SAYNOTO0870.COM - Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skins

student

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #15 - Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 3:04pm

Quote:

I've hung on for 50 minutes waiting for a technician in Oz

If that company had a number that was paid for by an 0870 or 0871 number maybe they would be able to employ more staff and that call could have been picked up in one or two minutes, maybe slightly more costly but if you need to speak to them in your lunch break or don't have that time to spare for some other reason it would be a much better option.

If however you do have that time to spare and are dead against 08... numbers then you can go for a company with a free or geographical contact number, different companies to suit different peoples preferences.

I have worked in a call centre where the money was most definately ploughed back into the service, more support staff were employed to ensure the calls were answered promptly, and also the people paying for the support were the people using it by calling the 0870 number.

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derrick Supreme Member Offline Posts: 1,124	Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin Reply #16 - Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 4:15pm mikeinnc wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 2:09pm: I've hung on for 50 minutes waiting for a technician in Oz - still the same 25c! How much would that have been on 0871? At 10p per minute, £5. ~ Edited by Dave: Quote box tidied up
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derrick

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #17 - Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 4:25pm

student wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 3:04pm:

If that company had a number that was paid for by an 0870 or 0871 number maybe they would be able to employ more staff If however you do have that time to spare and are dead against 08... numbers then you can go for a company with a free or geographical contact number, different companies to suit different peoples preferences.

Or they may just use those numbers for the revenue share! that is why they use the queuing system and covertly extract money from unsuspecting callers, otherwise they could use a low cost 090 number,(these can cost as little as 5p per minute),and cannot have queuing as they are under ICSTIS rules

And if you have no choice? like DVLA, HMRC, DWP, ARGOS, etc!
And yes, you might be able to source some of these numbers on "saynoto0870",but the companies do not advertise the geo numbers.

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mikeinnc Full Member Offline Ofcom - quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Posts: 225 Perth Western Australia Gender:	Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin Reply #18 - Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 6:07pm Quote: At 10p per minute, £5. or about $12.50 in Oz dollars - and since we say that you can mostly buy for a dollar what you pay a pound for, that's a lot!!
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Dave Global Moderator Offline Posts: 9,902 Yorkshire Gender:	Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin Reply #19 - Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 7:53pm Student hasn't even touched on the main reason for this thread, a point which is in its title. And that is the one of the "local call" lie. Why have you not offered any justification for this mistruth?
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student

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #20 - Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 8:26am

My name isn't Bob Samaritan, I'm not saying that everything in the OP is incorrect, I am just saying that attacking a charity seems to be taking things a bit too far, even saying that places like the DVLA etc should have geographic numbers seems odd, unless you have a string of driving offences this shouldn't be a problem, if you can afford a car you can probably afford a phone call.

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jgxenite

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #21 - Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 9:10am

student wrote on Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 8:26am:

[..]even saying that places like the DVLA etc should have geographic numbers seems odd, unless you have a string of driving offences this shouldn't be a problem, if you can afford a car you can probably afford a phone call.

OK, let's take an example. A student has applied for a provisional license for use of ID (as a "student", I'm sure you can appreciate this). They are away at university and can't get to a landline, but an issue has come up with their application. The only way they can contact the DVLA is via the 0870 number, and it costs 35p a minute from their mobile. You think they are going to be happy with that situation? I know that I wouldn't be. Oh, and I am a student and can only call non-geos on my mobile, so believe me, I would happily see the abolishment of all non-geos

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« Last Edit: Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 9:10am by jgxenite »

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Keith

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #22 - Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 9:56am

The idea that the Samaritans can just ask for a phone number and call back as Student suggests is a crass argument. On many desperate calls the caller will not be supplying a name, let alone a telephone number and the helper will be desperately trying to keep them on the line and trying to prevent them hanging up. The idea that all desperate people will be willingly giving over their telephone number is ridiculous. The desperate person may have had to build up considerable courage just to make the call in the first place. The helper will be spending their time trying to help the person and possibly talk them out of suicide. The idea that they have the additional burden of talking a telephone number out of them as well shows how little Student understands human nature. Even if achieved the desperate person my not pick up once the trust that has built up has had an interruption. I bet the helper feels great wondering what happened when he/she can't reconnect because the PAYG mobile has run out or can't get a response when calling back.

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jgxenite

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #23 - Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 10:08am

Dave wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2007 at 7:53pm:

Student hasn't even touched on the main reason for this thread, a point which is in its title. And that is the one of the "local call" lie. Why have you not offered any justification for this mistruth?

Dave, I agree. The whole point of this argument wasn't really to argue whether or not the Samaritans should use an 0845 number, but the fact that they/C4 incorrectly reported that the cost of this call was "local rate", a claim that is totally invalid.

It might also be worth pointing out that the Samaritans website (http://www.samaritans.org/talk_to_someone/phone_calls.aspx) also incorrectly claims that the 0845 number is local rate. I don't know about the Irish number, although I also presume that claim to be incorrect too.

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Dave Global Moderator Offline Posts: 9,902 Yorkshire Gender:	Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin Reply #24 - Sep 23^rd, 2007 at 10:47am NGMsGhost, have you received a response or even an acknowledgement from your email?
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derrick

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #25 - Sep 24^th, 2007 at 10:15am

I sent an email to them via their site at 13-15 yesterday, on opening my emails this morning they had sent a reply at 16-15 yesterday and reads as follows;

Thank you for your communication, I have sent a copy of this
to our General Office who will deal with it as neccesary.

Jo

This is the email address it came from;

jo@samaritans.org

The spelling of the word necessary in the email is their spelling!

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« Last Edit: Sep 24^th, 2007 at 10:16am by derrick »

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derrick

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #26 - Oct 12^th, 2007 at 2:26pm

I have emailed the Samaritans a couple of times and have finally managed to get rid of the reference to "local call rate" (except for the Republic of Ireland statement), is it "local rate" in ROI ?, or are we bothered Roll Eyes

(as mentioned above by jgxenite).

I have also got them to alter the statement that " a call-set up fee of 3p applies...." so it now has the correct cost of 6p.

They have only ever emailed me with an "auto response" from "Jo@samaritans", but have never thanked me for putting them in the right,(eventually).

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derrick Supreme Member Offline Posts: 1,124	Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin Reply #27 - Oct 12^th, 2007 at 2:35pm Actually the number for the ROI is now, "In the Republic of Ireland dial 1850 60 90 90, for the cost of a local call." Did it originally have an 0845? as I cannot remember.
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a very nice man Supreme Member Offline Posts: 705 England Gender:	Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin Reply #28 - Oct 12^th, 2007 at 5:17pm The answer should lie with our overseas members, but I believe 1850 is the Irish equivalent of 0845
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derrick

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Re: Samaritans Claim 0845 is Local Call on C4 Skin
Reply #29 - Oct 13^th, 2007 at 10:48am

a very nice man wrote on Oct 12^th, 2007 at 5:17pm:

The answer should lie with our overseas members, but I believe 1850 is the Irish equivalent of 0845

Yes it looks like they are, from this page;- http://www.valueireland.com/news_archive.htm

"In previous posts on the Value Ireland Blog (in July and August) I wrote about an article written by Paul Kelly in the Irish Examiner about how calling Irish businesses and organisations was costing Irish consumers more than it should do.

This is because calling Locall and Callsave (1890 and 1850) numbers is not normally included in bundles of minutes that consumers get with their mobile or landline packages."

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