18 f***ing 90 numbers!

cormie

Did anyone else opt for an 1890 number to give customers a cheaper solution to calling you when you first started off and now it's coming back to kick you in the teeth?

It's great that mobile tariffs have become so competitive and people can now get pretty much unlimited usage for under €30 a month without even being tied to a contract, but 1890 numbers are now sticking out like a sore thumb on bills. I was on hold to IKEA for 19 minutes and talking for 1 and it cost me €4. That €4 could increase somebodies monthly mobile spend by about 15% and unfortunately, I marketed my business with my 1890 number being most prominent. It's on my vehicle sign writing, business cards, website etc. My landline is right there beside it but it might seem more attractive for someone to call a mobile number of another business than me as they know for sure anything with an 08X is free.

I was thinking to switch to an 1800 number even, but do people know the difference?

Has anyone got the same dilemma? Suggestions welcome

Gloomtastic!

Personally I try never to call 1890 numbers from my mobile for precisely the reason you stated. I'll try and find a landline no. or call the international no. (which is usually a landline) listed on websites/letterheads. I would assume most people on the mobile bundles are aware of the extra charges and will try to do similar.

There was a thread on here recently about a new EU directive coming through this year that makes it an offence to charge people trying to call your company (via premium numbers or 1890).

cormie

Thanks gloom, I saw that thread too, but I think it was established that the charging thing was only for customer support. So it'd be fine to call the 1890's to book a job for example, or enquire about a product, but if something goes wrong and you need to phone to resolve the issue, that call can't be charged? Hopefully something will be done on the 1890 issue too.

It's funny, I'm the same as you, if I want to phone somewhere and see only an 1890 number, I'll google the company name and "+353" and see where I get. It's a ridiculous situation considering the 1890 number is meant to encourage callers

Wonder what I should do... change to 1800, wait for this new legislation and see what happens or what..

gctest50

See can you get something like 087 4407505 ?

witnessmenow

Why not revert to a regular number? If people are worried about costs for people calling you maybe you could provide a call back service, where people leave a short message and you will call them back, so very little cost for them?

But maybe your target market prefer 1890 numbers? Do you have stats on which number people are dialing to get through to you?

cormie

Thanks again for the replies. I reckon it's about 50/50 between landline and 1890. I did have a callback thing on the site before but it wasn't used too often so got rid of it. I'd also prefer not to have it tied to a sim card, as in, with the 1890 and landline number I can nominate where the calls go, if it was an 08X number, it would have to be answered on that phone which means a second phone which I don't want, thanks for the suggestion though

tricky D

Check this site out for direct lines bypassing this rhubarb: http://www.saynoto1890.com/

IKEA Dublin

Customer Service / Support 1890987938 Call Instead - 016590276

cormie

Thanks for that, have used that site before but just changed the IKEA number I had to the 01 one

Luckily I've always displayed my 01 number beside the 1890 wherever I've advertised, but I think going for 1890 was a mistake now looking back.

I wonder do people generally know the difference between 1890/1850/1800?

Kendlebell

Hi Cormie,

From our experience 1890 numbers do work. particularly for businesses who do not want to appear local. An alternative can be having multiple geographic numbers i.e. 01 , 021 , 056 etc.

The call charges are higher particularly from a mobile but for some reason both businesses and consumers like them. However, quite a lot of businesses are switching to 0818 numbers which are charged at the national call rate you have agreed with your provider.

I would take issue with being on hold for 19 minutes , not really good service from IKEA perspective. If they are going to keep yo on hold for so long they should really be supplying a free phone numebr.

cormie

Thanks for that (Tony?). IKEA did warn me at the start they were experiencing a high volume of calls but it was something I kept forgetting to call them about so wanted to stay on while it was in my head. The worrying thing is I could have long enough conversations with own customers sometimes if they have a complicated enough move etc.

I'd possibly consider switching to an 1800 number, I think it's around the same monthly fee other than the calls, which I wouldn't mind paying for as they are most likely money coming in. If I was doing it, I'd want to get a custom one though, is this something you can do?

I'd love to know the public perception on such numbers and whether they know which costs what.

Mickk

I think the majority of people do know the difference between a 1800 and a 1890, pay for the 1800

DubTony

if you've a large volume of calls, the 1800 number can be quite costly. I've heard of 50c a minute if the customer calls from a mobile. I think this is why even the largest companies in this country rarely use them.
Five 10 minute calls a day to your freephone number (at 50c a minute), would cost you over €6000 a year. So there's a bit to be considered if you've a large volume of calls, and/or your conversion ratio isn't very high.
And remember, people will continue to call a freephone number after the initial sales call which will obviously add to your costs.

I'd suggest a slightly different approach. Go to a VOIP provider (Blueface or similar) and buy one of their business packages on the basis you can get an easily remembered number. In 2009 I changed the home phone to UPC and got a number that falls off the tongue (format is like this 01-1111223*). There may still be some of those available. Then use this on your vans and in advertising and slowly phase out the 1890 number.

*01-1111223 is not my number

Kendlebell

Cormie,

You will pay the same line rental if you switch to an 1800 number but your call charges will go up. You will pay anything between 30 cent and 55 cent per minute for calls from a mobile and 6 - 9 cent for calls from landlines. I only ever recommend them in a B2C environment. Be careful of rates that are quoted as some carriers charge a set up fee for the lien, a minimum fee per call , a standing call charge and/or per minute billing. They may also charge you for any changes you need to make to routing etc. Also make sure that they give you access to the reporting system so that you can see live on their portal what is happening and get reports by day week etc.. on call volumes etc.

You can get some vanity numbers but a lot of the good ones have been snapped up. Ask for a Tier one number and that should give you some memorable numbers.

Tony

cormie

Thanks again for the input everyone! Few options to consider alright. I think I'll wait and see what happens with this EU directive before making any decision, but what I do know is I don't want to have to carry another mobile around and I'd prefer to keep the same 01 number at least and not change both numbers. I'd also worry about what will happen to my 1890 number if any customers have that saved as my number and can't get through if they ever try again in the future..

Gloomtastic!

Spotted a link to this site in Bargain Alerts and thought of this thread. May be of interest to some people here....

http://www.saynoto1890.com/category/a-z-listing/

Reedsie

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

Spotted a link to this site in Bargain Alerts and thought of this thread. May be of interest to some people here....

http://www.saynoto1890.com/category/a-z-listing/

That was mentioned in post #7.

Gloomtastic!

Paddy_R wrote: »

That was mentioned in post #7.

Doh! It was an old thread.

Ian010

cormie wrote: »

I think I'll wait and see what happens with this EU directive before making any decision,...

The Irish national legislation was published in December 2013 and defines a "basic rate" telephone number as:
- Geographic
- Mobile
- Freephone
- Shared Cost (Fixed), i.e. 1850 "CallSave",
- Shared Cost (Timed), i.e. 1890 "lo-call",
- Universal Access, i.e. 0818 "national rate",
and excludes defined Premium Rate Services.

See www~boards~ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057224206

pedronomix

link http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=90700566

cormie

Just coming back to this again, I'm just wondering, would there be any possibility that when this EU wide mobile network service comes in at the end of 2015, that our national prefixes will be done away with if buying a new number for example? I mean at the moment if you buy a sim card in Ireland, it's +353, Germany +49, UK +44 etc, but with the new EU wide network scheme coming in, I'm wondering is there any chance they'll just have perhaps an EU prefix or will they stick to the national ones? Again, just future proofing myself..