118 giant in wrong numbers row

THE Mail on Sunday today publishes a shocking investigation into Britain's most famous new directory inquiries service - and reveals how customers are being cheated out of countless thousands of pounds.

A reporter who worked undercover at a 118 118 call centre found that operators are encouraged to get rid of callers as quickly as possible to maximise profits.

As a result, wrong numbers are routinely given out, sometimes deliberately. And our probe uncovers a secret company policy which forbids operators from volunteering refunds to customers who complain about being misled - an apparent breach of rules laid down by licensing authorities.

Last night, the telephone industry regulator, Oftel, said it would investigate. A spokesman said: 'If anything is in breach of the code of practice we would look at what to do to stamp it out.'

The 118 118 service - the most successful of all the new 118 companies - relies on handling as many calls as possible with customers being charged 49p each call plus 9p per minute thereafter.

The abuses were uncovered at its call centre in Plymouth. One operator told our reporter: 'Loads of people give the first number they find just to keep their call time down.'

But a spokesman for the company said: 'We train our staff to make sure the number they give out is accurate. They should not get off the line until the customer has the right number. If individuals are not doing that, it is something we have to investigate because it is contrary to what we are trying to achieve.'

He defended the company's refund policy claiming it followed the code of practice and added: 'None of the others in this market offer a refund as soon as a customer says they had the wrong number.'