[Joe H]

Do you use an 0800 number

If yes,
who with?
how much?
do you get more/less calls?
any plus points?
any negatives?
would you do it again?

If you dont use a 0800 number, but considered it but rejected it?
What reasons?

[lands]

Hi Joe

I have an 0800 with Smart no's and costs me £10 pcm plus an average of 12.5p a minute (this is to a mobile).

I use it for hiding the fact that I am not as local as some of my mktg might suggest. I'm not a huge fan of them as I don't feel they lend you a great deal of credibility but in my case needs must. Also in this day and age of cheap land and mobile contracts I don't think most people care about making a call for free. In fact you actually pay if you are ringing from a mobile.

Unless you are considering for the same reason as me I would stick to a local no. that people recognise.

Just my thoughts on it.

Pete

[spencer davies]

I am just about to order numbers from other STD areas, the feedback I get from my customers suggests they don't like using 0800 numbers, often associated with National companies.


Regards


S

[lands]

Thinkimg of doing same Spencer, how much do they charge per number per month and do you get charged call rates like an 0800 or does custy foot that?

Pete

[Jason Hedges]

Pete,

I pay for 2 local STD codes as well as my home number as i'm within working distance of 3 std codes. Get mine through smartnumbers http://www.smart-numbers.net/index-local.asp

I use their option 1, about a fiver per month and you get the first 600 mins per std through to your designated landline number for free.

I then divert all calls through my home landline to my mobile, its always on divert. Priceless, never miss a call (even if its a quick answer to say you'll call them back).

Had an 0800 number for a year on advertising alongside local number, total waste of time, people still rang the local number

[lands]

Jason

Thats very helpful. If we ever speak in the near future can you talk me though it?

Pete

[Jason Hedges]

I know mate its been a while, must be about 10 hours or so

[davep]

Funny that, my ad has freephone number and then a landline underneath it.  70% come straight to the land line, maybe custys think the 0800 is a call centre?

[spencer davies]

I am negotiating with BT, I quoted them the Smart numbers costs about three weeks ago, they have changed my account to 'one plan' considerably cheaper.

Regards


S

[Jason Hedges]

Funny that, my ad has freephone number and then a landline underneath it.  70% come straight to the land line, maybe custys think the 0800 is a call centre?

Dave I'm of the same opinion.

I really promoted my 0800 number because i thought custys would love it but no, still either rang the other local number or mobile (think its still good to offer a mobile number, some people will assume its a sure way to get hold of you there and then, i call mobiles if i need a service).

[Jason Hedges]

I am negotiating with BT, I quoted them the Smart numbers costs about three weeks ago, they have changed my account to 'one plan' considerably cheaper.

Regards
S

Hi Spencer,

Aparently BT are negotiable when quoting other firms tarrifs, wrong I say! Why should they reduce their rate when being compared to a cheaper alternative. Surely they should be competitive in the first place

There are plenty of other telecoms companies out there with much better rates than BT, and you dont have to keep their landline costs and dial a prefix number! Another case of a large company taking advantage of the general public  because they aparently know no better

I use XLN telecom http://www.xlntelecom.co.uk/ . They cap landline to mobile calls at 30p for upto an hour and other rates much better than BT. Aparently BT charge 10p a minute for diversion to mobiles!

Quote from their website: Over 100,000 small UK businesses have switched to XLN for cheap phone calls. Save up to 55% on cheaper business calls and 31% on cheaper line rental compared with BTTM. XLN's UK-based call centre and use of BT OpenReachTM network and engineers provide the highest levels of service.

I've saved a fortune since switching about 18 months ago.

If you do use them please quote you were referred by me (tel number 01493 688061) so I will receive a little bonus for refering you (and others)

All the best,
Jason.

[Joe H]

Well I can see where this is going re 0800 numbers - thanks guys for your input.

Any one got an opposite viewpoint or experiance re 0800

[turneylogan]

The Yellow pages rep has told me that they are withdrawing the 0845 number which is used to monitor numbers of calls because their advertisers have witnessed a drop in usage due to the association with similar premium charged numbers. I suspect customers are now wary of any non-standard number and confused as to what is free and what is not. Looking back at my call log many customers leave their mobile number and would therefore be charged for dialling a freephone number. I also agree that in this day and age of cheap call rates and mobile call bundles I'm not sure people actually care.

[COLIN BRIGHT]

using 0800 nos for dirfferent areas makes your company appear larger and widens your net
i have 4 and some of my bigger jobs have come from further afield
each no cost £1.00 per month with resource ulitlies

some people don't want to deal with "one man bands" and are looking for what they think are larger companies, they tend to call the 0800 no's also the call is completley FREE to them
others who do want the one man bands or someone more local tend to phone the local no.
try setting one up and monerting it, you might be surprised!

[Michel Roberts]

I have been using an 0800 no for approx 15 years.
At first I think it was very effective as people did prefer it.
Now howeverI think there are disadvantages to it.
As has been said above many people now have landline and mobile contracts which come with free minutes

Also when I call my own freephone to check it using my orange contract mobile I get a message from orange saying something like ' calls to freephone nos are not free and will be charged at your normall rate do you still whish to continue?"  As many people who call me are using their mobiles, far from being free this could actually end up costing them more money and at the very least is very off putting.

The point that people are more likely to think you are a national company is something I had'nt thought of and is another disadvantage as in our business most people are looking for small and local.

I have made up my mind to shift from my freephone no and go back to local STD s
Can those of you who are doing this with the likes of smart nos ect please tell me is there any delay in the connection time between dialing the remote std no and having your destination landline no ring or is it more or less instant.

The reason I ask is that I do notice a time delay for the caller sometimes when my landline is diverted into my mobile of 4-5 secs depending on mobile coverage. If there were to be an additional delay from the std to the landline of a few seconds this would make 6-8 seconds delay between the caller finishing dialling and being connected to my mobile when on divert. I belive many people not knowing what was happening would just hang up.
 

 Thanks Michel

[lands]

Michael

I am just in the process of doing same. Checked one of Jason Hedges STDs and there is about a second delay just before ringing but with no offputting noises. He uses Smart no.s and XLN which is what I have just signed up to.

Whereabouts in London are you?

Pete

[Neil Grainger]

You pay for ehat you get with 0800 numbers, cheap is not always best, mine is with BT and it works really well. I understand about the 0800 being a turn off for people but I tey and list my local number and the 0800 on all advertising.

[Paul Kettless]

I have an 0800 number, and had it for approx 9 months now. Within our business we also cover a rather big area and I wanted to make our company look bigger that it actually was.

The number has helped me obtain some moderate/large contracts that I am convinced we would not have.

We have no regrets havings ours, cost is £10 a month inclusive of 1000 minutes.

Regards
Paul

[Michel Roberts]

Pete

Thanks for that

I am in West London, Sheperds Bush W12

I am actually a carpet fitter who does a bit of cleaning as a side line

Here's my new web site  which gives the areas I cover

www.carpet-fitter-london.co.uk

[stevegunn]

Just cancelled my 0800 number sick of getting calls for insurance quotes my number is very similar to autonet.Call from London,Manchester and Devon want to concentrate on local.More people call my mobile direct too as if they call an 0800 from their mobile they get charged.