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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