|
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 –
Continental Telecom Ltd
Code of Practice on Complaint Handling
and Dispute Resolution for Domestic and Small Business
Customers
Part-2 CONTINENTAL TELECOM LTD
Code of Practice for Premium Rate
Services and NTS Calls
Introduction
to our company and services
Continental 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
handing and dispute resolution has been approved by Ofcom,
the independent regulator for the UK communications industries
for the purpose of section 52 of the Communications act
2003. This Code of Practice is published on our web site
www.continentaltelecom.co.uk.
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 Team.
From 9am until 6pm Monday-Friday
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 calls
- CPS - Carrier Pre-Selection
- WLR - Wholesale Line Rental
For more details on any of our products
and services, or to place an order immediately, please
contact our Customer Service Team on 0844 414 2821.
For more information, please contact
the Customer Service Team on 0844 414 2821 or see our
website www.continentaltelecom.co.uk
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 CONTINENTAL TELECOM
LTD, we will send you our Standard Terms and Conditions
and ask you to sign a contract, if applicable. If you
have any questions, please phone our Customer Service
Team on 0844 414 2821. We may carry out a credit check
as part of our assessment procedures.
Where applicable, the minimum contract
term for our services is 24 months. We aim to provide
services within fourteen 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 our terms and conditions via www.continentaltelecom.co.uk
. If you wish to terminate your contract within the minimum
term of 24 months, we will charge you a fee as set out
in your contract. This agreement will have the duration of 24 months and will be automatically renewed on an annual basis unless and until either of us gives the other written notice of termination at least 90 days before the relevant anniversary.
Faults and
repairs
Please call our Fault Service Team on 0844 414 2821 if
you experience a fault with any of our services. We aim
to have this investigated and repaired within 2 days.
Compensation
and refund policy
Our policy is to assess each claim on a case by case basis.
We aim to investigate any claims and respond within 7
working days. Any refunds that are due will be credited
to the next month’s invoice.
Price Lists
Our pricing structure is available from our Customer Service
Team on 0844 414 2821 and via our website. We will write
to you in advance if we change the pricing structure on
your products and services.
Billing
We will bill you monthly.
You can choose to pay us via a range
of options including credit card and direct debit. These
are agreed at the start of your contract. If you wish
to change your method of payment at any time, please call
our Customer Service Team on 0844 414 2821.
You can view your monthly bill online for free or we can provide you with a paper bill (itemised) for a fee of £2.95 per month.
If you have difficulty paying your
bill, please contact us on 0844 414 2821 and we will try
to arrange a different method of payment. We will do all
we can to help our residential and small business customers
to manage their bills and avoid disconnection. Please
refer to CONTINENTAL TELECOM LTD’s company terms
and conditions.
If you are
moving home or office
Please call our Customer Service Team on 0844 414 2821
no later than 30 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
CONTINENTAL TELECOM LTD recognises 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 0844 414 2821.
Directory
Enquiries
You are entitled to a Directory Enquiry listing (including
an entry in the Phone Book) for both your fixed and mobile
numbers. If you do want your details included, please
contact our Customer Service Team on 0844 414 2821.
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 Ashley Huxham on 0844 414 2821. 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:
CONTINENTAL TELECOM LTD, 2 The Close,
Richmond, Surrey. TW9 4QW.
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, and ultimately
to the Managing Director at the above address or telephone
on 0844 414 2821 or write to the above address. If we
cannot resolve the problem, we will write to you and say
so.
If your complaint has been outstanding
for more than 3 months 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 Ajudication Scheme (CISAS) Tel:0207 421 7432
e-mail: info@cisas.org.uk
24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT Website: www.cisas.org.uk
CISAS is an independent organization
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 0844 414 2821 to report the incident and
for information on how to deal with it.
We encourage parents to register
the mobile phones of their children, and take responsibility
for all customer care enquiries.
Services for
people with special needs
We are committed to helping all our customers to communicate
easily. We offer the following additional services for
customer who are older or who may have a disability, including:
- Priority access to the
Customer Service Team 0844 414 2821
- Priority fault repair and assistance.
- Additional help and support
if you have difficulty paying your bill.
- Copies of bills in large print,
on computer disc (or in Braille) for customers who have
difficulty reading their bill.
Copies of this Code are available
in larger print and other formats on request
Data protection
We comply fully with our obligations under the Data Protection
Act 1998.
Part-2 CONTINENTAL 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 Services (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”. Typical services include
TV vote-lines, mobile ring-tone downloads, technical help-lines,
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 0844 414 2821 and via our website. www.continentaltelecom.co.uk
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 0844 414 2821 for advice on this. We can give
you a factsheet on PRS.
You can also ask for help from PhonepayPlus,
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 helplines. 0870 and
0871 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 prices
range from free up to 10p 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. Our charges for calling
these services are shown in our price list, which is available
on request from our Customer Services Team 0844 414 2821
and via our website www.continentaltelecom.co.uk
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 Mr Ashley Huxham Tel: 0844 414 2821 or Email customerservices@continentaltelecom.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 0207 520
3827 email: info@cisas.org.uk
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 0844 414 2821. 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.
CISAS –24 Angel Gate, City Road, London EC1V 2PT.
Tel: 0845 130 8170 www.cisas.org.uk
Ofcom - Riverside House, 2a Southwark
Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA. Tel: 0845 456 3040 or 020
7981 3040 email: contact@ofcom.org.uk
Website: www.ofcom.org.uk
PhonepayPlus (Formerly ICSTIS) -
Clove Building, 4 Maguire Street, London, SE1 2NQ. Tel:
0800 500212 or 020 7940 7474 Website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk
Telephone Preference Service, DMA
House, 70 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SS Tel: 0845 0700707
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
2008
Licence number 002184
Published May 2008. Correct
at the time of printing.
© The Federation of Communication Services Limited
2008
|
