When free doesn’t actually mean free

I’ll warn you now that most of you probably won’t find the following post interesting!

The last remaining premium rate phone-in quiz show on TV (Quiz Call on five) has finally managed to surpass its previous incompetence. I haven’t entered a quiz show for about a year now, but I still like to keep an eye on what’s happening. Don’t get the wrong idea about the quiz show I’m talking about - it’s not the only one still on air because it’s the best one… far from it, in fact.

A couple of weeks ago Quiz Call returned to five (Channel 5) after its Christmas break, and with it brought a new web entry system. According to guidelines regarding this type of programming, there must be a free entry route in order to be treated as a competition; otherwise it would be classed as a lottery and at least 20% of the profit made would have to be given to charity. Well, as you’d expect Quiz Call have a free entry route on their website, just like they used to have, and just like every other live phone-in quiz show had. Basically you go to their website, enter your details up to 140 times per day, and you get a PIN each time to use when you phone up a separate web entry phone number - however, since it’s a “free” web entry, you’d expect that phone number to be free, wouldn’t you? That’s how ITV’s quiz shows used to work, and that’s how others worked too (some called you back instead, like Quiz Call used to do).

Quiz Call have a history of taking the rules into their own hands (in my opinion, of course…) - at one point they pretty much scammed me out of winning £500, but that’s something I’d rather forget instead of explain (all I’ll say is that they gave out the wrong clue and were unusually strict about my answer). Rest assured I didn’t lose any money over this scam - I always have and always will use free web entries for these quiz shows. Of course I can’t use the web entry now, even if the following problem didn’t exist - you see they banned me from entering a couple of years ago (along with my parents and a good few of my mum’s friends across the UK). Why did they ban us, I hear you ask? Well they decided that we were all breaking a section of their Terms and Conditions which I’m pretty sure didn’t even exist at the time. To this day, we still strongly believe that the bans were due to us winning too much from the free web entry and because we didn’t actually phone their premium rate number to inflate their profits even more.

So, once you submit your details on their website, what are you presented with along with your PIN? An 0845 number - and is that free? Far from it! Even if you dial and hang up after 2 seconds it still costs you a few pence and that’s only if you’re on a BT landline. Their defence is that they’re not making a profit from the phone call and in fact the company that receives the cost of the call is your phone network - Quiz Call don’t see a penny of it. Also, they have compared it to buying a postcard and stamp to gain free entry into other competitions that you see on bars of chocolate and suchlike. But to be honest, I have had enough of Quiz Call’s shit now, and I will actually celebrate on the day they go off air for good. I wish the decent members of staff good luck for finding their next job, but I think the overall quality and deceitfulness of that show is beyond repair. I thought I lost all respect for Quiz Call a long time ago, but this has really done it.

I’m guessing the only reason Quiz Call don’t give you a free number to call when using the web entry is because leasing an 0800 number would cost them money, whereas leasing an 0845 one doesn’t (or at least is dirt cheap in comparison). Shit off, Quiz Call - you’re not wanted on our TV screens anymore!

(N.B. I’ve disabled comments on this post due to high amounts of spam.)