Copy of e-mail sent to Honest John in the Daily Telegraph today: [email]Subject: New Nav

 Hi, HJ,

Whist I would not hesitate to do business with a company reccomended by you, (I have done so in the past), I would not dream of doing business with a company who has the arrogance to invite me ring them on a Premium number!
(0871 is charged at 10 pence a minute ar all times)

What are they thinking about? If it was a geograhical number, it would cost me one penny a minute to ring them.

Regards,  
[/email]
The Comapany New-Nav states that they "are recommended by Honest John"

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Generally, a complaint should be made to your own Trading Standards office, i.e. for the area in which you live.  That office can provide advice as to any civil claim you may have against a trader (unlikely in this case unless you have in fact been misled -- which members of this group will not have been as they now know full well how much an 0870 call costs).

A criminal offence (which is what we're talking about here) can be investigated by the TS office in whose area the offence is committed.  This is usually the area where the advert has been read -- so again your local TS office if you read the advert at home.  If you read the advert somewhere else, you could try reporting to the TS office for the area you were in, but some TS offices will only field complaints from their own residents (in which case your own office should then forward to the correct enforcing authority).

The TS authority for the company's head office is known as their 'home authority'.  An enforcing authority will refer complaints about the company to the home authority for advice.  If legal action is being considered, the enforcing authority will contact the home authority first, to find out what advice was previously given and to find out if anyone else is already taking action on the same matter (to avoid duplication).

Sounds complicated, but should clarify -- report to your own TS office.  Note that, in some regions, the call will automatically transfer to Consumer Direct (DTI-led consumer advice service) but that a call with a criminal element will be referred through the the relevant TS office(s) by them too so long as you make it clear that you think there's a criminal element to it.

Here is the reply to an email I sent to this arrogant company that want me to pay them to enquire about purchasing their goods!

If you do not wish to contact us by telephone you may alternatively contact us by email. We are not able to provide anything other than a non-geographic number due to the way the calls are routed.  If you have any further complaints please address them in writing to:

The Customer Service Manager
Micro Direct Ltd
275a Upper Brook Street
Manchester
M12 0HR

Regards

Stuart Tracey
Customer Services
Micro Direct
Tel: 0870 4422233
Fax: 0161 9477382

I wonder who feeds these morons this garbage they regurgitate? Probably the crooks at BT..... 

But notice that they have a geographic fax number....

The problem is that is not a practical option. If you do that the chances are they will not accept the letter. If they do not agree to pay the additional fee the Post Office will not deliver your letter.

The difficulty at the bottom of all of this is why you need to contact them at all. Due to the fact that they are an Internet-based business, you will normally only need to contact them because of reasons such as:

1) Their inadequate web system has failed to accept your prefectly valid Credit Card.

2) They have failed to deliver what you ordered and have paid for.

3) The products they have delivered to you or some of them are faulty.

4) They have debited one or more of your Credit Cards more than once for the goods which you ordered, mainly due to the inadequacies of their web site and the way in which it handles Credit Cards. (Credit card companies have actually telephoned me and asked me why MD have failed to follow their specified procedures!)

I have experienced all of these situations. This is what is so unacceptable about this complete NGN scam. These companies like MD want to charge YOU to sort out the mistakes which THEY have made! If they had not demonstrated their incompetence by their erroneous actions you would not be needing to telephone them at all!

I emailed Manchester Trading Standards a few weeks ago. This is what I sent them:
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And this is the reply I received.
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Very disappointed. I can't work out whether they have been sucked in by the confusion themselves and think that 0870 is the same as a national call.

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That's how I see it aswell.

In addition, what local and national rates are they referring to? Those that apply to geographical numbers and/or those that apply to 0845 and 0870?

Whilst it's impossible to show pricing information by the number, the 'local' and 'national' titles are clearly misleading, and something that TS should have picked up on.

Bad news about Leicester.

Should we accept it as fact, or press on with quoting it and let them deny it first hand?

The comment by Manchester is hearsay.

And what circumstances have changed since the piece was written?

When was it written? I know it refers to "in 2001/2" but has anybody any knowledge of the date?

Sept 03, but the question above still stands.

juby

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Dorf, I am about to take MD to small claims court to recover £60 fees which my bank charged me after MD pulled funds 3 times for 1 item, which exceeded my overdraft, because of their site said that my payment failed and to try again.

Could I use your post as evidence to show that this happens to others as MD are trying to blame me.

Thanks