Customer Service Post Sales Complaint Lines
IMPORTANT INFORMATION THIS MAY AFFECT YOU OR YOUR CLIENTS.
New regulations regarding the use of higher call rate NGN (non geographic numbers) and 0800 numbers for consumers.
There is an important change in regulation which takes effect in June 2014, which may affect the numbers that you/or your clients make available for customer contact.
In accordance with Clause 41 of The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, from June 2014:
- All businesses that are trading, and who make telephone numbers available by which a UK consumer may contact the trader about a contract in Place with them, must use 01, 02, or 03 numbering unless the contract is with a customer who is not a consumer (E.G. a business customer).
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The regulations are to be enforced by the local Weights and Measures Authority in England, Wales & Scotland, and by DETI in NI. Enforcement is by way of a court order requiring compliance; it appears there may be a costs implication, but there seems to be no provision for penalties.
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Every customer who has incurred call charges as a result of dialling numbers other than those specified above will be entitled to have these refunded.
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The reading of this regulation is that, until a test case shows otherwise, a worst case scenario would be that Enforcement could involve you being obliged to calculate and individually refund all costs incorrectly incurred by your customers.
You may therefore wish to consider providing an 03 number for post-sale contacts, and introduce an alternative number announcement from 13 June 2013 on any 0844 or 0871 (or indeed 05, 07 and 09 numbers) previously used for consumers to contact you about a contract already concluded with you.
What Can We Do?
Creative Telecoms can manage this transition entirely whilst also adding value to your business. This new number will operate exactly as you old 0800, 0844, 0845, 0870, 0871.
- Whilst 03 numbers are less commonly used than 01 and 02, we expect them to become more prevalent as a result of the above regulatory changes; they are in much greater supply and are more attractive financially to the call-centre operator than 01/02/ 03 is increasingly recognised by consumers as being tariffed identically to 01/02, and is included in all free minutes bundles which include 01 & 02, and is therefore mobile friendly.
- 0800 will also become free to call from mobiles later this year, and so such calls will become much more expensive to receive. In considering any re-numbering now, you may therefore also wish to consider moving away from Freephone as part of the same changes.
- Whilst moving from, for example, 0844 to 03 may decrease your revenue; we have a number ways to help you mitigate this effect. Please contact us for further information on 0800 019 1117 or 0207 129 8880 or email
Why would we work with Creative Telecoms?
- With over 15 years’ experience in inbound telecoms we are an industry leader with a unique understanding of the market.
- Creative Telecoms is a leading innovator in the telecoms industry keeping you one stop ahead of the competition.
- All inbound numbers 01, 02 or 03 all come with full live statistical reporting on line and via the Creative Telecoms Control App
- All numbers supplied by Creative Telecoms have a built in Disaster Recovery function, allowing you to pre plan your alternative routing plan, which can be activated at the touch of a screen in seconds.
- Each Customer has a dedicated Account Manager who will not only manage your day to day business but will also monitor your call traffic and let you know if you are missing calls, and what we can do to prevent this in the future. We have a number of tricks up our sleeve, which we are more than happy to share with you.
- Creative Telecoms has a huge amount of 01, 02 & 03 number to choose from. From Gold numbers which are very memorable to standard number which are not so memorable but do exactly the same job.