Tag Archives | Government Departments

Following on from this post I wrote earlier in the week , I realised that my original post about the Fine Gael 1890 research must have been lost in the recent problems that I’ve had with this site.

Basically, some time ago now, Fine Gael added a new campaign item to their RipOff.ie which highlighted the fact that many Government departments provided 1890 numbers for us to call, but very few of them highlighted the fact that if you were calling from a mobile or in some cases from a landline with a minutes bundle package, that you could end up more than might be suggested when calling a LOCALL number.

The Fine Gael research highlighted 21 Government departments and helpline numbers with 1890 contact numbers.

At the time, I did a check and found 19 geographical alternative numbers for the 21 numbers. They’re all included in the A-Z listing page here .

Calling these geographical alternative numbers for these departments from a mobile or a landline with a minutes bundle will mean that you’ll avoid the ridiculous higher charges from service providers when calling 1890 numbers.

This e-mail came through from a SayNoTo1890.com reader recently with strange statement from an ESB employee included:

The ESB have a listed 1890 no to call in readings but I rang the landline on ‘our’ site. They left me holding ages and finally when I got through they told me that there was some problem in that section and would I mind ringing another 1890 no.

I said I would mind as I did not wish to incur such charges for a 1890 no. but then he replied, but you did ring a 1890 no. and I advised no that I had phoned a land line no. They cannot tell what no. the customer calls. Then he told me that after the first three minutes, ESB take up the charges???

Could this be true or a fantasy of his mind.

He’s not right, but he’s not completely wrong either.

A LOCALL number is where the customer is charged a reduced rate per minute (see the Call Costs page ) with the company who provides the number being charged the balance.

There is no time limit on when the company kicks in and pays for the call – they effectively subsidise the call from the very beginning.