Hello

I was introduced to your site by a friend and I think it's such a fantastic resource. I have been frustrated for quite some time about being forced to pay over-the-odds to call companies who make money from my custom in other ways already! So, thanks..

Something that worries me though, and I'm sorry if it's already been raised/covered, is it appears that this site is indirectly funded by the very companies without whose existence we wouldn't need a site like this. The ads appearing at the top of each site page link to companies offering 0845/0870 etc numbers, using the lure of a quick-buck-to-be-made (at your site user's expense, ultimately)..

Is there any way of making things slightly less hypocritical/unethical?

Regards

Chris, Manchester

Yep, this has been covered loads of time - see here. Daniel, the site admin, has no control over what ads appear - it just happens to be that because this site mentions 0845 and 0870 a lot, those are the ads that are targeted here.

There are many ethical questions raised by this website.

One could say that the publication of geographical alternatives for use by those who are greatly dissatisfied by revenue sharing numbers diverts the energies that they could be deploying to campaign against their use, for the benefit of those who do not have access to this site.

The site represents a worthy commercial venture. It is not a not-for-profit or charitable enterprise supported by subscriptions or donations, even though it relies on voluntary support.

Like all sites that provide a service to save people money it actually relies on that which it claims to oppose, not only for specific advertising, but for its very existence. The fewer the cases of ripoffs, the fewer hits, the harder it would be to support the site.

The ethics are a matter for the site owners, partly for the sake of securing the voluntary effort on which it relies. As a user and forum member, I simply say thank you to all. If I demanded ethical purity or perfect alignment on the part of all those with whom I engaged I would not be able to live in this imperfect world.

jgxenite wrote on Jun 30^th, 2009 at 10:26am:

Yep, this has been covered loads of time - see here. Daniel, the site admin, has no control over what ads appear - it just happens to be that because this site mentions 0845 and 0870 a lot, those are the ads that are targeted here.

Actually Daniel does have ethical control over the type of banner ads that appear on the site as Google now offers this facility.

Its just that Daniel chooses not to use the facility for whatever reasons of his own...........................

It seems that the particularly unacceptable GrabAGrand/WinTheCash ad banners on the site have now disappeared in favour of TrueCall (who sell a product that has aims and objectives closely in line with those of this website unlike GrabAGrand/WinTheCash) but that is the only improvement I have seen in respect in some of the indeed rather questionable commercial ethics of the basis on which this website is funded.