wallace@hpdtldw.ctgsc.hp.com (David E. Wallace) (03/03/91)
Is there any way to place a call to a limited-area 800 number from out of that area at my own expense? I have had two occasions when I needed to call such a number and was unable to do so. The operators I spoke to were not particularly helpful. On one occasion, I was able to call someone who lived in the area in question and have her make the call for me, but this is not a general solution. Does anyone have a better idea for future use? Dave W. (david_wallace@hpdtl.ctgsc.hp.com) [Moderator's Note: There is no legal (that is, per tariff authority) way to do it. The people with limited service 800 numbers quite frankly *do not want or appreciate* your call on their 800 line; that is why they have it specifically limited. What you are free to do is look up their regular number and call them on that instead. PAT]
wallace@hpdtldw.ctgsc.hp.com (David E. Wallace) (03/10/91)
In response to my request about calling a limited service 800 number, the Moderator replied: > [Moderator's Note: There is no legal (that is, per tariff authority) > way to do it. The people with limited service 800 numbers quite > frankly *do not want or appreciate* your call on their 800 line; that > is why they have it specifically limited. What you are free to do is > look up their regular number and call them on that instead. PAT] Sigh. I was afraid of that. This is a perfectly reasonable thing to do if the business in question *has* a regular number listed. In both of the cases in question, my first move was to call XXX-555-1212 and ask for the regular number. The only number listed was the 800 number, which I couldn't call, being out of the area. Granted, both occasions were slightly unusual. The first case was when I wanted to call the NY State Income Tax folks with an urgent tax question shortly before April 15th. They had provided an 800 tax-information number that apparently only covered NY State (and perhaps adjacent areas). It didn't seem to have occurred to them that one might be a NY resident in 1981 but a California resident in 1982, when I was actually filing. It's been long enough ago that I don't remember all the details, but I do remember it being a major hassle. Perhaps things have improved since then. The second occasion was more recent, when I was sending several packages from NY to my home in Hayward, CA via UPS. I needed to know some details about how the delivery would be made. The NY UPS office told me I would have to call the Oakland, CA office to find out. The only number I could get from information was 800-222-8333, which didn't work from NY. I have just verified with information that this is the only number they have listed. Note: after writing the above, I re-checked the Oakland phone book and found that there *is* a regular number listed there, under a separate heading. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE has the 800 number above, United Parcel Service (at the same address) is listed as 415-568-0200. It appears that this may be a Directory Assistance problem with the listing. Nevertheless, calling from NY without a Oakland directory at hand, it certainly looked like an "impossible 800 number" problem. I invite the Moderator, and anyone else who is sufficiently motivated, to call 415-555-1212 and see if you can get the regular number from them. While I hesitate to suggest that hundreds of people also call UPS to verify that the 800 number is in fact not valid in their area, the Moderator, at least, might wish to do so. (Now that I suspect the nature of the problem, I will probably let UPS know that their directory listing is screwed up, but I'll wait a few days so that others can verify the problem. It's been screwed up for over a year now, a few more days won't hurt much.) In both of these cases, I had a legitimate business reason to call the number in question. I doubt very much if the people at either number would have minded my call just because I was physically outside the area they had anticipated when they set up the number. They may not have wanted to *pay* for the call, but that is a different question. In both cases, I would have been willing (not happy, just willing) to pay operator-assisted rates if I could have just completed the call. In the tax case, I would have been willing to pay person-to-person rates if that would have helped. In both cases, I spent more than an hour of my time (much more in the tax case) on a problem that could have been resolved with a five-minute phone call to the number in question. I suspect that many limited service 800 numbers are restricted by the owner's willingness to pay, not willingness to talk. Given this, the lack of a viable work-around is a bug, not a feature. I had hoped for a better answer, but it seems for now that if all I've got is an out-of-area 800 number, I am S.O.L. Dave W. (david_wallace@hpdtl.ctgsc.hp.com) [Moderator's Note: A call to 800-222-8333 from 312-743 just now produced the following response, quoted verbatim: "The telephone number you dialed has been changed. Please call your local directory assistance operator for the correct number." The 'local directory assistance operator' (i.e. 411) gave me a Chicago area number for United Parcel Service. A call to 415-555-1212 produced the 800 number noted above. They insisted no other number was listed in *Oakland*. A supervisor then took my call and searched further to find the San Fransisco number 415-952-5200, but nothing in Oakland. A call to 800-555-1212 produced the response 'there is nothing listed for that company'. I persisted -- and she insisted -- there is no 800 number listed for United Parcel Service. Some companies should get their act together on their phone listings! Another interesting note is that quite a few numbers in the 800-222 series are used by AT&T for their customer service and related functions. PAT]
CER2520@ritvax.isc.rit.edu (Curtis E. Reid) (03/11/91)
In TELECOM Digest v11 n194, David E. Wallace writes: > Note: after writing the above, I re-checked the Oakland phone book and > found that there *is* a regular number lsited there, under a separate > heading. UNITED PARCEL SERVICE has the 800 number above, United > Parcel Service (at the same address) is listed as 415-568-0200. It Sigh. UPS has played trick on you again. They did that with me some years back. UPS has been very *careful* not to give out the local phone number of the station and makes sure that all numbers goes to a regional customer service center whether it's convenient for you or not. For example, there is a UPS station about five miles from where I live. I *cannot* call them directly; I must call on their 800 number which routes to a Buffalo customer service center that serves the Western New York State. I pleaded and cajouled with UPS to obtain the local number; they refused. In fact, when I finally got their local number, about 1.5 years later, they changed all their numbers and I had to go through this route again. Now, I have their new local number and I *refuse* to give it out. :-) :-) Anyway, their reasoning is that why should the local station have to field your calls when they have a customer service center? Makes sense yes, but UPS still has not utilized its MIS technology so there is a two or three day delay in communicating my requests to the station. Federal Express is a shining example of utilizing its MIS technology. In fact, when I called their 800 number to tell them I needed to talk to the local station here, they told me no problem -- they'd be happy to transfer my call directly to them (on their 800 line). Fed Exp took care of what needed to be done. Curtis E. Reid CER2520@RITVAX.Bitnet (Bitnet) CER2520@RITVAX.isc.rit.edu (Internet)
ch@dce.ie (Charles Bryant) (03/16/91)
It's a bit late now for such a major change, but it seems to me that one solution would be to make 1-800 a prefix to a normal number. If you leave off the 1-800 you get through to the same line but the caller is charged. That would also allow callers from outside the US to get through. I assume it is not possible to dial a free number outside of one's own country. BTW Ireland also uses 1-800 to introduce free calls, but this is relatively recent. The previous procedure was to call 10 and ask for `Freefone FooBar'. Note that 10 is just the normal operator number. And while I'm here, I dislike the +353 1 XXXXXX notation for my phone number. It should be possible to put in optional spaces for legibility: +353-1-XXX XXX and they should not be the same as the character separating the area code from the country code and local number to avoid confusion and to allow for two-level area codes or some such thing. Charles Bryant (ch@dce.ie)
wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (David Lesher) (03/19/91)
Knowledgable sources in El Salvador last week told me that using USA Direct; they can pay a $6.00 fee and get calls completed to various 800 numbers. wb8foz@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (305) 255-RTFM pob 570-335 33257-0335