SAYNOTO0870.COM - EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)

Dave

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EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Sep 13^th, 2005 at 9:22pm

Quote:

All of our work office numbers are being changed from normal 01*** numbers to 0870 140 ****

Thiss means that when my wife rings me from home (we have Telewest Talk Unlimited) we will now not only have to pay extra for the call, but the company makes money out of it!

My number will be 0870 140 5738. Can anyone come up with the geographical number (currently 01302)

Err what??? Roll Eyes

Will your existing number not still work? What company is it? Is this a secret? How do you propose we do this when no information is provided? Roll Eyes

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« Last Edit: Nov 26^th, 2005 at 4:07pm by Dave »

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DaveM Global Moderator Offline Du vin, du pain, du Ibuprofen ¡ Posts: 845 Peterborough Gender:	Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway) Reply #1 - Sep 13^th, 2005 at 9:25pm Probably by PFM !!
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DaveM

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #2 - Sep 14^th, 2005 at 5:42pm

I don't think Dave was shouting actually ! I think you'd have soon known if he was !!

Anyway, instead of turning it back on us, try looking at the post you made and tell us how the hell we are supposed to find anything with what you (

never

) gave us ??

Now try giving us something to work with -

Does your existing number not work still ?
What company is this ?
What is their FULL address ?
Have they recently had a network installation / upgrade (Cisco) ?
Have they just had new phone systems fitted ?
What is your employee number (
sorry - only joking
)

Only when we get this type of information can we even start to look in the obvious places for alternatives.

No more hassle now. You've been admonished. Let's forget about that & start afresh. Grin

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« Last Edit: Sep 18^th, 2005 at 8:09am by Dave »

It stops hurting when I stop banging it against the wall !!

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bill

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #3 - Sep 14^th, 2005 at 7:58pm

Quote:

All of our work office numbers are being changed from normal 01*** numbers to 0870 140 ****

Thiss means that when my wife rings me from home (we have Telewest Talk Unlimited) we will now not only have to pay extra for the call, but the company makes money out of it!

My number will be 0870 140 5738. Can anyone come up with the geographical number (currently 01302)

Am I missing something here?

You work there. Your number is going to change to 0870 140 5738.

You (and your wife) know your current (01302) number and, as the least expensive way your firm can make the transition is to simply 'point' the new 0870 number at the old 01302 number without changing the latter, that's the most likely thing they're going to do.

Unless, of course, you now different ............

If you know different, get friendly quickly with your IT people - they will know!

And then tell SayNoTo0870.com please.

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« Last Edit: Sep 18^th, 2005 at 8:09am by Dave »

If it's bold, it's bold for a reason. Click on it!

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Freddie Newbie Offline Posts: 11	Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway) Reply #4 - Sep 14^th, 2005 at 8:26pm I wonder if anyone in your company is issued with business mobile telephones: I bet they won't have to use an 0870 number.
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Dave

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #5 - Sep 14^th, 2005 at 8:32pm

Quote:

You (and your wife) know your current (01302) number and, as the least expensive way your firm can make the transition is to simply 'point' the new 0870 number at the old 01302 number without changing the latter, that's the most likely thing they're going to do.

I agree bill. The only reasons that I can think of that the old geographical numbers may be withdrawn are:

To generate revenue by forcing callers to use the 0870s. That said, there would surely have to be substantial call traffic to each individual number to justify the cost of changing the numbers in the first place. Although, maybe the company providing the 0870s is happy to contribute to the cost of switching. The 0870 140 number is operated by Energis Communications Ltd. Assuming that new geographical numbers are operated by Energis aswell, then they will probably be 01302 60 numbers, as that's the only prefix they have within the 01302 code.
That the company is moving over to voice-over IP (VOIP). Having said that, how come the existing numbers work for a 'transitional' period?

Quote:

Its not just me that is concerned, others have also raised the issue, particularly those that have inclusive calling plans on mobiles that exclude 0870 number.

Yes, presumably the company has taken into consideration the fact that it will probably cost it more in [company] mobile phone bills. That said, perhaps the management could do to take a look at this site. Roll Eyes

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« Last Edit: Sep 18^th, 2005 at 8:10am by Dave »

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Dave

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #6 - Sep 14^th, 2005 at 9:03pm

You must work for EWS then?

I think that this press release tells us what we needed to know; it's IP based.

That means that it uses the internet protocol (IP) to transfer phone calls rather than PSTN (the normal phone network). Most 0870 numbers do go straight to geographical numbers, but they can be pointed at VoIP lines, which means that there is no alternative.

So who's betting that they've not taken into account the costs of calling from company mobiles? Roll Eyes

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« Last Edit: Sep 18^th, 2005 at 8:10am by Dave »

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DaveM

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #7 - Sep 14^th, 2005 at 10:45pm

Gee - I hate it when I'm right, but how's that for a good guess !!

I'm afraid it's going to happen a lot in the future as companies become savvy & upgrade into the 21st century.

Now all we need to do is get a little bit savvier than them and out-IP them !! Working on that one at the moment and will advise when we have more helpful info.

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« Last Edit: Sep 18^th, 2005 at 8:11am by Dave »

It stops hurting when I stop banging it against the wall !!

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bbb_uk

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #8 - Sep 15^th, 2005 at 9:43am

Quote:

Well, we have been told (in writing) that the 01302 numbers will cease from 6 weeks of conversion (Monday 12 September)...

Have I read this write that the 01302 will no longer work from 12th September or 6 weeks from the 12th September?

Do you know if the entire firm will be using 0870 or just certain departments like yours?

I noticed your contact us page on your website still mentions geographical numbers except for the press-office.

If your website would have mentioned mostly 0870 numbers then I would have wrote to them and informing them that they have to indicate the price of the call (upto 8ppm from BT landline, more from other networks - in fact upto 40ppm from mobiles). This would be following ASA/CAP & OfCOM guidelines but because I could only find the press-office using 0870 I'm not going to bother just yet.

We would be grateful if you could post here again when your 0870 are in full force and your website lists all (or mostly) 0870's.

Thanks.

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« Last Edit: Sep 18^th, 2005 at 8:11am by Dave »

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #9 - Oct 4^th, 2005 at 12:27pm

You are definitely moving onto VoIP then if you're not able to dial a number without ensuring the area code is entered.

You will most likely lose your geographicals shortly after everything has been transferred over.

Your website still pretty much gives out geographicals for contact from what I can see (except press-release dept).

0870 is not 'national' rate like they claim and in fact if they claim this is national rate then it is actually misleading under Consumer Protection Act 1987.

See the following websites:-

http://www.cap.org.uk/cap/advice_online/ad_alerts/Advertising+0845+and+087+numbe...

here:-

http://www.asa.org.uk/cap/news_events/news/2005/hanging+on+the+telephone+on+and+...

or here:-

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/mofaq/telecoms/0870faq/#content

BT charge 3ppm maximum for calls to geographical numbers (those beginning 01 or 02) whether this is a local call or national call. A call to an 0870 is charged at upto 8ppm daytime.

Do you have an email address for the person responsible for saying that calls to 0870 are national rate because I could email him/her? It'll be just to clarify that calls are not national rate and I would provide them with links to the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority)/CAP & OfCOM for them to confirm this.

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bbb_uk

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #10 - Oct 4^th, 2005 at 6:04pm

Quote:

I'm not really at liberty to divulge company information (even though its freely available on our web site), the company is very funny about "leaks". If e-mail addresses were given out they'd want to ask questions.

No problem. I still can't see on their website anywhere that mentions that an 0870 is national rate so I can't really email and complain and point out the relevant ASA/CAP & OfCOM guidelines. Obviously I can't mention that a staff member informed me that you (as in EWS) class 0870 as national rate.

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« Last Edit: Oct 4^th, 2005 at 6:06pm by bbb_uk »

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Tanllan

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #11 - Oct 4^th, 2005 at 7:44pm

Quote:

The new non-geographic numbering system allows us to make these numbers portable and not tied to a specific location, thereby improving the ability of customers to contact our staff across our organisation.

I rather think that the railway companies had one of the largest networks; and if they could not move calls around than who can?
And it will be interesting, albeit in an academic way, to see whether they really do move people with their number. The more so when people generally change jobs when they move. Or are they now issuing two numbers: a job-related number and a person number?

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #12 - Oct 6^th, 2005 at 9:59am

Quote:

Thanks. As they say, customers have been enquiring so they are getting calls from the outside world. Just have to work out the best way of you being a customer!

Have you all been told to give out the 0870 number so if I were to have rung over something (don't know what) then you would politely tell me that your numbers are changing and they are now 0870....?

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #13 - Oct 6^th, 2005 at 6:30pm

I emailed the press-office this morning and got the following reply from Graham Meiklejohn:-
Quote:

The EWS number is not a premium rate number. People calling EWS on an 0870 number will be charged at the standard BT national rate that was in force prior to the introduction of these numbers. The BT published price list states that 0870 numbers are charged the same as a standard UK national rate call.

I believe this is a cut and paste reply from the internal notice he sent.

I included all relevant links to ASA/CAP & OfCOM, etc and explained that since over a year ago BT removed the difference between local rate and national rate and they now cost 3ppm daytime. I even mentioned it is misleading under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 but he obviously hasn't bothered to check the links in my email or isn't concerned at all!

mattydj, I've sent you a PM.

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« Last Edit: Oct 7^th, 2005 at 8:57am by bbb_uk »

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DaveM

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Re: EWS (English Welsh & Scottish Railway)
Reply #14 - Oct 7^th, 2005 at 8:46pm

Matt

Have a look at this link to the Residential Telephone Tariffs
on the Magsys website which gives the BT rates (and all the others) completely, in plain English, including VAT and it doesn't confuse you like the BT site does. I gave up with BT ages ago !! Roll Eyes

Notice that the rates for Local, Regional and National calls are the same !! Send an email with this information and the link to your people that have said that the price is the same and let us know what they say. Should be interesting !! Grin

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It stops hurting when I stop banging it against the wall !!

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