Relay UK

Does anyone here use the Relay UK service to manage phone calls?

I can't use a phone the normal way because I have auditory processing issues. I can't translate the noises coming out of a phone into words when I don't have any visual info to provide context and clues. Lots of services refuse to deal with me in any way other than by phone, even after being informed of this, or sometimes there is no way to inform them other than by phone call.

I've just signed up for a TextNumber with the Relay service. Is this the number I should give to services now? What if they need to send me an SMS? Can my TextNumber receive SMS?

If I use call blocking to reduce spam, will it also block calls coming through my TextNumber?

I'm hoping this will be useful for appointment booking etc as I can write what I need to say in advance, paste it in during the call, and then save the call transcript, rather than having to think, listen, speak and write down info at the same time, or memorize scripts.

  • My Relay TextNumber was receiving SMS for a while, but now it has stopped. I've had to go back to all the companies I gave it to and switch them back to my regular mobile number to be able to use 2FA. Do the TextNumbers expire if you don't receive calls on them often enough?

  • I'm totally fed up, I have the same problems, except in my case even Relay UK isn't good enough because I need time and headspace to think about what's been written and reply.

    I need contact to be by email and am very anxious about the DWP trying to call me in relation to a recent application we've had to make for Universal Credit, because my Wife has had to stop working to take full-time care of our six year old Daughter who is also autistic and got to the point of school avoidance because she also has PDA.

  • Yeah, that's supposed to be against the law. Bad enough for those of us who just intensely dislike using the phone, but for people who are deaf or have auditory processing problems it is even less OK to exclude them. I had hoped that email would become more not less common, but so many places don't even give their email on their website, it is bizarre and annoying.

  • That's what I usually do, but I foolishly gave my mobile number to my GP as my friends were getting SMS notifications for covid vaccines and I didn't want to miss out, and now they won't delete it and are now insisting on communicating with me by phone, even though I have email listed as my preferred communication method. They've even passed the number onto the autism service, who haven't responded to my email warning them that I don't use the phone. I don't want to go to the back of the waiting list so I'm trying to find a way I can accept a phone call.

    I also had a problem with a pharmacy a few years ago. I booked (and paid several hundred pounds for) a vaccine using the 0000 number method and then realised there was no way to schedule my appointment because they would only do it by phone. I ended up walking an hour there for them to give me a lecture like I was a naughty child for having a hearing problem, just to schedule something that would have taken two minutes by email.

    I've had similar problems with opticians, letting agents, etc. I say please contact me by email and they say, no, we won't do that.

    I don't know why companies refuse against all logic to use written communication, but I'm sick of being told "well you can't use this service then" because I can't use a phone.

  • if a company only has one slot for a phone number I have to choose whether I want them to be able to call me (give relay textnumher) or send SMS (give my normal number)

    I would give my house number as I do not use a mobile phone except in emergencies! If they want to send me a text good luck to them!

    Although I only give even my land line if I am forced to - if I don't want them to call me I will try to leave it blank and if that is not possible I try typing "ex directory" and if it insists on a number I put 0000 and if it won't accept that I get very cross and might just not bother at all unless it is a thing I have to do.

  • Ok. So if a company only has one slot for a phone number I have to choose whether I want them to be able to call me (give relay textnumher) or send SMS (give my normal number)?

    I've read everything on the website about the service. I was looking for experiences of people who use it.

  • Is that through the mobile phone app?  I don't use it myself, but learned about the Relay service many years ago when it was typetalk.  I think that it works like a normal call except that the person on the relay service acts as a kind of interpreter, putting the conversation into text and back as it happens in real time.  It's not the same as SMS, as far as I'm aware.

    Edit: I've just looked into it a bit more, and the text number is what you give to other people so that they can call you through the relay service.  So no, it doesn't work through sms, it works through the relay app, and will connect to an assistant who can translate the call into text for you.  You'll still be able to hear the call, and speak if you want to.

    The relay assistant explains the service to the other person at the start of the call if necessary.