Making a toll-free call from abroad?

[chattahc]

Ok yall are smart so help me with this...

How do you make a toll-free call from Europe (i.e. calling 1-800-333-2222 from Turkey).

THanks

[MuvverRussia]

You'd enter it as [phone]. The way you work it out is by adding the international prefix (I'm not sure what it is from Turkey - internationally, it's represented by the + sign though), then the destination country code (i.e. 1 for US, 44 for UK, 420 for Czech Republic etc), then drop the first 1 and dial the rest of the number.

Bear in mind that toll free may or may not work from Turkey (so if you can, look up the original number). Even if it does work, you'll have to pay to make the call.

[WillTravel]

Good warning. I've read lots of cases where people are majorly dinged because they forget that their hotel in Europe will charge (a lot) to phone toll-free numbers in the US, when it's even possible.

[Eagle]

It may or may not be possible to access "800" numbers from Europe? Companies which pay for toll free access are given the option of choosing which market areas they want these to be accessible from (ie: Canada only, or Canada & U.S.). Their cost per month is proportional to the size of the area they choose. I've never tried calling a North American toll free number from Europe, but I have doubts this would work, even using the dialling sequence suggested.

One other point that makes me wonder whether this is possible -- with most of my credit card accounts, travel medical insurance, etc., a toll free number is provided for reporting lost/stolen cards or requesting medical coverage. However, they also provide a "normal" number with instructions to "call collect" if outside the toll free calling area. I suspect this is only way I'd be able to access these services from Europe. I always keep both numbers with me while travelling.

OP, your best bet would probably be to buy a long distance phone card for calling North America. As far as I know, they're not too expensive but are the most cost effective method for calls. Again, you will probably have to call a "normal" number with this, rather than the toll free number? It's quite possible that some toll free numbers will work from Europe, while others won't.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has been able to access toll free numbers from Europe. Hopefully we'll get some posts from someone who has been successful with this.

Cheers!!!

[MuvverRussia]

I've done it before from the UK and it has worked, although I got a message saying that it was chargeable (standard UK-US rate) - that's probably why your insurance company gives a standard number and instructions to reverse the charges.

However, this kind of thing is probably quite network dependent. What works in the UK may not work in Turkey and vice versa - hence it's always worth getting a standard land line number.