Granted, the "nickel and diming" of hotline numbers (1900, 0900, etc) was nowhere as bad as today's cash shops, but a lot of us simply forgot they were always hungry for all our money
Here's a bunch other hotline ads for you to peruse - https://www.retromags.com/gallery/category/1729-telephone-hotlines/
PS: I never understood these american numbers that used letters, how were you supposed to know what was the actual number?
The Nintendo Hotline was fantastic for me, because I lived close enough to Nintendo's US offices that the number wasn't long distance... and it wasn't a 900 number, so it never cost more than a regular phone call. I got all the hints I needed for free.