If you are using the 0845 number for places such as the USA, Japan, Germany etc.. this shouldn't put you off.

It isn't a scam as there is no possible way around this.
You don't pre-pay, you pay for a local call (less than 2p a minute on weekends) and the best thing you can do is dial your number quickly AND PRESS THE # BUTTON IMMEDIATELY - if you get a dodgy line (rare in my experience), hang up and try again.

There are cards where you pre pay and then dial a 'free' 0800 number and only pay from the moment you're connected - but it costs the company 4 to 8p a minute to accept your call and this will be reflected in the prices (look at the small print and most of the fabulous rates advertised are only available to those who connect to a regular telephone number - which is at least the cost of the local call - so you're paying the same as the TeleDiscount number I mantioned PLUS the cost of the card. The prices with 'free' connection will be a lot more).

If they were out to scam their clients, they wouldn't advertise the # facility and get their clients to hold on for longer than they had to before connecting them - I pay for approximately 3 seconds of 'non-use' per call.

As I stressed before, this is a very different matter if you are paying for your call with a premium number. So be careful! And I'm only recommending the 0845 number here.

Please PM me if anyone wants details or help with cheap calls from the UK - I am not affiliated with any company, but I did used to work in this field. And I make lots and lots of calls to Japan and Europe. The 0845 number has saved me hundreds of pounds (thousands if I'd been silly enough to use BT directly).

It's also a great way to call abroad from a British cell phone!