I posted this originally in error to the FOI section and have been rightfully admonished!

Anyway, hopefully, now in the right place this is what I posted!

I e-mailed Nat West with the following:-

I would like to express my irritation that nearly all contact numbers with various sections of NatWest are 0845 or, even worse, 0870 numbers, without the provision of an orthodox line number eg 0208...01709....

Here is their pathetic response. Can this be reported to any 'governing' body?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Thank you for your e-mail about our telephone numbers.

I advise that we use these numbers as the give us flexibility in being able to divert calls to different telephone centres at peak periods. If we used standard 01, 02 numbers this would not be possible and so at busy times we would not be able to answer all calls received.

I advise that with regards to 0870 numbers we get approximately 1p per minute for each 0870 call.  That is the standard practice across the Telecoms industry and  service providers such as the Royal Bank of Scotland. The 1p contributes to the cost of the infrastructure in place to deliver
that call.  The customer pays the national call rate applied by whoever they have chosen as their Telephone Service Provider.

Within the various Royal Bank of Scotland business areas and the use of 0800, 0845 and 0870 numbers, the majority of calls are subsidised by the Bank.  Only some 10% of calls use the 0870 numbers.

The situation with the 0845 number is that the customer pays the local call rate of their Telephone Service Provider and the Bank subsidises that call to make up the difference.

I appreciate your concern but we cannot dictate who the customer chooses as their Telephone Service Provider or whether they decide to call using fixed or mobile phones.

We have no plans at present to introduce the option of a regular land line number.

I hope that I have clarified the position for you.

Stephen Dix
Customer Relations 

Thanks for that.

Interestingly it was because they had invited me to re activate my Actionline Account that I discovered the exact point you have made.

Strange is it not when the Natwest's owner RBS Group has all their geo branch numbers printed on your statement and they also offer geo number in the front of your cheque book for their call centres.....

RBS 1 NWB 0  = Natwest just rips you off as a customer so move you accout to the RBS and get standard numbers to ring them on

The use extent of the use of 0870/0845 numbers by Natwest is unbelievable. I phoned their customer services line on freephone 0800 505050 to complain and also was sent a letter saying that they only received 1p per min from the call, it was a decision taken at board level and would not be reviewed. However I was recently given a card in my branch with the telephone number to contact the branch which contained the 0845 number and a number to dial from abroad!!!! I've used it and it works. Try asking for one. I also spotted in a paper recently a recruitment advert for Natwest-what was the number to ring? You've guessed it 0870!!!! They just can't resist making money even from potential employees.

davis wrote on Feb 11^th, 2006 at 2:21pm:


Aren't they referring to Ofcom's proposed changes, which would see the cost of 0870 calls reduced to that of geographical calls with no revenue sharing? This might well mean Natwest switch to using 0871 or 084x!

Shiggaddi wrote on Feb 12^th, 2006 at 12:00am:
I wonder why some bright spark (surely there must be one?) in their PR department hasn't suggested just that - it wouldn't get my business back but it'd be a great headline for a new advertising campaign.

Or peraps it has been suggested but 'the powers that be' are too comfortable with the abuse to listen?

Funny - did exactly that with Egg last Friday night. Had been hanging on listening to muzak for about 3 hours in total, over the course of 10 days. Any poor sod who was using the 0845 version of their number, especially from a mobile, would have racked up a hefty charge.

So when they finally dealt with the original complaint, I was suitably wound up to then attack them over non provision of an 01 number equivalents on their website. The monkey on the end of the phone was completely thrown, and quickly handed me over to his organ grinder. He was equally unaware of the true cost of these calls, but was clearly quite shocked when I explained, and started handing out further goodwill cash.

More importantly, I got him to log it as a formal complaint, (3 different lies in the same phonecall was quite impressive) which now falls under the dispute resolution regime imposed by the FSA. I don't know how far up the organisation I will now be able to push this, but it's a start.

To me, this offers us another way to persuade the users of these numbers that the cost is starting to reverse. If we make them jump through the hoops of responding to formal complaints, within FSA imposed timescales, it will start to cost them, substantially.

Egg are far from the worst offender in this arena, and to be honest, if/when you eventually get through, their customer service is pretty good. However, Nafwest / Direct Line and their fellow RBS puppets are serial offenders, and, as pointed out above, run seriously dishonest advertising. Therefore fair game!

Graham