An apparently innocuous Question from Lord Brabazon of Tara last week motivated some rigorous self-inquiry amongst Peers. How many of us have been caught by official looking websites, topping the list when we googled, selling us services like visa or congestion charge applications at inflated cost, when we could have obtained them free or much cheaper from genuinely “public” services ?
This example of excessive privatisation – verging on misleading selling techniques – didn’t go down well on the Conservative benches, where some victims were still sore at being caught out. These exchanges reminded me of a similar scam, although this was one where Government agencies were themselves to blame.
Back in 2005, I started a campaign against high-rate “0870” telephone numbers being used by government. In those days, DVLA alone were raking in £1.1m every year by taking a share of the revenue from high-rate calls from members of the public inquiring about driving licences and vehicle taxation. Other departments were guilty too.
In 2007, the government began to introduce “03” numbers, which telephone providers are obliged to include in their packages of free calls from landlines, or of free minutes from mobiles. 08 numbers, however, continue to attract additional charges for the caller, with even “freephone” 0800 numbers incurring a fee on some mobile networks.
New figures this month revealed that citizens are still paying out £56m a year in unnecessary phone charges, because government departments and agencies have stuck with “08” numbers rather than moving to “03”. I have now tabled a question in the Lords, asking whether any part of government is profiting from these charges or whether all the money is now going to telephone providers. I will report back.
In the meantime, any profit which has been made by government from so-called “revenue-sharing” ought surely to be used to buy the top spot from Google for Government websites, so the passport application and congestion charge pirates are upstaged!
Any amount of “CORPORATE THEFT” eh Lord Tyler?
I took one directly to the Ombudsman and got my money back straight away.
I had been laid up, sitting next to my phone through the three months and nobody else had been anywhere near it, and I know what I did NOT spend, especially on prostitute calls; not in a thousand years.
Calling me a liar!?
Ombuds: Money back.
I worked out that the corporation in question had made windfall gains of about £30m from cheating EVERY customer in such a way.
I think those scam websites should be shut down. They don’t provide a useful service for anyone. If banks can be forced to pay back money they have charged for useless PPI policies, the operators of those websites should have to pay back the fees they charged.
Above you say citizens paid out £56m per year, but in the Lords you said government departments made £56m. The two are not synonymous as the phone companies still take a fair cut of the revenue from such numbers – on top of the line rental and inclusive calls customers already pay for.
“the operators of those websites should have to pay back the fees they charged.” Jonathen.
It would be difficult would it not for those government operated premium rate calls to repay such small sums to so many people unless somebody can show he has been charged , say £150, for such enterprise? Then you could ask the Ombudsman to take a hand in demanding the repayment and, in the circumstances, also demand a public explanation of it.
Corporate theft, which is usually entirely unclaimable without a great deal of fuss, and to the individual,without a campaigning cause, not worth the candle, is no different coming from a state corporation, such as a County council or a district council than it is,say, from a utility or phone service organization. Getting repaid may be more complicated from the state enterprise than it is from the private one.
Agreed Jonathan. Lord Tyler isn’t the answer to legislate on the secondary market for congestion charge etc. I know there are persistent problems with entry visa application firms as well.
Premium rate lines? is that the extent of investigation that Peers can get up to?
We’re paying them a lot of money and they are acting link school milk monitors.
It’s about time this rip off was addressed by parliament. I have a phone and broadband service that allows me free land line calls any hour of the day, as well as to Europe, Australia, the USA, etc., for a set monthly fee. However I am not allowed free or reduced rates at any time to mobile phones, 0845 numbers or any high call numerals.
As a result I do not call mobiles ever. Those who may want to contact me and have only a mobile number are left to get in touch out of their own pocket.
However, last month I had to call a couple of 0845 numbers because there was no alternative. My GP being one of those who uses a special number of this ilk. The two I had to call were one to government department and one to a utility company. Low and behold my phone bill for two such calls came to a staggering £22. Now that is downright robbery. And not only is it blatant it is done with deceit. We have no idea how much the cost will be, or, sometimes, that calling such numbers will incur any such expense.
Recently, I was able to find a well hidden direct land line number for my bank. Previously I had had no opportunity to use anything other than their 0845 number. And they were very upset at my taking advantage of this non paying alternative. To the point where they rang and asked ‘why’ I had made this move. They went as far as changing my pin and altering my access procedure regardless of my discontent.
But it is not simply the 0845 lark that is an outrageous con. The utility companies who use this method keep you hanging on as long as they can to extort as much as they can from you. Sometimes not answering calls for an hour and a half. Keeping you hanging on with a recording advising they really appreciate your custom and will be with you just as soon as they can. Adding their silly music to keep you knowing you are connected. They don’t want your custom at all when it is to dispute charges or transfer you to economy 10 or some such. They make every excuse as to why you can’t have it or how awkward it will be for you to do so as it will take eight weeks or more to get sorted. And men will have to come to your home and you will have to be there, even when the meter is outside and the extra cost is not worth your bother. And then after being a customer for more than ten years, you will be advised that to get the cheaper rate you will have to undergo a credit check by Experian so they can ‘ensure’ you are credit worthy. Yes, after ten or more years having never owed a penny. It’s ludicrous. Privatisation of the utilities has been the single most devious and exploitative move governments have made against the population up their with bailing out the banks. Under all parties, not simply the Tories. Labour was in their up to their necks in it with grinning face and his gurning wife dribbling in their mug shots whilst they cleaned up nicely.
I’m sure its the same as the Wonga ploy. You dig far enough and you find the lobbyists and the company involved has plied cash into the party coffers, or, some other pay back to enable them to get away with conning the public. It’s as corrupt, or more so, than those despotic places cited by the DM on a regular basis. Funny how these newspapers remain so blind to the little ploys going on right under their own noses isn’t it?
Nationalise the utilities and transport, and follow it up with a ban on 0845 numbers altogether. Who needs this philt? The lot of them should be sued for fraud.