Phonepayplus to introduce new Code of Practice

Phonepayplus will change the way it investigates companies offering premium rate services.

Although the regulator of premium rate services said complaints about premium rate telephone services have fallen by 75 per cent over the past two years, it will create a new Code of Practice (CoP).

This will take account of the rate of expansion in premium rate mobile services; which remains the number-one source of complaints, with nearly nine in 10 (88 per cent) stemming from these between 2009 and 2010.

The new CoP, which will come into force in September, will change the way Phonepayplus investigates companies and imposes sanctions. It will also introduce a new mandatory registration scheme for all operators of premium rate services.

Speaking at an industry event, Phonepayplus chief executive Paul Whiteing and David Cockburn, chairman of the Code Compliance Panel, said the regulator would try to resolved minor complaints informally rather than use the full formal complaints procedures.

The regulator claimed to have resolved nearly 80 per cent of minor claims monthly this way and provides a "faster and better outcome for consumers".