Its a bit different for me, being the bosses useless son, so i cant really moan about using my phone to phone the office. BUT i have been sticking up for our lads, and have said that they should not have to use their own phone to call the office when they have a problem - they should be able to phone and hang up and one of the tm’s should call em back.
You can imagine the row this has caused, but whilst i think its acceptable to use your own phone occassionally i dont think its fair to expect someone to phone in 2 or 3 times a day to get their orders, espcially if they have to wait for ages.
What do you think is fair?
Prefer to use my own anyway, got a vastly better hands free than the company supplied phone has, though that may change when i get an (unwanted) new motor with a parrot.
I get unlimited free land calls so no cost to me at all, any mobile to mobiles i’d just put a fair amount on me expenses, but wouldn’t make a profit out of it, thats what i used to do, fair all round.
Some drivers take this sort of thing to extremes, one of my old workmates used to winge about charging the company phone with his house electricity at the weekend, he was on about £45k plus nights out at the time and booked fare in excess for calls already, you really do have to wonder sometimes.
If the company involved paid peanuts though or were otherwise always hours booked and other stuff back i’d be as monkeyish as possible.
Our company has the phone built into the in cab IT system. So if its to moan at the boss, I’ll make him pay! Most of the time though, I use my phone, for a number of reasons.
:: The gadget is rubbish and hardly ever works.
:: My phone is also my CD player, it’s run to the stereo by an FM transmitter, which makes it hands free!
:: I’ve got unlimited land line anyway so it doesn’t cost me.
In my first month though, when i was on Pay as You Go, I did £45 in call credit and another £50 on data!
The big annoyances to me is the companies no phones on the move policy. The company use IsoTrack, so they can see when the wheels are turning, yet still they phone me and get annoyed when I ignore it. I also get ■■■■■■ off that they expect me to call when I get to places, when Im leaving the places and whenever anything significant happens, (like having 2 hrs left to do a 1hr 55mins drive, and some monkey overturns his van on the M6), but they don’t pay anything towards the cost of having the phone. Its just a case of, “he will have the phone anyways so we will just let him use his.”
Apparently they used to have mobiles in each vehicle but took em out when they moved to said crap IT system.
They also havn’t realised that masking the id’s of the phones at the office doesn’t help cut down on the use on the move. We all just ignore any calls from “number withheld” or “Unknown.”
Just tell them you dont own a phone 
nsmith1180:
The big annoyances to me is the companies no phones on the move policy. The company use IsoTrack, so they can see when the wheels are turning, yet still they phone me and get annoyed when I ignore it.
+1
work ain’t got my personal mobile number. they’ve got my landline, but i’ve only got that for the free broadband that comes with it. it’s never had a phone plugged in to it 
Won’t use mine for business calls at all.
Get a text from work most sunday mornings which they like us to reply back to which is fine. Wouldnt like to have to call the office all the time in the week though but from time to time its no bother.
Has your boss offered to subsidise your business? No? Well, if I were you, I wouldn’t subsidise his.
Big Roy:
Just tell them you dont own a phone
Can’t be arsed lying so when we got new trucks without phones, I told them to go stuff themselves when they told us to use our own. They don’t like taking lip from a driver, but sod them, it’s the thin end of the wedge. What’s next? Paying for diesel out of my own pocket?
Exactly, matey. Same thing.
I use my phone mainly, incab phones are crap and only frustrated people
Unlimited contract on O2 for £50 / month, 1gb internet only tho, which is good for googling if cant find delivery point 
I use my one phone, tbh I’m on a contract that costs me £30 a month weither I spend 6 hours a day talking, or leave it in a cupboard switched off, so I don’t mind using it!
Unlimited calls and texts on my phone anyway so I don’t care… O2 are crap though there far too expensive for what I get and their masts are always down leaving me days with no signal at all. When my contract runs out in 12 months I won’t be going back to those rhymes with tankers.
FarnboroughBoy11:
Unlimited calls and texts on my phone anyway so I don’t care… O2 are crap though there far too expensive for what I get and their masts are always down leaving me days with no signal at all. When my contract runs out in 12 months I won’t be going back to those rhymes with tankers.
If you’re on o2 (or any other network I reckon!) do what I do…tell 'em you’re leaving and you’ll get the deal you want for about half the advertised price…I did and got a Galaxy 2 free as well…
You have to be cheeky and pushy but it works!
i agreed to use my own phone some years ago. he agreed to pay me £60 per month. so i gave the missus one.
limeyphil:
i agreed to use my own phone some years ago. he agreed to pay me £60 per month. so i gave the missus one.
One way to celebrate a bonus.
Juddian:
Some drivers take this sort of thing to extremes, one of my old workmates used to winge about charging the company phone with his house electricity at the weekend, he was on about £45k plus nights out at the time and booked fare in excess for calls already, you really do have to wonder sometimes.
Does amaze how petty some people are about things, of course they’re normally the first one to complain when the company work totally to the letter of the contract and they lose a little perk. Bit of give and take makes going to work a lot easier.
As for the OP I think having to use your own phone on company business once in a while is ok, but 2 or 3 times everyday? Ok plenty of people have contract with plenty of free calls, but still it also save the company getting phones and contracts, so maybe some form of payment would be reasonable. Don’t know if you could get it tax free, like a meal allowance?
dri-diddly-iver:
voodoo1:
Unlimited contract on O2 for £50 / month, 1gb internet only tho, which is good for googling if cant find delivery point
£18.50 for same on 3 - unlimited internet use phone as a dongle 
Unlimited voice, texts and data for £18.50? AFAICS the Three SIM-only £18.90 deal only gives unlimited data - the voice calls and texts are limited to 600 minutes and 5000 texts.
Mind you, O2 will do you unlimited voice, unlimited texts and 1GB data for 20 quid a month - no need to go spending 50 quid a month!!