Are 0800 and 08000 numbers free?

Question

I just spent ages on the fone to an 08000 number, please say theyre free lol.

Answer 1

Be careful.  I haven't seen it in lots of years, but used to be, you could call an 800 number which was free.  They would then announce that you were being switched to another line which 'may' incur additional charges (which meant that it DID).  Then you'd be hooked up to some 900 number which was really expensive.  People who didn't pay attention never knew aobut it until they saw it on their phone bill.  (This was a popular tactic with those 1-800-DIAL-A-p**n, or 800-PSYCHIC kind of companies who made their money from billable minutes on the phone.)  As long as they could show that they warned you, it was nearly impossible to contest the charges.

There are legitimate companies, utilities, stores, tech support, etc that don't use such underhanded tactics.  You literally can spend hours on those lines and never be charged.  Those companies pay a large, flat-fee each month for the privilege to their customers.

Answer 2

Yes, they are!

"Consumers see an 0800 freephone number as a sign that a company wants their business and is willing to remove the hassle and cost of contact."

(source: Henley Centre Telebusiness Survey)

Teleculture 2000 say that 63% of consumers prefer doing business with companies offering an 0800 freephone number.

The Henley Research Centre says that 68% of people feel that companies who offer 0800 numbers care more about their customers.

Answer 3

0800 numbers are the same as 08000, just with an extra 0

yes they are free to call