If you do then some important changes regarding to these numbers are due to come into effect on 1st July 2015, so you may have to act fairly quickly regarding this information.
As we don't use an 08 number we were not made aware of these changes until a customer got in contact and asked us to amend their website information, which of course we did with immediate effect etc.
The customer also forwarded an email that they had been sent regarding the changes, which showed the following:
"Ofcom have recently made some major regulation changes to telephone charging related to 084 and 087 numbers to make costs much clearer for consumers calling these numbers. The new regulations which come in to effect on 1st July 2015 require any company that advertises or promotes their service using 084 or 087 numbers for incoming calls to display certain call charge information on their websites and publicity material wherever the number is used.
The cost of calling an 084 and 087 number is split in to two parts:
- Service Charge: This is the new rate under the regulation.
- Access Charge: This is the charge set by the caller’s phone company.
Under the new Ofcom regulations you
are required to display the following information in respect of your 084 and/or
087 numbers.
"Calls will cost 7 pence per minute,
plus your phone company's access charge."
(The price should be the one
relevant to the specific number)"
We're not sure what the penalties will be if these regulations changes are not adhered to, you would probably be warned and given a small time frame to get the changes made, and then fined etc But that is just purely speculation on our part. We would much rather be made aware of these things and make sure we and all of our customers adhere to such regulations when they come into being.
Differing 08 numbers have differing charges etc. The example listed above was 7p per minute, however the website that we added the changes to displayed a number that was 2p per minute. (http://claimssolutionuk.co.uk/).
Now we're pretty sure that 0800 and 0808 numbers are still freephone numbers and as they are used by many charitable organisations will remain unaffected but for every other 08 number there will be a charge and if there is it needs to be shown what it is by the number.
Here is a quick screen shot of the text we added beneath every 08 number:
Differing 08 numbers have differing charges etc. The example listed above was 7p per minute, however the website that we added the changes to displayed a number that was 2p per minute. (http://claimssolutionuk.co.uk/).
Now we're pretty sure that 0800 and 0808 numbers are still freephone numbers and as they are used by many charitable organisations will remain unaffected but for every other 08 number there will be a charge and if there is it needs to be shown what it is by the number.
Here is a quick screen shot of the text we added beneath every 08 number:
This is a quick and easy way to adhere to the new regulations and we're sure will be something we all start seeing a lot more of from now on.
We would suggest sending your website designer or administrator this information so they too can adhere to the regulation if you have not done so already, it should only take them a few moments of their time to amend in a similar way (depending on the size of the website of course!).
If you are unsure of what the different start to phone numbers in the UK mean, and what the cost of using these numbers is then take a look at the Ofcom call cost guide: http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/how-much-does-a-phone-call-really-cost/
We hope this quick 08 number regulation review helps and if you wish to leave a comment relating to it then please do, or contact us via our main website www.abovewebsitedesign.co.uk
