-------- Original Message --------
Subject:      FW: You and Yours 070 number - complaint - good timing
Date:      Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:22:23 +0100
From:      Angie Nehring <angie.nehring@bbc.co.uk>

Dear _________,

Thank you for your email, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to reply.

May I reassure you that the reason your email was not read out on air was simply because of the mass of calls and emails we received on the subject of customer service. It's obviously something people feel strongly about.

With reference to your particular point on the use of 0870 numbers by the BBC, I have good news to pass on. As of yesterday, the BBC has decided to phase out its use of 0870 in favour of the new 0370 numbers recently made available by Ofcom. This change will enable the audience to call the BBC at the lowest cost to the caller. 0370 calls cost no more than calls to 01/02 geographic numbers and are included in discount packages for both fixed line and mobile contracts.

Yours sincerely
Angie Nehring
Dept Editor You and Yours

Sent: 15 April 2008 13:31
To: Peter White-DSHS; Liz Barclay
Cc: Katy Johnstone; Mark Damazer; zzMark zzThompson-DG; Mark Byford & PA; Tim Davie;

Dear Mr White and Ms Barclay,

I tried both to phone your so called "phone-in" program about 12.35pm today (Wednesday 15th April) and sent the below email to you as well but my comments about customer's being abused with excessive 084/7 call charges numbers by many UK call centres have not been let on air.

Are you now under strict instructions from senior BBC management to not discuss the 084/7 issue at all on your program? I note that you have not mentioned this issue again for a very long time indeed, despite Ofcom going back on their previous commitments about making 0870 numbers priced on the same basis as 01/02 calls on 1st February 2008.

I suspect that producers and presenters on your program have now been told never to mention this issue again on your show by the BBC's senior management (due to its own extensive and widespread cynical use and abuse of these numbers)?

Of course you also still even absurdly use an abusive 0870 covert premium rate (see the dictionary definition of the word premium) phone number for calls to the phone in line on your supposedly pro consumer show. Clearly this appears to be yet another example of the modern trend for rotten customer service by a large and faceless organisation that does not appear to listen to or at least take action in response to the views expressed by its customers!

I look forward to your comments.

Regards,

does anyone else get the feeling the tide is turning at long last?

Value for money

TV Licensing's change from 0870 numbers to 0844 numbers (your report, 29 May) was based on providing the best value for money for callers and licence fee payers. An average three-minute call costs less than a second-class stamp. We believe it is fairer for those who want to contact us by telephone to pay for it, rather than being subsidised by all licence fee payers.
If people would prefer not to call, they can contact us online or by post.

TV Licensing is run by the BBC and is not a government agency, as described in the Which? report.

IAN FANNON, TV Licensing, 77 Kingsway, London

The full article contains 111 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

    * Last Updated: 10 June 2008 7:10 PM
    * Source: The Scotsman
    * Location: Edinburgh

A licence to scare?

In response to Lucy Barrett's article, the information on our database is confidential and is used for the sole purpose of TV Licensing (Somebody, somewhere, is selling you fear, April 28).

We comply with the Data Protection Act and none of the data we hold is released to third parties. We take the security of the information we are entrusted with very seriously.

A minority of people (about 5%) try to avoid paying the licence fee and our new campaign contains messages designed to deter a potential evader. We continue to work to ensure everyone is aware of the licensing requirements and the effectiveness of our enforcement operation. Research has shown that, in fact, the majority of licence payers (nine out of 10) believe it is appropriate for TV Licensing to highlight anti-evasion messages.

Ian Fannon, communications manager, TV Licensing

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:      BBC Planning To Retain Its Expensive 0844 Revenue Share Number For Tv Licensing Calls
Date:      Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:38:11 +0100
To:      mediaenquiries@tvlicensing.info

Dear Mr Fannon,

BBC Planning To Retain Its Expensive 0844 Revenue Share Number For Tv Licensing Calls

As one of the most active and longstanding members of the www.saynoto0870.com website campaign I was interested to read the comments recently attributed to you in your letter to The Scotsman newspaper (see http://news.scotsman.com/opinion/Value-for-money.4171426.jp) attempting to justify the BBC's apparent planned retention of its new 0844 revenue sharing number for calling Tv Licensing about paying the tv license fee.  This is even though paying the tv license fee is in effect something about which people now have almost no choice and already amounts to a hugely regressive stealth tax on the very poorest members of society, and especially on the poorest members of society on low incomes who are not over 75 and are not on benefits.

I thought you might be interested in therefore entering the fray to further defend TV Licensing's position in the discussion that is taking place on this matter on the www.saynoto0870.com website.

See www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1211964387/

See also the previous discussion a few weeks ago at the stage when members of this campaign had been led to believe by a well informed senior source at the BBC that the BBC Executive Board was planning a switch to 03 prefixed numbers for all of its contact phone numbers.  As you may know unlike 084 and 087 prefixed phone numbers 03 prefixed numbers (only recently introduced by Ofcom in Autumn 2007) do not cost any more to call than a number starting 01 or 02 from a landline or a mobile phone and are also included in all landline inclusive call packages and mobile phone bundled minutes.  By contrast 0844 numbers are not and are charged at up to 40p per minute by some Pay As You Go mobile operators.  Research shows that some of the poorest members of society often do not have a landline and only use a pay as you go mobile phone.

See www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1208458341/1#1 for the previous discussion about the expected BBC changes to using 03 for all of its phone numbers.

I am sure it would further illuminate matters on the www.saynoto0870.com web discussion forum if you were now prepared to join the debate to try to defend TV Licensing's continued use of an 0844 revenue sharing phone number instead of switching to an 0370 normal priced phone number as this campaign had previously been led to believe would be the case by the BBC (given that we were previously told by one of its senior Executives in its communications and audiences division that the BBC was planning to switch to 03 for all its contact phone numbers in all parts of the BBC).

I look forward to hearing from you regarding the above matter and/or to possibly seeing a post from you on this subject in the www.saynoto0870.com discussion forum.

Regards,

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:      Thread Discussing BBC Licensing 0870 on Saynoto0870.com Website
Date:      Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:52:24 +0100
To:      mediaenquiries@tvlicensing.info

Dear Mr Fannon,

Further to my earlier email I see that all of the thread discussing the question of the BBC's contact phone numbers, including BBC Licensing's phone number, has now been consolidated together at:-

www.saynoto0870.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.cgi?num=1208458341/0

I hope this is of assistance.

Regards,

Foundation Partner Group

Formed in 1999, the Foundation Partner group is an established forum of both corporate and public sector influences.  Its success to date can be demonstrated by the successful launch of the CCA Standard Framework.

Organisations investing in Foundation Partnership have the opportunity to participate in the benefits of corporate membership and are also invited to participate in a wider range of activities which assist CCA in promoting best practice and professionalism and offer the group the opportunity to be involved in driving the collective voice for the industry.

Our Foundation Partner Group includes:

British Gas
BT
Capita
Department for Work & Pensions
HM Revenue & Customs
NHS Direct
Royal Bank of Scotland Group
Royal Mail
Sky Subscriber Services
Tesco
Vodafone Ltd

If you would like to become involved in the FP Group please contact Pauline.Cochrane@cca.org.uk or Tel:  +44 (0) 141 564 9384.

-------- Original Message --------
Subject:      BBC 0870 to 03 Nmbr Change - Illogical Retention of Premium 084 & 0871 Numbers Including Question Time?
Date:      Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:09:02 +0100
To:      michael.stock@bbc.co.uk
CC:      tim.davie@bbc.co.uk, mark.byford@bbc.co.uk, mark.thompson@bbc.co.uk, jana.bennett@bbc.co.uk

Dear Mr Stock,

Incoherent and Illogical Proposals to Retain BBC 0844, 0845 & 0871 Phone Numbers (including BBC Question Time Audience Line), Whilst Moving 0870 Numbers to 0370, Will Fail To Be Understood by The Public or To Allow The BBC To Regain The Moral High Ground Over Its Phone Numbers

Thank you for your reply to my email.  However this latest news that you have provided that only the BBC's 0870 prefixed phone numbers are to be changed to use the 0370 number range in which they will then cost no more than calls to normal priced 01 and 02 prefixed numbers (even on landline and mobile phone inclusive packages) and that many other BBC numbers currently beginning 0844, 0845 or 0871 are to be left exactly as they are and continue to attract premium rate charges for calling them is very unwelcome indeed and also seems entirely illogical and quite irrational on the BBC's part.  The reasons for such an apparently inexplicable, inconsistent and utterly incoherent approach on the BBC's part to its phone number policy are very hard to fathom indeed and I cannot understand why you personally would have agreed to put forward such an illogical proposal to the BBC Board, especially given your own undoubted considerable expertise in the workings of these numbers as demonstrated by your own longstanding position as a Board Member of the Contact Centre Association (see www.cca.org.uk/about/Board%20Members.asp) and the BBC's position as part of the Foundation Partner Group of the CCA along with its major call centre partner Capita.

As best I can now see it the BBC is being forced to do something about its 0870 numbers by later on this year (2008) as by that stage measures introduced by Ofcom will eventually mean that it will no longer be possible for the BBC and/or its two business partners involved in receiving phone calls from the public (Capita and Cable & Wireless) to continue earning revenue share on receiving calls from the public but as a result of unfortunate regulatory failings by Ofcom many members of the public will still not enjoy or be guaranteed the same low prices when calling 0870 phone numbers as they can be certain of when calling numbers starting with 01, 02 or 03.

As a result of this the BBC has rightly decided to move away from 0870 and to adopt 0370 numbers where the public are guaranteed to pay only normal national rates for phone calls and to have the calls included in their bundled minutes call plans. But if the BBC wishes to restore public confidence that calling the BBC will only cost the price of a normal phone call to a licence payer's friend or relative then why has it chosen to blow this confidence completely out of the water by leaving in place phone numbers where this will continue not to be the case and that will continue to be charged at wholly extortionate rates as high as 40p per minute by unscrupulous telecoms providers (especially mobile phone operators) who seek to take advantage of the fact that technicalities in Ofcom's regulations allow them to charge more than for calling a number starting 01 or 02 by charging an utterly ridiculous rate to call these numbers, whilst also knowing at the same time that many members of the public still wrongly believe these numbers only cost the same to call as a number starting 01 or 02.

I am very disturbed indeed to hear that you were in effect economical with the truth when using me as a sounding board for the www.saynoto0870.com campaign last Autumn when testing your proposal that the BBC might switch to using 03 numbers. Your obvious economy with the truth was in failing to proactively mention to me that the BBC would not be ensuring that any of its many numbers starting 0844, 0845 or 0871 were also moved to the 03 number range.

Unfortunately your apparent attempt to hide this fact from members of the Saynoto0870.com campaign, albeit by a process of omitting to mention that your proposals did not cover those number ranges rather than by supplying actively misleading information, will go down very badly indeed with our campaign.  I cannot believe that the BBC is still planning to assault the intelligence of the acutely politically aware viewers of Question Time by having David Dimbleby use siren like smugness to suggest that they call a number range (0871) just about to be transferred to the premium rate regulator (Phonepayplus - formerly ICSTIS) in order to participate in future shows. I also cannot see any logic or reason why BBC radio stations and some other programs and services (such as tv licensing) should continue to charge stealth premium rates of up to 40p per minute to call them from mobile phones on numbers that are also excluded from landline and mobile phone bundled minutes and/or inclusive call packages.