Part 1 – Code of Practice for Small Business Customers

Introduction to our Company and Services

PHONES 4 BUSINESS is an independent company that delivers communications services to small 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, customer-care policies and where to find information about our charges and terms and conditions. This Code of Practice is published on our website www.phones4business.com. Additional copies are available on request and free of charge to any domestic and small business customer. It is also available in alternative formats, such as large upon request.

How to Contact Us

Please contact Emma Martineau in our Customer Service Team using one of the following:
By Phone: 01202 705030
Opening Hours: 8.45 to 5.15 Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays
By Email: emma@phones4business.com
By Letter: Emma Martineau, Customer Services, Phones 4 Business Limited, 3 Victoria Park Place, 706 Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH9 2EG
Or via our website: www.phones4business.com

Our registered office address is: 3 Victoria Park Place, 706 Wimborne Road, Bournemouth, Dorset BH9 2EG

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
• VoIP & IP telephony services
• Non-geographic numbers
• Intelligent Call Routing
• Internet
• Mobile telephone and data services
• Public/private/business two-way radio mobile radio services/ Common Base Station Services
• Wide area/local paging services
• Equipment and maintenance service

For more details on any of our products and services, or to place an order immediately, please contact our Customer Service Team on 01202 705030.

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 PHONES 4 BUSINESS 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 01202 705030. We may carry out a credit check as part of our assessment procedures.

Where applicable the minimum contract term for our services will be 12 months. We aim to provide services within three 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 ten working days of your order being placed. For cancellations after ten working days we will charge you an administration fee as set out in your contract. If you wish to terminate your contract within the minimum term of 12 months, please email our Customer Service Helpdesk at emma@phones4business.com. We will charge you a fee as set out in your contract. After the minimum term you can cancel any service by emailing our Customer Service Helpdesk at emma@phones4business.com, giving us 3 months’ notice.

Faults and Repairs

Please call our Fault Service Team on 01202 705030 if you experience a fault with any of our services.

For SMEs if required we will discuss operational service levels for the following on a case by case basis:

activation of a new service
restoration following loss of service
keeping a pre-agreed engineer appointment

Compensation and Refund Policy

We do not offer automatic compensation payments in cases where the service level targets are not met and will assess any claim for compensation on a case by case basis. Any payment made will be on a purely discretionary basis.

We do not feel that fixed level compensation payments are appropriate for business customers, who we advise to seek other ways, such as insurance, to protect themselves against the impact of any loss of service.

Price Lists

Our pricing structure is available from our Customer Service Team on 01202 705030.

Billing

We will bill you monthly or on a per instance basis.

You can choose to pay us via a range of options including cheque 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.

We provide itemised bills as part of our service to you on request for a fee of £4.95 + VAT per month.

If you have difficulty paying your bill, please contact us on 01202 705030 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. In any event, you will be given 48 hours’ notice of any decision to disconnect your services.

Moving Home or Office

Please call our Customer Service Team on 01202 705030 no later than 36 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

Phones 4 Business recognise 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 01202 705030.

Directory Entries

You are entitled to a Directory Entry 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 01202 705030.

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 here (www.phones4business.com). Alternatively, copies are available free of charge and on request from our Customer Service Team on 01202 705030.

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:

• Priority access to the Customer Service Team
• Priority fault repair and assistance
• Third party bill management
• Copies of bills, contracts and this Code in accessible format

Data Protection

We comply fully with our obligations under the Data Protection Act 2018.

Part 2 – Code of Practice for Premium Rate Services

Purpose of this Code of Practice

This code informs you, our small business customers, about our policies on providing information about Premium Rate Services (PRS) and on our charging policy for calls to PRS.

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” or “118”. Numbers starting 087 are also designated as Premium Rate numbers and subject to PRS regulation when they cost 7p per minute or more. Typical services include TV votelines, mobile ringtone downloads, technical helplines, charity fund-raising and adult entertainment.

Charges for these services are made up of two parts, a service charge and an access charge and the total is added to your telephone bill. You will see the service charge advertised by the company providing the service alongside the number and this can be between 7p and £3.60 per minute, or £6 per call or per text (including VAT) for 08 and 09 prefixes. Calls to 118 services can cost up to £15.98 per call plus a £7.99 per minute charge (including VAT). The access charge is kept by us, your phone company. Our access charge for calling these services is shown in our price list, which is available on request from our Customer Services Team and via our website.

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 01202 705030 for advice on this. We can give you a factsheet on PRS.

You can also ask for help from the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) which is the industry-funded regulatory body for Premium Rate Services. PSA operates a Code of Practice that sets out standards for the operation of PRS. You can use the PSA website at www.psauthority.org.uk to check PRS numbers direct and find contact details for the company in question or to submit a complaint. PSA has the legal powers to require a provider of PRS to amend its service or promotional material (or both) and can also order refunds and impose penalties on service providers for breaches of the PSA Code. For other ways to contact Phone-paid Services Authority, see the “Useful addresses” section below.

If you are unhappy with the help you have received from us on a problem with PRS, please contact Emma Martineau on 01202 705030 and/or by email emma@phones4business.com 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 our complaints code including, ultimately, referring your complaint to Ombudsman Services.

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

Our Chosen Approved Alternative Dispute Resolution Provider

The Ombudsman Services
3300 Daresbury Park, Daresbury, Warrington, WA4 4HS
T: 0330 440 1614
E: osenquiries@os-communications.org
W: www.ombudsman-services.org

Ofcom
Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London, SE1 9HA
T: 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333
E: contact@ofcom.org.uk
W: www.ofcom.org.uk

Phone-paid Services Authority
40 Bank Street London, E14 5NR
T: 0800 500 212 or 020 7940 7474
E: mailto:info@psauthority.org.uk
W: www.psauthority.org.uk

Telephone Preference Service
DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SS
T: 0845 070 0707
W: www.tpsonline.org.uk

Federation of Communication Services (FCS)
Provident House, Burrell Row, Beckenham, Kent BR3 1AT
T: 020 7186 5432
E: fcs@fcs.org.uk
W: www.fcs.org.uk