News
EC considers action against dodgy D2Cs
Tim Green Jul 17 2008, 1:10pm
The European Commission could take action against hundreds of mobile content download stores.
The BBC reports that the commission is following up after consumer complaints led it to investigate 500 websites across 27 EU member states plus Norway and Iceland.
EC commissioner Meglena Kuneva claims 80 per cent of the 500 websites the EC examined breached regulations and are misleading consumers. 466 cases are now being followed up.
Kuneva said: "Far too many people are falling victim to costly surprises from mysterious charges, fees and ringtone subscriptions they learn about for the first time when they see their mobile phone bill.”
The EC’s report said 268 sites had some irregularities in the price, while some that did not show the price at all. Others did not make it clear that consumers were entering into a subscription. Meanwhile 399 failed to give complete contract details of the trader, while 344 presented information in what the authorities regarded as a misleading way.
The news comes on the same day that UK watchdog PhonePayPlus introduced new rules to curb customer complaints. From today any company not allowing customers to stop a mobile content subscription quickly and easily will be barred from operation with immediate effect.
Premium telephony watchdog PhonePayPlus introduces new rules to curb customer complaints.
PhonePlayPlus this morning confirmed that any company not allowing customers to stop a mobile content subscription quickly and easily will be barred from operation with immediate effect.
It's like 2004 all over again in the UK off-deck mobile content industry (worth £460m in 2007/08) as rising complaints against 'rip off' ringtone providers have forced the premium telephony regulator to take action.
