Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register
SAYNOTO0870.COM

<---- Back to main website

 
Home Help Search Login Register

Pages: 1 ... 10 11 12 13 
Send Topic Print
Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers (Read 469,962 times)
Dave
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 9,902
Yorkshire
Gender: male
Insure.co.uk added to Hall of Shame
Reply #165 - Jun 8th, 2011 at 8:34pm
 
Insure.co.uk's contact page now lists 0844 879 3015 for contact regarding car, van, home and motorbike policies. Google cached it a couple of days ago with 0800 numbers on and they now redirect to the new rip-off numbers.

The help page still shows those 0800 numbers.
Back to top
« Last Edit: Sep 17th, 2011 at 4:47pm by Dave »  
 
IP Logged
 
speedy
Full Member
***
Offline



Posts: 148
Dartford
Gender: female
Re: Automobile Association "TheAA"
Reply #166 - Sep 17th, 2011 at 4:45pm
 
blutak wrote on Apr 18th, 2011 at 4:04pm:
Further to my posts above, I have had protracted correspondence with The AA's CEO's office. At first they tried to fob me off with the usual excuses about using 0844 numbers, then they stated that had they not used Revenue Share, it would have led to "severe consequences". They had considered the use of 0300 numbers, but it was a "Business Decision" to use 0844.
Another case of "rip-off Britain". Needless to say, I will not be dealing with them again.


Of course it was a Business Decision bluetak - the AA as we used to know it is being asset stripped by several private equity firms - 3 firms I think to date although I have just heard that it has been sold again very recently - also their Insurance run by Saga since 2007 is through their Call Centre which is not Dedicated but manned by Temp. Agency staff who wouldnt know one end of a policy from the other - All this was inside info.

I once did 2 days at an unrelated Call Centre and was given a script and list of Products of which I knew nothing and told to get on with it - because I felt I couldnt be the sort of help I wanted to be I asked the Agency to withdraw me, which they did after admiting they had to withdraw several other people for the same reason, so we cant entirely blame the people on the end of the Phone.

Incidently I have just last Friday the 16th left AA after 60 years of Family involvement because of their 0844 Breakdown Number and have sent a very strong email pointing this out on their Complaints Section also saying that I Dare Them to Reply I also pointed out that Members were leaving in droves and stating AA would be dead in 3 years - so far I have had an auto out of office from the Holding Company and will update this post if and when I get a proper reply.

If bluetak had protracted corresp. I wouldnt hold my breath - or we might not be around to see it  Roll Eyes
Back to top
« Last Edit: Sep 17th, 2011 at 4:48pm by speedy »  
 
IP Logged
 
trickyd
Newbie
*
Offline



Posts: 24
Manchester
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #167 - May 21st, 2012 at 1:59pm
 
Bridgewater Hall Manchester has changed its box office number from 0161 907 9000 to 0844 907 9000. I rang the switchboard (still an 0161 number but no access to box office) - first person came up with the scripted "it's the standard rate" and when I protested the chap said it was changed to "provide a better service and more features". He did not know why an 03 number had not been used instead. Also, he could not say who had made the decision to make the change, but said it was the company that owned the Bridgewater, which is SMG Europe Holdings Limited  http://www.smg-europe.com/, a supposedly "independent charitable trust" who also run London's Barbican and some other venues. I was invited to register a complaint, which I shall do. I would urge others to do so. The Bridgewater was part funded by Manchester City Council (i.e. mine and others' council tax). The venue charges hefty booking and postage fees (compare, say The Brindley at Runcorn or Preston's Guild Hall) so I object to this stealth tax.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Dave
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 9,902
Yorkshire
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #168 - May 21st, 2012 at 2:07pm
 
trickyd wrote on May 21st, 2012 at 1:59pm:
Bridgewater Hall Manchester has changed its box office number from 0161 907 9000 to 0844 907 9000. …

Thanks trickyd. I've added this to the Hall of Shame.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
speedy
Full Member
***
Offline



Posts: 148
Dartford
Gender: female
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #169 - Jun 5th, 2012 at 2:29am
 
On 2nd June I was going to phone Carphone Warehouse to ask a question - looked up my nearby store's number in 2012/13 local phonebook - this was 0870 XXXXXX - this was answered by a short message saying this number has changed Please redial using 0843  XXXXXX - the rest of the number was the same only the 0870 had changed to 0843 and so will the cost and now not included in my BT Anytime Plan.  Angry

I presume this hold true for all their Branches as they were all prefixed 0870 in the new Phonebook. Angry

Needless to say I didnt phone them, I got the bus into Dartford and went to a T-Mobile Shop and got the answer to my question, and had a quick walk round the shops and got a few bargains - so had a good day thanks to Carphone Warehouse greed !!!!!  Grin Grin
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
SilentCallsVictim
Supreme Member
*****
Offline


aka NHS.Patient, DH_fairtelecoms

Posts: 2,494
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #170 - Jun 5th, 2012 at 9:12am
 
speedy wrote on Jun 5th, 2012 at 2:29am:
… Carphone Warehouse … changed to 0843 Sad

This is a very sensible move by the Carphone Warehouse Group, which uses its own (Talk Talk) 0870 and 0843 numbers. Since 1 August 2009 it has ceased to benefit from inflated termination rates on calls to the 0870 numbers, even though many callers continue to pay premium rates. Its stores have indeed now switched to type g6 0843 numbers which provide the highest termination rates available without being subject to "Premium Rate Service" designation and regulation.

Where a telephone network provider is using its own 084 numbers, this is not simply subsidy of external costs, but direct revenue at the expense of callers. This is more "shameful" than is the case for most of those listed in this thread.


It may be noted that Carphone Warehouse Group is the provider of 82% of the 084 numbers used by NHS GPs in the UK (97% of the 0844's).


Where call cost information for 0843 numbers is provided on the Carphone Warehouse website (for mobile phone networks - not its own stores) it is as follows:
Quote:
^You may be charged for calling this number, depending on your call plan. Your mobile phone network or fixed line provider will have details of which numbers are free for you to call.

I would be interested to hear a justification for use of the word "may" in this context. It is true to say that telcos will have lots of information about their services - but not one of them will be able to advise that calls to 0843 numbers are free, on any call plan.



speedy wrote on Jun 5th, 2012 at 2:29am:
… went to a T-Mobile Shop and got the answer to my question, and had a quick walk round the shops and got a few bargains Grin

Were it not for the fact that a personal visit is worthwhile, one can call T-Mobile on 0845 412 5000 - this is "charged at local rate" (see Phone Us). According to the T-Mobile Check a Call Cost page, its "local rate" is 40p per minute for pre-pay and 33.3p per minute for post-pay.

The T-Mobile Dartford store has a geographical number. Somewhat surprisingly, it is cheaper than "local rate" to call this, or indeed the store serving Dartmouth, from anywhere in the UK!

As the other high street presence of "Everything Everywhere", one may also look at the Orange shops - which have 0845 numbers. I think it may be truer to say that they are "all over the place"!

Back to top
 
WWW  
IP Logged
 
speedy
Full Member
***
Offline



Posts: 148
Dartford
Gender: female
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #171 - Jun 9th, 2012 at 12:59am
 
I was going to Dartford on another errand and had been dialing the geo. T-Mobile number from the same book all the previous day but it was just ringing - so we wondered if it was still live and I said I would have a look for her as I passed.

It was still Open and when I told how I had been dialing all the day before - It turns out that they had been closed for Refit and the previous day had been receiving stock at the back and couldn't or wouldm't hear the phone. anyway question answered and substitute sorted - job done.  Grin

Just to make a point I went into the Carphone Warehouse opposite and told them that I wouldn't be phoning them ever again because of their 0843 new number and that I had my question answered at T- Mobile -didnt tell them it was a T-Mobile query anyway  Grin  Grin
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Dave
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 9,902
Yorkshire
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #172 - Jun 22nd, 2012 at 5:43pm
 
Discussion about Co-operative Bank's shameful move from 0845 numbers to 0844 numbers has been split off from this thread and can now be found here.
Back to top
« Last Edit: Jun 23rd, 2012 at 9:30pm by Dave »  
 
IP Logged
 
CJT-80
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 1,713
Manchester
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #173 - May 9th, 2013 at 10:45pm
 
jgxenite wrote on Nov 13th, 2007 at 9:22am:
It would appear that we aren't the only country to use premium rate numbers for contact...

From http://www.fifteen.net/contact/Pages/default.aspx:

Fifteen Amsterdam: 0900 343 8336 (premium rate - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_the_Netherlands#Overview_and_h...)
Fifteen Melbourne: 1300 799 415 ("local rate" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephone_numbers_in_Australia#Other_non-geographic...)

However, in those countries, the real geographic number is given as the alternative. Someone will be rolling in the cash somewhere...


Any update on this, having noticed the Hall of Shame, and clicking on the entry for Fifteen Restaurant it now appears to have a UK 020 contact number.

See: http://www.fifteen.net/ and click Contact

Smiley
Back to top
 

Regards,

CJT-80

Any comments made are my own and are not those of SayNoTo0870.com
 
IP Logged
 
Dave
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 9,902
Yorkshire
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #174 - May 10th, 2013 at 8:28pm
 
CJT-80 wrote on May 9th, 2013 at 10:45pm:
Any update on this, having noticed the Hall of Shame, and clicking on the entry for Fifteen Restaurant it now appears to have a UK 020 contact number.

See: http://www.fifteen.net/ and click Contact

Thanks for pointing this out. I've removed the entry from our Hall of Shame and added the 020 number to the database.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
CJT-80
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 1,713
Manchester
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #175 - May 11th, 2013 at 6:05pm
 
No problem Dave,

I was a bit bored, and was looking through them.. and spotted that..

At least Fifteen have decided to ditch the overly expensive "premium" rate number.
Smiley
Back to top
 

Regards,

CJT-80

Any comments made are my own and are not those of SayNoTo0870.com
 
IP Logged
 
rfctabs
Newbie
*
Offline



Posts: 19
Solihull West Midlands
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #176 - Aug 14th, 2013 at 12:00pm
 
britters191 wrote on May 22nd, 2007 at 11:02am:
Consumers do have power, and we can change this.  Whenever I'm forced to use an 0878 number, and when I eventually get through, I ask for an alternative number to dial.  If there is no alternative offered, I make sure that the person I speak to notes the fact that 1) I will never call that number again, 2) I shall seek a competitor that does not force customers to use 0870 numbers.  This strategy, however, is probably no good when contacting governemt departments, although I believe that those using this prefix have been instructed to change it.  We can but hope. Roll Eyes


I have obtained my own 0844 number and have it pointing to my home number. If I ever find a company that doesn't have or give an alternative to a non-geographic, I give them my 0844 as a contact for me.  Wink

Does that make me as bad as them? I don't know, but it sure makes me feel goooood!
Back to top
« Last Edit: Aug 14th, 2013 at 12:00pm by rfctabs »  
 
IP Logged
 
Dave
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 9,902
Yorkshire
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #177 - Sep 5th, 2013 at 3:26pm
 
Off-Topic replies have been moved to this Topic.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
trickyd
Newbie
*
Offline



Posts: 24
Manchester
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #178 - Aug 20th, 2014 at 8:19pm
 
The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester has happily reverted to its 0161 number.  Smiley
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
CJT-80
Global Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 1,713
Manchester
Gender: male
Re: Hall of Shame: Companies changing numbers
Reply #179 - Aug 27th, 2014 at 11:44am
 
trickyd wrote on Aug 20th, 2014 at 8:19pm:
The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester has happily reverted to its 0161 number.  Smiley


Thanks Tricky D, I have updated the database
Smiley Smiley
Back to top
 

Regards,

CJT-80

Any comments made are my own and are not those of SayNoTo0870.com
 
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 ... 10 11 12 13 
Send Topic Print
(Moderators: bbb_uk, Dave, Forum Admin, DaveM, CJT-80)

Website and Content © 1999-2024 SAYNOTO0870.COM. All Rights Reserved.
Written permission is required to duplicate any of the content within this site.

WARNING: This is an open forum, posts are NOT endorsed by SAYNOTO0870.COM,
please exercise due caution when acting on any info from here.


SAYNOTO0870.COM » Powered by YaBB 2.5.2!
YaBB Forum Software © 2000-2024. All Rights Reserved.


Valid RSS Valid XHTML Valid CSS Powered by Perl Source Forge