SilentCallsVictim wrote on Dec 22
nd, 2012 at 8:18pm:
It is important to understand that the introduction of the unbundled tariff and the CRD regulations will come in together.
This will help businesses to focus on which telephone services they wish to charge for. Many of them quite genuinely do not understand that they are imposing a Service Charge by using a 084 number. I do not seek to excuse that ignorance, but to explain that many businesses will be put in a difficult position because they have not deliberately set out to rip-off their customers.
The subsidy obtained, even from a 087 number, represents only a modest proportion of the cost of operating a call centre. The increased cost caused by the loss of subsidy will however appear to be a significant expense. It is vital that the telecoms industry recognises that it will have to compete hard for business, as it will no longer be able to use misleading indications of call costs as a way of offering good deals.
Although there are undoubtedly rip-off merchants out there, nobody is operating a call centre on a 084/087 number in order to make money - they are only offsetting their costs. When that option is removed, it may be that call centres will be scaled back, leading to greater waiting times and callers hanging up. In some cases telephone access may be withdrawn altogether, so that customer service functions are only provided online.
Reading this post somehow makes me feel uncomfortable.
It seems sometime, somehow, the goalposts moved.
My understanding is that premium rate calls were introduced to allow businesses such as chat lines, to trade by providing a service over the telephone line. This was their only source of revenue and the customer paid for the service via the call charge.
Other businesses provided customer support to backup their primary activites and these calls were either freephone or geographical lines.
The proliferation of call centres, which were introduced for efficiency reasons (more profit and/or lower product cost), seems to have given these businesses a golden opportunity to jump on the premium call charge bandwagon. Now, even the local plumber has one.
I do not believe for one minute that these businesses did not know what they were doing. (You only have to read the selling propositions on a TCP website.)
I cannot agree that it is ever acceptable for a business to subsidise its customer support by using premium call phone lines. Customer support should always be built into the product cost. How can it be right that, for example, Direct Line sells its insurance and then charges customers for support.
Furthermore, businesses who use 0845 numbers facilitate the opportunity for call providers to load the cost even more. Am I seriously expected to believe that simply making the telecomms industry be more transparent over “who gets the money” will force the call providers to reduce their charges?
I really hope that this legislation will sort out the premium rate call charge debacle, but history tells me not to hold my breath.