Well... it seems that despite Phonepayplus' complaints form being heavily geared towards issues where you have been mis-charged for calls, they do actually taken notice about numbers being promoted without clear pricing information.

As a test, I submitted two complaints - one regarding Odeon's 0871 which is promoted in their weekly emails with only a * next to it, pricing at the end of the email, which are so long that Gmail truncates them so you don't see the last bit.  The other was regarding a number on a brochure and website...

It took a month, but I've finally been asked for copies of the email, and this in response to the other:


Quote:

Thank you for your complaint received 26 August 2009 regarding 0871 911 7777. When monitoring the website in which the number is promoted www.siblu.com it was found that 0871 911 7777 is the fax number for Siblu and the telephone number is 0871 911 2288 neither of these numbers had clear pricing information next to them which is a breach of the PhonepayPlus code of practice. This has been brought to the attention of the company who are operating the service to make them aware of what they need to do to bring their 0871 numbers in line with the new regulations surrounding this number range. If you have dialed the number and been charged for this and would like the company to contact you to try and help you resolve your individual complaint then please advise us and we will arrange for them to contact you. Please quote you case reference number in all correspondence. Thank you for contacting PhonepayPlus.

So. I'll probably submit a few more now... remember, 0871s need clear pricing information in very close proximity to the numbers!  If anybody sees any that do not have pricing with them, feel free to tell Phonepayplus!  Maybe they'll start issuing fines after the grace period has expired, and THOSE will start making companies think a bit harder about the numbers they use ...

irrelevant wrote on Sep 24^th, 2009 at 4:39pm:

So. I'll probably submit a few more now... remember, 0871s need clear pricing information in very close proximity to the numbers!  If anybody sees any that do not have pricing with them, feel free to tell Phonepayplus!  Maybe they'll start issuing fines after the grace period has expired, and THOSE will start making companies think a bit harder about the numbers they use ...

Good work irrelevant.

Do you think this web page by Freeola is compliant given that they only put the 10p per minute information right at the bottom of the page and you have to scroll down to see it and it is nowhere near the large and prominently listed 0871 number at the top of the page.

See http://freeola.com/support/

NGMsGhost wrote on Sep 25^th, 2009 at 11:35am:

Good work irrelevant.

Ta!


Quote:

Do you think this web page by Freeola is compliant given that they only put the 10p per minute information right at the bottom of the page and you have to scroll down to see it and it is nowhere near the large and prominently listed 0871 number at the top of the page. See http://freeola.com/support/

I don't know how pedantic they will be for 0871s, but certainly this would be in breach for the normal 09 numbers, based on previous adjudications.  Certainly worth submitting a complaint, especially as they don't even put a * or anything by it to alert people that there is a footnote.  Indeed, it took me a few moments to even find the pricing information, and that was after you had told me it was there!!