Pro Money Holdings Ltd

This case concerns the non-payment of financial sanctions and administrative charges imposed by an earlier Tribunal on 20 March 2018 (case reference: 133553). The case concerned the Comphouse Competition service (“the Service”) operated by Pro Money Holdings Ltd (the “Level 2 provider”). The Level 1 provider for the Service was Veoo Ltd (the “Level 1 provider”).

The Executive had received 46 complaints concerning the Service between 19 April 2017 and 16 August 2017. However, since the Tribunal adjudication of 20 March 2018, no further complaints from consumers had been received.

The Service was charged at £4.50 per month and commenced operation on 20 March 2017. The Level 2 provider described the Service as a call centre running live consumer surveys. It stated that at the end of each survey, the consumer would be diverted to an Interactive Voice Response system (“IVR”) by which the Service would be explained. The consumer was then said to have had the option to subscribe to the Service by pressing a key on their mobile phone, following which, they would be sent a free message confirming their subscription. A billed message would then be sent to the consumer. The consumers would thereafter receive a billed message every 10 days and a monthly “spend reminder”. The Level 2 provider asserted that consumers were able to unsubscribe from the Service by replying “stop” to any of the information messages. The consumer would only be unsubscribed once they had received a free message stating that “all services on shortcode are now stopped”. 

Having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the Tribunal decided to impose the following sanctions:

• a formal reprimand
• a prohibition on the Level 2 provider from providing or having any involvement in any premium rate service for a period of 8 years from the date of the Tribunal decision or until payment of the fine and administrative charges, whichever is the later.

Administrative charge recommendation: 100%