ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD CODES OF PRACTICE
Including our Code of Practice on Complaint Handling and Dispute Resolution and our Code of Practice for Premium Rate Services and NTS calls
Part 1 – ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD Code of Practice on Complaint Handling and Dispute Resolution for Domestic and Small Business Customers
Introduction to our company and services
ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD is an independent company that delivers communications services to domestic and business customers. While we may not provide all the component parts of our services ourselves, we do take responsibility for the services delivered to you. So we will liaise with our suppliers to ensure that any problems with their services are resolved promptly.
Purpose of this Code of Practice
This code informs you about our products, services, and customer-care policies. Our code of practice on complaint handling and dispute resolution has been approved by Ofcom, the independent regulator for the UK communications industries for the purposes of section 52 of the Communications Act 2003. This Code of Practice is published on our website at www.advantagetelecom.com Additional copies are available on request and free of charge to any domestic and small business customer. It is also available in larger print.
How to contact us
Please contact our Customer Service Team From 8am until 6pm Monday-Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays
By phone: |
01442 353040 |
By email: |
|
By fax: |
01442 353 041 |
Website: |
|
|
|
By letter: |
ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD |
Our commitment to you
We are committed to giving you the highest quality of customer service. When we purchase our services from wholesale providers, we choose those providers carefully to ensure that you get a high-quality service. We make every reasonable effort to supply services that satisfy your requirements. We work to all relevant laws and regulations.
Our products and services
- Landline telephones
- Landline calls
- CPS – Carrier Pre-Selection
- WLR – Wholesale Line Rental
- ISDN – digital telephone lines
- Broadband access
- Non-geographic numbers
- Internet
- Directory enquiries
For more details on any of our products and services, or to place an order immediately, please contact our Customer Service Team on on: 01442 353 040
Marketing
We work to the principles in the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing, which are set out on the website www.cap.org.uk
Terms and conditions
When you subscribe to a service from ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD, we will send you our Standard Terms and Conditions If you have any questions, please phone our Customer Service Team on 01442 353 040. We may also carry out a credit check as part of our assessment procedures.
Where applicable, the minimum contract term for our services is 60 months for business customers and 30 days for residential customers. We aim to provide services within ten working days of your original request, subject to the availability and installation of any equipment and, where appropriate, lines to your premises. If we need to carry out a survey of your premises or lay additional cabling, we will inform you of the revised timescales as soon as we can.
Cancellation
If you decide to cancel your order or agreement before we have provided the services, you may do so without charge within seven working days after your order is placed. After seven working days we will charge you an administration fee as set out in your contract. If you wish to terminate your contract within the minimum term of 60 months for business customers and 30 days for residential, please call our Customer service Helpdesk on 01442 353040 we will charge you a fee as set out in your contract. After the minimum term you can cancel any service by calling our Customer Service Helpdesk on 01442 353040, giving us one months' notice.
Faults and repairs
Please call our Fault Service Team on 01442 353040 if you experience a fault with any of our services. We aim to have this investigated and repaired within 2-3 days however we do not offer service level guarantees for this.
Compensation and refund policy
Our policy is to review each case on individual merit, on a case by case basis.
Price lists
Our pricing structure is available from our Customer Service Team on 01442 353040 and via our website www.advantagetelecom.com. We will write to you in advance if we change the pricing structure on your products and services.
Billing
We will bill you on a monthly direct debit basis. You can pay us via direct debit only. This is agreed at the start of your contract.
We provide itemised bills as part of our service to you, on request we can offer a fully itemised bill for an additional £2 per month. If you have difficulty paying your bill, please contact us on 01442 353040 and we will try to arrange a different method of payment. We will do all we can to help residential and small business customers to manage their bills and avoid disconnection.
If you are moving home or office
Please call our Customer Service Team on 01442 353040 no later than 10 days before your move date. We will amend your account and billing requirements as necessary. We will endeavour to offer you the same
telephone number to minimise disruption but please note that for geographic numbers this is not always possible.
Number porting
ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD recognise that keeping your existing telephone numbers may be important to you. If you move your business to us and wish to keep the number that you have with your old provider, we will arrange it if you ask us. We will work with you to ensure that the services are switched over at a convenient and appropriate time. For more information, please call our Customer Service Team on 01442 353040
Directory Entries
You are entitled to a Directory Enquiry listing (including an entry in the Phone Book) for both your fixed and mobile telephone numbers. If you do want your details included, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01442 353040.
Complaints
We make every effort to ensure that our customers are happy with the level of service, and the products and service they receive from us. However, despite our best efforts, things can go wrong. We take customer complaints very seriously and aim to resolve them quickly and efficiently.
If you have a complaint about any part of our service, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01442 353040. Our advisors will ask you about your complaint and seek to resolve the problem while you are on the line. During any discussions we will protect the privacy of the information that we hold on you. To do this we may have to ask you questions to confirm that we are speaking to the right person.
You may also send your complaint to us in writing: ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD, Telecom House 158 The Marlowes, Hemel Hempstead, Herts, HP1 1BA
We will try to resolve your complaint quickly and efficiently, and to keep you informed at all times. If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, you can take it further within our company, at the above address. If we cannot resolve the problem, we will write to you to say so.
If your complaint has been outstanding for more than 8 weeks from the date when your complaint was first lodged or you have received a letter from us saying that your complaint has reached “deadlock”, then you may ask for help from the Communication and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS): 24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT Tel: 0845 1308 170 or 0207 520 3827 e-mail: info@cisas.org.uk Website: www.cisas.org.uk
CISAS is an independent organisation which is approved by Ofcom to provide an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service. Ofcom-approved ADR services sort out disputes between communications providers and their consumer and small business customers. Their job is to investigate complaints fairly by listening to both sides of the story. They look at the facts given to them before recommending any action that may be needed to put things right.
Nuisance calls
We take the problem of nuisance calls and malicious communications very seriously. We tackle it by working closely with the police and others in the communications industry. If you have been a victim of this activity, please call the Customer Service Team on 01442 353040 to report the incident and for information on how to deal with it.
Services for people with special needs
We are committed to helping all our customers to communicate easily. We offer the following additional services on request for customers who are older or who may have a disability, including:
Copies of this Code are available in larger print.
Data protection
We comply fully with our obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Part 2 – ADVANTAGE TELECOM LTD Code of Practice for Premium Rate Services and NTS Calls
Purpose of this Code of Practice
This code informs you about our policies on providing information about Premium Rate Service (PRS) calls and on our charging policy for calls to NTS and PRS numbers.
Premium rate services
Premium rate services (PRS) are telephone numbers that offer some form of information or entertainment that is charged to your phone bill. UK-based PRS numbers are normally prefixed by “09”. The 0871 range (including 0872 and 0873 but not 0870) is now also designated as a Premium rate number and subject to PRS regulation. Typical services include TV votelines, mobile ringtone downloads, technical helplines, charity fund-raising and adult entertainment.
Charges for these services are added to your telephone bill. Calling a PRS number generally costs between 10 pence and £1.50 per minute, per call or per text (incl. vat). Calling these services from, for example, mobile phones, cable networks or public payphones will generally cost more than the advertised rate. Our charges for calling these services are shown in our price list, which is available on request from our Customer Services Team 01442 353040 and via our website www.advantagetelecom.com
If you have a problem with PRS, we can help. We can provide advice on checking the telephone number of any PRS charges that appear on your bill and will try to help you identify the premium rate service provider. We can use call barring to restrict access to “09” numbers. Please call our Customer Service Team on 01442 353040 for advice on this. We can give you a factsheet on PRS.
You can also ask for help from PhonepayPlus (formerly ICSTIS), which is the industry-funded regulatory body for Premium Rate Services. PhonepayPlus operates a code of practice that sets out standards for the operation of PRS. You can use the PhonepayPlus website at www.phonepayplus.org.uk to check PRS numbers direct or to download a complaint form. PhonepayPlus has legal powers to require a provider of PRS to amend its service or promotional material (or both) and can also impose penalties on content service providers. For other ways to contact PhonepayPlus, see the “Useful addresses” section below.
Number translation services
Number translation services (NTS) are based on numbers that are normally pre-fixed “08”. For example, 0800 and 0808 are used to provide freephone services (some freephone services are also provided on 0500 numbers). 0844 and 0845 numbers are used for dial-up pay-as-you-go Internet access and customer service help lines. 0870 numbers are used for information services, technical helplines and telephone banking. They are also used by organisations to help them provide call-management features such as intelligent call routing and fax-to-email services.
Charges for calling services on NTS numbers are added to your telephone bill and standard prices range from free up to 5p per minute or per call (incl. vat). Calling these services from, for example, mobile phones, cable networks or public payphones will generally cost more than the advertised rate but communications providers must publish prices for calls to 0870 numbers where these are higher than for calls to geographic numbers. Our charges for calling these services are shown in our price list, which is available on request from our Customer Services Team 01442 353040 and via our website www.advantagetelecom.com We can also give you a factsheet on NTS.
If you are unhappy with the help you have received from us on a problem with PRS or NTS, please contact Nicole Owens Tel 01442 353040 or email nicoleowens@advantagetelecom.co.uk,who has responsibility for compliance with our code of practice for PRS and NTS. You may also complain using the complaints procedure set out in this code including, ultimately, referring your complaint to CISAS.
Internet diallers
If you use the Internet, it is possible for software to be placed on your computer without you knowing - using the same methods as for computer viruses. This type of software (known as Internet or rogue diallers) can then make calls to PRS and NTS numbers without your knowledge. Software is available to detect this activity and we can help you to access this - please contact our Customer Services Team for details 01442 353040 PhonepayPlus has been given responsibility for policing this type of activity and you can contact them via www.phonepayplus.org.uk to ask for help or to report examples of this type of abuse. For other ways to contact PhonepayPlus, see the "Useful addresses" section below. We can also help by barring calls to 09 numbers.
The Telephone Preference Service
If you don’t want to get sales and marketing calls you have not requested, you can add your details to a list run by the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). If your number is on the list, it is illegal for a company to call you for marketing purposes. You can contact the Telephone Preference Service via www.tpsonline.org.uk or by telephoning 0845 070 0707.
Useful addresses
CISAS – 24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT, Tel: 0845 1308 170 or 0207 520 3827
e-mail:
e-mail: info@cisas.org.uk Website: www.cisas.org.uk
Ofcom - Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA. Tel: 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333 email: contact@ofcom.org.uk Website: www.ofcom.org.uk
PhonepayPlus (formerly Icstis)- Clove Building, 4 Maguire Street, London, SE1 2NQ. Tel: 0800 500 212 or 020 7940 7474 e-mail: info@phonepayplus.org.uk Website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk
Telephone Preference Service,DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SS Tel: 0845 070 0707 Website: www.tpsonline.org.uk
Federation of Communication Services (FCS), Burnhill Business Centre, Provident House, Burrell Row, Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT. Tel: 020 8249 6363 email: fcs@fcs.org.uk Website: www.fcs.org.uk
This code has been licensed by The Federation of Communication Services Limited 2006
Licence number 002503
Published May 2010. Correct at the time of printing. © The Federation of Communication Services Limited 2006