Today we’re announcing the launch of a new service for our older customers called We’ll Call You.
The aim of this service is simple: to provide older people who live alone with a guaranteed weekly natter, free of charge.
The service is intended as a response to a serious and growing social problem.
As our population ages, more older people are living alone. Indeed, our estimate today is that the number of people over 65 who live alone has passed the 4 million milestone.
As one of Britain’s biggest phone companies, we understand the power of human communication. Our equipment connects millions of homes and our next generation network carries billions of bits of data every day, but for many people the most important piece of communications ‘kit’ is simply a human voice.
That’s why we think We’ll Call You is an important initiative.
Under the terms of the service, calls will be made by TalkTalk staff at a regular time agreed with the recipient, who can sign themselves up or be registered by a friend or family member.
The nature of the calls, which will last no more than five minutes, is up to the person being contacted. They can use them to discuss the news, gossip about the week’s TV or just to have a chat about whatever takes their fancy. They can also ask their TalkTalk caller to look up information for them about local services.
At the very least the caller will check that everything is all right.
But – and it’s crucial for us to emphasise this – they will never use the call to sell a TalkTalk product or service.
Equally, in no way are we trying to replace the amazing work done by social services and charities.
Nonetheless, our research shows that the service we’re providing meets a need which is not currently being met. And knowing that there will be a phone call from a friendly, familiar voice at a fixed time each week will be, we believe, something that a lot of people value.
As the number of older people living alone passes the 4m mark and continues to grow, there’s no doubt that the launch of We’ll Call You is very timely.
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |