Block phone number

[jxm28788]

How do I stop actinic slapping my phone number on everything in sight? It won't let me leave the field blank.

This is a part-time home based business, and I don't want customers phoning me up (because there will be no-one there, and I don't want to fork out for a 2nd line with a voicemail service). They can use e-mail and if there is a need to talk I can hand out my phone number to them specifically or phone them myself.

I'm not too keen on it putting my address all over everything either (It's obvious it's not a business address and could deter customers). Again I would like to restrict this to a 'need to know' basis (ie.returns).

[Riplees]

I have the same situation running a business from home. I got a second line (only £7 extra a month) and answering machine to field the customers! and this is the one displayed on my website. It would deter customers if there was no address at all on your website. You could get a PO box number from the Post office or do as i do and only display your partial address (ie street name, town, county, half postcode and keep the full address for business settings and invoices etc. Mention that email is your preferred method of contact and make it easy for people to use.
good luck with the business!

[jxm28788]

I have my companies 'registered address' in my company details section of the website, which is basically my accounts address. That address is more business like and I have a note there saying it is the registered address and not for correspondance or returns. This should give them some confidence in the company.

However, I don't want this address on the receipts/invoices/delivery notes etc.

Just out of interest, how many calls do you get on average as a % of orders - and are they pre sales or post sales?

[chris ashdown]

John

I think you will find it is a government or EEC requirement that you display a phone number. I seem to remember a short whilst ago lots of problems with E-Bay not displaying their phone number

I get about 3% phone callsmainly from people who dont want to send card details over the web, or who want quantity discounts etc.

Personally I would not touch a site with a barge pole if it didn't include a phone number and have warning bells on a mobile number.

Regards

Chris

[pinbrook]

go to www.surf-wax.co.uk

i defy anyone to find a phone number on that site!!

I'm not convinced you have to dispaly a phone number, i don't think Dabs do..they are all email suppport

[andypandy]

I think you'll find that displaying a phone number only applies to LTD companies.
After all, a phone number would require additonal man power to answer calls etc, unless you have a permanent answer phone set up.
But whats worse, a company displaying a phone number which is always on answer phone or a company that doesn't display any number?
I would be more annoyed if I tried to contact a company via a advertised telephone number to find it always on answer phone then a company that didn't display one at all.

[jxm28788]

Putting the legal aspects and customer concerns, is there a way of not having it displayed (that doesn't involve tracking down and editing all the html pages)?

Also...

I get about 3% phone calls mainly from people who dont want to send card details over the web

I am planning to use E-Clear with Barclays Merchant Services, does anyone else use this and if so does it allow me to authorise/charge cards offline?

[pinbrook]

you should be able to remove the phone number from Business Settings, Company detail. That will remove all the Catalog generated phone numbers

[jxm28788]

It won't let you leave it blank. You can answer something like "please use e-mail", but that looks a bit crap and would be better if it just didn't display the phone feild at all, or if it was competely blank.

[pinbrook]

try one space, instead of nothing

[jxm28788]

ok that worked... it didn't occur to me that they would check it wasn't blank, but not that it didn't contain a space... :D

[murf]

Hi All

Just for clarity and general info, here is the current law:

The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 came into force in Oct 2000, which means that a EU law was adopted by the UK - European Directive (97/7/EC). In August 2002 the Electronic Commerce Regulation also came into force and added further complications to trading online (do a search at google for extra info)

It is all about protecting consumers in 'distance' contracts; basically where the sale is not carried out face to face. So it covers phone, fax and online dealings. The main obligations on the seller are to provide up front information (company name, description of goods, price, etc) and to be forced to accept cancellations (with wide ranging exemptions).


The basic regulation states that a 'distant' contract can be cancelled within 7 days from receipt of goods, with the consumer entitled to a FULL refund, including postage charges. 2nd, the consumer has the right to return goods within 30 days without any reason, for a refund.

Specific details need to be available to the consumer, the regulations state that the company's identity, email contact and geographical location must be displayed. Nothing is stated about telephone contact details.

The above applies to EVERYONE who trade online (not just LTD's), although certain product groups are excluded.

Hope this helps.

Mike
www.thefreemason.com

[pinbrook]

The basic regulation states that a 'distant' contract can be cancelled within 7 days from receipt of goods, with the consumer entitled to a FULL refund, including postage charges. 2nd, the consumer has the right to return goods within 30 days without any reason, for a refund.

is the difference between these 2 just the postage cost?

I'm wasn't aware that if a customer changes his mind then the retailer has to refund postage, surely that is an out of pocket expense

[murf]

Hi Jo

1) If a customer cancels in 7 days of receipt of goods then you MUST refund the full value of the order, and that includes any post and packaging charges.

2) If a customer wants to return goods within 30 days, then you MUST refund the cost of the goods, however, the law does not require you to refund post and packaging charges. Interestingly, the DTI have agreed with (twisted arms) Amazon and BOL to refund the full cost of the transaction within 30 days. They do not have to do this by law, but obviously they feel it would give them a better customer perception etc.

The worrying thing is, that new EU law from next year gets even tougher !!!!..........although it will make Freemans and Next catalogues etc sit up when the general consumer gets to grip with these laws.

regards

mike

[Jan]

Well I looked for a phone number in surf-wax but couldn't find one so well done Jo, however I did find a dozen or so numbers for your competitors with a google search for 'surf-wax uk tel'.

I personally think that you should have a telephone number on your website. I don't think that people leave messages on answerphones, and some people will not send emails, the customers that want to pick up the telephone want to talk to someone so if you are not there then the sale is lost. (this is from a woman about close the office for three weeks!)

Regards,

[pinbrook]

Hi Jan

You make a valid point re not having a phone number. Some people want to phone you up, others are happy to email.

Since the site was launched in May we have be increasing orders consistently. Maybe we would take more orders if we had a phone number but I personally don't want to take the calls!!

We have developed Surf-Wax as a matter of putting our money where our mouths are! ie as a e-commerce developer, designer and search engine optimiser I wanted to see I could develop a site, do everything my way and see if it works!! And to blow my own trumpet yes it works, we currently have 1400 visitors per day (thats visitors!! not hits)

People do email us and ask us to call them, which we do. I am happy with the amount of business the site is getting without having the hassle of taking calls. A friend of mine calls my PC my personal cash machine, ie go to it every hour or so, download orders kerchung! virtual pound notes!!

[Jan]

> ie go to it every hour or so, download orders kerchung! virtual > pound notes!!
Hmm ... what you need to really save some time Jo is a mole to do all of that boring stuff for you ;-)

> without having the hassle of taking calls
now I am fairly sure that I am never going to make a lot of money because I am lacking in the things that make you a lot of money however one of the things I enjoy most about my job is taking the calls, I like finding out what people are doing or not doing with Actinic and I learn a lot from other people's experiences.

There are some pretty amazing people out there that are worth talking to.

Cheers,

[pinbrook]

Yeah, my problem is that not only do I not like taking calls, but most of the time I am nowhere near a phone.

Its very difficult to talk on a mobile whilst both hands are flying a monster power kite.

See this page on surf-wax (http://www.surf-wax.co.uk/sports/power_kites/index.htm) to see what i mean

The girlie is me jo@pinbrook, the other person is nick@pinbrook

[Jan]

Looks painful ;-) I can see your point thought, it would be hard to chat away on a mobile phone while you are doing that :-).

Cheers,