http://www.saynoto0870.com/companysearch.php

http://www.saynoto0870.com/companysearch.php

The parliamentary Treasury Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into "the "Administration and effectiveness of HMRC".

It has accepted written evidence about the use of 0845 telephone numbers and the need to change to 03 immediately.

It is possible that this issue will be raised when the three most senior officers of HMRC give oral evidence before the committee this afternoon.

Members may be interested to follow this session at http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=7965.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Mar 17^th, 2011 at 1:55am:
My initial comment, after enduring seven minutes of nonsense is to question whether anyone in this department actually 'gets it'? Ms Strathie certainly does not. Why is it so difficult for a govt department, with huge back office resources, to establish a few unified contact numbers in a specified range? Here, the social security administration, a vast government agency of over 60000 employees, has just one public central number, toll-free from anywhere in the country. Simple, straightforward and consumer-friendly. (I will make no comment about the often lengthy queueing times though!)

Dave wrote on Mar 17^th, 2011 at 10:02am:


Yes indeed they do Dave.  And it is not by accident but on purpose as far as I am concerned since they have been told by the government not to upset the 0845 Applecart.

I wish I had the energy to continue to pursue this 084/7 issue but since I am facing potential personal financial disaster depending on the outcome of the decision of another part of the governmental apparatus known as a Tribunal I have reluctantly had to conclude that with OfCoN one is hitting one's head against a brick wall.

Clearly other parts of government with other agendas and other access to Ofcom decision makers do have the power get Ofcom to take action over issues that are regarded as serious by the powers that be as we can see with the current urgent investigation in to TalkTalk over failing to disclose subscriber location information for calls to 999/112.

one can only therefore reluctantly conclude that no one other than those of use here cares about the great 084/7 calls ripoff or the great BT line rental rise and associated BT call connection charge ripoffs.

Happy Easter to you!

I've just tried calling the HMRC alternative numbers (01355 359022 and 0161 931 9070). I got a recorded message telling me I'd called from the UK but was using the number for their "international customers only" and must check the HMRC website for the correct contact details.

So it looks like they're determined to make us all pay, even though the 084 numbers should be on the way out for HMRC.

Does anyone have an alternative alternative? 

How weird!

I'm on Virgin Media for landline, and that behaves as previously described. I've also tried withholding my number and had the same result. However...

My O2 mobile has connected immediately to 01355 359022 with no problem (number not withheld, by the way).

Of course, I'm on hold while the nice lady seeks further information on my inquiry but hey ho - can't have everything, I suppose. 

As has been explained previously there are two ways in which the origin of a caller can be identified:

1) CLI - this is the full detail of your number, as given when dialling 1471 or on "caller display".

2) Location information - this is general area from which you are calling, for mobiles this can be the cell location.

Use of the first is covered by data protection legislation which gives you the right to withhold it. Because the second is not personal data it is always available and cannot be withheld.

The second is used by services to route calls to the appropriate national / regional / local call centre. Examples are 111 and 101.

From the information provided it seems likely that this is what is being used on these numbers, but in a primitive form. It seems likely that all calls where an identity can be given are passed through to the rejection message, whereas others are allowed through. As there is no need to incur the cost of checking the mobile cell, it seems that calls from mobiles are allowed through, as no location information is obtained. I imagine that it would not be difficult to treat calls from mobiles in the same way as those from identifiable locations, but as this is not a vital feature it has been deployed in a very simplistic manner.

This explanation is pure speculation, but it seems credible.

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On this issue generally, surely SayNoTo0870 should enter into serious and formal correspondence with HMRC and DWP about this issue. The policies of these organisations need to be clearly explained and understood.

I would argue that where a dedicated team of specialist advisers are made available to handle a limited number of calls from overseas, then there is a sound argument for blocking UK calls to those numbers. If, as we are inclined to believe and have evidence to prove, these blocks are simply a way of protecting the benefit of revenue sharing, then this should be acknowledged and defended by the agency.

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P.S. Just to complete the picture, the withholding of CLI may be overridden by those with "proper authority", e.g. the police, under the terms of the Data Protection Act. Any telco which released the information to any other body (e.g. HMRC or DWP) would be in serious trouble with the Information Commissioner.