PhonepayPlus, which regulates services that are paid for by adding them to your telephone account, says complaints about mobile services are down by 57% one year after it introduced new rules in its 2008 Mobile Review. June 2008 saw 2125 complaints, compared with 919 in May 2009. When it comes to specific services, complaints about mobile subscription services have almost halved and complaints about unsolicited text messages are down by 85%.
The rules introduced following last year’s Mobile Review stated that services could not be advertised as ‘free’ unless they had no associated charges, introduced the need for prior permission if any subscription service charged over £4.50 in a week and emphasised the ‘STOP’ command for opting out of unwanted text messages. [Press release; Annual report ([pdf)]