Jenstar - 5:09 pm on Sep 11, 2003 (gmt 0)

I agree with Hawgirl. Even if a customer never uses it, they like to know there is an easy way to contact the company quickly, without any cost to them. And some will phone the number before placing an order "just to make sure someone's there."

When you get a toll free number, some companies will allow you to ask who owned a number previously before you decide to take it. Particularly with 800 numbers, this can be a problem if you are receiving many calls (which cost you money). One company was receiving so many of these calls, they had to switch their number - turned out it was formerly a biz to speak to someone in the adult profession, "absolutely free" ;)