cedd Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 We take hundreds of calls a day at the "proper job" and my department oversee the whole telephone system (as well as the radar..... keeps up the variety!). A couple of years ago, we changed from a local rate number to a paid one. The management line was this - our autoattendant costs us thousands of pounds a year in terms of maintenance contracts, we employ a couple of people to man the phones when the autoattendant doesn't have the answers. That spend per year came (without factoring in the cost of buying the infrastructure) to nearly 50k. Ask any company to spend 50k on something that won't generate any revenue, just to provide information that's already available on the website for free, and they'll tell you where to go. I personally wouldn't call the number (but there again, I do know the local number that also gets you in!) but I'm not a manager so I don't make these decisions! We went for an 0844 number due to some issues with 0845 (I think the forthcoming Ofcom changes were muted, along with some legal things - I didn't ask too much, I just did the patching on the ISDN circuits!)We use a company called Nexus. I think this is their website, but there seem to be a lot of businesses called Nexus and I'm not at work to check;http://www.nexusuk.com/index.html They also give us least cost routing for outgoing calls, which is a real bonus if your business is in ringing other companies abroad. Their partner company Kingston Telecommunications also offer off-site auto attendants for an all round comms package. We really like them, there's one number to call if there's a fault, then they deal with BT direct. You only pay Nexus for bills and they'll take on any other incoming numbers you have as well (the ones that you might not want to charge for) and give you least cost routing. One word of advice, get them to leave your old number in place as well. If you have a regular customer that you want to look after, give them that number. They then feel a bit special for having the free number, they're not put out having to pay, and your own staff can dial in for free too, plus you can phase in the new number gradually on your literature and website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete McCrea Posted January 17, 2011 Share Posted January 17, 2011 We took an 0845 number 5 years ago from Windsor Telecom who've been Brilliant. I'd highly recommend them. They offer a full range of numbers and seem competitive across the board. We don't make a penny from the 0845 - we paid a fixed price for it (£200 IIRC for two consecutive numbers) and have never had to pay a penny since. We then map these onto our geographic number. We also certainly don't make any revenue from them. The reasoning was that we knew we were going to move premises as we grew, so wanted the future proofing it gave. It also meant that literature stayed current through our moves as we've moved 3 times in the last 5 years, which has been across different areas, so no chance of taking numbers with us. We've now 'settled' in a unit with a 5 year lease, so should be a touch more static, and will probably move within he trade park as we grow further. I have been aware of the increasing number of calls placed by Mobile and that 0845 are generally charged slightly higher. The original aim of the 0845 was to enable people 5 miles away to pay the same to contact us as those next door - Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury are all quite close but have different area codes. However I think we will start publishing the geo number, as were arent a 1 man band, and certainly have nothing to hide behind. What are peoples thoughts on 03 numbers? I know that they are part of our inclusive mobile bundle, and don't feel that they are a smoke screen, so personally don't have an issue with calling them. As for you Tim, web URL and Company Name probably more important. I completely understand your thinking though. I didn't expect such animosity towards 0845's. That said I don't know of any situations where we've left something behind, then had a call due to the label being on the kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robloxley Posted January 18, 2011 Share Posted January 18, 2011 A friend of mine runs http://www.loho.co.uk/ who do this kind of thing and VOIP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takeiteasy Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 I wont call a 0845 number ..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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