Over the past week, viral emails have moved from friend to friend on the internet, warning people to opt out of the 118 800 directory to avoid being hit by unsolicited calls via the service, and to avoid having their mobile numbers given out.
However, in a statement issued in response to the viral email, 118 800 claimed: “We never give out anyone’s mobile number. Not even to their closest friend. If someone wants to get in touch, and we have your number, we contact your mobile and tell you who they are. If you reject the call, they don’t get through, and they don’t have your number. But if you’re happy to talk, they’ll get through and you can choose whether or not to share your number.”
118 800 added: “We promise we don’t have children listed, we never ever give out any mobile numbers. We connect people who want or need to talk on the move using a system painstakingly designed to protect privacy, and we never ever sell or rent out mobile numbers to sales organisations, charities or anyone else.”
The mobile enquiry service via both the website, 118800.co.uk, and the call centre, 118 800, has been taken down so technical work can be carried out to improve the service.
118 800 stated today: “The high number of queries 118 800 has received since launching have highlighted some technical glitches in the system. To ensure 118 800 provides faultless customer service the decision has been made to temporarily suspend the service allowing for technical work to be completed.”
All requests to be made ‘ex directory’ that have been sent to the service, via the website or text message, are being dealt with and these numbers will made ex-directory. There will be no need to resend these requests to 118 800. 118 800 will begin taking further ex-directory requests as soon as the service is resumed.
118 800 apologies for any inconvenience this has caused callers and will release a further statement once the service is up and running at full capacity.
The landline directory service at 118 800 is still operational.