UK Insurance underwrites Vauxhall Insurance and Tesco Insurance amongst others. I have written previously to them about 0870 numbers, and their reply just (supposedly) justifies their use by saying that they "operate within a large call centre environment, which is spread across various offices in various regions."

I do not accept this, so I wrote again. This is the reply I received:


Quote:

Thank you for your letter dated 10 December 2004, regarding your letter about the subject of the 0870 numbers. At Vauxhall Insurance we are committed to providing the highest possible standards of customer service. As a result, we take any expression of dissatisfaction from our customers seriously. As previously stated in our letter Vauxhall Insurance operates within a large call centre environment and we are unable to operate under geographical telephone numbers. By using the 0870 numbers, when our policyholders call us they are able to go through to the first available operator, therefore, our policyholders are not kept on hold for too long. As you can appreciate, as we operate under the UKI Partnerships we are a very busy company and we do not wish to keep our clients waiting for us to deal with their queries. From BT landlines premium rate services are charged at the following rates, shown at pence per minute, (inc VAT) Daytime Evening Weekend 0845 3.00 1.00 1.00 0870 7.51 3.75 1.50 While we appreciate that the 0845 numbers are cheaper they do not offer us the same benefits as 0870 numbers and these are outlined above. However, as stated in our previous letter we can, in some cases, provide you with a direct contact number for the advisers dealing with your claim. We provided you with this at the end of our previous letter. I trust that we have concluded this matter to your satisfaction and, in line with our complaints procedure...

• There is no mention of revenue share, even though I specifically asked how much they are paid and how this can be justified to their customers.
  
• In what way do 0845 numbers not allow the same benefits as 0870?
  
• How come the Leeds switchboard (0113 3904000) can sucessfully put me through to Tesco Insurance in Liverpool? If this is the case, won't the numbers they transfer a caller to be able to be dialled from outside directly?

Although it doesn't say in this letter, I have been informed by phone that this has been all the way to the top.

wrote on Feb 5^th, 2005 at 3:51pm:

In what way do 0845 numbers not allow the same benefits as 0870?

Isn't it obvious? They don't receive as much revenue if they use 0845! What could be more to their benefit? ;D   ::)

Received my renewal notice from Vauxhall Insurance. The renewal hotline is 0870!

Shame you cant do a FOI on them!
Just thought, might be able to do a DPA on them

wrote on May 28^th, 2005 at 11:59pm:

Received my renewal notice from Vauxhall Insurance. The renewal hotline is 0870!

Well I've written to them saying that they will have to write to me or ring me. A member of telesales rang me yesterday and went through my quote.

It seems that they are the cheapest for me, so I will go with them. I just hope that the switchboard keep putting calls through and that they don't change that to 0870!

Just received a response. The reply they sent (quoted in original post) is final. They have therefore not answered the question of whether they receive revenue or not. Read into that what you will.

Should I wish to take this any further I must contact the Financial Ombudsman. They, along with other government bodies are in on the scam aswell, so they won't care.