what will happen to my complaint?
PhonepayPlus will look at the information you have supplied and assess whether your complaint suggests that a breach of our Code of Practice has occurred.If there does appear to be a breach, we will investigate this further, taking the matter up with the service provider responsible. Most of the time is taken up with gathering solid evidence about the promotion and operation of the service that you have reported to us.
Once this is done, we have to give the company concerned an opportunity to respond to the breaches that have been raised so that they can have a fair and objective hearing.
If breaches are identified, a report is presented to the PhonepayPlus Board who then make an adjudication. If the Board upholds any of the breaches that have been raised, it can impose sanctions on the service provider. These range from a formal reprimand or a fine to a bar on numbers or a service type for a defined period. If a company fails to meet these sanctions, it may be barred from operating any services until it does meet them.
The length of time investigations take can vary. We try to complete cases as quickly as we can but it is essential that cases are investigated thoroughly and fairly so that we can prevent consumer harm.
In instances where the service or promotion causes significant consumer harm (in PhonepayPlus’ opinion), access to the service may be barred under our Emergency Procedure for the duration of the investigation. We hope to write/email you with the outcome of the investigation into the service/promotion you complained about. Details of recent investigations and adjudications can also be found on the latest adjudications page of our website.
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