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If you want to avoid expensive non-geographical numbers when calling a company, check whether the organisation you want to call has a 'calling from overseas' number (look out for a number that starts +44).
Calling from overseas numbers are likely to be standard 01 or 02 numbers which will be cheaper to call than 0870 or 0845 numbers.
Just replace +44 with '0' to call the number from within the UK.
The new Consumer Contracts Regulations prohibits helpline phone charges in excess of the basic rate for calls by existing customers to the retailer or trader about products purchased.
Find out more about our Costly Calls campaign and how we achieved our goals.
Premium rate call charges to lines beginning with 084, 087 09 or 118 are made up of two parts - access charges and service charges.
The access charge part of the call goes to your phone company and is charged as pence per minute.
Your phone company should tell you how much the access charge is for calls to customer service numbers and information lines. It should be made clear on bills and when you take out a contract.
The rest of the call charge is made up of the service charge. The cost of this is decided by the company you are calling and they must tell you how much this is.
All telecoms firms will have to provide the cost of their individual access charge on bills and customer contracts.
This means that consumers using an 084, 087, 09 or 118 number should be told: ‘Calls will cost x pence per minute, plus your phone company's access charge’.
Calls to 080 numbers are free-to-caller from a landline or mobiles.