PhonepayPlus have announced today their new Code of Practice regulating 0871 numbers : ---

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/pdfs_news/0871_Services.pdf

The text of their press release is: ---

"PHONEPAYPLUS TO APPLY CODE OF PRACTICE TO 0871 NUMBERS
PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator (formerly ICSTIS), has today published a
Statement of Application for the regulation of 0871 numbers. The Statement explains how
PhonepayPlus proposes to apply the existing requirements of its Code of Practice to services
offered on 0871 numbers. The regulator’s proposals will boost consumer confidence in using
0871 numbers by setting clear rules governing price transparency.
0871 numbers are used for a range of services from financial services, ticket bookings, road traffic
advice and customer service facilities. Callers are generally charged between five and 10 pence per
minute (ppm) to call a number beginning with 0871, although some networks, including mobiles,
charge more. In April 2006, Ofcom announced measures to improve price transparency and strengthen
consumer protection for calls to chargeable 08 number ranges. As part of this, it proposed to extend
PhonepayPlus’ remit to include calls made to 0871 numbers.
Please see www.phonepayplus.org.uk/latest_news/default.asp for full details of the Statement of
Application. In summary, PhonepayPlus’ proposals include:
• Clear pricing (5.7 of the Code) Consumers must be better informed of the price of a call
prior to incurring any charge.
• Delay/call queuing (5.4.2) Consumers should be provided with information regarding
their expected wait times to allow them to decide whether to continue to hold or not,
especially during peak busy periods.
• Fairness (5.4.1) Promotions or services must not mislead or take unfair advantage of consumers.
• Redress (8.7.2) Consumers will be able to complain to PhonepayPlus – non-compliant
providers will be brought to account where there is evidence of wrongdoing.
Should a provider be found in breach of its Code, PhonepayPlus has the power to issue formal
reprimands, impose fines and even shut down the provider’s operations.
Following today’s publication of PhonepayPlus’ Statement of Application, Ofcom will conduct an
independent consultation on the extension of PhonepayPlus’ remit to include the 0871 number range.
Changes are likely to take effect in the spring of 2008.
The regulators then intend to give providers a three-month period to prepare for implementation of the
new regulations for 0871 services. During this period and beyond, PhonepayPlus will work closely with
service providers and others to ensure a smooth transition to the new regulatory regime.
PhonepayPlus believes its proposed regulations will benefit the industry as a whole by:
• boosting consumer confidence in using 0871 numbers,
• providing greater clarity for operators of 0871 numbers,
• protecting consumers by allowing them to make an informed choice by knowing in advance
what they will pay if they call an 0871 number,
• preventing unscrupulous operations, so protecting legitimate providers from consumer mistrust.
In announcing the proposed Statement of Application, Paul Whiteing, Director of Policy and Innovation
at PhonepayPlus, said: “We must continue to develop public trust in phone-paid services. We are
confident that we can build on our success in regulating the phone-paid services industry and establish
a regulatory framework that is of benefit to both consumers and the industry.”

PhonepayPlus have today published a full Statement on the Application of their Regulations for 0871, 0872 and 0873 numbers which runs to 24 pages.   This can be seen at : ---

http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/pdfs_news/0871_Services_StatementOfApplication.pdf

Well, I've just quickly scanned through the pdf.


loddon wrote on Nov 13^th, 2007 at 5:41pm:

• Clear pricing (5.7 of the Code) Consumers must be better informed of the price of a call prior to incurring any charge.

.. But they don't have to do this in YP, business cards and letters to other businesses or if they believe the call is going to be less than 50p (based on the call originating from a BT landline).


Quote:

• Delay/call queuing (5.4.2) Consumers should be provided with information regarding their expected wait times to allow them to decide whether to continue to hold or not, especially during peak busy periods.

This is a load of sh**.  ICSTIS basically states it would like this to happen but they don't have to.

From the pdf:


Quote:

In particular, it was stated that service providers rarely receive 60% of the total call revenue and, therefore, PhonepayPlus’ estimate is wide of the mark.

but ICSTIS responded with this:


Quote:

Regarding the calculation of the figure for the notional outpayment of 60%, PhonepayPlus has engaged in lengthy discussions with Ofcom and the industry, and has received substantial confidential information regarding actual levels of outpayments. PhonepayPlus is satisfied that its proposed notional figure of 60% is a fair and appropriate figure to apply to the 087X number range.

Basically, service providers were trying to claim that there is hardly any revenue but ICSTIS received substantial confidential information stating that the 60% proposed is fair.

Out of everything that is proposed, I believe the above may be the only thing that puts off potential new migrations to the 0871 number range because their expected revenue share received will be cut in half.

I've read it too.


bbb_uk wrote on Nov 13^th, 2007 at 8:35pm:

But they don't have to do this in YP, business cards and letters to other businesses or if they believe the call is going to be less than 50p (based on the call originating from a BT landline).

Quote:

Service providers should be aware that PhonepayPlus views “generally” as meaning “virtually universally”. Accordingly, if there is more than an occasional caller paying more than a total cost of 50p, then pricing information must be provided. If service providers are in any doubt, they should provide pricing information. PhonepayPlus will take a serious view of the absence of pricing information which should have been included.

So, if there is virtually any chance call going over 50p, they must provide pricing information.  Reading through their adjudications, they do indeed take a dim view of pricing not being quoted for controlled numbers.  And they actually fine people, too, unlike OfCom..

I'm unhappy that they will allow directories to have pricing informaton only listed at the front.  I'd have liked to have seen, at a minimum, a prominent box on EACH page (or pair of pages) that numbers apear on.  How many people actually look at the blurb in the front of a directory before flicking through to the section they want?

Business cards etc, well, I'm not sure, but hopefully forcing pricing information in most other places will make people wise up to the fact that these calls generally are more expensive..


Quote:

[quote]• Delay/call queuing (5.4.2) Consumers should be provided with information regarding their expected wait times to allow them to decide whether to continue to hold or not, especially during peak busy periods.

This is a load of sh**.  ICSTIS basically states it would like this to happen but they don't have to.
[/quote]

They did listen to the public though:

Quote:

PhonepayPlus believes that, while the proposed approach of dealing with complaints of undue delay primarily as customer service issues is sound, in the light of the strength of feeling of consumers and the cogency of their argument, we need to go further in order to protect the consumer.

Quote:

Where a breach of paragraph 5.4.2 has been upheld as the result of an unduly long queue time, it will be a strongly aggravating circumstance where the service has provided no or little information to the consumer regarding their position in the queue or the expected length of the waiting time. Furthermore, this may also constitute a breach of the fairness provisions under paragraph 5.4.1 insofar as it seems reasonable that the consumer should have been forewarned as to a likely delay. It should also be noted that a delay may still be considered unduly long despite any measures taken to inform the customer of their position.

It's not really enough in my opinion - they should have barred any more than a very short queue - but at least it's a warning to the industry that they need to let us know how long queues will be, but that it's still no excuse if the customer has a valid complaint of delay.

Of course, how long "unduly long" is is still open to interpretation..

TBH, I get well p**d off with companies that lead you through a menu only to give you a "sorry all our operators are busy, please try again later." and disconnect me..  Now that IS a waste of my time and money.  I'd rather have the option of waiting, but with knowing how long (and how expensive) that wait will be.

Oh, and as an aside, the ASA already uphold any claim against adverts, mailings, etc., that don't provide pricing information on 0871 numbers.  I've submitted a couple now - first of mine will be appearing on their website soon, but there are others there already.   OK, as a watchdog they're as tootheless as the rest, but at least submititng a complaint might make the offending company wake up a little.

I'd suggest that everybody seeing an unpriced 0871 on a poster, advert, leaflet, direct mailing, email, banner ad, etc. (but not unfortunately the companies own website) send it off....   It doesn't take too long to do.

http://www.asa.org.uk/asa/how_to_complain/