In Scotland a number of police forces have gone to 0845, and they and other public services such as NHS24 are happy to mislead citizens that 0845 is somehow "local rate". Aberdeenshire Council is no exception with its
various 0845 numbers.
The subject of the 0845 numbers was brought up in the
2005 Residents Survey:
Quote:3.18 Some concerns were evident about a move to 0845 numbers, which included:
- A perceived loss of locality, which could contribute to the sense of remoteness described earlier.
- Potential confusion of 0845 numbers with premium rates numbers.
- The additional costs which people would incur if their “normal” local costs were already covered in their phone package.
Due to the relatively occasional nature of contact, the latter point was generally no more than a mild annoyance. Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon response which a number of police forces also maintain as justification for employment of these numbers.
A
news release from Aberdeenshire Council of 1 February 2008 reads:
Quote:Aberdeenshire tenants to benefit from improved service
1st February 2008
Tenants within Aberdeenshire Council will benefit from an improvement to their housing repair service when the council launches a new system for requesting repairs on February 25 this year.
The council has made improvements to the service making it much easier for tenants to request housing repairs.
Under the current system, tenants are required to use one of 10 different telephone numbers to request repairs. However, under the new system tenants will now have a single number to call, regardless of the nature of the request or their location.
[…]
The new 0845 number will be distributed to tenants via a tenant newsletter prior to its introduction.
At the end of the
Tenants Newsletter for Winter 2007 it says:
Quote:STOP PRESS… 0845 number for repairs
From 25th February 2008 you will be able to report a repair at any time using the out of hours 08456 08 12 03 number.
So this number is for 24/7 use!
REPORT TO THE MARR AREA COMMITTEE – 17TH JUNE 08 - KAIZEN BLITZ MANAGEMENT REPORT Quote:7.4 The use of the CRM service will provide a cost effective single telephone point of contact for all Aberdeenshire tenants, making use of a single local cost 0845 telephone number covering all of Aberdeenshire and beyond.
And at the meeting of the committee:
MARR AREA COMMITTEE - VILLAGE HALL, BRAEMAR 17 JUNE 2008 Quote:Having heard from the Area Manager (Marr) on the detail of the proposals, the advantages of the transfer which included a single point of contact for all tenants, a reduction in duplication, the provision of an extended customer service and savings to be achieved, the Committee agreed –
[…]
(3) that the Area Manager confirm that the use of the 0845 number would be charged at Lo Call rates and would not increase call costs for tenants.
http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/care/money/independent_living_fund.asp Quote:This is a "local rate" number. This means that the cost of telephoning the Fund will be the same as making a local call, no matter where you are in the country.
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Aberdeenshire Council - 0845 "Lo Call" rate (Read 5,834 times)
