Hardcore Pawn: Sky's the Limit

Man, those call centres are frustrating. I have absolutely no problem with a multicultural and multiracial society, or indeed a global economy. But do we really have to outsource call-centres where the staff don't have a strong enough understanding of the customers' language - come on guys, it's just not acceptable.

I have just spent the best part of an hour on the phone to Sky, trying to resolve an issue with my direct debit that they had caused. This has been going on for six months! It turns out that the reason for the problem, that I have finally been told [thank you, Chris, who spoke perfect English and was in their London call centre] is that you can not set up a direct debit for a joint account over the phone.

So the first 40 minutes were spent firstly getting nowhere with two operatives who's first language was not English who advised that I keep calling back 'until I get through to someone in the UK.' Really? After four attempts, step in Google search, which happily located the following.

Hallelujah

TELEPHONE CHEAT CODES FOR MAJOR COMPANIES

Company Phone number

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Alliance & Leicester 0870 9011001
American Express 01273 576576
Bank of Scotland 0845 7213141
Barclays 0845 7555555
BUPA 0845 6090111
Capital One 0800 9525150
Comet 0870 542 5425
Dell 0870 152 4699
DHL 0870 1100300
DVLA 0870 240009
Egg 0845 1233233
Goldfish 0141 2049005
Halifax 0845 7203040
HSBC 0845 7404404
Lloyds TSB 0800 0969779
NatWest 0870 3331993
NHS Direct 0845 4647
O2 0870 2410202
PC World 0870 2420444
Royal Mail 0845 7740740
Sainsbury's Bank 0845 3055888
Sky 0870 2404040
Tesco 0845 6040409
3Mobile 07782 333333

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Carphone Warehouse 0870 111 7400
Onetel 0800 957 0523
P&O 08705 212121
Southern Electric 0845 7444555
Southern Water 0845 2720845
Virgin Holidays 0870 220 2707

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BT 0800 800 150

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T-Mobile 0845 412 5000