On today's edition of BBC Radio 4's You and Yours (Wednesday 4th March 2009) there was an item about a dodgy job agency advertising jobs that do not exist via JobCentrePlus and also using an 0844 phone number on which long call waiting times were deliberately engineered to earn revenue.

Whilst the main outfit under investigation by the program was the dodgy job agency trying to get money from people for non existent jobs a statement was then read out from JobCentrePlus about the matter saying that they have implemented new checks ensuring that "premium rate phone numbers" are not used by any companies advertising jobs on their website.

However as JobCentrePlus use 0845 numbers for all their customers to contact them about benefit claims or to find jobs does this mean JobCentrePlus admit that they are using a premium rate (with a small non Ofcom prefixed p that is) number for benefit claimants to contact them or are they saying that 0844 numbers are premium rate but 0845 numbers are not. :-? :-/

Seems strange to me as many people using mobile phones will often find that 0845 numbers are subject to precisely the same premium rate charging as 0844.  The same thing is also true of BT Payphones where 0844 and 0845 cost 20p per minute compared to 1p per minute to call an 01/02/03 prefixed phone number. >:(

As usual the headless chickens in charge of JobCentrePlus seem to have no consistent logical policy to jusify their continued refusal to switch from using 0845 to 03 phone numbers to contact them. :o >:( [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif]

NGM, where have you been?  Don't you know that 0845 is local rate?   ;D

Seriously, it's yet another poor example of everyone thinking 0845 is local rate, just like 0870 is meant to be national rate.  In fact, some communication providers of 0871 numbers try and state 0871 are national rate.

Well spotted - very useful.

We all have to make sacrifices in the course of campaigning duty. Those able to suffer listening to "You and Yours" are deserving of the highest award for gallantry.

The statement from DWP is heard at around 5:50 / 7:39 of this Real audio clip.

bbb_uk wrote on Mar 4^th, 2009 at 5:41pm:

NGM, where have you been?

I have been here as normal.  I think its more a case of where have you been bbb_uk.  I thought the only forum moderator we had these days was Dave. ;) :P


Quote:

Seriously, it's yet another poor example of everyone thinking 0845 is local rate, just like 0870 is meant to be national rate.  In fact, some communication providers of 0871 numbers try and state 0871 are national rate.

Actually its yet another example of a leading member of the Contact Council and the Contact Centre Association quite deliberately and cynically perpetrating a big lie so as to try and reduce its own operating costs at a much greater cost to its clients.  Also of that body ignoring the advice of the COI and Sir David Varney's report. :o >:( [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif] [smiley=thumbdown.gif]

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Mar 4^th, 2009 at 10:29pm:

The statement from DWP is heard at around 5:50 / 7:39 of this Real audio clip.

Yes listening to it again the statement was quoted as from DWP but I presume JobCentrePlus is merely an agency of DWP and since DWP was talking about their policy on job ads that they carry then they are by default talking about JobCentrePlus and and any other government employment agency in their stable.

NGMsGhost wrote on Mar 5^th, 2009 at 11:43am:

I presume JobCentrePlus is merely an agency of DWP and since DWP was talking about their policy on job ads that they carry then they are by default talking about JobCentrePlus and and any other government employment agency in their stable.

Yes, all DWP services are delivered through agencies of the Department, which are under its control. General management of call centre operations is indeed centralised. A number rationalisation exercise is said to be currently underway.