Impossible to call an 0800 number from overseas

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Impossible to call an 0800 number from overseas

jesseycy

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#7035 14-Mar-2006 00:24

You know, this is pretty ridiculous. Do you know you can't call a "0800" number from overseas, EVEN if you're willing to pay IDD rates?

What ticked me off regarding this problem, was when I was in Hong Kong, trying to call the Flybuys 0800 hotline to redeem points that were gonna expire in 3 days. NOPE! Impossible.

Same goes with other 0800 numbers, like for bank queries, for ISP queries, etc.....

I understand that for some, they are smart enough to list a local number (perhaps 09 or 04) number as well. BUT, why don't they allow people to call from overseas to a 0800 number as well? Perhaps the number should be (64) 800-XXXXXXX

This is really ridiculous.... Especially since 0800 numbers are one of the most frequent used ones...

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#30661 14-Mar-2006 05:49

perhaps the owner of the 0800 doesnt want to pay yoyr international call charges.

freitasm

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#30667 14-Mar-2006 07:34

I think he wants the option to call NZ 0800 numbers from overseas, even paying the charges.

It's pretty ridiculous that some companies list the 0800 numbers but no other means of contact, so if you are overseas there's no way to communicate with the company.

If 0800 calls were accepted with charges back to the caller, like the 1-800 calls from New Zealand to the USA, then all would be fine.

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paradoxsm

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#30686 14-Mar-2006 09:43

Funny thing is it USED to work till Telecom started blocking it.. The 0800 vendor would not pay any more than the incoming NZ call charge anyway

Recently they also blocked 083210 access from overseas... Go Telecom, See my other post for their REAL numbers as you think you can call THEM from overseas!!!

NO... any other company can give you a local number of some sorts.

Felix

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#30687 14-Mar-2006 09:43

Hi guys,

it certainly is possible to call 0800 numbers from overseas. I have been involved in many projects that have utilised this service.

Telecom has a service called International Home 0800 (here http://www.telecom.co.nz/content/0,3900,230-1469,00.html) that proves this is possible.

Morbid1 seems to have the answer, essentially the company you were trying to call just doesn't have the plan you want. International calls back to 0800 numbers have the potential to cost the provider a lot of money, so from Flybuys or the bank etc perspective the 0800 probably just doesn't make sense.

The following countries have connection agreements for 0800 to NZ Australia, Italy, Austria, Japan, Bahrain, Latvia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Brazil, Macau, Canada, Malaysia, Chile, Mexico, China, Netherlands, Cyprus, Norway, Denmark, Phillipines, Fiji, Singapore, Finland, Spain France, South Africa, Germany, South Korea, Greece, Sweden, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Hungary, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Ireland, United Kingdom, Israel, United States

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paradoxsm

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#30689 14-Mar-2006 09:57

That international service gives a 1800, 1888 type number which is dialled from the actual country involved the their network diverts the calls back to NZ.

We are asking if we can dial 0800 numbers BASED IN NZ from overseas. but telecom block the calls, saying the number is unavailable of has changed. Charging from international destinations wouldn't work, you would still be paying for that charging step as though it were a landline in NZ you were calling then the 0800 provider would bill the owner of 0800 225598 (EG:) the standard landline-0800 charge.

Telco's really are stupid, it's becoming quite obvious after my initial playing with asterisk (linux VoIP server PABX system) is giving me some serious ideas about setting up a mini neighbourhood VoIP network, I need better WiFi though or some easy cable solution. Old BNC would be ideal as you can tap off it but if one end goes down, the lot dies.

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#30690 14-Mar-2006 09:59

But what if the call charge is not to be billed to the called party, but to the caller, like it happens when someone in New Zealand call an US 1-800 number?

In this case the company would just pay the New Zealand part of the call, and the calling side would pay the rest, from another country. I think this is the whole idea in the place.

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Felix

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#30691 14-Mar-2006 10:10

mmm... I confused... there are several 0800 numbers based in NZ that can be called from overseas and the charge goes to the 0800 account holder...

your making me feel dumb!

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#30692 14-Mar-2006 10:21

Felix: mmm... I confused... there are several 0800 numbers based in NZ that can be called from overseas and the charge goes to the 0800 account holder...

your making me feel dumb!

F5

But is this *really* necessary? Telecom's system either allows this or blocks international 0800. The better option would be to simply allow access to 0800 numbers from anywhere in the world, the cost of the international part of the call is billed to the person calling and the NZ part of the call billed to the 0800 holder. With the exception of home 0800 reastically how many cases are there where a person overseas would expect to call a company in NZ for free? With so many companies only having 0800 numbers publically listed now trying to get hold of such a company from overseas can be very difficult.

Telecom's service for calling 1800 and 1888 numbers in the USA and Canada works perfectly - the caller in NZ pays for the call but can still access the number. Somebody at Telecom thought this was a great idea and intoruced the service yet can't offer the same service to NZ 0800 numbers.

paradoxsm

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#30693 14-Mar-2006 10:26

Felix are you able to give me those numbers? i'll call them from my melbourne based SIP and my Goldcoast based callngcard and see if they work.

Mayhem

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#30694 14-Mar-2006 10:28

I know it is frustraiting to not be able to ring 0800 no's from overseas but you cant call some from a cell phone either. The other thing is with a big company like fly buys why did u not just go to a net cafe and go to their website?

I know that you believe that you understand what you think i said, but i am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what i meant!

Felix

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#30695 14-Mar-2006 10:29

as far as I can see it's up to the 0800 account holder to decide what services they want to pay for. Kinda like the account holder in a flat asking for an international call block...

I'd say Flybys just don't want you to be able to make a call back to an 0800 number from overseas as they don't see enough value in covering the costs...

jesseycy, have you asked Flybuys about this?

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#30700 14-Mar-2006 11:15

I think that Mauricio has a great idea, this would def work for all - you would just need to make it clear to callers that they will get charged for the call so that you dont end up with irate flybuys customers complaining that they thought it was a free 0800 call.

jesseycy

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#30703 14-Mar-2006 12:19

I think some of you get the gist.... And that is, I'm irate at the impossbility to call a 0800 number.

I don't mind paying the IDD charge, after all, it IS fair. So, if I pay the IDD charge for a call to NZ, that is no problem. In fact, why don't they allow calls this way? Alternatively, instead of a 0800 number, maybe they could have another alternative number, say, if you call from overseas, you can actually call "0100-FLYBUYS", this is not toll free, but at least you can connect then.

Lots of companies don't provide a local number. Let's use the flybuys example. I did go onto their website, but there is no other number. Did a white page search, and the closest I could come to is their company, Loyalty NZ. They did have a local number, but it connected to their head office instead....

See the trouble I had??? And I'm sure this problem bugs others as well, since 0800 numbers, well, they're the most frequently called numbers.

Felix

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#30704 14-Mar-2006 12:31

paradoxsm, will try to dig one up!

jesseycy, so your problem is with Flybuys for not providing a contact for when your overseas, and not with the 0800 service at all?

jesseycy

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#30724 14-Mar-2006 21:45

I'm just using FLYBUYS as an example....

Numbers that come to my head, like 0800 JET XTRA, AA (0800 555 222), my bank, 0800 282828, etc....

Of course, it's not like it's the end of the world that I can't get through, and for some cases, they do provide an overseas number as well....

But why have this pointless restriction? All they have to do is allow calling from overseas, and the user pays the IDD rates. Simple!

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