RTL Today – Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation: “Premium” SMS services are still a problem
The “Premium” SMS services are the main cause of requests for mediation addressed to the Luxembourg Institute of Regulation (ILR).
131 mediation requests were sent to the IRL in 2021. The majority concerned the telecommunications sector. The most frequent cases for which a consumer requested mediation from the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation, related to invoicing, more specifically to “Premium” SMS services, said Tuesday the director of the ILR, Luc Tapella. , during the presentation of the annual report.
Many complaints because of “Premium” SMS
These are often messages for game subscriptions. Three-digit amounts can thus be withdrawn monthly. Listed messages of numbers that begin with 67. Numbers for which you have to pay up to three euros per message received.
“We find that since the end of last year and the beginning of this year, SMS “Premium”, where people go to a website or clicked somewhere with their phone, is becoming more common. These are bills that can reach 5, 10, 50, 100 or 300 euros at the end of the month”, according to Luc Tapela. “Many people are not aware of having activated a service in this way.“
The customer must be careful what he clicks on the internet and also while surfing on his smartphone, according to the ILR. Don’t click OK everywhere. If the consumer receives such messages, he should not ignore them, but respond with “STOP” to avoid additional charges. Since March, everyone can control on the site stopms.luif his number is subscribed to such services.
The delivered package has become more expensive
As far as postal services are concerned, a new directive from July 2021 has already improved quite a few unpleasant surprises, according to the director of the Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation. “Anything sent to Luxembourg outside the European Union must be taxed requested. Until last year, if you stayed below 22 euros, you had to pay nothing if it came from England, the United States or China, for example – but today you have to pay .“ Additional work for postal operators who perform customs clearance is also calculated and results in additional costs for the customer. “This means that people have ordered something and found that the item has become two to three times more expensive than if they had bought it here in Luxembourg.“
A service that brings consumers and operators together
Generally, the ILR Mediation Service deals with issues of invoices with errors, services that have been billed where the customer has replaced that they would be free. But also changes in the contract which then led to changes in the invoice.
“It allows the consumer to find himself with the operator“, according to Ajla Mumdzic of the Legal Department. “Because the consumer has a problem, where he does not understand certain things or he does not agree. He then does not always receive the correct response from the operator and thanks to mediation, they meet and have an exchange and everyone can explain themselves.“
For nearly 80% of complaints filed with the ILR, a solution is found through mediation. This service is free and freely accessible to all.