David Leonard

A few months ago I looked into the possibility of providing telephone support via a premium rate phone number. “Thank you” to all of my clients who expressed a view on this. It seems everyone acknowledges that it is valid for me to charge for technical phone support (that’s a relief) but clients are divided as to whether a premium rate phone line is the way to do it.

Anyway, I dropped the idea like a hot brick after I took the time to read the small print. I was amazed that the company providing the service “retained the right” to store and use the numbers dialling in (ie your number) and “retained the right” to listen in to any conversation connected via the premium rate number. No doubt this explains why every time you phone a premium rate number they tell you that the call “may be monitored for training purposes”. It’s because the telco providing the number may be listening in.

Once again I am showing my age. I’m old enough to think that privacy is important. I would not pay a telco a fair amount of money for the right to invade my clients’ privacy.

So, it’s back to the muddle of sorting out on a case-by-case basis whether a support call should be free, party chargeable or wholly chargeable. All suggestions welcome.