The Anonymous Widower

The Scandal Of 084x And 087x Numbers

The BBC is reporting today about expensive calls to financial companies and other institutions like the Inland Revenue and the NHS. It’s here on their web site.

For the first time, since I moved to BT in 2010, to save myself some money compared to Virgin, I decided to check my bills.

I have a tariff that allows me to call any landline at any time, for a flat fee of seven pounds a month. As I have some long landline calls, I suspect, I’m quids in on this.

But what surprised me was a fairly long call to the Netherlands cost me just twenty-eight pence.  Most of the call charges were calls to mobile numbers.

As to my bank, Nationwide and my two credit/charge cards, all are on 0845 numbers, which under my calling plan are free.  Not that I ever call them, as most seem to respond well to queries sent on-line.

In fact the only higher rate number I have rung in the last few months was a short call to my doctor, to book an appointment, as it’s an 0844 number.  But whether, I’m charged for it, I don’t know. You shouldn’t be charged for calls to your doctor. Booking an appointment, is something, that should be done on-line.

There is an interesting point here.  How many of us have calling plans, on which some or all of our landline calls free. So as we realise what we get, if companies published their actual numbers, they might get a few less customers, angry at hanging on at high cost. After all, if you do call direct, you probably get in the same queue.  So you will probably wait as long, but at no expense.

The real problem is calling these numbers on a mobile phone, as I’ve found several instances of people like benefit claimants being fleeced.

November 17, 2013 - Posted by AnonW | News | Banks, BT, Phones