Millions of people across the UK use phone-paid services every year for various activities like voting for their favourite contestants on TV shows or calling into adult or psychic chat lines.
This is usually done by dialling premium-rate phone numbers. New standards from the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) - set to be introduced on Tuesday, April 5 - will give more protection to consumers using these premium-rate services.
However, there are no plans to address the hidden access fees charged by network providers, according to interactive TV broadcaster Visional Media. Here's what you need to be aware of when using phone-paid services.
What are the hidden fees charged by network providers?
Phone-paid services providers are required to clearly advertise what they charge consumers per minute to call.
However, currently when you dial any premium rate number, your network provider such as Vodafone, O2, EE, and Sky is able to charge you whatever it likes as an access fee on top of the charge for calling.
These access fees don't have anything to do with the service you're calling, and they don't need to be advertised upfront by your network provider either. This means you don't know about them until you receive your phone bill.
Alex Campbell from Visional Media, which runs popular chat service Xpanded TV on Sky and Freeview, explained: "We do our best to keep prices as low as we can, because we want customers to have fun calling our chat lines. But right now, network providers are taking our customers for extortionate amounts in access charges."
He added this is unfair on both customers as well as businesses, saying that in some cases the network providers are charging customers triple the amount that Visional does, which in turn puts people off from calling in to the service.
What is Code 15 enforced by the PSA?
The PSA will enforce the 15th revision of its Code of Practice in April. Under Code 15, phone-paid service providers will be given support to "achieving compliance and preventing harm from occurring".
However, there are no plans under the new code to introduce tighter regulations on network providers to prevent hidden access fees.
Mr Campbell said: "Network providers should have to be fairer and more transparent with their access charges, so consumers know exactly what a call’s going to cost before they phone in – and they don’t get hit with bill shock."
Ways to keep track of what you're being charged
See an unexpected charge on your phone bill. Here's what you can do.
Don't know who charged you?
If you don't know who charged you, there are three ways to find out who your service provider is and contact them:
- You can find your provider listed on your phone bill. Sometimes you'll see a number, which you can enter into a Service checker to find out which service provider charged you.
- You can also enter any texts about the service mentioning a short code or service name into the checker to find out about the service provider.
- Contact your mobile network provider and ask them who charged you for the service and how to contact them.
How to stop charges for phone-paid services?
You can stop charges by texting your service provider. Simply text 'STOP ALL' to the number they give you.
Can you get a refund for unexpected charges?
If you think you're entitled for a refund on a charge for a phone-paid service, talk to the service provider who charged you.
Ask them for proof of purchase, message logs, promotional material to show what service you're being asked to pay for. If the service provider doesn't help, speak to your mobile network provider, who might be able to help you with the issue.
