saynotopremium.co.uk

If you're reading this it's probably because you've come across a premium number that isn't in our database. Or you're just bored and want to do something useful for the saynotopremium community (good for you!).

Following, are some tips to help you find those alternative numbers:

Ask Them

Of course unless you know an employee, this might mean dialing the company on their premium number initially (you could also try to email them), but if you ask nicely, they may just give the alternative number to you (it's also called a geographical number because it relates to where they are).

Valid reasons for needing to know the geographical number may include: 1) you need to call them from abroad and 08 numbers do not work from abroad. 2) your place of work blocks outgoing calls to 08 numbers. 3) 08 numbers are not included in your free mobile minutes.

Use a Search Engine

For example, if you were looking for a number for NPower you could try these searches:

The above search queries might give you too many results. If you can find out the likely dialling code of the alternative number you can narrow down the results, for example:

But how can you find out the dialling code? Well if you can find a fax number, this will often have the same area code as the geographical (= non premium, alternative) number you're looking for. Failing that, you need to find out the physical location of the company you're trying to contact, and using the address or the postcode, match it to a dialing code. Try going to www.thephonebook.bt.com and clicking on 'UK codes'.

When companies move premises, they sometimes inherit the phone number of the previous occupiers so you can also try to search for a phone number of the address rather than the company, if you're lucky the number will not have changed.

Use the International Number

Many companies also provide an international number that can be dialled from abroad in the form +44... This is because 08 numbers do not work from abroad. (Check the back of your credit card for an example).

If you have this international number, simply remove the +44 (which is the country code for the UK) and add a leading 0 if it's not there already.

Search WhoCallsMe.com

The WhoCallsMe site helps people find out who's been calling them, it contains discussions about various companies and the numbers that they use to call people on. As it's main purpose is to find the company name, you can only search the site if you already have the number. However with some search engine trickery, you can search the site by company name by entering the following in your favourite search engine, for example if you were looking for numbers for NPower, in the search engine box you'd enter:

See what results you get, occasionally a company will make an outgoing call on a non premium number and it may get mentioned in the discussion.

Go Back In Time

Back in the day, companies didn't use premium numbers. And even when they introduced premium numbers they often left the old numbers in place, simply forwarding the new number to the old. If you can find this old number, chances are this will be the alternative number you seek. Try using the Wayback Machine at www.archive.org to view old versions of the company's web page and see if you can find the old contact number there.

Search Contact Number Locator

This site lists thousands of contact numbers for various companies, it doesn't focus on non-premium numbers but occasionally these are also listed alongside the premium numbers. See for yourself at www.contact-number.co.uk

Use Business Directories and Consumer Champion Sites

It's also worth searching these sites as occasionally you'll turn up an alternative number listed for the company you're looking for.

www.bizwiki.co.uk
www.yell.co.uk
www.thomsonlocal.com

The discussion sections of these sites sometimes mention non-premium contact numbers

www.moneysavingexpert.com
www.plebble.com/search.php


Guess

Companies, especially large ones, often have a block of similar numbers that they use for different purposes, if you can find any regular phone numbers listed on company brochures or websites, then you might try dialing that number and asking for the main reception number, or failing that try the same number but ending in 000 or 123 etc.

Fax numbers are usually quoted as regular (geographic) phone numbers. Try dialing a number 1 up or down from the fax number as often the phone and fax number are next to each other. For example, if the fax number ends in 1234 try dialing the same number but ending 1235 and then ending 1233.

Good Luck! and don't forget to come back and add it to the database here if you're successful.