1850 and 1890 numbers - We pay!

[Dinarius]

One of my pet hates is companies that do not offer a landline number to access some part of their business.

Nowadays, almost everyone buys mobile minutes in bulk in addition to having home phones with prepaid local and national calls.

However, if we are obliged to dial a 1850 or 1890 number, *we* pay for it. And considering the amount of time you frequently spend accessing a telephone helpline, or whatever, having to pay for this is maddening!

Companies should note that 1850 and 1890 numbers were brought in back in the days when someone in Galway having to call a Dublin office would be seriously out of pocket if they dialed a landline. This is no longer the case for the vast majority of people.

It is time to change.

D.

[davidoco]

1850 and 1890 numbers - We pay!

It's in the terms and conditions.

An 1890 is only a virtual location out on the Eircom Network, it must terminate at a local number somewhere, so don't believe the companies when they tell you that they don't have a direct dial.

“eircom Talktime Excluded Calls”

means Chargecard calls, calls to the Eirpac service, calls to other packet
switched networks, calls made to Premium Rate Telephone Service, calls to Directory Enquiry Service, calls
to certain Phone Services, Teleconferencing calls, calls made by use of the Virtual Private Network facility,
Operator Assisted Calls, FreeFone 1800 calls received by the customer, CallSave 1850 calls received by the
customer, LoCall 1890 calls received by the customer, non-geographic shortcall calls received by the customer,
calls made to the national call 0818 service, calls made to the 0700 access code and Personal Numbering 0700
service calls; calls made by the customer to CallSave 1850, SMS (Short Messaging Service) Calls made by the
Customer, calls made by the customer to LoCall 1890, calls made to Internet Access 1891,calls made to Internet
Access 1892 and calls made to Flat Rate Internet Access 1893 and calls made to Inmarsat, Iridium, EMSAT, 076

VOIP calls and calls made to Skyphone mobile telephony systems.

[ubiquitous]

The Revenue are rascals for this. When I ring them on their landline they often refuse to put me through & tell me to ring a lo-call number.

[Dinarius]

Originally Posted by ubiquitous

The Revenue are rascals for this. When I ring them on their landline they often refuse to put me through & tell me to ring a lo-call number.

National Irish Bank do exactly the same thing with their Online Banking help number. If I ring my branch (College Green) they will *not* transfer me to the help desk.

Very, very annoying.

Who's making on this?

D.

ps. Clubman, many thanks for amending the title.

[davidoco]

Originally Posted by ubiquitous

The Revenue are rascals for this. When I ring them on their landline they often refuse to put me through & tell me to ring a lo-call number.

Revenue are probably one of the few who have a good reason for only having an 1890. They use your caller ID to try identify where you are calling from and automatically put you through to the relevant local office or when one office is very busy automatically put you through to the closest least busy office. 1890 numbers are also valuable tools for diverting calls to an different location, for example India for tech companies outside normal office hours here.

This would be impossible using direct dial STD numbers.

The problem is with the telco. They charge the companies a service charge and a fee for each call to the 1890 and also charge the customer (only a local call though). The customer should complain that the 1890 call is not included in their minutes.

[ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by davidoco

They use your caller ID to try identify where you are calling from and automatically put you through to the relevant local office or when one office is very busy automatically put you through to the closest least busy office.

That's not my experience. When I or my staff ring Dundalk Revenue (which we do several times daily) we have to specify what county the query relates to. Then they either put you through or tell you to ring 1890 xxxxx. Given that a lot of their incoming calls will be from accountancy practices, who as a matter of course will have a client base spread across many counties, the idea that the Revenue could usefully route calls via caller ID beggars belief, to be honest.

[RainyDay]

Originally Posted by Dinarius

Nowadays, almost everyone buys mobile minutes in bulk in addition to having home phones with prepaid local and national calls.
...
Companies should note that 1850 and 1890 numbers were brought in back in the days when someone in Galway having to call a Dublin office would be seriously out of pocket if they dialed a landline. This is no longer the case for the vast majority of people.

While I appreciate that things are changing in the telecom market, I'd like to see some hard data on how many people have packages before suggesting widespread change.

[davidoco]

Originally Posted by ubiquitous

That's not my experience. When I or my staff ring Dundalk Revenue

I was referring to the 1890 number and also referring to PAYE employees. If you ring Dundalk office directly it would be a given that you would be looking to speak to someone about an income tax or VAT issue relating to a customer from the Louth area.

On the other hand if you ring the PAYE 1890 the query can almost always be dealt with by any PAYE worker anywhere in the country.

Companies with good CRM solutions will use your caller id to pull your records before you get to a live person or someone like ESB faults can use it to connect you to the relevant regional network office.

[macshaned]

This has been an issue for us in ValueIreland.com for a while. In an effort to bypass this charging for 1850, 1890 and 0818 numbers, we've been compiling a list of "normal" alternative numbers that people can ring instead.

Go to SayNoTo1890.com and check out the companies that are already there. If you know of any other alternative numbers, e-mail me and I'll publish them.

Diarmuid
Value Ireland

[MB05]

The last issue of You and Your Money magazine mentioned this issue and listed a number of alternative numbers for some companies.

AIB phone banking: Use 01 6670024 instead of 1890 242424

BOI phone banking: Use 01 4044470 instead of 1890 365365

Bord Gais Energy Supply: Use 8190395 instead of 1850 632632

ESB Customer Supply: Use 8529534 instead of 1850 372372

VHI: Use 056 7753200 instead of 1850 444444

VIVAS Call Centre: Use 01 6193620 instead of 1850 717717

Ticketmaster Ireland: Use 01 4569569 instead of 0818 719300

NTL Freephone: Use 01 2458600 instead of 1800 321321

[Complainer]

Originally Posted by MB05

T
NTL Freephone: Use 01 2458600 instead of 1800 321321

When would it make sense to use an 01- number instead of a freefone 1800- number?

[ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by davidoco

If you ring Dundalk office directly it would be a given that you would be looking to speak to someone about an income tax or VAT issue

...or Corporation Tax, or Employer's PAYE, or CGT, or Gift/Inheritance Tax - all of which are dealt with by different depts within Dundalk Tax Office

Originally Posted by davidoco

...relating to a customer from the Louth area.

...or Cavan/Monaghan, ditto

Originally Posted by davidoco

Companies with good CRM solutions will use your caller id to pull your records before you get to a live person or someone like ESB faults can use it to connect you to the relevant regional network office.

...a system that is presumably useless for all calls received from mobiles?

[macshaned]

Originally Posted by Complainer

When would it make sense to use an 01- number instead of a freefone 1800- number?

For the NTL/UPC example, you couldn't actually dial that 1800 number from a mobile.

It used to be the case that some mobile companies charged you for 1800 numbers - over and above your minute allowance.

[Complainer]

Originally Posted by macshaned

For the NTL/UPC example, you couldn't actually dial that 1800 number from a mobile.

You can now - I just tried it. They've all gone home (not surprisingly), but there is no problem with getting through from a mobile.