now gone:

http://www.fife.gov.uk/orgs/index.cfm?fuseaction=display.FCCON&orgid=60304273-A856-11D6-BF4D0002A5349AC9&contentid=5034#1

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There's an interesting case study on the Council's provider's website, Affiniti:

http://www.affiniti.com/index.php?option=com_rssnews&id=DA_200278

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Fife Council gets more bang for buck from Affiniti VoIP

Fife Council is reaping the financial and business productivity benefits of a new IP-based communications network, which has seen more than 12,000 council phones across 350 sites replaced by advanced VoIP handsets.

[…]

The new VoIP system has given the organisation access to a log of telephony users and equipment, with individual phone numbers attributed to employees. They will be able to be reached on these numbers whether they are hot-desking or working from home.

The ability for employees to log in and out of their VoIP phones proved its worth in July when a small fire resulted in 60 staff from the Catering & Cleaning and Procurement & Supplies departments relocating immediately to alternative accommodation.

[…]

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So with such "advanced" features whereby calls can be redirected at the drop of a hat on geographical numbers, why do taxpayers have to call 0845 numbers?

I guess it's because they were sold these things on the rubbish that they were "local rate".

Calls to the 0845 numbers net providers such as Affiniti around 1.5 pence per minute over and above the 0.3 pence per minute had they got had it been a geographical or 03 number. This is during the weekday daytime.

Fife Council has swapped 0845 for 0345.

Excellent news from Fife Council, and I do like the little "animation" the have over the call cost cuts..

However one small note below the main 0345 number is this - "If you wish to call us from outwith the UK ,"

Is the word outwith even a word?  :-?

CJT-80 wrote on Oct 11^th, 2013 at 10:40am:

However one small note below the main 0345 number is this - "If you wish to call us from outwith the UK ," Is the word outwith even a word?  :-?

What do they say about calling from outside the UK?  Do they give an 01 or 02 number to call instead or simply warn that the 03 number may not be cheap at all but instead massively expensive?

I have just been charged an outrageous 15.40 Euros per minute for calling Plusnet's UK 03 number for technical support by Orange Spain.  It was fortunate there were only 4.50 Euros on my SIM card and so the call only lasted 12 seconds before it was cut off.  If My Orange Spain account had 50 Euros credit on it I could easily have lost all of that money.  It seems impossible to find a Chief Executive's Office at Orange Spain to complain about such matters.

The terminating Plusnet number is run by Virgin Media but no doubt they will pass the buck to Orange Spain who have already passed the buck to the UK phone operators.  And will useless Ofcom get involved even though their GC17 seems to be being breached.  As I am only an individual and not a company of course they will find away to avoid being responsible for the matter.

The number in question of 0345 140 0200 can be found via www.plus.net/home-broadband/contact/ ; My normal UK calls to UK numbers starting 01 or 02 with Orange Spain on their SIM Mundo cost 1 Euro cent per minute plus 30 cents connection fee.  03 calls are classed as Premium Rate and charged at the same level as an 09 sex chat line at 15.4 Euros per minute!!!

From http://movil.orange.es/tarifas/llamar-a-otro-pais/tarjeta-sim-mundo/

fijo desde0,01€/min. ocultar detalle

Reino Unido Local Rate 0,11€/min.

Reino Unido Personal 0,19€/min.

Reino Unido Premium 15,4€/min.

Clearly there was no way I expected an 03 number to be charged at Premium Rate and nor was there any price warning given by Orange Spain before I called the number.

I think Fife Council need to be warned about this problem and encourage to take it up with their telecoms supplier.

NGMsGhost,

Fife Council do provide an 01 alternative but with no call charge information.  I would suggest "calls to this number from outside the UK are charge at your providers international rate" would be a good start.

With regards to your situation, I don't speak Spanish and thankfully Google will translate Orange Spain's website.

It maybe worth trying here: http://foros.orange.es/forumdisplay.php?37-Orange-M%C3%B3viles-Particulares and seeing if you can get anywhere there.  They maybe able to point you in the right direction.

It would also be worth asking Plus Net if they can provide you with an 01 number to contact them on from Outside the UK.

:)