CJT-80 wrote on Apr 24
th, 2010 at 1:41pm:
... my argument therefore is ... can calling an 0845 number "local rate" be considered as a lie?
It is unquestionably misleading as the term "local rate" has no true meaning any more. It implies "cheap" when, apart from a few perverse exceptions, calls to 0845 numbers are in fact more expensive than calls to local numbers. That is quite enough for me, without getting into a semantic and moral discussion about use of the word "lie".
All public sector organisations must come to understand that (under the present regime, which will be reviewed shortly) the benefit of the subsidy derived from use of 0845 numbers is essentially improper, unless they can justify imposing a service fee on telephone callers and declare and explain it properly. The regulations which prevent the call cost being greater than for normal calls from BT only apply to BT. BT no longer holds a sufficient share of the market (it has 0% of the mobile market) for its rates to force others to copy, so that they may be considered as the norm. Unless a service delivered by telephone is only offered to the minority of citizens who call from BT lines, then use of a 0845 number (without proper explanation) must be regarded as a rip-off for the majority of callers.
Private businesses, which (unlike most public sector bodies) are implicitly entitled to charge users fees for their services, are engaged in a deception unless they properly declare the charges that are incurred for calling their revenue sharing numbers and the reason for the surcharge.
The simple fact is that most public bodies (especially NHS bodies) could never be expected to provide a proper explanation of the cost of calling revenue sharing numbers, because to do so would involve admitting impropriety. Whilst it is deemed acceptable to quote BT rates with the comment that others may vary, I cannot see any great point in arguing over call cost descriptions (even though those given are false and misleading). One could accurately say that calling a 0845 number is cheaper than, or the same as, a local number from BT.