Hello all,

 

I am in the process of reviewing the various overhead costs I have with my 3 businesses. One of the areas I often hear customers complain about is the fact that I currently don't have either a Freefone or Local Rate contact number. I am interested in getting this organised for the business but want to know your honest opinion about:

 

(a) your perceptions of a company based on their contact number (ie professionalism, size, etc)

(b) your perceptions of cost to YOU (the caller) for dialing 0800 and 0845 numbers

© if you had a choice, would you rather call a company with an 0800 number or with an 0845 number?

 

Bear in mind that although 0800 numbers are free when dialed from a landline, there are charges made when dialed from a mobile network. Similarly, an 0845 number costs the caller 4p (peak) and 1p (off-peak/weekend). Again, when dialed from a mobile network these costs may vary.

 

From my (business) perspective, it doesn't really make that much difference whether I opt for an 0800 or 0845 number. The setup and monthly service costs are practically identical. I don't make any revenue off either number.

 

Thank you very much for your time and feedback. Please don't forget to participate in the above poll.

 

All the best,

 

Dan

A regular geographical landline number works well for me. For a starters, when dialling an 0800/0845 number I automatically make the assumption that I will end up talking to someone at a call centre who doesn't know much about what they are doing. Secondly as you pointed out, calls to 08 numbers get charged off my mobile and not out of the call allowance either, this is of minor annoyance to me because I like to use my mobile for all calls.

So yeah if you had one of these numbers I wouldn't be any more or less likely to ring it than any other number.

"your perceptions of a company based on their contact number (ie professionalism, size, etc)"

 

An 0800 number shows you have a confidence in your products, so much that you are willing to take the cost of the call for any customer wishing to make an enquiry.

 

"if you had a choice, would you rather call a company with an 0800 number or with an 0845 number?"

 

If there were 2 companies selling the same product for the same price but one paid for the customers call and one didnt, i would call the freephone number.

 

Same with insurance companies i phone the free phone numbers first, which a lot of people do first, i just feel its better service and if your prices are right then you should get the sale based on this alone.

 

Its probably wise to have a free phone number and a normal land line number shown thus eliminating any concerns of ringing a call centre.

 

Just my thoughts though

TBH, any 08** no's that arnt freephone, i just get the geographical no from here:

http://www.saynoto0870.co.uk/

most people have free local/national calls built into their mobile & home phone packages now so prefer to see that

I might be wrong, but I think you can get a revenue kick-back from the provider for 0845 numbers. As this is for a business that might make good sense for you and is also cheap to phone for your customers. 0800 can't be dialled from certain countries, or can cost quite a bit if they can be. Not sure about 0845.

 

I had this with a (surprisingly large) company in the US - they had a freephone US number for their support line, which is great if you live in the US, but you couldn't dial it from the UK.

 

There are now an international freephone numbers that start 00800.

My Businesses use 0845 numbers. It gives a professional image, it does'nt restrict you to a geographic area and its cheaper on caller as all they pay is local rate no matter where they are.

 

It also means I can easily divert the number in seconds (using an online website) to my mobile or another office number if Im not at my usual office, so Im always reachable on a single phone number.

 

I pay a low one of setup charge for a 0845 number and there are no service or call charges.

i use a 0800 number as above it gives a proffessional image and for my business which is usually very local it means i get call for services from further a field than using my local number, mine costs me £9.95+vat per month but i get 700 incoming minuites per month then it's 2p per min after that no set up fee either and can be moved to any number including mobiles in minuites, and of course it's tax deductable

Local number is preferable as i believe it shows where your based along with an address and not running some sham outfit

 

Also most people have bundled telephone service so calling a national numbers these days is free..

 

I also hate dialling 0800 on my mobile when out and about in the day as i don't get them bundled in my contract minutes- not a huge issue when you need something, but an annoyance nonethe less!

Thank you all very much for your feedback - much appreciated.

 

I am still looking into this but at the moment the 0845 option seems to be the most cost effective for me.

 

Yes, you can get revenue kick-back from these numbers but that only applies when the inbound call volume exceeds some arbitrary number (which is usually quite high).

 

The companies I've looked at will not divert the call to my mobile without costing an arm/leg/kidney so I need to do some more research.

 

Many thanks again!

 

Dan

Thank you all very much for your feedback - much appreciated.

 

I am still looking into this but at the moment the 0845 option seems to be the most cost effective for me.

 

Yes, you can get revenue kick-back from these numbers but that only applies when the inbound call volume exceeds some arbitrary number (which is usually quite high).

 

The companies I've looked at will not divert the call to my mobile without costing an arm/leg/kidney so I need to do some more research.

 

Many thanks again!

 

Dan

 

Give these guys a try:

 

NTS Direct 0845 408 6870

 

It's Opal Telecom (part of CarPhone warehouse) I've got an 0845 with them - diverted to mobile etc etc

 

Pretty sure it was done without charge too...

in all honesty with the type of business you are and having such a captive audience I really dont see the benifits of you pouring money into an 0800 pr 0845 number.

 

You wont gain any customers for it, and you wont lose customers without it.

 

Just my 2p's worth.