This is a great website using the power of the internet to prevent customers being ripped off.

I would like people to think about the use of non-geographical phone numbers used by charities.  Charities will often use these numbers to generate income.  I know of a specific pet charity that provides a customer advice line using a non-geographical number.  Costs are incurred in providing this service, which are offset by the income from the phone call.  Without this income it would not be possible for the charity to provide this invaluable service.

I therefore consider this a reasonable use of non-geographical phone numbers.  Do the administrators of this site have a policy on listing charity phone numbers?

Quote:

However, it's a very 'inefficient' way to pay. A daytime call to 0870 costs 7.51p/min on BT. A daytime local call is between 3p and 0p/min, so the service provider is therfore charging a premium of between 4.51p/min and 7.51p/min. This is in return for what rate? 2p or 3p/min maybe. So where's the rest going? Simple, to the telco providing the 0870!

Imagine if banks started charging us like this. They do do this in the form of rip-off charging cash machines.

Perhaps they should consider a 0871 number,or a 09 number.

Dave does raise a good point,but how else could the charity maintain the helpline.Have the Charity given this any thought.

Yes.The biggest outpayment i have seen on 0871 to an end user was 4.5p a min at peak rate.You got nothing from them for evening or weekend calls though.

Thanks for all the feedback guys.  The charity in question actually uses 09* numbers for this advice service.  The cost of the call is advised to the customer and is clearly stated on literate and their website.  All other phone numbers are of the geographic variety.  I don’t wish to name the charity since my point was general and not specific to them.

I assume other charities do however use 087* numbers.  I agree totally that ALL organisations, including charities, that use 087* numbers should disclose the cost of the call.  They should be forced to do this by government or telecom regulators.  It would however be a shame if ‘the baby is thrown out with the bathwater’ by targeting charities in campaigning for change.

I also realise that the percentage of the money from the call going to the organisation can sometimes be rather low.  Income for a charity is still however income!

Quote:


Why did you come to this place if you did not want criticism.  You did something very stupid by asking your callers to pay you say £1.50 for say a 20 minute call of which you only get 30p when if you had been a competent and responsible organisation you could at least have derived 60p from that 20 minute call by shopping around for a better 0870 deal.  Also if your aim is to put people off calling you and to derive as much income as possible then why did you not go for an 0871 number which costs the caller 10p per minute at all times and pays you 5p per minute at all times?  But as with 0870 you are still not forced to reveal or declare the extra call cost to callers unlike an 09 prefixed number.

Also if you think getting money from your callers is actually a sane strategy then why not go the whole hog and register for a £1.50 per minute 0906 premium rate line.  That would certainly put off the unwanted callers!

You went this route in reality because at the time you were obviously conned into believing that 0870 was the same as the ordinary BT national rate for other calls even though even at that time BT discount schemes like BT Option 3 already existed and excluded 0870 calls.  Also even now you rely on the ignorance of your callers stil thinking 0870 is the same as a geographic number and unethically profiteering from them in this way.  The reason of course that you don't get an 0906 number is because you know that where people are actually they are being ripped off they avoid it like the plague.  But unfortunately with 0870 a lot of members of the public are not aware of the ripoff yet.  So you and BT cynically take advantage of their ignorance.

Are you an ardent Sunday churchgoer by any chance.  Do you shake hands with your fellow members of the congregation believing as they do that god is with you in everything you do in your life and that if you prey a little bit more it will all come right for you?

Your posts bear all the hallmarks of such a personaliy type.

yeah, where have the 'fun' posts gone.

This IS censorship of the OfCon kind. Oh wait no OfCon just ignores everyone and comes up with its own agenda, but wait isnt that what deleting posts are - saynoto0870.com own agenda.