Bogus contests, ringtone subscriptions and logos: watch out for your phone bill!
Most of the time, you are charged a correct price for using telephone services. However, some service providers take advantage of your inattention via premium-rate numbers.
Ringtone offers attract mostly minors. They think that they are ordering a ringtone of their choice. In fact, they do not realise that by placing an order, they are subscribing to a service which sends numbers regularly, sometimes many per week, and will be charged via their telephone operator for each text message sent as well as received through this service.
How to denounce these practices?
First, we advise you to contact your telephone operator in order to file a complaint and attempt to find an amicable solution to your problem.
Secondly, you can submit complaint to the DGEM. The goal of the DGEM’s intervention is to stop the unfair business practice that you have denounced in the general interest of all consumers. It is therefore important to denounce this practice to the DGEM because it will be able to use the resources necessary to stop this unfair practice using the concrete evidence gathered from other users in the same situation.
Concretely, once the DGEM notices an infringement of the code of conduct, it alerts mobile telephone operators so that they can implement the contractually-required punishment: suspension of the contentious number, remunerations to all victims (and not only those who filed a complaint), ensuring the service complies with rules.
Disputes and complaints
Online services
- e-cops
Publications
- Des numéros de téléphone qui peuvent vous ruiner
- Argent facile...ment perdu!
Regulation
- Articles 496 et suivants du Code pénal
- Arrêté royal du 27 avril 2007 relatif à la gestion de l’espace de numérotation national et à l’attribution et au retrait des droits d’utilisation de numéros
- Loi du 6 avril 2010 relative aux pratiques du marché et à la protection du consommateur (MB 12.04.2010)
- Loi du 11 mars 2003 sur certains aspects juridiques des services de la société de l'information visés à l'article 77 de la Constitution.(MB. 17.03.2003)
