I also sent them this email to disabuse them of any possible misunderstanding they may still have about the true costs of calling 0845 phone numbers:-
-----Original Message-----
Sent: 08 November 2006 18:39
To: sales@aceinternet.co.uk
Cc: helpdesk@aceinternet.co.uk; accounts@aceinternet.co.uk
Subject: 0845 Number is Hidden Premium Rate & Not "Lo-Call" Rate
Dear Ace,
As a current ADSL Max broadband user and potential future customer of your company's ADSL Max service I would like to very much welcome your announcement today of a publicly available Geographic 0161 number alternative to your 0845 Special Rate Services number and the launch of other Voip to Voip direct internet contact methods such as SIP to SIP.
I would also like to welcome the fact that in your press release you recognise that many uk telecoms consumers do not like 0845 numbers because they are excluded from fixed price calling plans which offer all 01/02 calls for a set fixed monthly fee (eg BT Option 3).
However despite commending you on all these welcome changes I must still add one point of criticism which appears to be a continued misapprehension or misunderstanding by either your public relations company and/or marketing director that 0845 numbers are either "Local Rate" or "Lo-Call" and offer consumers any form of advantage whatsoever compared to the cheapest method of contacting you by a conventional PSTN phone call. In almost every case that cheapest method of contacting you will be your 0161 geographic number for almost all of your customers.
The term "Lo-Call is an old BT brand name that no longer factually represents the status of 0845 calls and it is a brand name which BT now no longer use, instead describing 0845 calls on BT phone bills as merely "0845 rate". Also the fact of the matter is that after 6pm in the evening a 1 hour call to your 0161 number would cost a BT Option 1 customer just 5.5p while a 1 hour call to your 0845 number would cost them 60p. Also many mobile phone operators charge up to 35p per minute to call an 0845 number and exclude 0845 numbers from bundled minutes on contract mobile phones but allow 0161 geographic numbers to be called as part of a customer's bundled minutes on a contract mobile phone or from as little as 5p per minute on a Pay As You Go mobile phone.
The only customers of your company who an 0845 number could possibly be cheaper for are the tiny number of UK households who subscribe to the BT "Light User Scheme" (which only lets you make no more than a few pounds of calls a quarter to qualify for it and also imposes the condition that you must not have broadband on your line or own a mobile phone of any kind) who would find the 0845 number very slightly cheaper than the 0161 phone number but even then only if they lived outside the 0161 phone code area.
To gain a fuller understanding of the real status of 0845 numbers as lower cost hidden premium rate numbers can I refer you to the following references:-
The view of a county council trading standards department
Para 1.3 Page 1 of
www.ofcom.org.uk/consult/condocs/oftel_0845/responses/leicester_cc.pdf and
the view of the CEO of BT Retail, Ian Livingston on 0845 and 0870 numbers
http://business.scotsman.com/banking.cfm?id=764772005and
three recent guidances from the Advertising Standards Authority
www.asa.org.uk/cap/news_events/news/2005/Hanging+on+the+telephone+on+and+on+and+... www.asa.org.uk/cap/news_events/news/2005/Stop+the+call+confusion.htm www.cap.org.uk/cap/news_events/news/2005/CAP+rings+the+changes+for+telecoms+prov... and Pages 5 and 6 of the below minutes from my own district council where it agreed policy to stop the future use of 0845 and 0870 numbers for accessing Council services.
www.molevalley.gov.uk/media/pdf/1/s/Council_Minutes_190705.pdf I look forward to hearing from you regarding this matter.
Regards,
Pages: 1
Hats Off to Ace Internet for new 0161 Contact Nmbr (Read 16,067 times)
