‘Free’ charity helplines will have to own up to their charges on calls to 084/087 numbers (from 1 July)

17/2/2015

This news release has been distributed to selected media organisations and relevant parties.

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We have long been drawing attention to the “rip off” of callers by inappropriate use of 084/087 telephone numbers in many areas. Some of these have been addressed, albeit with remaining breaches by businesses, public bodies and NHS providers.

We are aware that many helplines have significant funding issues, but we cannot accept the idea that funding be provided by service users, unless this is clearly declared. It is however unlikely that it would be deemed acceptable to declare a charge for most, if not all, of the 55 services we have listed (there are more!). We are therefore surprised that so many cases remain where declaration of the telephone Service Charge is now imminent.

After some consideration, we feel that this matter must now be brought to public attention, so that efforts in pursuit of an acceptable solution may be maximised.

We will continue to attack delinquent businesses, public bodies and NHS providers for their “rip off”, but we can no longer exclude third sector helplines.

We are reluctant to draw too much attention to specific examples; however a quick read through the list will doubtless cause the eyebrows to be raised on finding certain cases.

'UK Calling' PR exercise steps up a gear

9/2/2015

As 1 July gets closer, Ofcom will be increasing the publicity for the two major changes that will come into effect on that day.

In the last week, adverts (as shown to the right) have appeared in all national newspapers.

A video has been released explaining the changes.

More detail will continue to be added to the website - ukcalling.info.

Stopping nuisance calls

29/1/2015

We have recognised for some time that the role and powers of the Information Commissioner and Ofcom are inadequate and unsuited to halting the misuse of the telephone which gives rise to what are perceived as "Nuisance Calls". We recognise that use of the telephone is unsuitable for many business practices and only the regulators charged with regulating the relevant sector are properly entitled to apply a ban and hold the powers to enforce it.

This is seen to apply in various areas which are well recognised at present. The leading example is that of "Claims Management", i.e. companies that seek to pursue claims in respect of accident damage and mis-sold PPI.

Today we had an opportunity to challenge the relevant Minister, from the Department for Justice, through the good offices of Winifred Robinson on BBC Radio 4 You and Yours.

Click the image
to hear a recording
of the item from
You and Yours.

Apologies - news feed updates

17/12/2014

Despite very limited resources, work on the fair telecoms campaign website and the news feed continues. More announcements will follow shortly.

News feed subscribers and twitter and facebook followers will however note that some 'missing' items from newspaper and online journal coverage of the campaign over the last year have been added belatedly.

We apologise for any inconvenience or surprise, but would note that many of the newly added items are well worth viewing.

A single mobile coverage network?

26/11/2014

The document available to download below is our response to the government consultation on "Tackling partial not-spots in Mobile Phone Coverage". We have extended the understanding of the term to cover temporary loss of coverage, which we see as an equally important topic, admitting of the same solution.

We endorse the underlying view of the government position reflected in the consultation, which is that the mobile coverage network needs to be unified. We propose that this be done properly, so that competition between service providers may flourish without the impediment of sharing arrangements, or giving an advantage to MVNOs over MNOs.

Our response also outlines our view that the three essential components of most mobile deals (handset, usage and network coverage) be 'unbundled'.

As we engage in detail in this topic, we are very keen to engage with anyone with specialist knowledge of this area to help inform our views.

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Ofcom fails to eradicate Silent Calls

24/11/2014

In response to a request for inputs to the Ofcom review of its use of its "persistent misuse" powers, we have provided a detailed briefing on where Ofcom has been, and continues with, going wrong.

Its "persistent misuse" powers are being persistently misused - not least because they are being used to authorise the making of Silent Calls.

Our briefing covers this, in detail, whilst also presenting an outline of our proposals for how the wider issue of Nuisance Calls in general should be addressed.

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Mail on Sunday attacks hospital bedside phones

5/10/2014

We were pleased to contribute background briefing and quoted comment for a Mail on Sunday article about costs incurred whilst in hospital.

The significant scandal is use of 070 numbers for calls from friends and relatives to patients. This abuse of the range assigned for a quite different purpose is simply a device to evade the requirement to declare the Service Charge, and compliance with the Phonepay Plus Code of Practice which would apply if 09 numbers were used for this Premium Rate Service.

A version of the article is available on the Mail On-line website - the full version as published may be viewed using the extract uploaded below.

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NHS GPs in Greater Manchester in breach of their contracts

29/9/2014

We are expecting coverage of this story by BBC Radio Manchester (at around 7am on Tuesday 30th September) following sight of the briefing published below.

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UPDATE !!
This coverage was broadcast click the image to listen

This covers the fact that 18 practices in this "Area" remain in breach of their contracts, having failed to take advantage of the opportunity to switch to a "normal" telephone number, which is an option available to them under the terms of their long-term telephone system arrangement.

Claims that they are unable to take this "reasonable step", as demanded by the terms of their NHS contract, are spurious and were identified as such by NHS England in a letter issued last November. This letter additionally deprecated the wholly unnecessary use of alternative telephone numbers, so as to provide a "two tier" service to NHS patients.

We understand that the situation in other NHS England areas is not dissimilar, however only the NHS England spokeswoman in Greater Manchester has publicly disputed the content of last year's letter, with the statement "practices … are still tied into 0844 contracts".

There will be further BBC coverage of this story, including an item in the episode of "Rip-off Britain" to be broadcast on Monday 6 October.

Soccer clubs ripping off fans

20/9/2014

We have today published a briefing covering the telephone numbers used for enquiries and tickets by all premiership and championship soccer clubs.
32 of them could be found to be breaking the law.

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There were recently 33 cases, before one club was named in an exclusively-briefed newspaper article.

(See this archived page vs. the current page.)

Appeal for help

We are now preparing a media briefing covering the many cases where 084 numbers have been switched to the 034 equivalents. We want to encourage people to always try the 034 equivalent whenever offered, or finding, a 084 number and need to support this advice with examples.
As well as the case identified above, other examples are:

Department for Work and Pensions
Citizens Advice
Royal Mail

PLEASE GET IN TOUCH (by email) on behalf of your organisation, or with suggestions of cases, to be included in this briefing.

BBC Local Radio still using 0845 numbers

11/9/2014

It is disappointing that some BBC local radio stations are still using expensive 0845 numbers for contact from their listeners - see the list compiled today.

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Note: list updated 30/9/14 (following correction to BBC local radio website)