From the SayNoTo0870 database:

Right, let me get this straight, when Mattel had a few issues with toys, they managed first with a geographic, then with a freephone number for enquiries. A government office - that is likely to be inundated with calls - gives us a flipping 0845 number, and expects us to pay for the privilege of trying to sort out the mess of their own creation?!?! Ludicrous!

Dave wrote on Nov 20^th, 2007 at 10:27pm:

Indeed ... I was watching some TV drama the other day.  They were trying to retrieve a disc or memory card or something, with a list of agents (spies!) that had fallen into the wrong hands.  They got the disc back in the end, after it had been shown to have been loaded up in various bad-guys computers.  Phew, we're all safe now. end of program.   Eh??? No search for copies, no hunting down the laptops it's been used in and wiping cache files, swap files, hibernation files etc...

Once a digital file gets out into the wild, there is almost no chance of getting rid of it again.  It's not like it's a bit of microfilm or a printed document, where you can be pretty sure there's only going to be one of them...  Copies just spread...

Since we are in receipt of child benefit, it seems that our personal details are going to be out there now, with bank account details, and details of our children!  And that's the same for almost half the population of the country!   I suppose I should hope that, should the data indeed find it's way into the wrong hands, that security-by-obscurity has a chance of working, and we don't get hit for anything.  But I'll still be keeping an eye on the bank accounts a lot more closely now...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2007/11/22/nosplit/dt...

Letters to the Telegraph

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Sir - Has the hapless Chancellor of Exchequer no moral fibre? To set up a telephone helpline for families who have had their information put at risk with the lost computer discs, using an 0845 number rather than the free 0800, is contemptible.

Why should the public have to pay for the HMRC's incompetence?

James Kirkbright, Shillingstone, Dorset
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article3182303.ece

The Public: Nervous customers check bank accounts
By Martin Hickman, Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Published: 22 November 2007

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[...]

The Taxpayers' Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, said the use of an 0845 number for the child benefit hotline was "rubbing salt into the wounds" of the millions of families affected by the fiasco. High demand would also result in callers being put on hold, it warned, predicting a total bill running into millions of pounds.

Campaign director Mark Wallace said: "It is absolutely disgraceful that, having incompetently put 25 million people at risk of fraud and identity theft, HMRC now expects those affected to pay to phone the helpline."

[...]
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http://www.precisionmarketing.co.uk/Articles/255410/An+accident+waiting+to+happe...

An accident waiting to happen

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[...]

While it may be music to the ears of credit reference agencies, the Government has made the very brave step of setting up an 0845 number to give people advice on how to deal with the crisis. Glad to see it profiting from the whole fiasco…

Charlie McKelvey,

Editor,

Precision Marketing

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http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1835062007

ANGER AT CHARGES FOR LOST DATA HELPLINE CALLS

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[...]

HM REVENUE and Customs came under further attack yesterday for charging millions of people whose personal data it lost to call a helpline for advice.

The Taxpayers' Alliance, which campaigns for lower taxes, said the use of an 0845 number was "rubbing salt into the wounds" of claimants.

High demand would also result in callers being put on hold, it predicted, increasing a total bill it estimated could run into millions of pounds.

Campaign director Mark Wallace said: "It is absolutely disgraceful that, having incompetently put 25 million people at risk of fraud and identity theft, HMRC now expects those affected to pay to phone the helpline.

"This scandalous failure has caused a lot of anxiety and could yet cost people a great deal of money. Making people pay for advice on securing personal data that should have been safe in the first place just rubs salt into the wound."

But HMRC defended its decision to use an existing paid-for helpline and said anyone concerned about the cost could give their number and be called back.

A spokesman also insisted there was surplus capacity available to deal with increased call volumes.

"We do not operate any free lines; it's a local rate number. If they are concerned about the cost we will take their number and call them back," he said.

An Ofcom spokeswoman said calling an 0845 number from a BT Option 1 Together package would cost around 3p per minute, which is the same as dialling an 02 or 01 number. But calls to 0845 numbers from mobile phones may be more expensive than calling a landline, depending on which tariff is being used.

Calls to 0845 numbers may generate revenue for the recipient if the organisation takes up that option. An HMRC spokeswoman said its 0845 number was the existing child benefit number which was charged at local rate and was not revenue-sharing.

The Ofcom spokeswoman said the telecoms regulator supported the use of 03 numbers by public bodies because these had the same charges for calls from both landlines and mobile phones and did not have a revenue-sharing option.

[...]
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