So the company is causing me an incovenience, the service I am paying does not work, why should I pay to notify them? Why should I pay AGAIN to get what I am already paying?
In addition to that, the waiting time is usually unacceptable because of few operators and a lot of useless advertising messages.
Those numbers should be free of charge.

I have wondered if some companies make more profits from their expensive service numbers than their core business.

This would be most welcome. As would the legal requirement that cold callers provide a nummerweergave call back number, rather than withholding it. If they call me and I want to complain, there is no easy means of contacting them back.

It's really too stupid to pay 3 euros for a phone call in order to request a refund from NS which 4-5 euros. It has to be free.

If you call using a prepaid cell phone, the cost is much more than the 15 cents per minute. For example, it cost me a Euro a minute to call Ikea on my prepaid phone.

Someone is being ripped off big time! I have a prepaid cell phone and I can call any where in the world for the same price I pay for calling just down the street. and toll free calls I make at that...toll free

I don't think their primary goal has been to make money but it certainly makes you think twice about calling any company if you have to pay a premium rate to get "service" which indeed is a toll free in many other countries... I welcome the change....

Those companies are getting a huge windfall from keeping customers on hold for an unconscionable wait time, and/or putting them through a phone tree at the end of which they get cut off and have to try again. Calling them should be free, and they should answer the phone pronto.

It's a good measure by the minister. I used to pay more even though I had a contract. In many ways the cost will come down. When customers have a problem, they need to be heard without being robbed out of their money (again).

Since arriving in the Netherlands I have been consistently annoyed that I am paying to correct/fix an issues with their service, and I need to pay to try and get them to fix it. Additionally the hold time is crazy. Not only should this service be free - you are already a customer - it should be fairly quick. At a bare minimum, if I am paying you for the "pleasure" of calling to report a problem, I should be helped immediately and not put on hold will the cost of the call racks up. Crazy lack of service. And a competitive advantage for those who can try and get it right.

It is infuriating to have to phone companies that consistently get things wrong - and then have to phone them again because they made a mistake implementing the changes that were agreed on.

Vodafone is a typical example of a call centre helpline that caused more problems than it solved.

I was glad to be shot of them - but that meant I had to write to them! Useless!

These calls should definitely be free, for the same reasons as those expressed here. I personally have spent a small fortune phoning call centres to ask for service. Once a TV cable providor cut my TV service in error. After many phone calls, which led to nothing, I had to personally go to their premises in Den Haag to prove that they had made a mistake! They did not pay for my expenses in getting there from Amsterdam.

When the consumers rear up on their hind legs we might see a change... Count on Business finding an exception to Maxine's plan.