Call 08 numbers for free

Whilst utility companies and banks have been coining it for years getting you to ring non-geographic 0870 and 0845 numbers, you can now include the likes of government agencies, broadband companies and others too.

Calling them from a landline during business hours incurs a charge but certainly not as much as calling from your mobile, often 50p a minute.

As navigating through a call-centre menu can take 3 minutes and then waiting for your call to be answered can take the same again, that means you've spent £3 before you've even started your conversation. A bigger outrage than Google's tax dodges.


Help is at hand by using the 0870 Wizard app for Android.

When you dial an 08 number, the app will replace it with a geographic (01 / 02) alternative that's included in your call plan.

Paying to queue?

Then stop immediately.

We should all understand by now that buying cheap utility results in poor levels of customer service, usually felt in the pain of waiting endlessly on the phone to get through to a customer service assistant.

Aside from the stress this causes, the fact that you're paying to wait if you've called an 08 number means it's now costing you time and money.

The WeQ4u free app promises to put you straight through to UK 08 numbers for free, saving you time, money and stress.

Skip call centre phone menus

Please Press 1 has gone through the pain of calling all your favourite brands, sitting through their automated messages and navigating through all their menu structures so that you don't have to.

So, if you're calling a bank or utility company then check with Please Press 1 first as they will tell you which numbers to press to get straight through to what you need.

It would be nice if these were updated directly by the brands but I'm not convinced they'll buy into that one.

Is it just me?

When you can't download a site, find out if it's just you or the same for everyone by using DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.

Stop playing hunt the noisy tab

Use MuteTab to track down that mystery noise when browsing.

It quickly helps you find which tab is offending, including those seriously annoying pop-up ads.

Once you've installed this add-on for Chrome, you can see which tabs are making sound, pause or mute them.

Want to buy from US websites?

Well now you can with BundleBox.

BundleBox will provide you with a US shipping address and hold your purchases until you are ready to bundle them to a final shipping destination.

Free and easy reminders

With FollowUpThen you can send an email to yourself at a future time of your choosing.

All you do is use the format @followupthen.com and add the schedule like these examples:

To start using FollowUpThen, just compose an email and include an @followupthen.com address in the 'To', 'Cc' or 'Bcc' fields of your email, each for a different use:

• To: You will get a followup after the time interval you specify
• Cc: If the recipient has not responded by the scheduled time, both of you receive a followup
• BCC: Only you will receive a followup, not the original recipient

Note: You can always cancel a followup.
You can also add a '-t' variable to the email address to assign a task to the email recipient.

It's free too!

If you want to receive reminders by SMS or phone then use ReminderGuru. You can see their demo here.