It was a great pleasure to hear Richard Chapman trying to talk his way out of this one on 'You & Yours today'.

Most words from him began "Er, er, er......"

We now must direct our efforts at 0844.

Another scam!

The cost of a 0844 call is 5p/min

This is 2p/min above the UK national rate of 3p/min for all 01 and 02 numbers.

The cost of making a 0870 and 0845 from a call box is 10p for 55 seconds - 24/7 plus 10p connection charge.  01 and 02  numbers cost 10p for 7.5 minutes, plus 10p connection charge.     Is 0844 the same?

Juby, thanks for the pointer,
just 'listened again' to the article,

What a Stutter !!!!  He could hardly get a word out, I think they know they are on the run now. He was even trying to convince the world that 0844 was cheaper than a BT local call, but didnt convince himself!
:o

wrote on Feb 17^th, 2005 at 5:32pm:

Another scam! The cost of a 0844 call is 5p/min

No, actually the cost of calls to 0844 numbers is UP TO 5p/minute depending upon the following digits and the time/day.

Prices vary between ½p/minute and 5p/minute.

Many ARE cheaper than the 3p/minute BT charges for an 01/02 call during the day.

See HERE.

On BBC R4, Mr. Chapman, from NEG, said he would use the 5p/min rate.

Quote from  BT web page:

"BT ContactCall 0844 enables callers to ring you at any time, from any part of the UK - for just 5p a minute.  The service offers the potential for shared call revenues (at call volumes 24m minutes and over)  along with flexible routing and pricing options."

The normal UK day rate charge 3p/min - from any part of the UK.

Does anybody have the Call box rate for 0844.  Is it  10p for 55 seconds as it is with both 0845 and 0870?

wrote on Feb 17^th, 2005 at 6:16pm:

Does anybody have the Call box rate for 0844.  Is it  10p for 55 seconds as it is with both 0845 and 0870?

The 0844 numbers charged at 5p/min at all times appear to have the charging rate g6. From a phonebox, 10p will last 43s at g6 rate. So, it appears that these 0844s will actually cost more to call from a payphone!!  :o

Thanks for the info.  I am sending a letter to my MP etc.

I've saved it for posterity ...

Listen to the interview here  ;D

It may be worth e-mailing Richard Chapman and asking why he and his company tell LIES regarding call charges every time NEG gets media exposure. LIES that is Mr Chapman. The NEG web site lists his address as richardc@negplc.com - his brief biography below is also taken from the NEG site. I wonder if NEG is aware of this forum and the negative comments - I do hope so!

>>>

http://www.negplc.com/about/team.htm

Richard Chapman – Chief Executive Officer
Richard joined NEG Plc in 2001. His role initially to retrain the sales force and deploy his strategy for both sales and marketing to take the NEG Plc national by quarter 1 2004. Richard also heads the NEG Surgery Line team, formed in 2002 which has already seen the product launch in 2004 improve patient communication for nearly 200 GP surgeries. He lives in a small village near Chelmsford in Essex with his wife Jackie and their 9-year old bundle of joy Rebecca. Richard adamantly states, "By the end of 2005, NEG Plc will supply more telephony solutions into the SME market place whilst at the same time providing customer service to a level only ever dreamt about by every other telecoms vendor on the planet" word has it that NEG are almost there already!

I don't think I have ever in my life heard such a pitiful bleating from an out and out scam artist. He is a pathetic liar, and his catalogue of half truths, deceit and deliberate obfuscation was, to be polite, grossly dishonest.

It is now increasingly apparent to the British public that the use of the non geographic numbers for information services is a scam that cannot continue. Only in Britian would such a rip-off be tolerated, and it is pathetic that there are low-life like Richard Chapman and his Company who are prepared to prey on the most vulnerable in society.

To claim, as he attepted to do when his stuttering and spluttering would allow, that a call to a 0844 number is cheaper than a normal geographic number call would be laughable if it were not such a blatant lie.

I sincerley hope that the NHS ban the use of ALL non geographic numbers for information services associated with the health service, and that this marks the beginning of the end of this gaint NGN rip-off.

PeDaSp  How did you do that?

Did you notice the lengths to which Chapman went to avoid the truth when asked about call costs to 0844 numbers?

“I don’t want to go into specific call costs because that’s er, erm, been put to bed.”

When pressed, he came out with:

“A three minute call will cost 15p whereas, on BT’s standard rate, it would have cost 13½p.”

BT’s standard rate?  Ah, yes, the rate which nobody has been on since 1/7/04 - when BT moved most people onto BT Together Option 1 (on which, between 6am and 6pm during the week, a 3 minute call to any UK 01 or 02 number now costs customers 9p).

Why didn’t Chapman mention the Option 1 price?

Because it’s 40% less than 15p whereas his ‘BT standard rate’ of 13½ p is close enough to confuse.

If all residential subscribers are on option 1, 2 or 3 it appears impossible to make “a standard rate call”,  this is just a fiction – an aid to confusion.

Is it possible to make a standard rate call from a residential or business phone?

Ofcourse if the NHS bans all 084/087 numbers, it will have to change NHS direct number, or will it come up with an excuse to get round that one?

Also, going back to the original issue, that these are premium rate numbers, that is what's caused all this. Poor regulation.

wrote on Feb 18^th, 2005 at 3:48pm:

PeDaSp  How did you do that?

http://www.ps015b2084.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk//youandyours_20050217_1.ram

Like this.

wrote on Feb 18^th, 2005 at 6:03pm:

If all residential subscribers are on option 1, 2 or 3 it appears impossible to make “a standard rate call”,  this is just a fiction – an aid to confusion. Is it possible to make a standard rate call from a residential or business phone?

People on the Light User Scheme still pay the Standard Rate prices, I think. However, it's certainly not possible to choose this tariff. Unfortunately, "Standard Rate" is how it's defined by Ofcom - hopefully this will chance in the future.

Anyway, as most people aren't on this rate, it shouldn't be used for comparisons. Sadly, though, many people are extremely confused by all this, so spokesmen can largely get away with making whatever claims they like!

Did you hear that story the other day about the Spanish footballer being hoax interviewed by a 'football club' ie newspaper

Any aspiring 'practice managers' out there?

How long can NEG get away with their excuse  "saves people getting an engaged line!"??

Picture a surgery with a receptionist, if she is on a line and I call, then it's engaged and it costs me zero.
If I now dial the 0870, she is still on the other line and I start paying 8p per min to wait for her to finish.  How can this be saving me money?

NEG should be nailed for their obfuscations - let's hope we can.

I think you must accept that everybody involved with these scams from the outset was and is intent on deceipt. All these abuses are based on deceipt. Deceipt therefore becomes the norm for them, and lying at every juncture is part of the deceipt.

It becomes almost like a drug. The revenue streams (and sales bonuses) being generated from these abuses are so enormous that they become completely hooked on maintaining the revenue streams whatever they have to do, including lying and cheating wherever necessary!

This is of course why they fight so hard to avoid these abuses being ended by all revenue sharing being put back where it belongs - in the 09 category. They would no longer then be able to continue the deceipt.

I think it's intriguing that Mr Chapman seems to have said no to 0870 himself, and given an 01268 number.

Is he worried that it would put people off calling?