Quote: please can anyone reading this suggest what you believe is a fair company that does not abuse the 0845 charges by charging more than a local rate, also one that is free to setup free to us in every way!
Jason, you need to understand a couple of very simple issues.
1. If YOU want a "free" line, then your customers (callers) will pay.....
2. If you want a "free" or minimal cost service for your callers, then YOU are going to have to pay
These facts are inescapable.
The reason that a telephone company will offer YOU a free setup and 0845 number is that they (the telephone company) will make money on EVERY Call. As other people have said, your callers will pay - a great deal - and will generally be mega-pi**ed off with
YOU! Meanwhile, the telephone company laughs all the way to the bank. There is
NO SUCH THING as a "local rate" and
your customers will pay
PER MINUTE for the call - wherever they are. Next door. Next town. Scotland ... it doesn't matter.
The alternative as in (2) above, is that you pay the line rental for a normal (geographic 01/02) number. Then YOU pay the cost and the majority of your callers will not pay any incremental costs - i.e. it is a "free" call to them. Of course, now the telephone company is pi**ed off, because they are NOT laughing all the way to the bank! (Why do you think they introduced these rip-off 0870 and 0845 numbers? Of course - to maintain their revenue stream in a world where voice calls are becoming all but generally free!)
So you decide. Who would you rather see pi**ed off? Your customers or the telephone company? To me, it's a no brainer.....
Of course, the downside is that you pay a line rental for the geographic number - but I think that would be a
VERY small price to pay for satisfied customers. Don't you?
Does that make sense? I hope so........