http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/letters-to-the-editor/Our-victory-over-phone-call.6047109.jp

Our victory over phone call costs

Published Date:  05 February 2010

Yorkshire Evening Post

<<
MR Everson is correct that Leeds Citizens Advice Bureau has an 0844 public number but wrong to say that it costs mobile phone callers 40 pence per minute ('CAB should change its number', YEP, January 28).

Leeds CAB has put arrangements in place to ensure that callers from mobile phones are charged no more than callers from landlines – exactly what we are asking government departments to do.

We have made these arrangements despite the huge disparity in resources available to us as a local charity, compared to those of the Department of Work and Pensions, HM Revenue and Customs, etc.

It is widely assumed that Citizens Advice Bureaux are funded by national government but in fact each CAB is a local, independent charity, reliant upon the commitment of volunteers and the goodwill of local funders in order to provide our services.

Callers to Leeds CAB are charged five pence per minute, so a 30-minute call will cost £1.50, the equivalent of a bus fare into town for many.
While that may not be ideal, what concerns me more is that very few people will get to make that 30-minute call because the demand for telephone advice so completely overwhelms our capacity to respond, with over 100,000 calls a year to our phone line.

That is why we are working with local and national partners to find ways to increase provision of telephone advice in response to the ever growing need for our help.

In the meantime, we are very pleased that thousands of people across Britain will benefit from the introduction of 0300 numbers by several government departments, as a direct result of our campaign.

Dianne Lyons, Chief Executive, Leeds CAB
>>

It seems to me that Dianne Lyons doesn't actually understand how 0844 numbers work. I, somehow, don't think that she has contacted all the mobile phone operators and negotiated a 5p a minute charge on their 0844 numbers.

Seems a bit hypocritical to me that the CAB is pushing for government organisations to move to 03, and yet they continue to use 0844 numbers.

If Leeds CAB has really done a deal with the mobile providers so they all charge 5 pence per minute, why doesn’t it’s website say?

One page says:

Quote:

BT Landline Callers will be charged at a rate of 5 pence per minute, but other network rates may vary. The cost of calls from mobile phones will be considerably higher. Check with your phone provider

Another page gives the 0844 number, but no indication of the call price.


Also, do other Bureaux around the country that use the 0844 numbers have the same ‘magical’ deal with all the mobile companies?

Does the CAB really benefit from subsidy from callers from mobile phones, whilst at the same time, they pay a heavily discounted call rate? This sounds like the sort of thing that NEG and Leeds' Dr Vautrey would come out with.  ::)