Accepting French phone enquiries from UK

[Chambo]

We're moving back to the UK soon but keeping our gite running. Currently, about 65% of our bookings are from the French and we get a lot of phone calls. I'm just about to start changing our phone number on the ads and was wondering if anyone could give some advice?

Do I leave our French mobile on the ads? Enquirers would then have to dial the +33 - is that correct? Would I then pay for the call?

I could use a UK mobile but maybe this would put off French enquiries?

Perhaps this is just something I'll have to accept but do any other owners, in a different country find any problems with the phone numbers thing?

[ccazes]

If you use a landline then it is going to be so much cheaper for someone abroad to call you than to a cellphone. Also more and more french households have unlimited calls to landlines abroad through phone packages like SFR & Orange.
If someone sends me an enquiry either by mail or by phoning I often ask if they want me to call them back. Maybe this is something you can try.
If someone calls your french mobile from France and you are in the UK you will pay big roaming charges and if its a call from the UK they will pay for a foreign call even if you are both in the UK plus you will also pay roaming charges on the same call.

[Chambo]

That's really useful information, thank you. It's going to be a while before we have a 'fixed abode', so using a landline to accept calls is going to be tricky.

However, do you think that it puts people off to call abroad, in that they think you might not speak French, or the foreign phone number is a barrier in some way?

[ccazes]

I think it might put some off because of costs but not the language as its usually clearly stated what languages an owner speaks.
If most of your enquiries come through your own website you might want to add a line about calling clients straight back especially if you leave a cell phone number. If you do that you might want to sign up for a service like Planet Talk that will let you phone abroad from any UK cell or landline phone for much cheaper.

[Hells Bells]

I get phone calls to my mobile (UK) from French people all the time.

[Chambo]

Thanks ccazes, really great advice and tips. Helen B, thanks as well, that's reasuring to know, I think we'll be getting a UK mobile.
Cheers!

[Nessie]

Do I leave our French mobile on the ads? Enquirers would then have to dial the +33 - is that correct? Would I then pay for the call?

When my wife travels iutside France with her french mobile i dont have to add the country dialing code while in France, if she rings me then she of course has to add the dialing code. So the French would not know that you are in the UK

[Hells Bells]

Chambo, is your French mobile PAYG? Why not transfer the calls from it to a UK phone, and keep the French number on the website for French callers. I transfer my Uk mobile calls to our French landline when I'm in France.

[Chambo]

Nessie, wow, I didn't know that - thank you for the tip
Helen B - yes it is payg, I really have been living in a bubble without technology for the last 6 years (scared to go back!!) - can you really do that?

So that would be an answer. Keep the French mobile for French callers when we ever get a landline and give out the landline number for UK enquiries - it's so obvious, but brilliant! Do you think the French callers would mind paying more than they expected to for the call, though i.e. paying for an international call. Or is that still charged as an extra roaming cost to the mobile?

[la vache!]

I think quite a lot of French people have the triple pack now, Internet, telephone and TV (I do, even though I don't have enough debit for the TV it is cheaper for me to not pay the fixed line charges plus internet). All calls to UK landlines are free for me, as well as to French landlines.

[Hells Bells]

Chambo, which phone do you have, there should be an option in the phone settings for Call Divert. I could do it with a very old Nokia (I used to divert them to my home number when I was on holiday then). It may be a solution until you get the Uk landline set up.

[Chambo]

Cheers Susan, I have that package too but have been rubbish at plugging in the phone! At least it shouldn't cost them more. Helen, I have a nokia and will have a look tomorrow about the call divert.
Brilliant advice as ever!

[KAB-Dennis]

This topic reminds that I need a primer on the costs of cell/mobile phone usage with non-US guests.

I do know just a tiny bit about mobile charges abroad but maybe someone can help me to understand the bigger picture. This is all that I am aware of

- I was told that if a mobile caller calls a land line (in Ireland) the party that was called also pays something.....is this correct.
- I know if I call a guest from the UK while they are here and I call their mobile I get charged more $$. Here the caller pays the cost of the call whether it is a land line or a mobile.


Can anyone succinctly tell me how costs are assessed when calling or being called by a UK/EU mobile caller.

Thank you

[e-richard]

- I was told that if a mobile caller calls a land line (in Ireland) the party that was called also pays something.....is this correct.

No. You never pay to receive a call on a landline.

- I know if I call a guest from the UK while they are here and I call their mobile I get charged more $$. Here the caller pays the cost of the call whether it is a land line or a mobile.


Can anyone succinctly tell me how costs are assessed when calling or being called by a UK/EU mobile caller.

I'll have a go:

Scenario 1. Both mobile phones registered in the same country
If Beavis and Butthead each own UK mobile phones, and Beavis calls Butthead, then Beavis always just pays the cost of a call to the UK.
If Butthead is in Germany(say), Beavis will not know this, so Beavis will still pay the same, but Butthead will pay an additional fee to receive the call. This additional fee (a roaming charge) will vary from enormous to gigantic, depending on where he is, what plan he is on and which provider he picks up in Germany.

Scenario 2. Mobile to mobile where each are registered in different countries.
This scenario is pretty much the same regardless of which pair of countries we are talking about.
Lets say that David Cameron calls Nicolas Sarkozy from David's UK mobile to Nic's French one. David will pay an international rate for the call. This may be a bit higher than normal, but that does not matter because Cameron will simply put it on his expenses, and we, the British tax payer will fund the call. If Sarkozy is with his mistress in Paris, he will not pay anything for the incoming call, but GCHQ will know where he is.
If a week later Cameron calls Sarkozy again, but Sarkozy is now with his other mistress in Rome, the cost to the British tax payer will be the same as tha call to Paris, but this time the French tax payers will have to fund the cost of Sarkozy's phone bill to receive the call outside of France.
Finally, while in Rome, if Sarkozy decides to stab Cameron in the back and make a call to Ed Milliband (leader of the opposition) in the UK, then Sarkozy will have to pay an excruciatingly large roaming charge rate for an international call from his non-residence. Mind you it probably will not be that large as I doubt the conversation will be of any substance, but the other important fact is that Miliband will not have to pay anything to receive that international call.

Clear as mud ?

[e-richard]

P.S.

If you are outside your registered country then receiving a text message also carries a "roaming charge", but with most plans this is simply "charged" by taking between 2 and 5 messages out of your monthly allocation of some gazillion texts.

This, of course will not matter much unless you are under 17 years old. See here