Non 0845 number for RM Support Needed

[CommodoreS]

Does anyone have a non 0845 number for RM Support?

 

I thought these were made illegal for customer support years back?

 

https://www.callcentrehelper.com/the-end-for-0845-numbers-63370.htm

[Arthur]

Does anyone have a non 0845 number for RM Support?

The SayNoTo0870 website suggests 01235 823200 or 01235 826000 as an alternative.

[CommodoreS]

Thanks. Did check there but wondered if there was a direct number as I know switch boards do not like you going through them.

 

I would be interested to know how they are getting away with this still, as I mentioned I thought it was not allowed any more.

[Steve21]

I would be interested to know how they are getting away with this still, as I mentioned I thought it was not allowed any more.

 

That only applies to Customer service (not ringing a business/support team etc) nothing stopped businesses from using those numbers, including charges

 

It very much depends on what a company is using the number for, a random example (Salvation army https://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/contact-us ):

 

Mailing list and financial donation enquiries:

Telephone: 020 7367 4800

 

Clothing bank or collection enquiries:

Telephone: 0845 458 1999

 

etc

 

Steve

Edited April 7, 2020 by Steve21

[mavhc]

Shows how much contempt a business has for its customers, if they were a good business they'd pay you if you needed to phone up because it's a failing of the product you paid for that it's not working. Take the first opportunity you have to switch to a better company.

[Norphy]

Shows how much contempt a business has for its customers, if they were a good business they'd pay you if you needed to phone up because it's a failing of the product you paid for that it's not working. Take the first opportunity you have to switch to a better company.

 

I take it you’ve never worked on the phones for technical support or customer service then? I have. A HUGE proportion of the calls that I got were thanks to the customers own stupidity. Yes, it’s a bit rich to use high cost phone lines or numbers which you derive an income from but expecting freephone numbers for those kind of services is asking to go bankrupt

[mavhc]

After you got the call did you do anything to make the product better so you wouldn't receive another similar call?

[Ditto]

Does anyone have a non 0845 number for RM Support?

 

I thought these were made illegal for customer support years back?

 

https://www.callcentrehelper.com/the-end-for-0845-numbers-63370.htm

I got stung by this a while ago not realising 0845 was a charged number. Doubly annoying as the school I was at would not provide me with either a landline or mobile. So it went on my personal phone, which went over a spend cap and resulted in a phone locked out for a coupe of days. With a son that carries and epipen, although minimal risk, it is important to me to be contactable at all time. An RM chap on here (Edugeek) offered to sort out a refund, but despite several tries, never saw a penny. The page that I got the number from did not make it clear it was chargeable, which I do think is illegal, but brand damage is far more significant.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Ditto

[Norphy]

After you got the call did you do anything to make the product better so you wouldn't receive another similar call?

 

Very often, there was nothing wrong with the product, the problem was due to the customers not reading the documentation or not following instructions. Do you expect me to go to the customers house and force them to read the manual at knifepoint or something?

 

Even when it’s not the customers fault, it’s not the job of a phone jockey to improve the product, beyond logging common bugs and problems for the development department to fix.

Edited April 7, 2020 by Norphy

[mavhc]

If a product needs a manual you could argue it's badly designed, that's why usb was invented, 1 connector, does everything configures itself. And now with usb c they fixed the problem of putting it in the wrong way around.

 

Every confusion of customers that causes more than a few calls should be fixed in software, if the wrong .net is installed, install the correct one for the user, etc etc.

 

As for phone calls, I put a password on numbers at work that aren't free with our package, reminds people to find a better number, which then, if they tell me, I can program into freepbx as an auto redirect.

[CommodoreS]

I take it you’ve never worked on the phones for technical support or customer service then? I have. A HUGE proportion of the calls that I got were thanks to the customers own stupidity. Yes, it’s a bit rich to use high cost phone lines or numbers which you derive an income from but expecting freephone numbers for those kind of services is asking to go bankrupt

 

I am not asking for freephone number. Just a normal local rate number, which will cost the company nothing.

 

The issue is 0845 phone numbers cost a fortune from mobile phones and I have no mobile credit to call a 0845 number on giffgaff or access to a landline, which would also cost extra money anyway.

 

I am highly insulted that you are referring to me as stupid. So many times there are issues where things do not work how they should, not covered by standard documentation, or additional documentation and sometimes have no clear documentation at all.

 

In this case the issue is relating to a service (not software) that has been paid for, regarding something that can only be changed on their side, by them to make it work. Even if the service had a manual (which is does not) no amount of reading it would help when I am unable to change these settings myself, and only they can do it at their end.

 

Likewise if the service stops working or has an issue, they would need to be contacted as it is likely there is nothing I can do to fix it due to it being an issue on their side.

 

If this is not customer service, I do not know what is.

[Norphy]

I am not asking for freephone number. Just a normal local rate number, which will cost the company nothing.

 

The issue is 0845 phone numbers cost a fortune from mobile phones and I have no mobile credit to call a 0845 number on giffgaff or access to a landline, which would also cost extra money anyway.

 

I am highly insulted that you are referring to me as stupid. So many times there are issues where things do not work how they should, not covered by standard documentation, or additional documentation and sometimes have no clear documentation at all.

 

In this case the issue is relating to a service (not software) that has been paid for, regarding something that can only be changed on their side, by them to make it work. Even if the service had a manual (which is does not) no amount of reading it would help when I am unable to change these settings myself, and only they can do it at their end.

 

Likewise if the service stops working or has an issue, they would need to be contacted as it is likely there is nothing I can do to fix it due to it being an issue on their side.

 

If this is not customer service, I do not know what is.

 

Apologies, my reply was in no way directed at you. It was to mavhc. I was trying to explain to him that things aren’t as simple as he was making out. I know full well that the bulk of the time, people contacting tech support do so because something has broken. What ground my gears was the implication by him that companies should be paying customers to contact tech support.

[Ditto]

Is there an RM contact on Edugeek? I have the contact name of the one I referred to earlier, but I am aware he moved to another company last year so I think it's unfair to quote him on here. I believe RM have been Edugeek sponsors in the past, are they still? It would be helpful for them to clarify their stance on the use of 0845 numbers.

[mavhc]

Apologies, my reply was in no way directed at you. It was to mavhc. I was trying to explain to him that things aren’t as simple as he was making out. I know full well that the bulk of the time, people contacting tech support do so because something has broken. What ground my gears was the implication by him that companies should be paying customers to contact tech support.

 

If I paid for your product and it doesn't work, that's not my fault, I should be paying less, not more

[elsiegee40]

If I paid for your product and it doesn't work, that's not my fault, I should be paying less, not more

@mavhc It’s time to drop it. You are winding people up.