I have recently had to make a number of contacts with the Guest Services Department of Mitchells & Butlers regarding an incident at their Elephant & Castle pub in the High St Kensington area of London in November.

They have made numerous promises that the Regional Manager will contact me but on each occasion he has failed to do so.  They then suggest the issue will be closed out in 7 days if I do not contact customer services by phone to stop this happening.  Surprise, surprise the number for customer services is 0845 7005050 and at the bottom of the latest letter I received from them this is listed as "0845 700 5050 (Local Call)" :o >:( :'(

I have checked our database hereand nobody seems to have come up with any alternative for Mitchells & Butler Guest Services with the only geographic number shown being for Harvester Restaurants.

The 0845 7005050 number is shown in our database as an alternative for an 0870 number but there is no geographic alternative indicated for the 0845 number:-

Harvester Restaurants       0870 6093000       0845 7005050                   H.O. of Mitchells & Butler - Guest Care team

I spoke to the Operations Manager of Mitchells & Butler after various clueless claims by customer services staff that 0845 was definitely "Local Rate" because their managers had assured them this was so.  This guy despite sounding intelligent and well educated (unlike the customer services staff who sounded clueless and as though they were paid minimum wage) still claimed to be unaware that 0845 was a number that cost extra money to call, although he claimed he would investigate the matter.

Given the difficulty people have had in getting any alternative I can only assume that Mitchells & Butler may use a voip system to terminate the calls for which there are no direct geographic alternatives?

Can anyone else shed any light on Mitchells & Butlers and why obtaining a geographic alternative phone number for Guest Services or their head office in general appears to be quite so impossible to achieve?

Well, according to this page, their head office fax is 0121 233 2246 (and based at 27 Fleet Street, Birmingham, B3 1JP). Depending on how many different numbers they own, their number is possibly somewhere in the range of 22xx (00 is usually, but not always) the switchboard. That should give you some scope to try.

Actually, after a bit of Googling, this page returned 0121 498 5900. Probably worth a shot, and the article isn't that old either!

NGMsGhost, is that number any good?

jgxenite wrote on Mar 31^st, 2008 at 1:43pm:

NGMsGhost, is that number any good?

jgxenite,

Strangely the forum didn't send me update emails for your earlier two posts in this thread but did send me an email for the last one.

As I have an unlimited calls plan some ringing round using your line of thinking and following some Googling reveals 0121 498 4000 as possibly being the main switchboard number for Mitchells & Butler, although all I got was "thank you for calling Mitchells & Butlers, sorry but we are currently closed".  So I will have to ring back in office hours.

More than likely though this 0845 customer service number merely leads to an outsourced call centre bureau so if I ring the main swithboard in the day I may well be told to call the 0845 number. :-/ :( :'(

NGMsGhost,

No worries - not sure what happened with the first two but atleast you got it in the end. Well, it is worth a shot (at trying the switchboard) and seeing what they say - you can but try anyway!

A Google of mbplc.com for 0121 reveals quite a few results. See here. 0121 498 numbers appear to go as low as 0121 498 43xx. They are also in 5xxx and 6xxx.

What about a polite email to management requesting an alternative 0121 switchboard number?

Dave wrote on Apr 1^st, 2008 at 3:43pm:

What about a polite email to management requesting an alternative 0121 switchboard number?

It was one of those places where everyone in customer services all constantly assured me 0845 was definitely "local rate" because their managers had told them it was.

I then spoke to the Operations Manager of M&B who was still convinced 0845 was "local rate" and wanted firm documentary evidence it was not!

I suspect that that the customer services centre may be outsourced to a third party bunch of ripoff artists such as Capita.

Just a further update to report that 0121 498 4000 is the main switchboard number of Mitchells & Butlers in Birmingham and that they were able to connect me to the Guest Services (their word for Customer Services) department for their pubs.

This turned out to be precisely the same team of people you can get through to on 0845 7005050 except that they told me that I could get through to them on the main switchboard number until 5pm, whereas the 0845 number is diverted to a voicemail after 4pm saying they have closed.  So pay extra and get a worse service it would appear!

Their Operations Manager Robert Duff did not seem to be able to give me any credible answer as to why Mitchells & Butlers uses 0845 and 0870 numbers for contacting it when its main geographic number is still in operation (but not listed with Directory Enquiries or shown on its website(s).  When I complained about 084/7 not being included in BT Option 3 etc he just gave me the usual lies that all these 084/7 revenue sharers try about how they weren't responsible for the call charges charged by my telephone company.

It would be interesting to know which telecoms operator owns the number range in which 0845 700 5050 and 0870 609 3000 are located and thus who may be sharing revenue on these calls with Mitchells & Butlers?

Also finally The two Unverified listings I have entered for Mitchells & Butlers, which both show the geographic alternative number for the 0845 and 0870, might need to be promoted to replace the current verified listing which only shows an 0845 number as an alternative for the 0870 number.

I can confirm that all numbers [ (0)1214 98, (0)8457 00, (0)8706 09 ] are owned by BT. This either means that Mitchells & Butlers are getting the maximum revenue share available from BT, or BT are making a heft profit from M&B's calls!

Entries have been amended to show 0121 4984000 as switchboard. For "Guest Services", the caller must request to be put through.

jgxenite wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2008 at 3:20pm:

I can confirm that all numbers [ (0)1214 98, (0)8457 00, (0)8706 09 ] are owned by BT. This either means that Mitchells & Butlers are getting the maximum revenue share available from BT, or BT are making a heft profit from M&B's calls!

Grrrghhh.  It sounds horribly like BT has just ripped them off by claiming that 0870 and 0845 gives them a more exciting national image etc, etc.  Or I suppose BT may offer these companies a much cheaper deal on their outgoing calls in return for using 084/7 incoming.  I can't believe companies would get rid of a nice geographic number like that unless they were given some kind of major incentive to do so.

I suppose now I am going to have to email their Commercial Director but I don't suppose it will do any good. >:( [smiley=thumbdown.gif]

Wonder if it might also be worth searching around the 4xxx number to see if you could find the direct number to "Guest Services"? Or next time you ring the switchboard, ask them what extension you are being transferred to?

jgxenite wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2008 at 4:12pm:

Wonder if it might also be worth searching around the 4xxx number to see if you could find the direct number to "Guest Services"?

Not for the number of times I plan to ring them again in my life (i.e. probably nil after today).  Too much like a needle in a haystack job given how big a company it is.


Quote:

Or next time you ring the switchboard, ask them what extension you are being transferred to?

They have annoyed me enough with their lies about "Local Call" that I might just do that but the switchboard had no objection to putting me through when I asked for Guest Services using the main 020 number.  After all most people will now get to that switchboard via ringing their more heavily promoted 0870 number off which they make even more money than the 0845. So why should they object......