I have written to my MP, George Osborne the Shadow Chancellor, and raised the matter with him. I realise the futility of this exercise but I felt I had to do something positive. For those who are interested, the content of my letter is below. I am aware that there may be inaccuracies and oversights in there, but in the absence of any sort of guidance on what to write, I decided just to "wing it". Please feel free to comment constructively but what is done is done!!

"Once again I find myself raising the issue of the scandal that is
087/084 telephone numbers. The on-going and increasing confusion over
what these numbers are, how they are controlled and how much they cost,
continues unabated, with a not entirely unexpected delay by Ofcom in
implementing their well publicised (if totally ineffective) changes
which were due to happen on 1 February.

We now have a plethora of numbers including 0870, 0871, 0872, 0844,
0845, 0344 et al. The cost of calling many of them is well hidden
within the next set of digits and the intention seems to be to preserve
and even extend the public confusion and obfuscation which ensures that
the gravy train rolls on for the people who provide, and receive calls
to, these numbers.

In addition there is the acceptance of companies describing these
variously as "Lo Call", "Local Rate", "National Rate" despite the fact
that for the vast majority of people the terms local and national call
rates have been virtually obsolete for almost 4 years. Many companies
claim that, for example 0870 is a "national rate" call at typically
8p/min, and an 0845 is a "local rate call" at around 3p/min. For
comparison purposes, a call to the US typically costs me around 3p/min,
and UK landline calls can cost as little as 5p for an hour, or even
free on many call packages. There is absolutely no benefit to the
caller from the use of these numbers.

The regulatory bodies seem happy to turn a blind eye to this widespread
practice. Even the Yellow Pages describes 0845 as "Local Rate" on
almost every page, and this is blatantly inaccurate. It has actually
reached the stage that many companies are going to extreme lengths to
prevent their customers from calling them on geographical (01 or 02)
numbers, in order to protect the income which is generated by these
numbers. As examples I am happy to quote Sky TV and the Alliance &
Leicester Building Society.

I believe that it is time that Ofcom performed their duty to protect
the public from this practice, as they have clearly failed to do so at
the expense of the public, and especially the most vulnerable members.

I call on you to raise this matter at the highest level, to eliminate
the problem, including such practices as covert revenue sharing on
non-regulated numbers (eg 0870/0845), call queuing on revenue sharing
mumbers, and of misleading or non existent call cost declarations and
descriptions. There are so many variations in existence that I would
challenge anyone to understand how much their call is costing, and most
people are astounded when it is explained to them.

For more information on this subject, I would urge you to refer to the
web site www.saynoto0870.com which will really open your eyes to what
is going on."

Thanks NGMsGhost. Helpful and simple advice for me (and others please!!) to follow. For info, I do not deal with either A&L or Sky and I already have a Nationwide Visa card for overseas spends (of which I have a lot!). Greatly appreciated.

It's nice and concise, easy to read.

A couple of other points which you might like to consider is that a number of consultations have been put out by Oftel/Ofcom since 2003 and that "NTS A way forward" received over 1,100 public responses in 2005.

PhonePayPlus have now provided a link to the 600+ responses from the public to their 0871 consultation.  They tell me that the link to this page from the consultation document area itself was accidentally removed.

You can now find these responses at www.phonepayplus.org.uk/service_providers/responsestoconsultations/0871new.asp

cheapphones wrote on Mar 12^th, 2008 at 9:20pm:


I suppose I should post the 0870 number for Sky Month by Month subscribers.  As Month by Month is specifically sold to the credit unworthy with only a one month commitment Sky actively expect people to cancel this product and if you make a call to Sky to discontinue on the dedicated Month by Month subscriber line Sky staff never make any efforts to stonewall or dissuade you from cancelling.