Premium Rate Services – Customer Enquiries, Complaints Handling and Refunds:
Policy & Procedures
Effective: 30/01/2025
1. INTRODUCTION
Premium Rate Services
Premium Rate Services (PRS) are those for which you are charged through your mobile phone bill or mobile phone credit. These services tend to cost more than a normal text message or online competition entry.
Global Media Group Services Limited (Global) offers a number of Premium Rate Services (PRS) to customers and operates as the “Merchant” in line with the PRS Order (The Regulation of Premium Rate Services Order 2024). “Merchant” means a person [or an organisation] who provides a controlled PRS to a consumer. This policy outlines how Global deals with customer enquiries and complaints, including requests for refunds from customers, regarding the following Premium Rate Services:
– Prize competitions, with entry via SMS or and/or online
– Free prize draws, where premium rate entry (SMS and/or online) is available alongside free entry routes such as post.
Global also acts as the Merchant for Global Charities’ Premium Rate Services. Such services are:
- Text-to-donate premium rate SMS charity campaigns
- Text-to-win-and-donate premium rate charity free prize draws
- Text-to-download-and-donate premium rate SMS charity content
Regulation of Premium Rate Services
Premium Rate Services are regulated by OFCOM, in accordance with the PRS Order.
Some payment services used in conjunction with prize promotions such as payment via debit card or PayPal are not regulated by Ofcom and therefore the processes and details contained within this policy may not apply.
2. METHODS OF CONTACT
Global’s Customer Support team (Customer Support) are the first contact point for all customer enquiries relating to PRS. Customer Support love to help and guide our customers and work hard to provide support across all Global’s products, brands, platforms and services. This broad remit means they work closely with the Premium Rate Services team to resolve customer enquiries and issues. Queries are logged and ticketed before being escalated to the Premium Rate Services team where applicable.
Customer Support is available via the communication methods below, Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5:30pm (we are closed on public holidays).
Email: customer.support@global.com
Phone: 0333 200 2000 (local call rate)
X: @GlobalSupport
Instagram: @GlobalSupport
WhatsApp
Post: 30 Leicester Square, London, WC2H 7LA
From time to time, Global may also proactively contact customers, for example if we need to inform them of an issue with a promotion that we have detected ourselves, and any action required on behalf of the customer. This is likely to be done via SMS using the number the customer used to interact with us.
Please note, Customer Support should be the first point of contact for queries relating to our Premium Rate Services, including charges.
3. PROCESS
Customer contacts – whether queries, complaints or refund requests – will be acknowledged and ticketed by a member of Global’s Customer Support Team within 8 working hours. There may be times where this can take a little longer, but they will do their best to respond to you as soon as possible.
Customer Support will endeavour to resolve an enquiry, complaint or refund request within 15 working days and, if there is any delay in this, they will keep the customer updated at appropriate intervals.
From time to time, we may need to request further information from the customer or from 3rd parties, such as mobile phone networks, in order to resolve a query or complaint. In this case, Customer Support will respond to the customer at appropriate intervals to keep them informed on the progress of their query.
4. RESOLUTIONS
Where a refund is offered – see (7) below – customers will be required to respond to the notification sent to them via SMS within 28 days of the date of receiving the notification and follow the instructions provided to them. They will need to provide relevant information to enable payment of the refund.
Once the customer has provided all the required information, Global will then send them the amount to be refunded within 14 days of the decision to refund.
Global will make reasonable efforts to resolve a Premium Rate Service-related issue raised by a customer within 15 days of the initial contact.
If Global is not the correct organisation to resolve the enquiry, we will direct customers to the appropriate organisation such as your mobile network provider, for example.
5. COMPLAINTS HANDLING
If we believe we have resolved the customer’s issue to the best of our ability – following the process in (3) and (4) above – but the customer remains dissatisfied, then the customer may be directed to either Phonecharges.co.uk for information or to Ofcom (see section 8 below).
6. VULNERABLE PERSONS
If, in our interactions with our customers, we believe that a customer may be vulnerable, our colleagues may take appropriate action, such as blocking a phone number from interacting with our Premium Rate Services or referring customers to external sources of support.
7. REFUNDS
Following the process in (3) and (4) above, Global reserves the right to investigate any customer refund claim and validate the basis of its request. Refunds are awarded at the discretion of Global.
If a refund claim is deemed valid then Global will reimburse the customer the service charge and may, at its discretion, reimburse the access charge (or network charge) if one has been levied.
A technical or other issue out of Global’s control (for example a mobile network and/or handset issue) will not generally be considered for a refund. However, Global may offer refunds in such situations as a gesture of goodwill, and entirely at its discretion.
Third party usage of a customer’s device or phone number will not generally be considered for a refund as customers are responsible for all usage of their devices / phone numbers.
Regarding charity donations to Global’s charity Global’s Make Some Noise requests for refunds will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. We cannot guarantee that we will offer a refund in instances where customers have misunderstood instructions or have changed their mind after donating.
Global may also contact customers who require a refund, due to a technical or other issue which we have identified ourselves. In this case, this will generally be communicated to customers via SMS.
Where a refund is offered, customers will be required to respond to the notification sent to them within 28 days of the date of receiving the notification and follow the instructions provided to them. They will need to provide relevant information to enable payment of the refund.
Once the customer has provided all the required information, we will then send them the amount to be refunded within 14 days of the decision to refund.
8. ESCALATION TO OFCOM
If a customer is dissatisfied with Global’s handling or resolution of an enquiry, complaint, or refund request, with respect to Premium Rate Services, they are entitled to take the enquiry, complaint or refund request to OFCOM on their website here.