The Brief
118-118 are one of a flurry of new directory enquiries services, after BT’s service lost its monopoly on the industry.
So we wondered… what would a competitor do if we phoned them up and asked if they’d actually give us the phone number for BT, their main competitor?
The Loony Letter
Dear 118,
Recently I called your 118-118 service, and asked the operator for the number for BT Directory Enquiries. The operator flatly refused.
I find it hard to believe that your 118 runners would endorse this kind of action. I’ll bet their moustaches would stand up on end if only they knew what a shoddy service they were promoting.
For what it’s worth, the correct number I should have been provided with was 118500.
I look forward to hearing from you about this matter.
Yours Sincerely,
Bill Bennett
The Reply
Dear Mr Bennett,
I am sorry to hear that your experience when using our service did not live up to your expectations.
As a new company we are constantly looking for ways to improve our service and we really appreciate the feedback we get from our customers as this enables us to identify problems and rectify them.
I can assure you that the instance that you brought to our attention will be investigated and that all appropriate steps will be taken to ensure that this type of instance does not recur. It is not company policy to withhold any number from our customers. Unfortunately none of the directory companies list their 118 numbers so it is possible the operator you spoke to was not aware that BT’s Directory number is 118-500. Again this is a matter I will investigate.
In order to Investigate this matter I would need to know the telephone number you phoned from and the date with an approximate time. This would then enable me to trace the individual agent you spoke to and address the problem from there.
Again I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the level of service you have received from our-selves and look forward receiving the relevant Information required.
If you have any further questions or comments please dont hesitate to contact us on our freephone customer care number 0800-3891-118.
Yours sincerely
Jonathon
Customer Care
The Review
Obviously “Jonathon” was intentionally trying to make it as difficult as possible for us to continue this complaint, so we didn’t bother. Which is just as well seeing as we never called and asked them for BT’s number in the first place…
