BW's new 'Getting in Touch' leaflet

I really like the new 'Getting In Touch' leaflet from British Waterways.  It's a handy downloadable (4mb PDF) guide showing all publicly accessible BW contacts. 

As a PDF it prints out onto 5 sides of A4 paper, but looks like its supposed to be a 12-page 1/3-size A4 booklet, plus a full-page UK waterways map showing the regions.  You'd need an origami diploma to fold it correctly for your pocket.  I presume it's available on paper, prefolded and stapled?

It starts with an organization chart of the BW board of directors, so you know who to blame when you want to let off steam. 

That's a good move, although responsibility's not always clearly delineated.  For example, guess from this chart who's responsible for deciding to install, er, just for the sake of argument, lockside bollards that make it safer for inexperienced and single-handed boaters? 

(Now now, don't cheat by looking at my earlier posts!) 

Each 'waterways' division shows a picture of the manager and his office contact details, a list of the waterways in his purlieu and  of 'useful contacts' (names and phone numbers) in the following departments: 

• Boating trade
• BW moorings
• Licence enforcement
• Marketing/communications
• Volunteering coordinator

I think it's significant that they now include 'volunteering' as a section (see my earlier post Every volunteer project has won).

One particular complaint of mine: the official BW Customer Service Centre number is 0845 671 5530. 

How much longer must we put up with phone numbers starting 08...? 

BW will protest that this is a local-rate number.  It's not!  When you are out on the canal you will usually be using a mobile, and most services charge 20p/min or more.  Some calls can cost up to 40p/min for 0870 numbers, which is effectively a premium rate. 

I rang this number yesterday to test it.  It took about 90 secs to work through touchtone hell and another 100 secs on hold while I waited for a human.

Ka-ching! - over 50p even before I'd spoken to a human.

The BW emergency number remains  at 0800 47 999 47, which is also a premium rate for boaters.  I'm told that during the day this goes straight through to the same national customer service centre (bypassing touchtone hell), so if you are going to pay to call BW customer service you might as well cut out the touchtone middleman - you are going to be speaking to the same people anyway

But at night this freephone [sic] number redirects to the West Midlands Ambulance Service.   Their HQ overlooks the canal at Merry Hill (Google Maps link here) so they are actually closer to the water than BW's HQ.

One problem  is knowing when to call for emergencies and when to leave the problem as a message.  The trouble is, it's not always easy to know if it's a desperate emergency, an important maintenance issue, or simply something to add to BW's 'to-do' list. 

I've often seen a problem which I'd like to report, but which I'm not willing to pay 20p/min to hold on the line to do so.  How do I know if I'm the first to see this new crack in the brickwork or that old car in the canal or the other tree fallen in the water?

For these occasions the new Getting In Touch leaflet will make our job a bit quicker and easier - albeit not necessarily cheaper.

Comments

[Andrew Denny]

Brian,
Yes, sure. I carry a BW licence around with me all the time. Who doesn't, these days?

Sent from my iPhone

[Brian]

The 01923 201120 number is on the back of your licence holder. I have one right in front of me on the port hole.

[Andrew Denny]

John, the reason I didn't mention the alternative 01923 number is because while it's the equivalent to the 0845 number,

 

1.  it's still only the main customer entry point, and you get stuck behind all the people calling about their licence - rather like standing behind the pensioner and the car licence renewer in the post office when you just want to post a letter or parcel.

 

2.  There's still an 0800 number for emergencies, and that doesn't have an equivalent landline no.  

 

When I asked someone in BW why the emergency number was 0800 and there wasn't an equivalent landline no. , the reply was 'well, if it's really an emergency, people aren't going to worry about the cost, are they?'   I forebore from asking what happened if one had a pay-as-you-go phone that ran out of credit.

[John]

Perhaps if enough of us put in formal complaints, like I have, they might give in and at least publish the 01923 201120 number on their literature?

[Sarah]

Sorry, that link doesn't seem to work. Here's the home page anyway:
http://www.saynoto0870.com/
The office number they give is 01923 201120

[Sarah]

I've never used the 'Say No to 0870' website before but it seems to work - I put in the offending number, it identified it immediately as BW, and offered geographical alternatives (which I haven't tested) for both the office and emergency number.
http://www.saynoto0870.com/numbersearch.php