Watch out for nasty shocks on freephone numbers for mobile users

Wednesday, 04 April 2012

Responding to Ofcom plans on simplifying 0800 and other non-geographic telephone number charging, Adam Scorer, Director of Policy and External Affairs at Consumer Focus, said:

‘Customers need to know upfront how much a call will cost. Complex and confusing charges are a huge bugbear for consumers and changes to make this part of the market simpler are long overdue. We would like to see them brought in as quickly as possible.

‘Many consumers already assume 0800 numbers are free to call from both landlines and mobiles. So it can come as a nasty shock to mobile-users when they are billed for ringing an 0800 number. This could be particularly frustrating if they’ve been kept on hold or on the line for a long time when dealing with a complaint to a company, on a number that is described as “freephone”.

‘Many households living on low incomes - who can least afford the charges - only have access to a mobile phone. They are hit hardest by the cost of 0800 numbers from mobiles.’