http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/business_money/watchdog+warning+on+0871+nu...

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Callers dialling 0871 numbers should be refunded if they are kept on hold too long by call centres, an industry watchdog says.

Adverts for 0871 phone services should include clear price warnings, according to premium rate phone regulator Icstis, and service providers must give clear written or spoken pricing information before customers are charged.

The package of measures were proposed by Icstis to ensure callers can dial 0871 numbers with confidence.

UK consumers spend up to 35p a minute dialling 0871 numbers at a total cost of more than £300 million per year.

Icstis will take over regulation of 0871 services early in 2008.

The regulator's chief executive George Kidd said: "Consumer trust in 0871 numbers is critical. Callers should not suffer unreasonable delays. If they do, good business practice is to remedy the problem and offer a refund for the call cost."

Icstis (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of the Telephone Information Services) is an industry-funded regulatory body for premium rate phone services.

It is consulting on the proposed package of measures until June 28.
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Edited:

From the ICSTIS Document - "0871 Services:An ICSTIS Consultation" p3
http://www.icstis.org.uk/pdfs_consult/0871_services.pdf

Quote:


So now it is officially recognised that there will be wholesale movement from 0870 to 0871. I'd put the 'likelihood' referred to above at about 95%!

idb wrote on Apr 27^th, 2007 at 1:32am:
I've quickly scanned through the consultation and I never noticed where ICSTIS states that consumers should be refunded if they are kept on hold too long.

In fact ICSTIS has no intention of ensuring us consumers aren't charged for being kept in queue even if its 20+ minutes as mentioned by some forum members for calls to Sky, etc.

Dave wrote on Apr 28^th, 2007 at 12:25pm:
I totally agree.

I plan on mentioning the fact that consumer awareness of 09x numbers is pretty much well established so consumer harm/detriment due to lack of awareness/knowledge is very little.  Of course things like scams still happen on 09x but at least the consumer is aware that they are ringing a premium rate number.

Whereas with 0871, there is very little consumer awareness of either the costs or more importingly that they are in fact ringing a premium rate number by definition (whether a recognised/controlled PRS or not).

All that's gonna happen is that scams will all move from 09x to 0871 because they'll still receive income from the call (despite what ICSTIS claim and try and play down) knowing that it's basically all but by name unregulated from a consumer protection point of view.

I've always said that as a consumer we should know in advance that we are ringing a premium rate number (regardless of the costs per minute involved) so that then as a consumer we can make a more informed decision on whether to do business with that company or not.

If we are fully informed that we're ringing a 10p/min line (from BT landlines only) and the fact that the company called is gaining money from the call as well then that's fine. Any consumer knowing all this beforehand and still does business with a company can't argue/moan about call costs and the premium that the company receive from the call.

Of course none of this is in the interests of businesses at all and from what I've read of the consultation, it does appear that ICSTIS is putting businesses first and consumer protection/awareness last.

I note that callers "Should" be advised of the cost of the call to 0871 numbers before they are charged....how will the 0871 receiver know what the mobile phone firm will charge me....or will I get the universal getout cliche "Calls from mobile phones may vary".

/\/\ike

To answer my own question it doesn't close till 28th June so unfortunately I will have time to respond.

Its just that hitting your head on a brick wall is ultimately not a very rewarding pasttime.

I suppose that emailing all interested members of Parliament and asking them to respond might also be a good idea.

bbb_uk wrote on Jun 19^th, 2007 at 7:35am:


And why isn't this ICSTIS consultation and its fast approaching closing date of 28th June being mentioned on the front page of this website in order to ensure a maximum level of response?

TheArtfulD0dger wrote on Jun 20^th, 2007 at 2:03pm:


I agree with what you would lke to see happen regarding a compulsory alternative geographic number but as that won't happen we should at least push for call queues to be limited to 30 seconds and for big fines and the closing down of the 0871 number for any company that regularly over-runs the 30 second queuing limit.

A strict call queue limitation would put off loads of companies from wanting to even consider having an 0871 number.