An article I recently found on Telegraph.co.uk claims that 118 directory enquiries have gone up by 50% in price in the last year.
The article specifically mentions 118 118 (men with moustaches) and BT’s 118 500 number as being the worst culprits. A one minute call to either 118 118 or BT now costs a total of £1.68 and £1.65 respectively with BT charging a further £1.16 per minute after this.
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that this is not the case at Simunix. A one minute call to our directory assistance number – 118 365 – always has and always will cost 50p per minute and that’s including the connection.
As one of my colleagues recently pointed out, “There are two things that have not changed price in the last ten years: a lottery ticket and our directory assistance number”.
According to the article a staggering “eight out of ten of all calls to a directory enquiry service are to these two numbers”. This means 80% of people using these services are paying three times the amount they should be. When there are so many other options out there, I find it hard to understand why so many people are still using these more expensive numbers.
However, since the introduction of deregulated directory assistance services in 2003, there has been a great deal of confusion surrounding cost, availability and effectiveness of the various 118 numbers now on offer. More and more consumers are now relying on the internet and sites such as ukphonebook.com to find the information they need. These online directory enquiries prove far more cost effective and often provide much more detailed information.
I know it sounds like I’ve been trying to do the big sell on our services but when the cost of trying to find a telephone number is reaching £1.68, I think it’s important to raise awareness of the other options out there.