22 February 2008
BT has announced that it is to scrap the phone call charges to customers contacting its customer and technical support helplines.
From April 1st this year numbers currently beginning with 0845 or 0870 will be changed to a free 0800 or 0808 prefix.
According to BT the new free numbers will account for 99 per cent of the calls made into the company.
BT has called for other companies to scrap their charges as well and highlights the fact some companies charge for every incoming call.
It is estimated by BT that the rest of the industry is making around £70 million every year from these charges. Some calls can even be as expensive as 50p a minute, making the cost of an hour’s call £30.
Commenting on the announcement, Steve Weller, Communications Expert at uSwitch.com said: “It has taken too long to come, but we welcome BT’s initiative to make customer and technical support calls free of charge.
"Broadband customers have been especially hard hit lately by the hefty cost of calling technical helplines. With an average of four calls per customer made each year, as a nation we wasted an incredible £31 million last year alone trying to obtain help from our providers."
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