A very fair point.

So, what do you have to say to customers who find an old document from 10 years ago, which lists a geo number, from before 0870 became widespread.  Are you concerned about those customers or not?

If you had read more in this web site, you would have found that stats, and moving the terminating number IS possible with geo numbers, as it is with non geo numbers.

And why should people pay more to contact you.  When I post a letter to a business address, it's either a freepost envelope, or you put a 1st, or 2nd class stamp on the envelope.  If I write a letter to a residential address, again, I put a 1st or 2nd class stamp, and I don't have to pay a premium to post a letter to a business.

So, why is it OK for us to pay a premium for making phone contact with a business.  Your benefits include call monitoring, and being able to change the terminating number, but what extra service do we get?

If you want call stats, etc, then pay for them.  Next you'll be moving to premium rate 090 numbers because you want us to make a contribution to the company directors golf games!!

Moving Geo numbers from London to Nottingham would incur a cost on each call made to the old number.
Our firm would pick up this cost, which in turn gets past onto the customer!  ( Someone has to pay!!)

Other benefits to customers include Disaster recovery. Were one of our centre's lose the ability to take calls... ( Such as the whole of London with the bombings), the 08 platform allows us to redirect the calls at the flick of a switch.. again giving the customer a better seemless experience regardless of what is happening in localised area's.


IF we could get a true local/national rate number, which  Joe Bloggs payed normal rates on & we didn't get billed on, we would run all of our services on them.. However there isn't such a thing at present.

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Still missing the point. A business is there to make money for its shareholders. Your only justifcation for incurring a cost is if it improves your profitability by either increasing your turnover or reducing your expenses (improved customer satisfaction tends to do both of these).

Consequently there is no need to pass all or part of the cost on by way of an 0870 number as you have already recovered the cost (in increased revenue or, reduced cost - just to labour the point)

If you haven't done so to make the change was a bad business move in the first place.

For crying out loud this is basic business. Your "someone has to pay" comment is nonesense. If the cost of an activity isn't returned in increased revenue or reduced cost DON'T DO IT = YOU WILL GO BUST!

When you mention the "RIP OFF" prices, these call rates are around the 8ppm rate.
In the grand scheme of things where a Starbucks coffee may cost upwards of £2.50 ( & then some) I don't see this figure as breaking the bank.

When calling from Land lines to mobile phones a much higher rate is charged for a service which is frankly appalling. ( drop outs, missed calls etc) & yet people seem more concerned with what megapixel their camera phone is!!! 

The revenue made on 0870 is generally less than 1 pence per minute.   So it is hardly a great revenue maker for these firms... The key company to make money on these services ( 0800's, 0870 or even geo's) are the Telco firms themselves.

Surely the main target for all is Ofcom/telcos???

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I wouldn't mind paying if it was 8p I was paying. It is the hundreds of pounds I pay because of the hundreds of minutes my phones are being used.

I pay nothing for my geographic number calls. Yesterday I took part in a conference call to America for an hour for under £3.

I have no gripe with premium rate numbers and I don't care how much they charge. They have a legitimate use.

What I object to is the 0870/0845 etc numbers which are to all intent and purposes premium rate numbers (for the consumer) but which are little understood (by most consumers) and who are intentionally (or unintentionally) conned into using them.

How many times have I been told by someone that an 0845 number is the same cost as a local call?! NO IT ISN'T.

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You will find that if you were to choose an 09xx number that cost 8ppm (same as an 0870) then you would receive even fewer calls and therefore loss of business, etc simply because everyone one knows that an 09xx number is premium even if it actually cost the same as an 087x number.

How many of Joe Puplic know that an 087x number costs between 8ppm and 10ppm daytime and can earn the company revenue?  The answer is very, very few and this is why they are used simply because they can earn revenue and most joe public think that these calls are national rate which they are clearly not and are definitely not aware that the company is earning revenue from keeping us waiting.

Using an 09x number would mean that you would have to advertise the cost of the call and call queuing is NOT allowed.  Therefore if I ring Sky on a premium 09x number that was priced at 8ppm, I wouldn't start paying until they answered which is more acceptable than paying 8ppm to be held in a queue which can be over 30minutes and then paying to speak to their customer services.

I realise that during peak demands queues can't be helped that much but had I rung Sky on an equivalent cost 09x number I'd only be paying for the call when it's actually answered by a human being.  That same call to a geographical could be as less than 3p for the whole call.

So in the above circumstances and speaking to a human being for 5minutes but being held in a queue for 30minutes would cost me 40p for the whole call when ringing an 09x number charged at same rate as an 087x.  That same call on an 087x numbers would cost £2.80.

An example of companies using 087x numbers as revenue generating without informing the public has recently came to light with the PostCode Lottery that use an 0871 (cost is actually 10ppm from a BT landline) but they claim it's local rate.

Not quite relevant Ted but since when did pence become a singular noun.. 1 penny  2 pence or pennies.
Your excuses for the rip off08 numbers are very very lame.Perhaps you can tell us which cmpany you work for so that we can make sure not to give you any business.