Buying Phone Numbers has never been so Secure!

Posted on March 14, 2010 by Dan

Following feedback from our customers about ordering phone numbers online we have implimented SSL on our checkout pages.  If you placed an order with us prior to today your credit card details were safe as we used SAGEPAY for all our transactions.  We have added this extra level of security to the site to ensure that when you send us your address details they will be encripted.  If you have any questions regarding the security of our site or ordering numbers online please feel free to call us on 0800 0115111.

 

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0800 numbers sold with a smile

Posted on January 27, 2010 by Dan

We sell hundreds of numbers a week and as a company we like to think we put that extra bit of effort into making peoples transactions run that extra bit smoother. We like to say that we employee the best and most knowledgeable staff in the business and when their efforts are recognised we then like to share and acknowledge those efforts with everyone else.

Below is a customer Testimonial received from one of our customers as recent as today, outlining why City Numbers is the place to purchase your 0800 numbers from.

I recently purchased an 0800 number through CityNumbers and I wanted to write to acknowledge the excellent customer service provided to me by Rav.

Rav went the extra mile in helping me to track a specific number, demonstrating a keen customer focus.

I wish that more customer service lines were as friendly, helpful and effective.

Thanks Rav!!

If you have a good experience through our service team or you are just generally happy with the products we provide then please let us know. We are happy to share this effort with everyone through our blog. If you are also keen Tweeter then you can also respond or follow us through our City Numbers Twitter Page like many of our other customers.

 

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Oxfam help Haiti earthquake response with an 0300 number

Posted on January 19, 2010 by Dan

Due to the recent dramatic earthquakes in Haiti, global charities are doing their bit in order to help. One of these charities is the well known Oxfam. Oxfam are providing help in the form of sanitation, clean water and shelter for those that have been caught up in the disaster.

You can donate to Oxfam via their website or by using by their 0300 number if you also have queries.

Website: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/haiti-earthquake/index.php

Oxfam 0300 number: +44 (0) 300 200 1999

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If your stressed call an 0300 number

Posted on January 4, 2010 by Dan

A national stress helpline has been launched in the UK and a good 0300 number has been used.

They have picked a good month to launch a national stress helpline.  January is well known to be one of the most stressful months in the year – Credit card bills start to arrive, we all have to wait a long time till payday and it’s snowing!

The stress line is available every day from 8am to 10pm and is available for people in England.  The service is being manned by trained health advisers and the NHS have chosen a fantastic number for 2 reasons:-

Reason number one – the 0300 number is memorable and people in need of the service should remember it easily enough.

Reason number two – the number released is an 0300 number which is the same cost to call as a UK landline and more importantly if you call it from a mobile it will be included in your free minutes.

If you need to call the NHS National Stress Line please use 0300 123 2000 – they will support you on stress related issues such as debt, housing, employment and relationships.

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0800 number used for free directory enquiries service.

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Dan

Yes that is right – you can now call Directory Enquiries for FREE!!!

Calling directory enquiries has always been an expensive task.  A few years ago Ofcom decided to allow competition into this market and hundreds of new players flooded in (including the infamous 2 running, moustache yielding characters!).   Since then a price war has ensued and this has resulted in the consumer benefiting from lower pricing (we still think that this lower pricing is still too expensive).

Well now you can call Directory enquiries for free (only available from landlines) on an 0800 number.  Here is how it works:-

  1. Call 0800 118 3733 (this number is free to call from landlines NOT MOBILES)
  2. AND HERE IS THE SLIGHT CATCH – you have to listen to a brief advert from the sponsor of the call
  3. Once the advert is finished you can request your Directory Enquiries search

Providing you don’t mind listening to an advert for a few seconds this Directory Enquiries service has thumbs up from all of the team at City Numbers.

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Cockermouth choose interesting 0845 number for their helpline.

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Dan

Following the floods in Cockermouth the police issued an 0845 number for their local helpline.  The 0845 number was interesting due to the last 3 digits of the number.

0845 3300 247

The last 2 digits represented the time that the helpline was open. 24 hours a day by 7 days a week.

Interesting 0845 number and very memorable!!!

We like it!

 

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0800 free to call from O2 – using GiffGaff

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Dan

About time one of the mobile networks lead the way!

 

O2 have announced that they are making calls to 0800 numbers free of charge (providing that they do not last more than 60 minutes).  GiffGaff which is a spin off from O2 has been launched in the UK by Telefonica.  It is a Pay as You Go mobile service (stating proudly to be the cheapest!).

Let’s hope that more of the UK mobile providers will include freephone 0800 numbers in their free to call plan.  0800 freephone are not called freephone becasue it costs 20p to call them!!!

 

Come on mobile networks pull your finger out!

 

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Moving Office and Can’t Keep Your Phone Number? Yes You Can!

Posted on November 28, 2009 by Dan

We have hundreds of people talking to us who are moving office and have been told that “as you are moving outside your exchange you can’t take your number with you”.  Up until about 12 months ago this was true but as technology has advanced so has the flexibility of moving with your number.

If your business is moving location and needs to keep its existing landline phone number the process to enable you to move this is simple.  You can be moving from London to Birmingham and keep your London phone number, it doesn’t matter if you are moving outside of the exchange or not. When a business moves office it doesn’t necessarily think about if it can keep its number until right at the very end of the process.  By this time it is almost too late to do anything about it and they end up having a “we have moved and our new phone number is” message played for at least a year costing them a fortune.  What happens after a year?  Lots of their customers or potential customers could still be calling them (it is common knowledge that a yellow pages has a shelf life of at least 18 months).

The answer is simple.

If you currently have a BT landline number, are moving out of the exchange and have been told you have to change your number – Firstly, don’t panic!  Call us on our Free Phone 0800 number and we will explain how you can keep your number.  We will port the number to our network and you will be able to control where you point your number to.  With this solution you can keep your landline phone number so that you don’t miss any calls from your customers or potential customers ever!

This solution costs a one off £50 to port the existing numbers to us (this cost is for 1 number to 50 numbers inclusive), £3 per number per month rental and any calls you receive on the phone number will be charged at 3p per minute.

We have helped hundreds of companies save their phone number when moving offices.  If you need any help about this please feel free to call us.

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Change my 0870 number

Posted on November 27, 2009 by Dan

It’s only 31 working days until the 1st of August and for anyone out there with a 0870 number this is an important date to circle in your calendar.  The 1st of August will mean that you will have to pay for every call received on your 0870 number.

Following years of consultation the industry regulator has forced the price for calling 0870 numbers down so that they only cost a true national rate to call.  In turn this means that any revenue generated from your 0870 numbers will STOP and you will more than likely be charged for receiving the call.  We have seen quotes in the market for calls costing between 2p and 3p per minute.

Let us give you an example of a typical 0870 number customer at the moment and after the 1st of August:-

Pre 1st August 2009Existing customer with a 0870 number that receives 1000 calls per month, each call lasts 2 minutes. This customer would receive a payment for calls received of about £60

Post 1st August 2009 Existing customer with an 0870 number that receives 1000 calls per month, each call lasts 2 minutes. This customer would be charged for calls received of about £60

This is a swing of £120 that you will lose out of your cash flow!

We are already migrating customers away from 0870 numbers who wish to keep the revenue share for calls received onto 0844 numbers.  0844 numbers will pay you about 1.5p per minute for every call received.  Some people are moving to 0871 numbers (these pay you about 5p per minute) but they are heavily regulated by phonepayplus and you will have to inform your customers of the cost to call and not delay the call in any way.

The easy way to change 0870 number

It’s not going to be an easy job to do this.  Your 0870 numbers is more than likely all over your website, cars, vans, stationery, business cards, emails and quotes.

This is why we have put together a recorded message package for you to ease the pain.  If you change your 0870 number to one of our 0844 numbers we will build a recorded message for your 0870 number saying “our number has changed to 0844 xxx xxxx please call back using our new number and amend your records”.  To top this off we will build this message for you FREE OF CHAGE.  No monthly fee, annual fee or call cost for the recording – TOTALLY FREE!

If you would like to speak to one of our team about your 0870 problem please feel free to call us on 0845 3 666 555.  We will be happy to help you resolve this issue quickly!

When it comes to numbers – we like to help!

 

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Local Area Phone Numbers

Posted on October 28, 2009 by Dan

More and more companies are now choosing local area numbers to promote their business. This blog explains the difference between local area numbers and 0800 numbers or 0845 numbers.

Local area numbers allow companies to advertise a local phone number even if they are not based in that location. For example we have a company that advertises a 0161 Manchester number to attract customers from Manchester.  They are based in Birmingham and have no local presence in Manchester but the local number encourages people to call as they believe that they are just around the corner.

Customers are becoming more selective about their suppliers and we are finding that people are choosing to buy from local companies than the larger more faceless organisations.  Modern technology has allowed companies like ours to provide these virtual local phone numbers and have them pointed to your existing phone number (we can point our numbers to UK landlines, Mobiles or international numbers).  It’s not only the local phone number that is the attraction of this service it is the real-time call stats and return on investment analysis that we provide.

How does this work I hear you shout?  Easy!  Let’s say that you are a company based in London and wanted to advertise in the Midlands.  We would provide you with a 0121 Birmingham Virtual Phone Number, 01902 Wolverhampton Virtual Phone Number and 02476 Coventry Virtual Phone Number.  Each of these phone numbers would route to your existing office and you would place the numbers in different adverts making you look local.  Every time someone called you from one of these adverts your phone would ring and we could play an announcement saying “this is a call from your virtual Birmingham phone number”, this would allow you to know instantly that your advert is working.  That’s not all!  All of our numbers come with an impressive online tool that allows you to manage where your virtual number is pointed and view real time call statistics.

Virtual Phone Numbers are not a 2nd grade service and you will not notice any difference between the number we supply you and any other traditional landline. UK Virtual numbers are commonly known as AREACALL NUMBERS, GHOST NUMBERS and REMOTE CALL FORWARD NUMBERS – call them what you like but the benefits of portraying your business as local will put a smile on your face!

If you are interested in the areas of the UK that we supply phone numbers in please click here – Virtual Phone Numbers.

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