Companies have been criticised for using expensive phone helplines
Companies criticised for using expensive phone helplines
Thursday, 29 May 2008 00:01
A new report has criticised a number of major companies and government agencies for using expensive phone helplines to make money at the expense of consumers.
The report published by Which? today names over 30 organisations, including British Gas and Barclays, which are deliberately charging higher rates to make money.
The companies in question use the higher-charging 0871, 0870, 0844 or 0845 numbers for customer service or technical support lines.
Organisations that use these numbers can share revenue from calls with the phone service provider, and therefore the longer a customer stays on the line, the more money the organisation makes.
Communications watchdog Ofcom introduced special 03 phone numbers last year to stop companies making money out of 0870 numbers.
Which? however, found that none of the companies checked in its survey had switched to the new number.
British Gas, AOL Broadband - now owned by Carphone Warehouse - and DVLA made researchers wait the longest on the phone, with one call to AOL being held for 15 minutes at a price of 75p a minute.
Editor of Which?, Neil Fowler, said: "Why should you pay for the privilege of making a complaint or getting a problem fixed? It's unacceptable that companies and government agencies can make big money from people calling helplines.
"Check if there’s a cheaper phone number or ask the company to refund the call cost – it’s the least they can do if you’re calling about a faulty product or bad service."
In response, DVLA released a statement saying: "It is unfortunate that at peak times there are inevitably delays due to customer demand and these are issues which we are constantly trying to address."
However, the government agency denied it made any money out of the phone calls.
"DVLA is committed to transferring all its 0870 to 0300 numbers. That process is already underway but cannot be completed until Ofcom publishes its new guidance on the issue.
"DVLA does not make money from its telephone lines, any revenue collected goes back into providing valuable services to the public."
A AOL Broadband spokesperson said: "We are very disappointed and surprised by the figures presented by Which? Our current average call waiting time is 30 seconds."