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Dorf,

Are you aware of Ofcom's Statutory Duties (all of which involving protecting citizens and consumers and not the business interests of telecommunications companies) which they appear to be in total and utter flagrant disregard of so far as 084/7 is concerned.   They are also in breach of these duties in terms of their decision to allow the abolition of BT Standard Line Rental.

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/about/sdrp/

We should all complain to our MP to get them to ask a parliamentary question to ask why Ofcom is not putting the interests of citizens and consumers first in its actions as it is meant to.

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Then why not close your account with Alliance & Leicester Business Bank and move it to the nice people at Nationwide who do everything in the customer's favour.

Then send an email to the managing director of Alliance & Leicester and the Business editor and personal finance editors of every major national newspaper saying just why you have taken your business away from them.  Oh and copy it to all the other directors and senior managers of Alliance & Leicester:-

http://www.alliance-leicester-group.co.uk/html/general/board.asp

You might also appreciate the sentiments expressed in this customer review of the said bank:-

http://www.reviewcentre.com/review135053.html

Don't Nationwide offer business banking?  I am a customer of 23 years standing with NatWest and 2 years standing with Nationwide and believe me the difference is just massive.  I have never been cross with Nationwide on anything and I am cross with NatWest/Royal Bank of Scotland about almost all of their 101 different ripoffs and scams.  These go much wider than just using 0845 and 0870 numbers

I did check on Nationwide after my post and realised that they didn't offer business banking.  May be that is what makes them a "building society" then apart from obviously their mutual status?  As a personal customer they seem to offer just the same facilities as NatWest but a lot more cheaply and efficiently.

NatWest have dreadful rates of interest on their online savings account and appalling fees for withdrawing cash on the credit or debit card or making purchases with the said cards overseas.  Withdrawing cash on a Nationwide Visa blue debit card is fee free overseas but costs 4.65% with Natwest subject to a £2 minimum.  Even using a credit card in a store with NatWest costs you 2.65% foreign exchange rate levy.

As to calling 0870 with Alliance & Leicester you can call a bit cheaper with http://www.dialaround.co.uk/rates.php and their 5p per minute 0844 number for dialling "national rate" 0870 numbers - 0844 566 7676.  You waste may be 15 extra seconds of call time having to  call via this number but still a good saving of 2.5p per minute on say a 15 minute call.

Or set up an account with www.18185.co.uk which costs 4p connection plus 4p for the first minute to 0870 numbers and then 4p per minute thereafter.  This makes them cheaper than dialaround if the 0870 call lasts 5 minutes or more.

I can't believe there isn't a geographic number for A&L Business banking somewhere?

NGM,

I have only just noticed that I did not respond to your point to me concerning Ofcom's duties: " Are you aware of Ofcom's Statutory Duties (all of which involving protecting citizens and consumers and not the business interests of telecommunications companies) which they appear to be in total and utter flagrant disregard of so far as 084/7 is concerned.   They are also in breach of these duties in terms of their decision to allow the abolition of BT Standard Line Rental."

Yes I am of course aware of their responsibilities under the Acts which they themselves are so fond of referring to; but  although they spend considerable time and effort referring to these obligations placed on them they never comply with them. This is clearly because they have not so far been accountable, since Parliament has not undertaken its statutory duties in respect of them. I believe it is the responsibility of Parliament ultimately to censure them for these failures, particularly within the Parliamentary committee system.

There have been a number of specific instances where Ofcom's failures in respect of the Acts have been raised by Parliamentary committees, for example the Public Accounts Committee. Generally however no actions have been taken by any of these committees to bring Ofcom to account, or to take any punitive action with respect to their failures and thus the failures of senior figures within Ofcom.

As we have discussed before this is probably principally due to the fact that Ofcom is ultimately controlled by the government, and the government do not want to rock the boat, particularly in their current predicament of fiscal problems, with diminishing revenue and increasing expenditure. (The present revenue the government obtains from the scams helps them in this predicament.) The committee system is thus somewhat muted at present.

I have indeed continuously referred to these responsibilities under the Acts and their continuous failure to fulfil them in my communications with Ofcom, my responses to their consultations, letters to my own MP and MEP, and communications to various other MPs with a stated concern about these failures and to various Parliamentary committee chairmen. All of this has of course been to absolutely no avail and Ofcom and their senior figures continue to be uncensured for these blatant failures under the Acts.

Yes NGM, they are the people most hit by all of these. It is certainly the root of the government's desire for the scams to continue, with as I am always trying to emphasize QUEUING on revenue generating numbers, which is how all the really big money is being made.

Well NGM,

We are hardly surprised are we? This "conclusion" was inevitable if the government's total revenue in from all their perpetrations of these scams was to continue?

It is quite clear that a "consultation" to Ofcom is a matter of: "Don't confuse us with the FACTS. Our mind is already made up!" Send us your opinions anyway (on our appropriate form please) so that we can appear to be undertaking a "consultation" and considering consumers' views, which it is our duty to do, so as to protect the interests of consumers. (It's OK though, because even if in the end we do not observe our responsibilities under the Acts there is no one who will censure us!)

I too am on the quest for a geographical number for Alliance & Leicester Small Business Banking. There seems to be an access route for other customers.
regards