Post by Taxigirl on Nov 6, 2003 10:17:09 GMT
The Consumers' Association has said 75% of calls it made to the new 118 directory enquiries services resulted in being given inappropriate information.
Researchers from the consumer watchdog, which publishes Which? magazine, called 16 directory enquiries services five times each.
They asked each one for three residential numbers - two with full addresses and one by area only - as well as two business numbers.
Four got all five queries right, but the worst service supplied just one correct number out of five despite charging a flat rate of 35p .
The most expensive service, with an average cost of 65p - answered just two numbers fully.
Confusion
In August, BT's 192 directory enquiry service stopped giving out numbers after 46 years of service.
It was replaced by a wide range of competing directory enquiry services - all beginning with the digits 118.
Helen Parker, editor of Which?, said getting through to some services was as hard as getting the right number.
"Remembering what number to dial for directory enquiries is the least of your problems when it comes to using the new 118 services.
"Only a quarter of the services we contacted were able to answer all five of our queries correctly. Problems ranged from being given a wrong number to no number at all and we were even cut off.
"This often poor service didn't come cheap, with call costs ranging from 20p to £1.10."