The campaign to persuade people to write to Ofcom at the end of last year was surprisingly successful.

What about another campaign? - a SayNoTo0870 day.

This would simply involve asking people to make no calls to 0870/0871 numbers on one particular day chosen well in advance to allow for media coverage (and perhaps support from Money Saving Expert).

If people have to call one of these numbers, do it a day early or put it off for a day. If there was enough publicity about it, the effect on call centres might be sufficient for managers to notice the difference. A day with a call centre's staff sitting doing nothing might help to get the point across that these premium rate numbers are unacceptable for non-premium calls.

If people thought this was worth trying, I think it should be a day after the summer holidays. September might be a little too soon. October might be ok.

What do you think?

Brilliant idea but would need a lot of publicity, preferably TV & radio as well as I am sure I am not the only person to have abandoned newspapers when they went tabloid and we got broadband!  Lots of advance publicity then we can each try to get support among those we know and, of course, if people could also manage to do this in their work settings as well as for personal calls to organisations, it would be even better.   Do employers reaslise how much these calls cost their organisations whether through employees or as essential business calls?  Even organisations which use NGNs must face higher costs for calls to other NGNs and good organisations that use geo nos are penalised.

I think it's a good idea as well.

October 4th, is on a Wednesday, so anyone who does need to contact these companies can do so on the Tuesday or Thursday.

Something similair happened a few years ago, with dump the pump, where people were encouraged not to fill their cars up on a particular day.  Don't know if it had much of an impact, but it certainly had the media attention.

Even if people don't take part on a massive scale, it will still cause media attention, and make people think about the cost of these numbers.  Companies that operate 0870 numbers rely on media silence and the majority of customers not aware of them costing more to continue the scamming.

More and more people are becoming aware of 0870 costs, and making their point to companies involved, either in using a geo number and deliberately getting the wrong department (as the only geo number listed is for a certain department) and having to get transferred, or taking their business elsewhere.

Therefore the media attention alone would harm the interests of 0870 operators and their telco providers.  Any more damage such as people going through with the boycott and making their calls on the day before, or day after and leaving lots of call centre staff idle on the day would be a bonus.

Also, don't forget that companies that use geographic numbers, or freephone numbers for customer service as well as sales should not be targetted, and as well as not being targetted they should get a mention in some sort of safe list as companies you can call.  This would be free advertising for them, and they may pick up some extra sales on that day.

Heinz wrote on Jul 6^th, 2006 at 1:48pm:


Very true.  There will be loads of people who may not make any calls that week anyway.  I do make some calls (usually using the geo numbers of course!!) whenever I need to make a change in service, or complain that something is wrong etc.

What it will do, is ensure that if making a call to a call centre is on someone's "to do list" for that week, that they avoid the Wednesday.

Heinz wrote on Jul 6^th, 2006 at 1:48pm:


As Tanllan pointed out (I hadn't thought of this) you shouldn't make calls with any of the alternative numbers either. In fact, if possible, access to the alternative numbers list could be closed for the day and replaced with a notice saying "It's SayNoTo0870 Day - Don't call companies that use 0870 numbers."

Have read all the above and agree with everything EXCEPT closing the alternatives list for the day as sometimes it is unavoidable to have to call a particular number on that day eg re urgent transport problems & if the alternatives list is unavailable then people perhaps in real, urgent need will be forced to use the NGNs.  How about, for that day, when people click for an alternative number having a message asking them to postpone their call, if aat all possible, until the next day & explaining why.   After all, people using the alternatives list are on our side & to remove access would antagonise them.    Also, could there be a brief leaflet which we could print off and give to friends & colleagues?   This would also encourage discussion and a broader awareness.

AJR wrote on Jul 5^th, 2006 at 9:11pm:


Great idea, AJR - gets my support too.    As well as contacting local/national media I'd suggest starting some kind of viral email campaign too - a short and simple email with the SAYNOTO0870 logo and links back to this site for futher information.  I'd also suggest that this email is not sent any earlier than 4 weeks before the chosen date so that its not simply read and then forgotten.

Template letters/email regarding a SayNoTo0870 day would vital so look forward to that. 

Perhaps the site could start highlighting this campaign NOW on the home page and search for a number page to help raise awareness and to begin building momentum...

PS I fear this thread could get missed in the 'site related' area of the forum - I know its been raised before but maybe there should be a separate 'sayno action/consultation' area created or failing that perhaps re-name 'geographical chat' as ?  After all, geographical chat is a bit bland, don't you think! 

How about a section called Publicity Campaigns or something like that?