The Consumer Council criticize public agencies that use expensive five-digit phone numbers for their public phone lines. – Poor service, believes the Council.
– The Government agencies must replace their five-digit numbers with regular numbers that do not cost any more than usual, says the director for public services and health at the Consumer Council, Anne Kristin Vie, VG.
She believes that it is simply poor service that consumers have to pay extra when they call hospitals, police or municipal agencies.
– All phone providers charge more for a call with a five-digit number rather than a regular phone number. A 10-minute long conversation will usually cost somewhere between 20 and 30 kroner, depending on which provider they have got, she says.
Only the telephone providers receive the profits from such numbers, not the organisations that employ them. The Consumer Council had also previously held such a five-digit phone number, but dropped the use of this last year.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
—————————-
