General Chat

There aren’t phone books anymore so how does anyone find a personal or business number WITHOUT a computer :-0

look up the phone book online :-D

LG, you can’t if you don’t have a computer and only have a basic phone.

pm me the details and I will look for you

edit I just realised you what you said on your op DOH !!!!!

???????????????

Did you know that dialing 4-1-1 for directory assistance costs you a service fee and valuable cell phone minutes?Mature Woman With Cell Phone In Shopping Mall

Many users aren’t aware there’s a free directory assistance service for those times you need to find a number and you don’t have Internet access or a smartphone nearby.

Here’s How:

Just dial 1-800-FREE-411 (or 1-800-373-3411) from your phone. Since the service is sponsored by advertisers, you’ll have to listen to a 10-second ad before you can speak, but the service is free, easy to remember, and easy to use.

I recommend saving the number as a contact in your phone, that way it’s there whenever you need it!



Tips & Tricks – How to Get FREE Directory Assistance
www.consumercellular.com › blog › tips-tricks-how-to-ge

That's handy, Maddie - I know 2 people who intentionally don't have the internet, and one who has been waiting 3 years for Open Reach to connect him! (but that's another story) :-D

Actually, ZZzzz - even with the internet, certain firms - British Gas - make it impossible even WITH the internet.
I've just spent 2 hours, phoning various numbers, on behalf of an elderly lady, trying to contact British Gas - every time, a automated moron - one of whom gave me a number that doesn't exist! :-|
Eventually, I pretended to be the lady (but with my email address) and sent a complaint - which 'may' be dealt with in the next 2 months :-| :-| :-| :-|

Maggie, I have done the same with Virgin media yesterday .After being messed about by them since the beginning of the month and still no house phone. I could not get through on my mobile 2 days in a row but eventually after half an hour they answered me with still no resolution to getting the job done without yet another engineer out on Monday to order the job that has already been assessed. The complaint was well worded ;-) :-D

My (or rather the lady's) problem, was she had no heating or hot water!
She phoned on Wednesday, they said they'd be out on Friday (despite her being 70) between 12pm and 6pm.
She got a call at 4pm saying the van had broken down.
Another call at 6pm - they'd be out by 8pm.
No-one turned up.
11pm - a call from the (male) engineer - he'd be there in half an hour.
'Oh no you won't' said the lady! - and I don't blame her.
A call this morning - they'd be there between 8 am and 1pm.
1pm came - no engineer.
He turned up at 2.30pm.

Not only is this lady 70, she only got out of hospital on Monday - after being rushed in 3 weeks before, having an emergency operation, being released 10 days later, then rushed back in last week for another emergency operation. :-0

Apparently if you dial the number and it gives you options but you don’t press any of the numbers, just wait then eventually you get a real person to talk to, I haven’t tried it though.

I'll remember that - and pass the information on.
I tried shouting (amongst other @*^$%£ things, 'I want a human' - but that didn't work :-( :-D :-D

One online 'hint' was to press 4 - that didn't help, either.

maggiewinchester, that’s terrible way to treat anyone let alone a 70 year old lady.

The worst thing (for the lady) is that her elderly cat is ill.
She took it to the vet on Friday morning (I went round and stayed in her house to wait for the gas man while she took him).
The vet said his temperature was dangerously low. With no heat, the cat has been suffering, as well as the lady.

ZZzzz, I do that all the time. It works for most of the big companies with lots of options to press. On some of them, you have to listen to the options twice, but just hold on and you usually get a human being!! :-)

That doesn’t always work ZZzzz. Sometimes the phone just cuts out.

Maggie, as your lady is elderly and unwell she should ask to be put on the Priority Services Register with British Gas.

Our annual service was due in July. Because of Covid we gave BG a bit of leeway but when we hadn’t heard by early September OH followed the procedures to book a service only to constantly get a machine that told him our service wasn’t due till December and then cut him off. I found a number for speaking to a person (0333 202 9604); OH rang and got a very nice lady. He explained that we didn’t think it right that we should have to pay for 18 months to get a 12 months service and anyway, as we are elderly, we didn’t want to have to turn our heating off in December for the boiler to be serviced. She arranged our service for 2 days time and put us on the Priority Services Register, which we knew nothing about.

Hi Vera, I tried that one at about 6 yesterday - and it was closed, I expect it's only open during office hours.
Will definitely give it to the lady, and tell her to phone on Monday, and get herself on the Priority Services Register. Thank you! :-D

Maggie, that phone line should be open 8 am - 8 pm Mon to Fri and 8 am to 6 pm Sat.

I was told by the automaton that it was closed, and then cut off :-| :-|

Hi Maggie, if your lady hasn’t done it now, please encourage her to get on BG’s priority list. She will get better treatment. We’ve had a good experience with it today.

We are having a new floor laid in our lounge over today and tomorrow and, as we have underfloor heating, we had to turn the heating off in that room which we did when we went to bed. This morning the room was still warm round the edges though cooler in the middle and so we had to turn the heating to the whole house off completely. OH discovered one of the valves isn’t working so rang BG. He got a very nice lady who would have got someone out today but OH explained about the floor laying so she has arranged the visit for Wednesday. However she checked with him that we had some other way of keeping warm and that we could manage till Wednesday.

There is a call out charge which we knew about before we rang. I think it’s £99 which could be a bit steep for some people. I wonder if they have an arrangement for priority customers of limited means? Cost aside, we couldn’t fault the service.

Well guess what the postie delivered to me today? The brand new BT directory. Slighty different shape and slimmer but its the real macoy!

Obviously they are still available.
Go online ZZzzzz and look it up, you may be able to request one for free.

Florence in the hebrides