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THE MOST EXPENSIVE directory enquiry service in Ireland is €5.58 for a one second call.
That’s according to research carried out by the Consumers Association of Ireland and published in its Consumer Choice magazine.
The lowest price for a national directory enquiry is 60 cent for a 1 second or 1 minute call.
The study was carried out in the last week of August, these are the costs from Eircom phone lines:
It’s cheaper to call from a mobile for almost all of these services except the 11888 line, however the mobile prices for the 11888 directory enquiry is in line with the rest of the suppliers.
The mobile network 3 is the most expensive mobile network to call a directory service from.
It cost €3.26 for 3 bill customers to call any of the directories for one second or one minute. While it costs €4.26 for pre pay 3 customers to call any of the services for one second or one minute.
Dermott Jewell is the Policy Advisor to the CAI, he said, “Nobody has done anything wrong but it’s not until call completion that people know how much they have been charged.”
Nicola Byrne of 11890 said “the prices listed are not true for 90% of our callers because that’s the cost from an Eircom line and most of our callers aren’t calling from Eircom.
“We don’t know what network people are calling from so we can’t outline how expensive it will be for that caller.”
Jewell said that currently “the onus is on the consumer to find out what they’re paying in advance.”
The cost will escalate further if the caller is connected directly to the number they are looking for.
Jewell added that:
There are ways to reduce and even avoid the charges but these are never highlighted.
“For example, for consumers who have Internet access, each service provides a free search engine. For those who do not there is one low call number, 11888, that provides a much cheaper charge. This number is provided by 11850, but is not advertised – anywhere – except on the 11850 website”.
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Robbery of the highest order!!…
Never phone anybody = free
Google it, people!!
I used to work for 11850 when I was in college. Height of the boom and we had callers asking for the number of the chipper around the corner from them. Unreal! Between the independent directory, the phone book, the yellow pages and the feckin’ internet, there is now no reason to ring directory enquiries.
They won’t be asking you back
Jeez it’d be cheaper to call a ‘bored housewife’ and ask her to look up a number on her computer…
I have a bored housewife here at home….
Frankly I’m amazed people still use this rip off service given most people have smartphones with Internet access.
I’d agree Johnny except that if you’re on the road (let’s say a motorway) and need a number, you can’t usually pull in to spend a few mins browsing on your phone
That’s quite the niche they’ve carved out there.
Their main business is for building and construction companies, as well as take aways and taxi companies.
Most People over 50 don’t have a smart phone + some don’t know how to use a PC.
Would be a lot cheaper though!
@ Margaret what a load of crap! Where did you get those figures. Another ageist comment!
Blind people use it.
@Margaret most people over 50 that I know have a smartphone and are at the very least able to use google to search for something. Where did you get your information from?
That’s a loada c*ap Margaret,in my seventieth year and tech savvy,have the latest windows laptop and S5,just had digital radios fitted to the vehicles,if you ever need some tech advice be sure give me a call.
@ Johnny, I agree but an older person at home within any access to Internet is probably the most vulnerable and I’m talking about my father at home being one of them…
@ Margaret… over 50..? Really?… Don’t think so… Maybe over 80…. ; )
Jesus!!! That’s a fecking rip off…
Tis cheaper to call that quare one who sits on the couch on TV3 at 2am in the morning waving her phone at me in her kickers and bra…. Never called her but I have a friend who said its expensive………..
I feel so sorry for that poor chick. She did that ad at least 10 years ago. Probably thought that no one would ever see it. Now she’s on the TV every 15 minutes every night of the week. She’s probably married with kids and a degree in neuroscience and everyone she meets just thinks of her as that brasser off the ad for loser perverts.
Cant believe people even use these services when you can google for free
That is what i was thinking!. So many of these big communication companys seem to be able to rip off the unsuspecting public in so many ways. Personally I have not used any of these services for years. Why are they still needed and by whom I wonder?
I don’t think people realize how much they cost, I knew they were expensive but not this much, thieving bas.tards
When they ask do you want to be connected? Do not do it because you get charged premium rates for the call. I learned the hard way…
I made a call to one of these cowboy outfits, the operator was outsourced from India.Hadn’t a clue where the address or the number of the shop, ended giving me the wrong number. never again. Google on a smart phone has taken the better of these scammers.
That was probably The Philippines you were through to, not India.
Your main point is correct, however you need to work on your accents. DQ will die off in the next 5 years. It’s in a downward spiral.
I’m really surprised Frank, is 11811 not some sort of number crazy thing for you?
I guess you dialled 11850 conduit ireland they outsourced to India a few years back.
Again, The Philippines, not India.
Again , theft ,but of course its totally legal , same as when Dick Spring told everyone buy shares in Eircom ,
when asked afterwards by the poor suckers who bought the shares how many he himself bought , the answer …0
totally legal of course , but thief , what a horrible company, they have never given a good service …ever
People should know that they’re premium numbers at this stage. People also need to have some personal responsibility and not let themselves get ripped off. Phone calls can be expensive, after all you wouldn’t ring an international number without doing the research.
DQ will be dead soon anyway. Until then, they’re going to try and get last of the blood from the stone.
Hopefully Google will become a hit with consumers at some stage
I wonder if Google cleared their name with this fellow before they adopted it.
Only an idiot uses directory enquiries!
So far 8 Red Thumbs AKA Idiots!
Fog – you’re the idiot who complained yesterday that your one-word post (‘and’) was deleted. You really should try for a life….
Use your Internet on your phone because that’s what 11 8 whatever is using
That’s not true. There’s a central database that they use. Each company can add to this database themselves once they get permission from the number holder.
Rip off yes, but they don’t use the internet. Most calls are less than 20 seconds too so is much quicker. Still a rip off.
Back in the days when people used to ring for phone numbers I can remember instances where they would delay giving you the number you required with periods of silence then ask you to repeat your requirement, all about making the call longer so you paid more
In my experience this wouldn’t be true. They want you to take as many calls as possible. The price after one second is so extortionate that they don’t need to keep you on the line. They want the number out quick and to connect you to that number.
This is the same as filling up your car without shopping around for the cheaper fuel outlet Google is free and at your tips.
The text should read fingertips . My apologies.
Ah yes, the great Irish private sector – ripping off people extravagantly when given half a chance.
I honestly don’t understand why people don’t just google it these days. It also frustrates me with people who post on social network sites “anyone got the number for …”, don’t they realise they’d have had the number before finishing their status, if they googled it in the first place. Plus it stops useless status updates.
I used to work in the billing department of a communications company and you’d be incredibly surprised at the price of some of these Directory Enquiries- hundreds sometimes. 11888 is a good one or googling the number…. or, a good old fashioned phone book :P
Even bigger scam the 1890 numbers I highly recommend http://www.saynoto1890.com especially if you ring an 1890 from a mobile
I rang 11811 because I forgot the 11850 number
Did you ask them for the number for 11850? :)
Did, cost me a tenner in total.
You can also text you enquiry to the number as in
Local plaice chip shop
Donnybrook
To 11890
It works out cheaper
Am I right in saying the company that runs 11850 is now based in India as of few years ago. I think conduit ireland outsourced to India.
Philippines. And only the DQ services moved.
Used to work in the customer service dept of an Irish MVO. Had a lot of calls about this passed to me from my team. The big problem with directory enquiries, international calls, premium calls, etc is that people don’t educate themselves about what it’s going to cost them beforehand. You wouldn’t order a meal in a restaurant without checking the price on the menu first.
Don`t forget to Dial 1191 for THE SPEAKING CLOCK if you are ever unsure of what time it is
I think they are fairly nifty
It used to be free to ring these numbers from a payphone and that’s exactly what I used to do, get the number through the payphone and ring it on my mobile. Unfortunately I can’t remember the last time I seen a payphone :( Good job we have Google and the Golden pages app.
The most probable reason for the high charges not many people are ringing these numbers anymore because of Google
€5.58 is relatively cheap. It cost me €7.63 to make a one second call to 11850 on my UPC phone in December. And, if you can believe it, the prices are going up in March 2015 – it will cost €8.87 to make a one second call to 11850. And the reason given for the price increase is “Due to rising supplier costs, some of the charges for Directory Enquiries will be changing from 3 March 2015″. It is nothing short of a scam!
Correction: Currently costs €6.20 not €7.63 and price will increase to €7.20 and not €8.87 as stated.
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