Babestation - General Chat & Discussion

Your expert knowledge is much appreciated, no-ones questioning your expertise. It's being talked down to that gets on my wick

(21-04-2013 08:04 )bytor Wrote:  Ah ok my years of working in legal matters and all that stuff that is written in our official national guidance must be incorrect. There are too many experts here who know more than little old me. Possibly time for a career change.

(20-04-2013 08:26 )bytor Wrote:  Obviously by doing this you may be responsible, in a roundabout sort of way for getting the shows censored further or even have worse penalties imposed, not just on BS but the rest of us!!

Scottishbloke tried to make this argument in the £91,000 phone bill thread but nobody agreed with him.

(21-04-2013 07:20 )HannahsPet Wrote:  surely the ASA could do something

No the ASA surely couldn't. It states on the ASA website that premium rate telephone lines are outside their remit and advises contacting PhonepayPlus, even helpfully giving a link to the PPP website.

(20-04-2013 06:24 )The Silent Majority Wrote:  Here's an interesting thought. If you were calling using the credit card service, rather than paying via your phone bill, could you claim it back from your card as a fraudulent transaction?

It states on the TV screen that a connection to an onscreen presenter is not guaranteed, doesn't it?

(20-04-2013 11:26 )mr mystery Wrote:  these channels are out of the UK regulators remit and they do not deal with/investigate complaints whatever they are that is made against them, you would have to complain to NICAM .

NICAM would surely not be interested in such a complaint, as it relates to the content of premium rate telephone services which is not their concern. Again, the regulator for premium rate phone lines is PhonepayPlus.

(21-04-2013 10:40 )marlowe Wrote:  

(20-04-2013 06:24 )The Silent Majority Wrote:  Here's an interesting thought. If you were calling using the credit card service, rather than paying via your phone bill, could you claim it back from your card as a fraudulent transaction?

It states on the TV screen that a connection to an onscreen presenter is not guaranteed, doesn't it?

Yes, I know. That's why I said I doubt it would work.

That get-out clause pretty much covers all the scams they have going, but it doesn't make it acceptable.
What I was really saying was, the more people we could get poking around in these scams the better, even if they can't legally do anything about it.

(21-04-2013 10:48 )admiral decker Wrote:  

(20-04-2013 11:26 )mr mystery Wrote:  these channels are out of the UK regulators remit and they do not deal with/investigate complaints whatever they are that is made against them, you would have to complain to NICAM .

NICAM would surely not be interested in such a complaint, as it relates to the content of premium rate telephone services which is not their concern. Again, the regulator for premium rate phone lines is PhonepayPlus.

Yes you are correct they do regulate premium pay phone lines but Ofcom regulate IT and telecomms services so they would still be able to investigate. Like you say they will refer to PhonepayPlus but if they notice an increase in complaints they can investigate the levels. As I mentioned before in:
What Ofcom does:
Ofcom has various roles, including:
•offering advice to consumers
•monitoring the activity of service providers
•promoting competition between service providers
•ensuring service providers act fairly
•ensuring broadcasting is high quality and provides a broad range of programming
•monitoring and recording complaint levels.

However, the channels are not idiots. As pointed out they have disclaimers in the small print that will cover them. They are not amatuers at what they do and will have had lawyers making sure that they are not liable. As the old saying goes, 'buyer beware'

(21-04-2013 11:44 )bytor Wrote:  

(21-04-2013 10:48 )admiral decker Wrote:  

(20-04-2013 11:26 )mr mystery Wrote:  these channels are out of the UK regulators remit and they do not deal with/investigate complaints whatever they are that is made against them, you would have to complain to NICAM .

NICAM would surely not be interested in such a complaint, as it relates to the content of premium rate telephone services which is not their concern. Again, the regulator for premium rate phone lines is PhonepayPlus.

Yes you are correct they do regulate premium pay phone lines but Ofcom regulate IT and telecomms services so they would still be able to investigate. Like you say they will refer to PhonepayPlus but if they notice an increase in complaints they can investigate the levels. As I mentioned before in:
What Ofcom does:
Ofcom has various roles, including:
•offering advice to consumers
•monitoring the activity of service providers
•promoting competition between service providers
•ensuring service providers act fairly
•ensuring broadcasting is high quality and provides a broad range of programming
•monitoring and recording complaint levels.

But Ofcom don't do all of the this for overseas licensed and based company's, it's out of their remit, it's the responsibility of equivalent regulatory bodies of the country of origin of the company and licence owners concerned to do this, two regulatory bodies do not under European law regulate the same items even when broadcast on UK TV, Game Networks BV a Dutch based company owns the BS Dutch regulated channels and the SexStation web sites .

The phone lines could be a grey area, the phone systems themselves are the responsibility of PhonepayPlus as we know if the phone systems are operated by UK company's, but do they regulate the advertisement of phone line services such as phone numbers, girl callers etc, time out limits, phone price etc that are shown on screen or is the responsibility of Ofcom ? (if the company is UK based and licensed) because they are shown on tv and the channels are classed as advertising programming, the phone lines are part of the program advertisement, so i should think how a company operates and advertises various phone based services on tv could be under Ofcom's remit, if someone complained about being ripped off due to advertisements or services shown on TV (in this case Phone numbers) then i suppose it may come under Ofcom's remit .

If the phones systems provider/company Base/Licence holders etc are not from the UK then Ofcom have no jurisdiction over them when they are licensed and regulated by a fellow European Union country's licensing and regulatory body .

(21-04-2013 12:43 )mr mystery Wrote:  so i should think how a company operates and advertises various phone based services could be under Ofcom's/Nicam's remit .

The Ofcom website makes it clear that this isn't so. The following statement by Ofcom makes it clear that how a company operates and advertises various phone based services is a matter for PhonepayPlus.

"PhonepayPlus regulates the content, promotion and overall operation of all PRS through its Code of Practice. Its role is to develop a Code of Practice for providers of PRS with the aim of producing a regulatory framework that protects consumers. For example, the Code requires clear and accurate pricing information, honest advertising, and appropriate and targeted promotions.

It investigates all complaints received about the PRS numbers it regulates. If PhonepayPlus thinks a provider may have breached the Code of Practice, it will investigate."

(21-04-2013 13:21 )elgar1uk Wrote:  

(21-04-2013 12:43 )mr mystery Wrote:  so i should think how a company operates and advertises various phone based services could be under Ofcom's/Nicam's remit .

The Ofcom website makes it clear that this isn't so. The following statement by Ofcom makes it clear that how a company operates and advertises various phone based services is a matter for PhonepayPlus.

"PhonepayPlus regulates the content, promotion and overall operation of all PRS through its Code of Practice. Its role is to develop a Code of Practice for providers of PRS with the aim of producing a regulatory framework that protects consumers. For example, the Code requires clear and accurate pricing information, honest advertising, and appropriate and targeted promotions.

It investigates all complaints received about the PRS numbers it regulates. If PhonepayPlus thinks a provider may have breached the Code of Practice, it will investigate."

Thanks for this info, i didn't realize PhonepayPlus had such varied regulatory powers to be honest, but does this just cover stuff that is advertised and promoted etc when you pick the phone up ?, or does it cover phone pricing information, honest advertising and appropriate and targeted promotions shown on screen as well ?, or is this Ofcom's job to regulate stuff concerning phone promotions and pricing details and various phone line adverts that are shown on TV ? .