Am I entitled to request from a company - or even demand - the underlying geographical number to an 0844 number?

Thanks.

There is no reason why you can't try. Don't expect them to give it you though.

Best you can do is threaten not to give them your business if they don't supply the geographical number.

Not a lot of good if it's your GP's surgery though!  You're likely to be taken off their list for being awkward!

Thanks for swift replies to you both.

Is there anything in law that requires them to disclose geographical numbers? Freedom of Information, all that sort of stuff?

One could ask why they levy a charge for contacting them by telephone (collected through the telephone companies) and challenge this if you think it to be improper, rather than simply seeking to be exempted from it.

There are many general issues regarding the regulation of telephone services and the misrepresentation of call charges, however if a company decides to impose a valid charge (even if collected indirectly) they cannot be legally required to waive it.

In any particular case it comes down to the commercial relationship between the caller and the revenue sharing number user. In the case of NHS GPs and many others such a charge is clearly improper.

Only public bodies come within the Freedom of Information Act so if it is, for example, your local council, an FOI is a good idea - worked for me with Essex County Council.  Some companies will give geo nos, some won't, but it is always worth a try (you might just get a disgruntled employee serving their notice who wants to help!)   If I have to deal with an organisation which only uses 084/087, I try to communicate via email which also has the advantage of a written record of exchanges (& could include a request for the geo no!)  As has been said, a threat of not giving them your business might work.   Good luck!

jackthebuilder wrote on Jul 3^rd, 2009 at 10:06am:

Am I entitled to request from a company - or even demand - the underlying geographical number to an 0844 number? Thanks.

You can ask, but they don't have to give you any alternative. You might be able to ask for a number to call them from overseas.

The Freedom of Information Act only applies to public bodies.

Demand away.

You'll have some 0844's which terminate at a SIP address. Even better if that SIP address is behind a NAT, giving you no luck with the latter.

Thanks qtel - I have no idea what those abbreviations/acronyms are - can you explain what they stand for, and more inportantly, what they mean?

Not all revenue sharing numbers have a simple geographic alternative. Whilst many may be routed to one or many accessible geographic numbers, even that is not necessarily the case.

The essential point at issue is that this is an organisation which charges you to speak to someone. Imagine a counter with a screen, where you have to put money in a meter to stop the screen coming down during the conversation, or at the end you are presented with a bill according to the duration of the conversation. (In some cases you even to pay whilst in a queue whilst waiting for someone to become available to speak with you).

There may be ways that some can use to bypass this process, i.e. alternative contact numbers or underlying geographic numbers. Some telcos give some of their subscribers a "free pass" in some cases by collecting the money from their customers in other ways.

All of this is just the mechanics, the essential issue is that a charge is being made for contact by telephone. I would suggest that this is the point that should be challenged.

Quote:

Best you can do is threaten not to give them your business if they don't supply the geographical number

.......or go through the back door, check the database if there is a geographical alternative and, if not, ask the many sleuths contributing to this site to find one.

jackthebuilder wrote on Jul 5^th, 2009 at 12:50am:

Thanks qtel - I have no idea what those abbreviations/acronyms are - can you explain what they stand for, and more inportantly, what they mean?

He/she is saying that more modern systems can operate without underlying geographical numbers.

Google is your friend:


http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=SIP


http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=NAT

catj wrote on Jul 6^th, 2009 at 12:40am:

Google is your friend:

Indeed it is, pending the BT takeover this site relies on its ads.

Using the provided links I find that I can call 0845 630 88 88, to get a "Self Image Profile" and contact the NAT West Bank in Winchester on 0845 605 1605.

The friends in question are probably the authors of the Wikipedia articles on Session Initiation Protocol and Network Address Translation.

The articles about the SIP Scootershop and the National Aids Trust were also interesting.

Thanks to all for further contributions - I think I have a better chance of becoming fluent in ancient greek by lunchtime today, than getting my head round any of this technology!

What was wrong with 2 tin cans and a length of string, I ask myself?

More seriously - I've just had a bright (I think) idea - I'll mosey on down to the library and look up the company in some old telephone directories, and possibly find out what the number used to be (and still may be!) before they switched to 0844.

Mange tout.