What is that call really costing?

By SIMON MOON
Updated:

 

THE curse of the call centre has become as common a topic of conversation as the weather. The process of trying to find a simple piece of information can involve descending into the depths of an electronic labyrinth in search of a helpful fellow human being.

Apart from the endless frustration of being invited to press ever more phone keys to reach the hoped-for helper at your insurance company, bank or building society, there is the question of cost.

Suggestions that some big companies are making huge sums from keeping customers hanging on have prompted Ofcom, the official watchdog, to propose price ceilings of 4p a minute for these types of calls, which are usually to numbers starting with an 0845 code.

Companies advertise 0845 as being charged at 'local rate', but the reality is that customers sometimes pay more than they would for a genuine local call.

A survey by Ofcom found widespread ignorance of call charges to lines with different prefixes. Many people thought 0870 national-rate calls were free, whereas it is 080 calls that cost nothing.

Confusingly, there are half a dozen different rates just for numbers prefixed 090. These are premium-rate services that can cost from 60p to £5 a minute and even any rate at all in the case of adult chat-lines. A popular scam used by disreputable businesses is to lure people into making calls to 090 numbers in the hope they will not realise they are being charged a fortune.

ICSTIS – the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services – supervises premium-rate services, which generate an income of more than £1bn a year. But it says: 'There are millions of numbers in use and tens of thousands of services running at any given time. It is not possible to keep track of every one.'

If you believe a premium-rate call you have been charged for was not made from your phone line, you should contact your phone company and ask them to investigate, says ICSTIS, which points out that it is responsible for taking action against only the tiny minority that harm consumers.

It is possible to find out the names of businesses behind premium-rate numbers on the ICSTIS website (www.icstis.org.uk) or via UK Phone Info on www.ukphoneinfo.com.

You can check the cost of a call before you make it, by logging on to the BT website (www.bt.com) and clicking on Call Checker.

For information on how to make a complaint about your phone line provider check the website for the Telecommunications Ombudsman Service at www.otelo.org.uk or call 0845 050 1614.

Block all cold callers by logging on to the Telephone Preference Service at www.tpsonline.org.uk or calling 0845 0700 707

Your view: This is Money user Paul Kay says: "All 0845 and 0870 numbers should be made to publish their national number, eg 0161 234 5678.  Thereby callers in close proximity can use the genuine local call rate."

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