Weve all got company mobiles so no problem for me, what I do object to is them demanding we answer 24/7.
Im not paid to be on call so when Im off duty my phone gets turned off.
Truckulent:
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!
A mate of mine tried the same system with Sky digital years ago, simply got the reply “Sorry to hear that, we hope you consider coming back to us in the future” and that was it 
In one job I had, we used our own phones. But the company always got us credit on the phones if you were payg, or they would pay half the contract you had. My boss would put £50 on my phone monthly. When I left, I had £415 of credit on the phone.
In my last driving job, we had cab phones that looked like they were made in the mid 90’s. With hands free. They were restricted to which numbers they would call (Every depot transport office, every depot reception and every other vehicle) But as I found out to great delight they would text anyone.
We once had a load stolen when one driver received a call on the cab phone, and was told to redirect somewhere and drop the trailer. Since then, we were all told that if we don’t know the person calling us, we must tell them to call the transport manager. I once had head office call me asking who I was and which lorry I was driving. I refused to tell them, and they got shirty with me. The call was 20 minutes long. I got to my tip, offloaded and the phone rang. It was one of the bosses at my depot in stitches because the MD of the company had called me, and I told him to go screw himself. Week later the MD turns up at our depot, and shakes me by the hand for giving him a good laff on a bad day.
Unlimited free minutes, makes no difference to me. For the people who object to using their own phone a company one is available.
When I was on agency I, along with quite a few agency drivers I came across, used to put the calls down as an expense on the time sheets at 25p per minute. Always got them paid.
Not sure if they will now though.
get free land line calls, so it doesn’t bother me, still bill them £5 a month though.
i pay £10 a month for unlimited txts and internet with tmobile, or EE as they are now called and as its PAYG, i cant claim. no free calls so i refuse to call them unless i absolutely need to and its my choice. i wont call them for their convenience
i gave my drivers £15 a month tax free they were happy and didnt hav the hassle of keeping an eye on the drivers phone usage saved a fortune
As an Agency driver I get really annoyed when my mobile number is handed over to their customers without first asking if I object. I have even had a company, who had kept my number on file, wake me up at home in the middle of the night rudely demanding to know why I am late arriving at delivery, when they really wanted someone else. No apology, just: ‘oh You’re not working for us today then’.
I have had some companies querying my stance with the line that “you get free minutes so what’s the difference if you have to ring us - it doesn’t cost you anything”. Maybe, maybe not, but they are MY free minutes and I do not wish to find that a past call for their benefit, now means that a later personal call of mine is chargeable.
Either fit the vehicle with a cab phone that works, or plan the day so that any collections are handed over at the start of the shift.
I get on extremely well with some companies that don’t have cab phones and who politely ask first and I do ring in. A quick acknowledgement that they regret that there is no cab phone because it is a hire vehicle makes all the difference. A couple of others who have assumed it was their automatic right, get told that they shouldn’t have my number and I am turning the phone off, goodbye.
One very large company, fairly recently taken over and with a repainted fleet seem quite annoyed when told that I don’t have a mobile phone.
One company who had rung me when their cab phone packed up during the day, wanted me to turn round and go back to a collection when the site manager had told them 15 minutes before that everyone had gone home and there was no-one on site to load the lorry (which was quite obvious). This would have meant a night out half way home. “You’ll never work for us again.” …“Best news I’ve had all week goodbye.”
Free minutes?? NOBODY gets free minutes!!!
Whats free about them? Do you pay a contract?
Free minutes my ■■■!!
For me it comes down to do you get on with your boss or not?
I’ve had issues with some who ring me and expect them to ring them back on my phone that I pay for. But it’s about give and take, if he’s fine with me then I’m fine back. If he’s a knob then my phone is for me and me only.
mick.mh2racing:
For me it comes down to do you get on with your boss or not?
I’ve had issues with some who ring me and expect them to ring them back on my phone that I pay for. But it’s about give and take, if he’s fine with me then I’m fine back. If he’s a knob then my phone is for me and me only.
Funnily enough until I lost my phone I used to get a call from Cadburys at Bournville asking what time there chocolate would arrive, it took ages to explain that I was just the driver who came 4 years ago and asked for the chocolate room manager
I have never worried using my own phone, especially if it meant I could ring the boss while still laid in bed, or could send them an email to get the answer as a hard copy