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Non-geographic telephone rates - 0844, 0870, 0871 etc

Headings on this page :

See also these pages

• Scams, cons etc
• Consumer issues

Cautionary notes

• There are frequent changes to the costs of calls and the types of packages offered.
  This page was last updated November 2009. `
• We don't work in the telecoms industry, so please don't treat everything on this page as authoritative.
• Below we refer to 'BT' or 'BT etc' as a convenient shorthand for your telephone service provider (eg BT, TalkTalk, Virgin).
• Mobiles - The information on this page only refers to dialing these numbers from a landline (fixed) phone. The cost from mobiles is usually much higher.
• Are they legal? - Although many people have criticised the ethics of 0844, 0870 and 0871 numbers (even calling them a 'scam'), generally their use is legal.

What telephone numbers are we dealing with?

This page deals only with 'revenue-sharing' 08 code non-geographic numbers - especially 0870 and 0871.

Where we mention 0870 and/or 0871, the same principles apply to some similar codes - especially 0844, and two new codes: 0872 and 0873.

On this page we don't deal with :

• 0845 numbers - These are sometimes (misleadingly) called 'local' rate.  They're cheaper and less controversial.
• Mobile phone numbers (07x codes).

Premium rate numbers :

• 0870 isn't premium-rate.
• We also deal with 0871, 0872 and 0873 numbers.  From 1 August 2009 these are classified as premium rate by Oftel and PhonepayPlus (details below).
• We don't deal with higher-rate premium rate numbers - eg 09, 070 and 118 codes.

Introduction to 0870 and 0871 telephone rates

We concede that there are more glamorous titles for a page than: "0844, 0870 and 0871 non-geographic telephone rates".  However, over the years, it's one consumer issue that we've taken a special interest in.  Perhaps we should get out more.

We haven't dealt with the topic on the CharityBags website until now - it's only on the fringe of our aims.  However, we've included it on the website because :

• Recently we added a page on Scams, cons etc (to help people understand what's going on with misleading 'charitable' house-to-house clothing collections).
• Reputable organisations have described 0870/0871 numbers as a 'scam', so it provides a nice example.
• There are similarities between the 0870/0871 issue (of misleading information) and misleading 'charitable' clothing collections.
• Use of these phone numbers causes unnecessary expense for charities (and other good causes) amounting to £ millions annually.
• Virtually every consumer loses out because of 0870 and 0871 numbers.
• Much money is spent on 0870 and 0871 calls - around £2,000 million annually in the UK.

There's no reasonable justification for using the 0870/0871 rates, bearing in mind the cheaper alternatives available, including :

• 01 and 02 codes - known as 'geographic' numbers, and
• the new 03 code - introduced by the regulator Ofcom in 2007 (details below).

OK, so what's it all about?

We'd all like to get our landline phone calls for free (as they are with 0800 freephone numbers).

But most people accept you've got to pay for most calls - otherwise BT etc couldn't provide the network - the cables, telephone exchanges and maintenance.  You can call this the 'network charge'.

Traditionally this was done by using 'geographic' phone codes (currently 01 and 02 numbers within the UK).  Nowadays, there's two ways of paying this network charge :

• 'metered' - by a charge per call (based on the duration of the call), or
• 'unmetered' - via an 'inclusive' call package - eg an 'evening-and-weekend' or 'anytime' scheme.

Here's another way of understanding this :

Ask yourself - How would you feel if the following situation happened to you? :
You ring a geographic (01 or 02) number - say your bank.  You know you're paying the normal telephone 'network charge' for the call (to BT etc).
Imagine the person you're ringing refuses to talk to you, unless :

1. You first give them your credit card details, and
2. You agree to let them take money from your credit card at the end of the call - which would be calculated by multiplying the number of minutes you would be on the phone to them, by 5 pence.  For example, if it's 10 minutes they'll charge you 50p.

Most people would be shocked and offended by this.

. . .  But this is what happens (in effect) when you ring any 0871 number.  The only differences are :

• The charge ends up on your telephone bill (inconspicuously), rather than on your credit card statement.
• The payment made to the person you're calling is bundled in with the network charge (to form a single item on your phone bill) - so you can't tell what's going on.
• They don't tell you they're doing it.

This system can be tolerated with premium rate (09) numbers (dating lines, sex lines, horoscopes etc) - because they're providing a value-added service to you, and often it's non-essential 'entertainment'.

But with most 0871 numbers, they're used for routine, essential customer service - such as purchasing, querying or complaining.  Why should these calls give revenue to the organisation you're ringing?

The government watchdog PhonepayPlus   neatly described 0871 numbers thus :

"Calls to 0871 numbers involve a form of micro-payment whereby revenue can be shared between the company you are calling and the third party that's providing the telecoms service"  [website at November 2009]

Who's criticising 0870 and 0871?

Many organisations, websites and individuals - including :

• Ofcom - "the UK's communications industries' regulator"
• Which? (formerly known as the Consumers Association)
• Say No To 0870
• MoneySavingExpert (Paul Lewis)
• The Daily Mail newspaper.

The Daily Mail ran a campaign against 0870-type numbers and referred to the rates as a 'scam'. We too, feel it's reasonable to call the rates a scam. However, if you read this page, visit the links we've cited, and still feel uncomfortable about using the word 'scam' to describe the rates, that's fine by us. But we hope you'll agree the rates are unfair and potentially misleading.

Details of 0870 and 0871 telephone rates

Many people don't realise what the charging regime is with 0870 and 0871 numbers.  Here's a quick guide to them, comparing them with ordinary 01 and 02 (=geographic) numbers :

• 01 and 02 codes - These are the 'normal' UK landline phone numbers (eg for homes). They're called 'geographic' numbers because each number code is limited to a place in the UK.  For example, phone numbers in Newcastle begin with 0191.
• 0870 and 0871 codes - These are known as 'non-geographic'. This allows the organisations concerned to route your call to any of their call centres/premises, irrespective of where they are.
• With 0870 and 0871, you pay 2-3 times the rate-per-minute of a 'normal' national geographic call (01 or 02 prefix, see above).
• Until 2009, calls with 0870 and 0871 codes weren't normally included in any 'inclusive landline calls' package (eg BT's old Option 2 and Option 3), so you still got charged for them 24/7 - even off-peak.
  Even now (2009+), only the 0870 codes are 'inclusive' with BT - you're still charged for 0871 codes.
• Usually you can't include them in 'friends and family' 10% and 20% discounts.
• With 0870 and 0871, a proportion of the call (1 to 7p per minute at peak times) is paid as revenue by the phone company to the organisation you're ringing (='revenue sharing'). Whether it's done deliberately or not, the longer they keep you in a queue, the more money they make.
  The revenue-sharing principle here is the same as with premium rate calls.
• For every 1p that the organisation you're calling gets in revenue, you (the caller) have to pay an extra 3p or so (compared with a normal 01 or 02 number). So, it's an inefficient way of raising money, penalising the caller.
• Are they 'premium rate services' (PRS)? - Even though there's 'revenue sharing', these numbers weren't subject to control by the government's premium rate regulator PhonepayPlus(previously known as ICSTIS).  This was because the rates are 10p or less per minute.
  
  However, from 1 August 2009, 0871, 0872 and 0873 numbers are categorised as premium rate.  See the article in the Guardian  

Example:  Consider a 10-minute landline phone call at peak-time ('national'-distance) :

• If the number begins '0871' - the cost is around £1.
• If the number begins 01 or 02 (=geographic) - the cost is around 40 pence (or it's free if you're on an 'anytime' inclusive landline calls package).
  Usually you'll be connected to the same switchboard or call centre as you would be with 0871.

We understand that the annual cost to consumers in the UK of calling 0870 and 0871 numbers is now over £1,000 million.  However, if the organisations concerned offered normal (geographic) numbers instead, the cost to consumers would be less than 35% of this.

It's not just consumers who are losing out.  UK charities (and other not-for-profit organisations such as hospitals) are losing £ millions annually because of having to pay over-the-odds when dialing 0870/0871 numbers (eg when phoning commercial suppliers).

Companies selling the numbers

Search Google for companies selling 0870/0871 numbers, and you find revealing marketing blurb telling you how to use these numbers to make money from the revenue-sharing - in a similar way to premium rate (090 prefix) numbers.

Examples from 'UK2Numbers' website   (at November 2009) :

"About 0871 Numbers

[A] UK2Numbers 0871 number will provide your business with an attractive additional source of income. The money we pay you for your 0871 calls will greatly benefit your business, whether you are a sole trader or large enterprise.

. . .  generating a significant revenue stream for your company. Organisations taking on average 2000+ calls per day can expect rebate payments often exceeding £10,000 per month."

"Revenue from 0871 numbers

1. Our 0871 numbers are guaranteed to give you more income than any other telecom provider can offer.

2. You will earn from 4 and up to 7 pence per minute for every incoming call you receive during the peak hours (8am-6pm Monday to Friday). We also pay 4 to 7p for every off peak call you receive."

0870 and 0871 - why are people misled?

People are misled for a variety of reasons, including the following :

• Some phone companies give the impression that all numbers (including 0870/0871) are  included in 'inclusive' calls packages (when this isn't correct).
• Many staff in organisations which use 0870/0871 numbers aren't aware of the non-standard charging information we've listed above.
• Many callers don't know the charging information listed above.
• Often people don't check their itemised bills fully.
• These calls have two components - (a) the network charge, and (b) the revenue-sharing bit.  But these aren't shown separately on your bill.
• As far as we know, no bills give the rate-per-minute of individual calls.
• Telephone charging rates and phone-number prefixes are complex.
• The telecoms industry uses two confusingly different definitions of the term 'national' :
  • 0870 and 0871 codes are described as 'National rate' by BT, and charged at 6p to 10p per minute peak-rate. This is a misleading anachronism which dates back to around 1985 when national geographic numbers were charged at this rate.
  • 01 and 02 codes (=geographic numbers) are also often referred to as 'national rate' (or 'national' calls) if the distance is neither local nor international.
    However, these national calls cost only 2.5 to 4.5 pence per minute peak-rate (or are free if you have an inclusive 'weekend' or 'anytime' landline calls package).
    Nowadays, local, regional and national 01/02 calls are all charged the same rate.

Organisations with 0870 or 0871 numbers

Do the organisations know they're charging you extra?

We've found that staff in a number of organisations with these numbers are genuinely unaware that your calls to them cost more than normal 01 or 02 numbers.  In some cases they had been given misleading information by the people selling them the 0870/0871 phone number.

As 'mystery shoppers' we've asked organisations with 0870/0871 numbers what the rates are.  In most cases they gave us incorrect information.  To their credit, we're confident that most of them weren't trying to mislead us deliberately.

Example:  We contacted a leading health charity (which deals with eye diseases) about their 0870 numbers.  This was because they'd informed members (including one of us) in their newsletter that the calls were at 'normal' [01 and 02] rates.  We explained that this was incorrect.  They checked out our assertions - and they were shocked to find they'd been misled by the company which sold them the 0870 numbers.  They changed their numbers to geographic ones (01 code), and amended all their publications accordingly.

Use of 0870 and 0871 numbers by government

Most of the organisations with 0870/0871 numbers are in the private sector - such as mail-order companies.

However, a few government departments do use them - especially arm's-length agencies such as the DVLA (Swansea) and the Driving Standards Agency (DSA).  There's been much criticism of this - even by the government's own telephone regulator, Ofcom.

Example:  Around 2006, the government was providing retired civil servants with an 0870 pensions helpline. A number of people were being paid incorrect pensions by the government - and some of them queried why they had to ring an expensive 0870 number to sort out a problem caused by government.  They were told that the helpline had been sub-contracted to a private company.  The company was keeping the 0870 revenue (around £300,000).  Apparently, the government hadn't known about this revenue.  As a result, the embarrassed government department changed the system and (as far as we remember) the company agreed to donate all the money to charity.

Switching from 0870 to 0871 - more bad news

Since 2007, the telephone regulator Ofcom has been taking steps to reduce the problem of 0870 numbers. So these numbers are now less profitable.  Some organisations with 0870 codes have responded to this by switching to 0871 instead.

A notorious example of this is 'Traveline' - the government-backed telephone helpline for bus travellers.  See the article on the Daily Mail website headed: 'How BT helps business firms dodge premium line crackdown'  

The good news - solutions

Finding cheaper, alternative numbers

Many organisations with 0870/0871 numbers also have cheaper alternative numbers, but they tend to keep quiet about them.

Fortunately, the Say No To 0870 website includes an invaluable, ever-growing, free database of alternative, cheaper (and even free) telephone numbers for many of the organisations which use 0870/0871 (and 0844/0845) numbers.  (Note: We have no connection with this website.)

Under the Freedom of Information Act, if you write to a government department which has 0870/0871 numbers, you can insist they give you details of any cheaper, alternative numbers such as geographic ones (01 and 02 codes).

Organisations switching to cheaper rates

Some organisations which use 0870/0871 numbers have responded to public concern and have changed their numbers to cheaper tariffs, such as :

• Other non-geographic tariffs (but cheaper) :
  • 0844
  • 0845 - these are cheaper than 0844
  • 0800 or 0808 - these are FREE (=freephone)
  • 03 - an excellent new tariff (details below) - these are charged at 01/02 rates
• Geographic tariffs :
  • 01 or 02

Examples :

• The Charity Commission :
  Around 2005 they changed their helpline number from 0870 to 0845.
• The BBC :
  The number for the 'Watchdog' consumer programme changed from 0870 to geographic (to 020 =London).
  In 2008, the BBC began changing some of their other 0870 numbers to 03 codes, such as 0370.

03

Certain (c) images (eg red telephone box) from: www.freefoto.com

 

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