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Premium Rate: It
Needn’t Cost A Fistful Of Dollars …
Premium rate Services are one of the current
chart-toppers in all that is good, bad and ugly in telecoms
today. Thankfully, the bad and the ugly are not so prevalent
but NIACT would like Northern Ireland consumers to be aware
of what Premium Services are and what to do should things go
wrong.
On the good side, Premium Rate Services,
which are identifiable on your phone bill as having the code
090, offer the consumer such diverse facilities on your telephone,
mobile, fax or PC, as voting for the next big thing in programmes
like ‘Pop Academy’, entering competitions, calling weather lines,
advice lines and access to business and other information. It
really is a useful and interactive tool and is used and enjoyed,
with little incident, by much of the population.
There is of course the exception to the
rule and the unfortunate few are subject to the bad side of
PRS. Some premium number providers fail to let you, the consumer,
know in advance the cost of the call which can range from 10p
for the whole call to £1.50 per minute. Bad too is the
fact that sometimes the information given by a PRS is misleading,
out of date or delayed.
As ‘promised’, there is also the ugly side
of PRS. Increasing numbers of mobile users are reporting unsolicited
text messages which are tricking people into calling a PR number.
These messages invite the reader to claim their big £1000
cash prize or contact a would-be admirer by dialling; you have
guessed it, a premium rate number. These numbers are invariably
the more expensive ones offered by PRS.
As already mentioned however, the majority
of users of premium rate services are most happy with the service
and information they receive but should you feel that the bad
or the ugly have taken advantage of you, there is help at hand.
ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards
of Telephone Information Services, is the independent organisation
responsible for regulating the content and promotion of all
phone services charged at a premium rate. ICSTIS investigate
all complaints received and, where applicable, have the authority
to take action against the company involved either imposing
a fine or barring access to the service in question. They have
recently drawn up a guide to assist consumers and can be contacted
as follows:
ICSTIS
FREEPOST WC5468
London
SE1 2BR
E:mail: secretariat@icstis.org.uk
Telephone: 0800 500 212
We here at NIACT, are of course happy to
deal with any telecoms concerns that you may have and should
you require information related to ICSTIS or Premium Rate Services
specifically, or would like a copy of the ICSTIS guide, we would
be glad to hear from you.
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