TIO Annual Report 2005/06

Case Studies

Premium SMS

The complaint

The complainant claimed that her son had requested premium-rate services via SMS but continued to receive unsolicited messages for which the provider had billed over $2,000. She claimed that her son had made several requests to the provider for assistance to stop the messages. The complainant said that the provider had given her son contact numbers for the premium-rate service providers. However, when he dialled the numbers they did not connect successfully, and he was unable to stop the messages.

TIO response

The TIO asked the provider for its view about the complainant’s claim that her son was billed for unsolicited premium-rate services and that despite seeking assistance from it to stop the messages, the messages and associated charges continued to accrue. The TIO also cited a possible breach of Clause 7.3.1 of the ACIF Billing Code, which says that the supplier of a service must demonstrate that charges billed are consistent with the service a customer has requested or used.

The outcome

The provider said the complainant’s son had subscribed to the premium-rate services and was liable for the outstanding charges. The charges were not a result of the complainant’s son being unable to restrict incoming SMS but due to his heavy usage of the services. The provider said it had complied with Clause 7.3.1 of the Billing Code by billing the customer in accordance with his usage. However, as a gesture of goodwill and without admission of liability, it waived all the charges for premium-rate services. It also said that all of the premium-rate service providers subscribed to by the complainant’s son had been notified to unsubscribe his service.

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