Price comparison website Gocompare.com has come under fire in the national press for setting up 084 phone numbers for its customers – potentially charging up to 52p a minute – even though free phone numbers are available.
According to a report in
The Sun, the comparison website is picking up 7p a minute when its customers use the numbers, although a spokesman for the firm said they plan to discontinue them soon.
It is reported that the calls connect customers to insurance companies – even though many of the insurers have their own standard rate lines or even free phone lines. As a result, customers are forking out as much as £3.60 for 20minutes of calls from a landline – and as much as £10.40 from a mobile phone.
The Sun reports that it obtained 26 online car insurance quotes from Gocompare.com and was only given the insurer’s own free number on one occasion.
It quotes the case of one caller – Craig Sellars – who was charged £22.59 for a 52 minute call to
Swinton in regards to his building insurance. This was despite the fact that the
Swinton website offered its own free phone 0800 number.
In response, the Gocompare.com spokesman told the publication that customers are able to use the website for free and clicking through to complete a purchase has never carried a charge. He said that the company is “in the process” of changing all 0843 numbers to 03 prefixes and that the change should be completed by the end of July.
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