PHONING BF? UPDATES TO ANSWERING SERVICE

The options on our answering service have been changed following feedback from members. Members are reminded to leave a message or send us an email as we are a small team and may not always be able to answer the phone when you call.

During COVID BF introduced a new answering service enabling diverting calls to the office to be directed to staff mobiles wherever they are working.

With a small team of around 21 people, some of whom work part time, we aren’t always able to answer your call immediately. If that is the case we recommend that you leave a message and we will call back. Note that we don’t have a person employed in the office to answer the phone and and redirect calls and queries –  the call options are set up to ensure that any message you leave will be directed automatically and reach the staff members best able to support you.

Before calling us we strongly recommend checking our CONTACT US  page. On that page you will find forms for requesting support (for the most common reasons for calling us) which will ensure that your request will be sent to the team or staff member with the information they need to take action.  You will also find the main support email addresses on this page.

The new options available on 020 8742 3032 are:

1. Safeguarding – This will be directed to the BF Safeguarding Lead and a message can be left if she is not available. In a safeguarding emergency where there is imminent risk please call 999 instead.
2. Membership, Clubs and Domestic Events – Note that many of the standard requests for us to make changes to your membership or profile in the BF system will require you to fill out a form – these can be found here. If you have any other request the quickest way to get a response is to email [email protected].
3. GBR  – You will be directed to our team who deal with any queries relating to the ADP, GBR representation or any international competitions. (or please email: [email protected])
4. Finance – You will be directed to our finance team ([email protected]). Please note this is not for  members and clubs but external organisations that we work with. If you have any financial enquiries about your membership or a competition please select option 2 or 3 as appropriate.

For any other queries please leave a voicemail under option 5 or send an email to [email protected]. 

Finally we would really appreciate your help to make this process efficient and in that way allow us to support as many of our members as possible:

• If you have to call us and leave a message please only leave one message – repeat messages on multiple options or to staff members may only create confusion and delay our response. The best way to chase/follow-up is to use the email addresses above.
• Please be aware of normal working hours – we recognise it can be frustrating if we aren’t able to call you back straight away, but we will respond as soon as we can. Our admin support teams don’t work at the weekend or Bank holidays so messages and emails sent to us over the weekend will be worked through on the next working day (normally Monday).
• Please leave your name and contact details – without these we can’t call you back!

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