Engagement outcomes

Publication date
6 July 2023

Reference number
CAS-194417-Q8J1F5 

Service category/case type
Information, Connection, and Signposting Services (ICSS) 

Service subcategory
Call connection

Engagement Outcome - Warning Letter and Action plan 

Background: 

Since November 2022 Data Central (Services) Ltd have provided an ICSS Call connection service to consumers in the phone-paid services market. This is a call connection service www.isearchonline.org operating on 09 premium rate numbers, connecting consumers to a variety of organisations including NOW TV, DPD, Three and SKY. The service costs £3.60 per call + £3.60 per minute plus the phone company’s access charge. On 8 February 2023, the PSA notified Data Central (Services) Ltd that it had decided to commence an Engagement procedure and sent an enquiry letter seeking further information on the service.  .

Warning Letter and Action plan:

On 18 April 2023, the PSA issued a Warning Letter and Action Plan to Data Central (Services) Ltd setting out its concerns and explaining that the investigation was initiated based on a consumer complaint and PSA monitoring. The apparent breaches identified by the PSA and set out in the warning letter included: 

‘’Pricing Information – Paragraph 3.2.1 of the Code makes it clear that the cost of the service must be provided before any purchase is made and must be prominent, clear, legible, visible and proximate to the means by which a charge may be triggered.’ 

‘Misleading – Paragraph 3.2.2 of Code 15 state that that PRS services must not mislead or be likely to mislead in any way’

With regard to Pricing Information the warning letter noted that: When the PSA viewed the promotional material www.isearchonline.org on a mobile handset the PSA found that call cost information could be missed due the ‘Click to Call’ and Premium rate number (PRN) buttons being significantly more prominent than any pricing information provided on the page. The ‘Click to Call’ and PRN buttons are in large bold font in white text on a blue background, while the pricing information is less prominent. 

With regards to Misleading the warning letter set out that: The language used in the promotion such as the heading “NOW TV Customer Services Call Connection Service” gives the impression that the service is provided by NOW TV. It has the potential to mislead consumers into believing they are calling the company they are looking for directly and not via a call connection service. 

On 18 April 2023 Data Central (Services) Ltd agreed to the action plan to resolve the issues identified. 
The agreed action plan included requirements to: 

• improve the prominence and proximity of pricing information
• amend the promotional material to ensure consumers are aware they are using an ICSS call connection service and not contacting the end organisation directly
• refund complainants who request a refund.

Therefore, any consumer who has been charged via their phone bill for the ICSS Call connection service www.isearchonline.org operating on 09 premium rate numbers who wishes to seek a refund should contact Data Central (Services) Ltd directly, on their contact details: 

Email: info@datacentral.co.uk 
Phone: 0333 030 9110 
Website: www.isearchonline.org/refund/

Publication date
22 November 2023

Reference number
CAS-194809-F2H4M7

Service category/case type
Information, Connection, and Signposting Services (ICSS)

Service subcategory
Call Connection

Consumer refunds
Any consumer who has been charged via their phone bill for the ICSS Call connection service operating on 09 premium rate numbers who wishes to seek a refund should contact Jayne Sage Ltd directly, on their contact details:

 

Phone: 01785747238

Email: enquiries@contact-number.uk (please state ‘Jayne Sage Refund’ in the email subject line)

Postal address: Jayne Sage Limited, Little Acre, Woodcock Heath, Kingstone, Uttoxeter, ST14 8QR, United Kingdom

 

 

Engagement Outcome - Warning Letter and Action plan 

 

Background: 

 

Since 13 October 2022 Jayne Sage Ltd have provided an ICSS Call connection service to consumers in the phone-paid services market. The service operates on 09 premium rate numbers, connecting consumers to a variety of organisations including delivery services Evri and DPD. The service costs £6 per minute plus the phone company’s access charge.

 

Warning Letter and Action plan:

On 10 August 2023, the PSA issued a Warning Letter and Action Plan to Jayne Sage Ltd. The letter explained that it had obtained evidence to suggest that Jayne Sage Ltd may be in breach of the Code and that it had decided to commence an Engagement procedure to ensure any apparent breaches are addressed. The apparent breaches identified by the PSA and set out in the warning letter of 10 August 2023 included:

 

’Pricing Information – Paragraph 3.2.1 of the Code makes it clear that the cost of the service must be provided before any purchase is made and must be prominent, clear, legible, visible and proximate to the means by which a charge may be triggered.’

‘Misleading – Paragraph 3.2.2 of Code 15 state that that PRS services must not mislead or be likely to mislead in any way’

‘Customer care – Paragraph 3.4.1 of Code 15 states that Intermediary providers and merchant providers must ensure that consumer enquiries and complaints that they have primary responsibility for handling are responded to and resolved promptly, easily and fairly, at no more than basic rate cost to the consumer…’

With regard to pricing information the warning letter noted that “when the PSA viewed the promotional material www.contactinformation.uk on a mobile handset the PSA found that call cost information could be missed due the ‘Click to Call’ and Premium rate number (PRN) buttons being significantly more prominent than any pricing information provided on the page” and that  “The ‘Click to Call’ and PRN buttons are in large bold font in white text on a blue background, while the pricing information is less prominent in small grey text on a white background below the call to action.”

With regards to misleading the letter set out that:

“The language used in the promotional Google search engine ad such as the heading “Evri Customer Service – Evri contact Number” and “DPD Customer Service – DPD contact Number” on the Google Ad; and “Evri Customer Service” and “DPD Customer Service” on the landing page gives the impression that the service is provided by Evri and DPD. It has the potential to mislead consumers into believing they are calling the company they are looking for directly and not via a call connection service.”

With regard to customer care the letter noted that “The PSA has received complaints from consumers stating that they were unable to contact your customer service.”

The PSA also noted that following the amendments to Code 15, relating to ICSS services, that was announced on 24 July 2023, all providers, including Jayne Sage Limited, were required to come into compliance with the changes by 18 September 2023.

Jayne Sage Ltd agreed to the action plan to resolve the issues identified in PSAs warning letter and confirmed that they would ensure that their services are compliant with the ICSS Code amendments coming into effect on 18 September 2023.

The agreed action plan included requirements to: 

• improve the prominence and proximity of pricing information
• amend the promotional material to ensure consumers are aware they are using an ICSS call connection service and not contacting the end organisation directly
• ensure consumer enquiries and complaints are being responded to and resolved promptly, easily and fairly
• refund complainants who request a refund.

Publication date
20 June 2023

Reference number
CAS-189094-L5S8C8

Service category/case type
Information, news and education

Service subcategory
Alerts

Engagement Outcome - Warning Letter and Action plan 

Background: 

During the period August 2020 – January 2022, 4130 Kinetic Ltd ‘Kinetic’ provided the Alerts for You service to consumers in the phone-paid services market. This was a subscription service where consumers received SMS messages costing £1.50 (up to a max £4.50 per week) from shortcode 88222. In January 2022, 4130 Kinetic Ltd ceased marketing the service but existing subscribers continued to be billed. The PSA commenced initial enquiries into the service on 1 June 2021 and on 25 August 2021 it notified Kinetic that it had opened a formal investigation.

Warning Letter and Action plan:

On 15 May 2023, the PSA issued a Warning Letter and Action Plan to Kinetic setting out its concerns and explaining that the investigation was initiated based on consumer complaints and PSA monitoring. The apparent breaches identified by the PSA and set out in the warning letter included:

‘Transparency – Code 14 rule 2.2.1 requires that consumers of PRS must be fully and clearly informed of all information likely to influence the decision to purchase, including the cost, before any purchase is made….’ 

‘Pricing information – Code 14 rule 2.2.7 requires that for any PRS promotion the cost must be included before any purchase is made and must be prominent, clearly legible, visible and proximate to the premium rate telephone number, shortcode or other means of access to the service….’  

‘Misleading – Code 14 rule 2.3.2 requires that PRS must not mislead or be likely to mislead in any way…’  

The letter went on to say that ‘Kinetic still maintain an active registration with the PSA and although the apparent breaches set out above are now mostly historic in nature, we are aware that it continues to bill existing subscribers. Given this, the PSA wishes to ensure that, should Kinetic decide to operate within the phone-paid services market again at any point in the future, issues such as those set out in this letter do not recur. Kinetic should be aware we remain concerned that consumers who subscribed during the operation of this service, may have been misled into signing up and that some degree of consumer harm is still occurring.’

Given the concerns set out above the PSA enclosed an action plan setting out what corrective action we consider is required to address our remaining concerns identified in the letter.

On 26 May 2023, Kinetic confirmed that although it agreed to implement the action plan it did not fully agree with all the apparent breaches set out in the warning letter.

Transparency – Code 14 rule 2.2.1

The PSA considered there was a lack of clarity in the way the promotion was designed by using ambiguous wording such as ‘JOIN NOW’ on the call-to-action button rather than clearer wording such as ‘Buy’, ‘Pay’ or ‘Subscribe Now’. Kinetic did not agree, it provided the PSA with advice provided by Buckingham and Surrey Trading Standards Service which was issued on 18 August 2016 and valid until 17 August 2017. Kinetic queried whether there is any further advice to review should it decide to operate in the UK mobile payments market in the future, the PSA responded providing its most recent transparency guidance (April 2022).

‘Pricing information – Code 14 rule 2.2.7

The PSA considered that pricing information had not been insufficiently prominent when compared with the call to action, the pricing was within a paragraph of text and in a significantly smaller font. Additionally, pricing was obscured when consumers entered a pin to join the service.

Kinetic agreed that a breach had temporarily occurred relating to an update to a mobile handset’s operating system which affected the formatting of pages. This resulted in the cost of the service being covered by the keyboard during the second stage of the double opt-in when a customer confirms a charge to their mobile phone.

Although Kinetic did not agree with PSA's other concerns with pricing proximity it did agree to obtain compliance advice from the PSA in the event that it decides to re-enter the market to help ensure concerns of this nature do not recur in future.

Misleading – Code 14 rule 2.3.2

The PSA considered that the consumer journey which led to them signing up to the service was misleading. The consumer journey would begin with an offer to claim a reward/prize/gift from a well-known household brand. To claim the reward/prize gift the consumer would have to go through a series of surveys and questions. After these various steps were taken, the consumer would then reach Kinetic’s landing page. At this point, consumers may still have been under the impression that they were interacting in order to claim the prize or reward from the brand in question and it would not have been clear that they were entering a purchasing environment for a premium rate service.

Kinetic partially agreed to this breach as it agreed that one particular email marketed consumer journey the PSA provided as an example was misleading. The PSA however believed that all of these types of consumer journey were misleading to consumers.

The agreed action plan included requirements to: 

• 'Continue to send monthly subscription reminders to all subscribers’;
• ‘Provide a full refund within 10 days of receipt of a refund request’, and to
• ‘Seek compliance advice ahead of recommencing operation in the phone- paid services market’.

Therefore, any consumer who has been charged via their phone bill for the Alerts for You service operating on shortcode 88222 who wishes to seek a refund should contact 4130 Kinetic Ltd directly, on their dedicated e-mail address for consumers to use when contacting them for a refund - psacontact@4130kinetic.com.

Publication date
06 April 2023

Reference number
CAS- 191994-W0Z4S1

Service category/case type
Information, news and education

Service subcategory
Alerts

Engagement Outcome - Warning Letter and Action plan 

Background: 

During the period November 2018 – April 2022 Modo Mobi Ltd provided the Modo Alerts service to consumers in the phone-paid services market. This was a subscription service where consumers received SMS messages costing £1.50 (up to a max £4.50 per week) from shortcode 85222. In April 2022 Modo Mobi Ltd ceased marketing the service but existing subscribers continued to be billed. The PSA commenced initial enquiries into the service on 7 July 2021 and on 23 May 2022 it notified Modo Mobi Ltd that it had opened a formal investigation.

Warning Letter and Action plan:

On 27 February 2023 the PSA issued a Warning Letter and Action Plan to Modo Mobi Ltd setting out its concerns and explaining that the investigation was initiated based on consumer complaints and PSA monitoring. The apparent breaches identified by the PSA and set out in the warning letter included:

‘Transparency – Code 14 rule 2.2.1 requires that consumers of PRS must be fully and clearly informed of all information likely to influence the decision to purchase, including the cost, before any purchase is made….’ 

‘Pricing information – Code 14 rule 2.2.7 requires that for any PRS promotion the cost must be included before any purchase is made and must be prominent, clearly legible, visible and proximate to the premium rate telephone number, shortcode or other means of access to the service….’  

‘Misleading – Code 14 rule 2.3.2 requires that PRS must not mislead or be likely to mislead in any way…’  

The letter went on to say that ‘Although the apparent breaches set out above are now by and large historic in nature we note that you have renewed your registration and are continuing to bill existing subscribers. Given this we wish to ensure that, should you in future decide to re-enter the phone-paid services market, issues such as those set out in this letter do not re-occur. We also remain concerned that consumers who subscribed during the operation of this service, may have been misled into signing up and that some measure of consumer harm is still occurring’ and that ‘Given the concerns set out above we have attached at annex 1 an action plan setting out what corrective action we consider is required to address our remaining concerns identified in this letter’.

On 15 March 2023 Modo Mobi confirmed that although it agreed to implement the action plan and that a potential breach of ‘Pricing information’ and ‘Misleading’ may have occurred, it did not agree all the apparent breaches set out in the warning letter.

With regards to ‘Pricing information’, where the PSA considered that pricing information had been insufficiently prominent when compared with the call to action, Modo Mobi Ltd agreed that a breach had temporarily occurred relating to an update to a mobile handset’s operating system which affected the formatting of pages. This resulted in the cost of the service being covered by the keyboard during the second stage of the double opt-in when a customer confirms a charge to their mobile phone. It has also acknowledged that it is important that service monitoring is regularly carried out and that it includes considering the impact of device software updates that are outside its immediate control.

The agreed action plan included requirements to: 

• Continue to send monthly subscription reminders to all subscribers’;
• ‘Provide a full refund within 10 days of receipt of a refund request’, and to
• ‘Seek compliance advice ahead of recommencing operation in the phone- paid services market’.

Therefore, any consumer who has been charged via their phone bill for the Modo Alerts service operating on shortcode 85222 who wishes to seek a refund should contact Modo Mobi Ltd. Modo Mobi Ltd has set up a dedicated e-mail address for consumers to use when contacting them for a refund - psacontact@modomobi.com.