Isn't the National Trust part of the New Labour ripoff?

It took a phone call (01793 817400) to the “cancellations section” of the National Trust confirming my resignation to get this reply. My comments are in [square brackets].


Your ref: 023 191 464

9 February 2006

Dear Mr MacCallum,

Thank you for your letter of 1 December addressed to the Director General, Fiona Reynolds. The Director General is now away from the office and has requested that I respond on her behalf. [What? After 2 months?]

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding, regrettably we are experiencing delays and difficulties with some of our membership processes, following the office relocation of our membership service and the introduction of a new computer system. I mention this, not as an excuse, but by way of explanation for the problems you and your family have had with the application. We are working very hard to put these issues right, but there can be no excuse for the poor service you have experienced and I'm truly sorry that you have been inconvenienced in this way. [This is a "standard paragraph". Poor service was not my problem. The threat of resignation in December produced uncommonly good service. I was called back promptly.]

Firstly we have always used a national rate [Deception 1] telephone number for the membership department. For many years it was 0181 315 1111 (and all the variations of prefix as were applied to London numbers). This meant that people who lived in outer London could call at local rates - but the rest of the nation called at national rates.

Roughly four or five years ago, [as the "national rate" ceased to have any real significance] we moved in response to supporter demand to open the membership department for calls at weekends. The additional costs were significant but at the time we took the view that the benefits in terms of improved customer service and support for property visiting (weekends are our busiest times) far outweighed the additional costs. At the same time, knowing that within a few years further telephone code changes were likely, and that we might be wanting to physically relocate the service, we took the opportunity to switch to using an 0870 number (0870 458 4000). The benefit of this sort of number - which is absolutely not a premium rate number - [Untrue. Even Ofcom admit this.] is that it is non-geographic ie the number can be used in any location (it doesn't have an area code). As things have transpired, our foresight was exactly correct - we have moved the service fully 200 miles, but we have been able to use the same telephone number throughout, thus avoiding confusing our members and other customers. [Deception 2. NT does not admit either in this letter or to its members that the price of 0870 calls - typically 8p a minute] [What are 0845 numbers for?]

There is a tiny [one's heart bleeds] spin-off financially which provides the Trust with a very small slice of the cost of each call, with the remainder going to BT in the normal [eh?] way. However even with the terrible delays in answering calls that we have been experiencing recently, [at 8p a minute] the income from this source still amounts to less than half of one per cent of the annual running costs of the membership department you can see that this in no way influences which numbers we use and why. [No I don’t see.] The Trust would naturally much rather that callers could get through straight away than that we had any sort of income at all from these calls. [Why not install a decent geo number?] That is what we are aiming for, and I fully expect this tiny dribble of income to shrink to even more minuscule proportions once we get the service back to our normal High standards. [Another Kleenex.]

Lastly, although we do not have a geographic number for the membership department [Not true. You have one all right, but you won't release it.] I do hope that this reply has gone some way to reassuring you on these issues. I regret that you have now resigned your membership, your decision and view regarding our use of 0870 is always useful in helping us to maintain our standards and respond to the views of members. It also helps us when we review and develop policies and ideas. [A few more resignations would no doubt help to concentrate the NT mind.]

Your past support for the Trust's work is much appreciated, and I hope that you will feel able to join again in the future. [Not a chance.]


Yours sincerely
Neil Harman
Customer Care Assistant

You could try the scottish number / details

The National Trust for Scotland
Wemyss House
28 Charlotte Square
Edinburgh
Scotland
United Kingdom
EH2 4ET
Telephone: +44(0)131 243 9300
Fax: +44(0)131 243 9301

...........................................

Or this, found on http://www.britainexpress.com/national-trust.htm
The National Trust
Freepost MB1438
Bromley, Kent BR1 3BR

Phone +44 (0)181 315 1111
Web http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Obviously it's old, but perhaps 020 8......


on another site  http://www.castlexplorer.co.uk/organisations.php

For membership and general information contact National Trust:

NT Membership Department,
P O Box 39, Bromley,
Kent BR1 3XL

Tel. 020 8315 1111
Fax 020 8466 6824

Interesting.

The National Trust website http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-global/w-contact_us.htm
gives 'Contact Us' details as:

General enquiries 

Address: The National Trust, PO Box 39, Warrington WA5 7WD
Tel: 0870 458 4000
Fax: 020 8466 6824

Now, obviously, the 020 8 fax number does not terminate in Warrington so a check of the WA5 7WD postcode is necessary.

That shows: Vertex, PO Box 39, WARRINGTON, WA5 7WD

Naturally, a 118500 check for Vertex at that postcode must follow.

That shows: Vertex Data Science Ltd, Billing Services Centre, 1050, Europa Boulevard, Westbrook, Warrington, WA5 7ZD (slight postcode variation).

(01925)  465480

That number is answered "Vertex Security" at 21:55 but ................ I wonder?

It appears that the National Trust have outsourced their “customer-facing activities” to Vertex Data Sciences. Vertex’s home web-site appears to be dead, but Google found this on the National Computing Centre site

http://www.nccmembership.co.uk/pooled/profiles/BF_COMP/view.asp?Q=BF_COMP_44676


“In the highly competitive outsourcing market, Vertex has emerged as a key player in the field. In little over five years the company has grown from an in-house function of its utility parent - FTSE 100 listed United Utilities - to become the UK's leading business process outsourcing company specialising in customer management. Vertex exists to help its clients manage their customer-facing activities, achieve excellence in customer service and, most importantly, build profitable relationships with its clients' customers. Vertex develops and implements effective customer management outsourcing solutions for many leading organisations in the commercial, utility and public sectors.”

From the reply I had from the NT, it seems Vertex have not done a very good job of “building profitable relationships with the NT’s customers.”

I think the answer to the question I posed as the subject of this thread has to be a resounding NO.

Quote:


These are the people who have told their employees, who work for Westminster City Council, that their jobs are about to move to Scotland:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4638400.stm

This shows what lengths they will go to to cut costs, regardless of the impact it has on people's lives.