Code of Practice

The Lebara Mobile Code of Practice

This Code of Practice is published by Lebara Mobile Ltd (referred to as Lebara Mobile in this Code).
This code of practice does not remove any of your legal rights as a customer, nor does it form part of a contract between you and Lebara Mobile.

1. This Code of Practice aims to provide:

   An introduction to Lebara Mobile
   Information on the services we offer
   Information on our sales and marketing activities
   Information on billing and pricing issues
   How to contact Lebara Mobile
   How to make a complaint
   Information on premium rate services
   Information on number translation services
   Information and contact details for telecommunications regulatory bodies such as Ofcom

2. Introduction to Lebara Mobile

   Lebara Mobile Limited is a company registered in England with company number 06184980. Our registered office is located at 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP, England.
   Please see our website www.lebara.co.uk for further information.
   Lebara Mobile provides mobile telecommunication services within the UK to customers. Its primary area of focus is the United Kingdom.
   Lebara Mobile is committed to making every reasonable effort to supply this Code of Practice in a suitable format, therefore, if you require assistance or a different electronic version, please contact our customer service centre free from a Lebara mobile on 5588, from a landline on 0870 075 5588* or email care@lebara.com.

3. Our core services and products

   Lebara Mobile offers a range of Mobile Telecommunication Services. We provide mobile voice and data communications services in the UK, and in other countries through roaming agreements with other mobile networks which our third party network provider uses. Lebara Mobile aggregates telecoms traffic and communication solutions to be able to attract economies of scale. These generated savings are passed on to our customers in the form of better value solutions.
   Below is a brief description of Lebara Mobile’s core products and services:

   • Voice calls - Lebara Mobile provide a mobile telephony service enabling you to make or receive calls, and to send and receive data by a mobile telecommunications network. These services are available subject to terms of the calling plan you sign up to.
   • Pay As You Go SIM - allows you to make low cost, high quality calls to UK and international landline or mobile numbers, direct from your mobile handset. Calls are paid for by credit purchased in advance by a variety of methods including voucher, ATM, and web payments.

   Other mobile services:

   • Voicemail – allows you to listen to recorded messages left for you by other callers. In the interest of other users, the number and length of messages that can be left on the Lebara Mobile voicemail service is limited, and the confidentiality of messages cannot be guaranteed.
   • Text bundles – allow you to pay a fixed charge for a fixed number of text messages. This service is available subject to terms of the calling plan you sign up to.
   • Picture messaging (MMS) – allows you to send messages from one mobile to another. These messages can include text, sound, images and video. It is also possible to send MMS messages from a mobile phone to an email address.
   • Handsets - Lebara Mobile offer a range of handsets which can be purchased and used in conjunction with our Pay As You Go SIMs.
   • Allocating your mobile phone number - Lebara Mobile will allocate a mobile telephone number for you to use on the mobile network. The number does not belong to you and may only be transferred to another service provider in certain circumstances. Further details are available on request from our customer service centre free from a Lebara mobile on 5588, from a landline on 0870 075 5588* or email care@lebara.com.
   • Number porting – you can easily move your current mobile number to Lebara Mobile from any of the UK’s major networks including: 02, Everything Everywhere, Vodafone, Three and Virgin Mobile. To move your number when you switch to Lebara Mobile you will need to ask your existing mobile company for a PAC (Porting Authorisation Code) before you cancel your service with them. This is the reference number you will need to give us so that we can transfer your number to Lebara Mobile.
      
4. Sales and marketing activities

   Products and services are sold primarily through independent retailers or online.
   When we undertake sales and marketing activities we are committed to giving outstanding service, it is essential that our customers understand the services offered and the contract they are making.
   We work to the principles within the British Code of Advertising, Sales Promotion, and Direct Marketing, which may be found on the website www.cap.org.uk.

5. Contract Conditions 

   Our Pay As You Go SIM is a prepay service which has no minimum contract period and no need for cancellation.

   If you do not use the Pay As You Go Services for a period of 84 days, your contract will be deemed to have been terminated by you. Upon termination for whatever reason, Lebara Mobile is under no obligation to refund you any call credit that is on your phone at the date of termination. For more information see the General Terms and Conditions on our website at www.lebara.co.uk/terms-and-conditions.

6. Tariffs

   Lebara Mobile publishes its prices on our website. If you would prefer a paper copy please contact our customer service centre from a Lebara mobile on 5588*, from a landline on 0870 075 5588* or email care@lebara.com.

7. Billing and Payments

   Lebara Mobile takes invoicing seriously. When invoices are prepared they are checked against contracted pricing and, where relevant, the recorded usage to ensure the invoice has been calculated correctly. Purchases or other charges from 3rd parties will be detailed as a “Data Content Purchase”. All payments are made to Lebara Mobile Ltd. You can also view your call activity from your MyLebara account. You can request a paper list of calls you have made to be sent to you by post, but Lebara Mobile will request a one off payment of £1.50 for each bill posted.
   
   If you have a query or need advice, information or assistance on pricing please contact our customer services centre free from a Lebara mobile on 5588*, from a landline on 0870 075 5588* or email care@lebara.com. Should your request require escalation, it may be forwarded to our Accounts team for resolution.

8. Compensation or refund policy 
   Refunds (where applicable) will be credited to the card used for the original purchase after receipt of the returned equipment and satisfactory inspection by us. Please allow 30 days for the refund.

9. Privacy and Data Protection

   We know that privacy is very important to our customers and we aim to respect and protect that at all times. Please read our privacy statement available on our website www.lebara.co.uk/privacy-policy.
   We may collect personal information about you from various sources. These may include:

   • The customer agreement, i.e. the agreement that you accept when you take a service from Lebara Mobile – this may include your name, address, other contact details and banking details.
   • Details you give if you contact us with an enquiry.
   • Direct marketing organisations.
   • Other publicly available sources such as the electoral roll.

   Lebara Mobile is registered under the Data Protection Act and takes all reasonable steps to ensure there is no unauthorised access to your personal data.
   
   We may use the personal data we hold to promote our products and services but we will not pass them to any third party organisations for marketing purposes unless you have authorised us to do so.
   
   In some circumstances we may supply information to organisations such as the police and other governmental agencies where the law requires us to do this.
   
   We may record phone conversations for training purposes or to provide evidence of a transaction.
   
   If you wish to know what personal information we hold on you, you can get this by writing to: Data Controller, Lebara Mobile Ltd, 25 Copthall Avenue, London, EC2R 7BP.
   
   You may wish to stop unsolicited telemarketing calls from other organisations. If you register with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) this may prevent some of these calls. The contact details for the TPS can be found in the useful contacts section below.

10. Customer Services
    
    Fault Management 
    We aim to provide you with all the help you need to understand how to use the services and to help you with any technical problems you may experience. We intend to resolve faults as soon as reasonably possible. If you have any technical questions simply call us free from a Lebara mobile on 5588, from a landline on 0870 075 5588* or email care@lebara.com.
    
    Faults can be reported free of charge, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Engineers, however, attend faults between the hours of 8.00am to 6.00pm excluding national and public holidays.
    Faults can occur on the Lebara Mobile network, or on one of our suppliers’ networks or equipment. If a fault is reported during normal working hours, Lebara Mobile will try to establish the location and cause of the fault straight away.
    
    If you are not satisfied 
    We are committed to providing you with excellent customer service. However, in the event that you are not satisfied with the manner in which we are handling an issue that you have brought to our attention, we have a comprehensive complaint handling procedure, which includes escalation to independent agencies in the event that you are unhappy with the outcome of a complaint.
    When you call a customer service consultant will try to solve the problem a quickly as possible, preferably during your phone call and where this is not possible, will agree a course of action with you. Invoicing queries may take a little while to resolve.
    
    If you are not happy with the response you receive you may ask for the matter to be referred to the appropriate senior manager for further investigation. The matter will be investigated by the appropriate manager and you will receive a response with 3 working days.
    We believe it is in your and our best interests to try to resolve any dispute without outside assistance, and you may be assured that we will devote sufficient resource to attempting to resolve any issues that may arise between us.
    
    If we are unable to resolve your complaint satisfactorily, we will issue a “deadlock” letter so that you may make a complaint to the Ombudsman Service: Communications, an independent alternative dispute resolution scheme (contact details are set out below). Alternatively if after 8 weeks your complaint remains unresolved you can contact the Ombudsman Service: Communications scheme directly.
    
    How to contact us
    If you need advice, information or assistance on any products and services or this Code of Practice, please call us from a Lebara mobile on 5588*, from a landline on 0870 075 5588*, email care@lebara.com, visit our website at www.lebara.co.uk, Or write to us at the following address:
    
    Customer Services
    Lebara Mobile Limited
    25 Copthall Avenue 
    London 
    EC2R 7BP 

11. Premium-rate services
    
    Premium-rate services have dialling codes starting with 09xx or 0871 and are charged at a higher rate than normal calls. They might include:

    • Recorded information – for example, traffic reports, competitions, voting, chatlines and things that you can download, such as ringtones.
    • Live services – for example, advice lines.

    The company providing these services is known as a ‘service provider’.
    Directory enquiry services with numbers that start with 118 are also classed as premium-rate services. The extra cost of the call is paid to the organisation offering that particular 118 service. The network operator who gives them the 118 number will also take a share of the price to cover the cost of carrying the 118 calls.
    
    Information about the charges for calling premium-rate services from a Lebara SIM card is given in our price list which is available at www.lebara.co.uk/prepay/rates.

12. PhonepayPlus
    
    PhonepayPlus regulates premium-rate services. It publishes a code of practice that providers of premium-rate services must follow. This includes rules on advertising and promoting premium-rate services. PhonepayPlus may be able to help you if you’ve a complaint about a premium-rate service.
    PhonepayPlus (see ‘Other contacts’ for their contact details) regulates the content of premium rate services and how they’re advertised. It’s responsible for investigating complaints about the way premium-rate services are advertised or run, or the way information received using a premium-rate call has been presented. PhonepayPlus can’t give compensation for calls made to recorded information premium-rate numbers. It may be able to give details of the service provider.

13. Number Translation Services
    
    Number Translation Services (NTS) are calls to numbers shown in the National Telephone Numbering Plan as ‘special services’. The National Telephone Numbering Plan is the UK’s list of numbers that Ofcom has allocated to phone companies. The ‘special services’ include:

    • 08 numbers, such as 0845 and 0870.
    • 0500 freephone numbers (but not calls to 0808 99 numbers for flat-rate internet access calls).
    • 070 personal numbers (numbers beginning 070 that are not mobile numbers).

    Complaints about Number Translation Services
    What we can do for you:

    • We publish charges for Number Translation Services calls on our website and in our published price list.

    We can give details of:

    • Any call charges that apply for calls to freephone numbers, including details of when those charges will apply.
    • Call charges for NTS calls that vary by time of day (for example, ‘08xx calls cost x pence a minute, including VAT, during weekday evenings’).
    • We can give new customers information about all charges for NTS calls.

    Our advertising and promotional materials clearly show:

    • The maximum prices that apply to NTS calls.
    • Where you can find our price list on our website.
    • Where on our website you can find the complete set of NTS call charges.

    You can find information about calling Number Translation Services using a Lebara SIM card line in our price list at www.lebara.co.uk/prepay/rates.

14. Some Other Useful Contacts
    
    Ombudsman Services: Communications
    PO Box 730
    Warrington
    WA4 6WU
    Phone: 0330 440 1614, 0192 543 0049 or 0845 050 1614*
    Fax: 0330 440 1615 or 0192 543 0059
    Textphone: 0845 051 1513* or 0330 440 1600
    Email: enquiries@os-communications.org
    Website: www.ombudsman-services.org/communications.html

    PhonepayPlus (regulator of premium-rate services)
    Freepost WC5468
    London
    SE1 2BR
    Phone: 0800 500 212 (8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday)
    Website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk

    Ofcom (Office of Communications)
    Ofcom Contact Centre
    Riverside House
    Southwark Bridge Road
    London
    SE1 9HA
    Phone: 0300 123 3000 
    Website: www.ofcom.org.uk

    Telephone Preference Service (TPS)
    DMA House
    70 Margaret Street
    London
    W1W 8SS
    Phone: 0845 070 0707*
    Email: tps@dma.org.uk
    Website: www.tpsonline.org.uk

    *Calls to 5588 from a Lebara SIM cost 10p when you talk to a Customer Service advisor. Calls to ‘0845’ and ‘0870’ numbers are charged at a national rate from BT Landlines, other network operators’ charges may vary, calls from mobiles may cost significantly more.
    
    
    Version: October 2012