Code of Practice Including our Basic Code of Practice and our Code of Practice for Premium Rate Services and NTS calls
Part 1 – MARSTON’S TELECOMS LIMITED Basic Code of Practice
Introduction to our company and services
MARSTON’S TELECOMS LIMITED is a company within the Marston’s PLC group that delivers communications services to business customers and consumers. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure that we can deliver a high quality service, and to ensure that any problems are resolved promptly.
Purpose of this Code of Practice
This code informs you about our products, services, customer-care policies and where to find information about our charges and terms and conditions. This Code of Practice is published on our website at www.marstonstelecoms.com. Additional copies are available on request and free of charge. It is also available in large print.
How to contact us
Please contact our Customer Service Team
By phone: 0808 280 0000 option 2 from 9am until 6pm Monday-Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays
By email: telecoms@marstons.co.uk
By letter at our registered office: Marston’s Telecoms Limited, Marston’s House, Brewery Road, Wolverhampton. WV1 4JT, marked for the attention of Tim Phillips, Service Delivery Manager
Website: www.marstonstelecoms.com
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 and Wi-Fi
• Ethernet access
• VoIP & IP telephony services
• Non-geographic numbers
• Intelligent Call Routing
• Wireless Networks
For more details on any of our products and services and their availability, or to place an order, please contact our Sales Team on 01902 283 300.
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 Marston’s Telecoms Limited, 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 0808 280 0000 option 2. We may carry out a credit check as part of our assessment procedures.
Where applicable, the usual minimum contract term for our services is twelve months although longer terms are available. We aim to provide services within 10 working days of your original request, or as specified in your contract, subject always 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 10 working days after your order is placed or up until 2 working days before the installation date as notified by Marston’s Telecoms Limited (whichever is shorter). After ten working days we may charge you an administration fee if specified in your contract. If you wish to terminate your contract within the minimum term of 12 months, please call our Customer service Helpdesk on 0808 280 0000 option 2. 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 0808 280 0000 option 2, giving us 1 months’ written notice.
Faults and repairs
Please call our Fault Service Team on 0808 280 0000 option 2 if you experience a fault with any of our services. We aim to have this investigated and repaired within five working days. If it emerges that the fault is with your equipment, you may be charged for the investigation and repair of this fault.
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 14 working days. Any refunds that are due will be credited to the next month’s invoice.
Price lists
Our pricing structure, including details of any access charges, subscription or rental charges, standard tariffs, standard discounts and special and targeted tariff schemes, is available from our Customer Service Team on 0808 280 0000 option 2. We will write to you in advance, if we change the pricing structure on your products and services.
Billing
We will bill you monthly in advance for most services. Some services (as agreed by you in your contract) will be billed to you quarterly or annually in advance. Voice calls and some other telephony services are usually billed in arrears.
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 0808 280 0000 option 2. All such changes must be agreed with us in advance and in writing.
We provide itemised bills and send them to you via e-mail at no extra cost as part of our service to you.
If you have difficulty paying your bill, please contact us on 0808 280 0000 option 2 and we will try to arrange a different method of payment. We will do all we can to help our small business customers to manage their bills and avoid disconnection.
If you are moving office
Please call our Customer Service Team on 0808 280 0000 option 2 no later than 20 working 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
Marston’s Telecoms Limited 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 0808 280 0000 option 2.
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 0808 280 0000 option 2.
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.
Our Code of Practice on Complaint Handling and Dispute Resolution explains how customers can complain. The code also provides information on how we deal with complaints and your right to take unresolved complaints to Alternative Dispute Resolution. You can find a copy of our Complaints Code on our website at www.marstonstelecoms.com. Alternatively, copies are available free of charge and on request in large print from our Customer Service Team on 0808 280 0000 option 2.
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 0808 280 0000 option 2 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 bills in large print, on computer disc for customers who have difficulty reading their bill.
• Copies of this Code are available in larger print.
Data protection
We comply fully with our obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998, as set out in our Privacy Policy. http://www.marstonstelecoms.com/privacypolicy/
Part 2 – MARSTON’S TELECOMS LIMITED 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”. 0871 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 8.51 pence and £1.2766 per minute, per call or per text (excl. 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 0808 280 0000 option 2.
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 0808 280 0000 option 2 `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 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 (excl. 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 0808 280 0000 option 2. 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 [Tony Ford (01902 283301 or email tony.ford@marstons.co.uk)] and NTS. You may also complain using the complaints procedure set out in our complaints code including, ultimately, referring your complaint to Ombudsman Services:
Communications.
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 0808 280 0000 option 2 for details. 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
Ombudsman Services: Communications
PO Box 730, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6WU Tel: 0330 440 1614 Website: www.ombudsman-services.org
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
Clove Building, 4 Maguire Street, London, SE1 2NQ. Tel: 0800 500 212 or 020 7940 7474 Website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk email info@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 7186 5432 email: fcs@fcs.org.uk Website: www.fcs.org.uk
