Comms ADR
Complaints We Can Deal With
CommsADR can accept most non-regulated complaints about a communications provider that is a Participating Member of our scheme.
You can use CommsADR where something the Participating Member has done (or failed to do) has left you out of pocket, without the goods or services you were entitled to – or if you’ve been treated unfairly.
We can only deal with disputes concerning ‘non-regulated’ matters.
Non-Regulated Matters: “Disputes that fall outside the jurisdiction of the primary communications regulators and ombudsmen (such as Ofcom and the Communications Ombudsman or CISAS), where there is no automatic right to mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution”.
We deal with 2 kinds of dispute:
About Phone-Paid services
Phone-Paid services (also known as Premium-Rate services (PRS)) are the goods, services, and digital content you pay for by charging the cost to your phone bill or pre-pay balance, rather than paying a separate provider directly.
If you’ve ever donated to a charity by text, voted in a TV competition, bought a game add-on, subscribed to an alert or content service, or called a directory-enquiries or information line, you’ve used a Phone-Paid service!
These services cover a wide range of everyday transactions, including:
- Charitable donations made by text message
- Competition entries, voting, & TV/Radio interaction lines
- Subscription & one-off content services (such as games, apps, & digital media)
- Information, advice, & directory-enquiries lines
- Helplines & technical-support lines charged to your phone
- Digital purchases & in-app content billed to your phone account
We deal with disputes about PPS/PRS services, such as:
- A charge you didn’t expect or authorise
- A service you couldn’t unsubscribe from
- Content you paid for but didn’t receive
We can handle Phone-Paid Services for both consumers & businesses with more than 10 employees.
We are not the right scheme for everyday mobile, landline, or broadband disputes (such as a monthly bill, contract, coverage, or connection) from residential customers or micro-businesses.
Those are handled by other approved schemes: CISAS, Ofcom and the Communications Ombudsman. If your complaint is about one of those, we’ll point you in the right direction.
Common examples of complaints we can deal with include:
- Mobile handsets
- Broadband routers
- Cable and satellite television (faulty equipment)
- The location of telegraph poles
- The location of mobile phone masts
- Cable and wiring inside your property
- Courier and Postal services
- Non-micro business billing disputes
- Commercial decisions made by communications companies about whether to provide a product or service – and the terms under which it is provided
- Premium Rate Services
- Quizzes and Competitions
- Subscription Services
- Chat Lines
- Adult Services
- Mobile Apps
- Charity Donations
- Voting (TV and Web)
- Directory Enquiries (118 numbers)
This list is not exhaustive!
If you are unsure whether we can help, you can still submit your complaint and we will assess whether it falls within our Scheme Rules.
Use of the CommsADR Adjudication service is FREE to consumers and can be submitted without the need for any independent advice or third-party representation.
Complaints We Cannot Deal With
CommsADR cannot deal with regulated communications complaints, which must go to CISAS, Ofcom, and the Communications Ombudsman instead. These include:
- Billing and customer service disputes for domestic and micro-business mobile phones and smartphones (contract and pre-paid)
- Billing and customer service disputes for domestic and micro-business landline (fixed-line) telephones
- Billing and customer service disputes for domestic and micro-business broadband, including mobile broadband (dongle)
- PAY-TV
- Wi-Fi services
- Dial up internet
We also cannot consider a complaint where:
- The same dispute is already with a court, or with another ADR scheme, or has previously been decided
- The complaint is, in our view, frivolous or vexatious
- The amount claimed exceeds our £25,000 award limit (we’ll tell you if this applies, and you may choose to proceed on the basis that the claim is limited to £25,000)
- Dealing with it would seriously impair the effective operation of the scheme
For a full, comprehensive list of complaints we cannot accept, please make sure to read through our Scheme Rules.
CommsADR can only deal with unresolved complaints.
To be eligible to make a complaint against a provider using CommsADR, you must have already complained to that provider directly (using its published complaints procedure, if it has one) and either:
- Received the provider’s Final Written Response
(otherwise known as a ‘Deadlock Letter’) - Given the provider 8 weeks to respond to your dispute
If you’re unsatisfied with the provider’s response, or they fail to respond within those 8 weeks, you can submit your complaint to CommsADR!
You must bring your complaint to us within 12 months of receiving the Final Response (or, where the communications provider did not respond, within 12 months of your complaint to them).
