SayNoTo1890.com

In the past, Fine Gael have attempted to raise the issue of many government departments providing 1890 numbers which would result in those calling those departments paying over the odds depending on the phone packages and contracts they have. The Fine Gael campaign details are available here on their RipOff.ie website .

While most of the departments referred to in that listing do have geographical alternative numbers – some easier to find than others – these 1890, 1850 and 0818 calls frequently cost more than they should – they’re definitely not CallSave or LoCall numbers.

Its unfortunate, but this issue is pretty much ignored in Ireland. As I’ve written about here previously, there’s actually no government department or regulator who’ll take on this issue and take on the mobile and landline companies who are profiteering on their charges to call these numbers.

This recent article, How 10p-a-minute government helplines cripple those most in need ,  in the Guardian newspaper shows how their equivalent numbers (0870 and 0845) attract much more serious attention for the costs consumers are being subjected to.

Complaints are rising about the use of these numbers – particularly over long queueing times and the way they can be used to scam people.

But change could be in the air, at least as far as calls to government departments are concerned. John Battle, the MP for Leeds West, has worked closely with Leeds CA (Citizens Advice), which produced the "Hung Up" report.

The article goes on:

It has found particular problems for people trying to get a Crisis Loan – on a number which is free to landlines but can cost 40p a minute on mobiles.

More than 95% of calls made to this 0800 number are put through to a recorded message, according both to CA and to an survey by the Independent Review Service, an official tribunal scheme.

To get to speak to an operator, a potential claimant would typically need to ring an average of 20 times. Listening to the two-minute recorded message that plays each time could easily cost £16.

I’m still looking for a copy of the "Hung Up" report, but when I find it, I’ll post more details.

Following on from this post I wrote earlier in the week , I realised that my original post about the Fine Gael 1890 research must have been lost in the recent problems that I’ve had with this site.

Basically, some time ago now, Fine Gael added a new campaign item to their RipOff.ie which highlighted the fact that many Government departments provided 1890 numbers for us to call, but very few of them highlighted the fact that if you were calling from a mobile or in some cases from a landline with a minutes bundle package, that you could end up more than might be suggested when calling a LOCALL number.

The Fine Gael research highlighted 21 Government departments and helpline numbers with 1890 contact numbers.

At the time, I did a check and found 19 geographical alternative numbers for the 21 numbers. They’re all included in the A-Z listing page here .

Calling these geographical alternative numbers for these departments from a mobile or a landline with a minutes bundle will mean that you’ll avoid the ridiculous higher charges from service providers when calling 1890 numbers.

This article from Mondays Pricewatch column in the Irish Times from Conor Pope highlights a reader, Mannix, who takes issue with the fact that many government departments provide 1890 contact numbers. While these numbers appear to be cheaper, given their LOCALL and CALLSAVE descriptions, for the reader who uses an O2 mobile, it actually costs significantly more.

This is an issue that I’m constantly highlighting on this website. In fact, a very committed reader has been chasing many of the regulatory organisations within the country to see if anything can be done about this issue, but without any success. ComReg, the National Consumer Agency, the Competition Authority, and the Minister at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamonn Ryan, all say its not their problem. And obviously, the mobile companies who make a huge profit from these calls don’t want to know either.

The research, referred to in Conors article, carried out by Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael is available on their RipOff.ie website here .

The SayNoTo1890.com A-Z geographical alternative telephone number page on the site provides landline numbers for many government departments, including all but 2 of the 21 departments referenced on the Fine Gael website. Calling these numbers instead of the 1890 numbers means that people can call from their mobile without incurring the higher costs.

I’m constantly on the look out for more of these geographical alternative numbers, so if you know of any others, please let me know and I’ll add them to the list. The two from the Fine Gael listing that I don’t have are the National Treatment Purchase Fund and bizarrely given that it’s most likely to be called from a mobile, the Garda Traffic Watch hotline.