Premium rate services

You can get used to sites on the Internet being free to visit - so many are. But some games, publishers' and 'adult' sites ask you to pay. It may be by credit card. Watch out if you are asked to pay at premium rates. This means the extra cost will go on your phone bill. It is not always made very clear, especially for children.

There should be a message saying you are switching to a premium rate line and saying how much it will cost. You should have to click to say you pay the phone bill or have permission from the person who does. There are codes of practice in the EU on this kind of thing but they do not go far enough.

Children, for example, can easily miss the messages and click that they have permission and are over eighteen, without understanding the phone bill will go up. Costs can be very high. Some telephone companies write and warn you if your bill is suddenly going up. By then your bill could be over 200 euros. Insult is added to injury if you find your children have been looking at pornography and you are asked to pay!

In December 2006, icstis, (the premium rate services regulator) launched www.phonebrain.org.uk to educate children, their parents and their teachers about premium rate services on and offline and to ensure they understand what to look out for, get what they want and stay in control of their phone bills. See also the icitis website www.icstis.org.uk to check a premium rate phone number and also whether you can make a complaint to this organisation.

In Britain there have been many complaints by parents over children accessing premium rate lines without permission. Under a British code of practice, parents can apply for a refund, but it is very difficult to get.

European Research into Consumer Affairs finds this payment system non-transparent, especially as many consumers pay by direct debit and will find it difficult to get a refund. At the least, it asks that entertainment/information providers using premium rate lines make sure they have an order from the adult account holder, by means, for example, of a written signature.

While European Research into Consumer Affairs works for better practice, you can protect yourself and your children by asking your telephone company to block off all or selected premium rate lines. You can also use filtering and rating systems.

LINKS

For filtering products and general advice look at:
the Which? magazine report 'Through the Net' and
The Internet Watch Foundation