Sir, - In her recent column Nuala O'Faolain wrote of her experience in telephoning a premium rate number in order to get information from Dublin Tourism, and of the ensuing frustrations.
An agreed part of the overall charge of a premium rate service paid by a customer is passed on to the service provider by the network operator, who bills the subscriber and collects the charge. Where there is multiple information available, when one telephones there is a short explanation to callers who are not familiar with the routine. Using such a facility for the first, or indeed, second time, is bewildering. However, persons who regularly use premium rate services are accustomed to the methodology. I would suggest that many tourists are indeed so accustomed to services of this kind, which are available in their own countries for those of us who are their tourists.
This office was not consulted on the wording on page 89 of the telephone directory. Obviously, the statement that the cost of a premium call may be higher is inaccurate, particularly in the light of the greatly increased cost of payphones over private phones. Under the Code of Practice, the cost of a premium service must be given in any promotion but the cost of payphone calls has posed some difficulties, as it varies according to the time of day and the day of the week. On the other hand, the cost of PRS calls from private phones is static, i.e. there are no peak rates.
The cost of the call on a private phone, at 55p a minute, is currently divided between the service provider at 25.92p, Telecom Eireann's share 21p (VAT at 10.1p) and 2p to the funding of this office. Where the call is made from a public phone, no part of the additional cost over and above these charges goes either to the service provider or the information provider, in this case Dublin Tourism. The extra cost ingredient in public telephones, as I understand it, is solely part of the revenue of Telecom Eireann.
With the cooperation of the service provider I am examining ways in which information might be improved. I think it would be a pity if the facility provided by Dublin Tourism was unavailable since it might leave visitors without any source of information after office hours.
I have monitored this service and I did not find undue delay or embroidering of the information: for example, the list of pubs with entertainment took nine minutes to recite; current popular attractions lasted five minutes and walking tours around Dublin, five minutes. Provided the caller had identified a particular interest it does not appear that these times are unreasonable. What would be helpful is to have some impartial findings on whether or not tourists themselves judge it to be good value.
However, information regarding the cost of premium services accessed by way of payphones is under active consideration. - Yours, etc.,
Regulator of Premium
Rate Telephone Services
(Regtel),
Morrison Chambers,
32 Nassau Street, Dublin 2.