Introduction to Onebill

Onebill is an independent company that delivers telephone, data, mobile and Internet services to our customers throughout the UK, including Northern Ireland. Our products are distributed through our direct sales force and  independent sales agencies. The purpose of this code of practice is to inform you about our products, services and customer care policies. This code of practice has been prepared in accordance with guidelines published by Oftel on the 17 February 2003 and approved by the communications industry regulator Ofcom.

How to contact us:

Please use the Contact us section of this site

Our Commitment to You

Onebill is committed to providing you with the highest quality of service. Our company delivers to you telecommunications services purchased from BT Openreach and other leading UK carriers. We make every reasonable effort to supply the services that satisfy your requirements.

Our Product Portfolio

Onebill offer a wide range of products utilising the BT Wholesale Access and Calls & Access range of products and carrier pre-selection, these are:

  • PSTN lines – single
  • PSTN calls
  • ADSL broadband
  • Fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband
  • Fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) broadband
  • Single order generic Ethernet access (SoGEA) broadband
  • VoIP lines & calls

In addition to these products we are also able to provide the following:

  • Mobile services

Further details about our products can be found on the product pages of our website: www.onebilltelecom.com

Ordering a new service or Transferring to Onebill

To order any of our services please call customer services on. We normally do business on our standard terms and conditions, a copy of which is available on request from our customer services team or via our website: www.onebilltelecom.com The minimum term for telephone service is 12 months. We will endeavour to provide telephone service within 28 days of your original request, this is subject to the availability of lines at your premises. If there are special circumstances such as the need to install additional cabling we will advise you of the revised timescales.

Moving Home or Office

If you are moving home or office please call our customer services team at least 14 days before you move so that we can make the appropriate arrangements. If there are special circumstances regarding the move we will advise you of the revised timescales. It is important to let us know when you are moving to ensure that you are not charged for calls made from your old address once you have moved. You will remain responsible for any calls made until the point of notification. A final bill will be sent to your new address once you have moved.

Repairs

Should you experience a fault on your line please call our fault repair service on 0808 178 5200 or alternatively you can contact them by email at service@onebilltelecom.com .We align our response times and services with BT and offer higher levels of customer fault care should you require them. If you would like to know more about these please contact customer services on 0344 880 0444 or visit our website: www.onebilltelecom.com

Cancellation

Should you decide to cancel your order for Onebill to provide your telephone service, you can do so. We will apply a compensation charge as per the terms and conditions of your contract.

Onebill Product Pricing

Onebill offers a unique Price Promise in their contract for Business Customers: Onebill promise to beat any tariff from a comparable supplier, for an equivalent product from day 1 of their contract. Please contact our Customer Services team for our current price list for our services and products or visit our Website HERE

Billing

We will normally bill you monthly at the beginning of each month. Our only payment option is by Direct Debit, which represents one simple monthly transaction. Protected by the safeguards of the Banks, you have complete peace of mind regarding the accuracy of your payment. If an error is made you will receive a full and immediate refund to your account. We provide itemised bills as part of our service, we can also provide this in an electronic format by email if required. Please contact the customer service team for more information.

Disconnection Codes of Practice

Should you have difficulty paying your bill please contact us so that we can arrange a suitable alternative method of payment. Please do not cancel your Direct Debit, as this will need to be in place for future payment collections. We will not disconnect you from our service unless payment is defaulted on, or a direct debit is not in place to allow us to collect future payments. Prior to doing so we will contact you advising of the outstanding balance or the need for you to re-establish the direct debit instruction, allowing 7 days for this to be done.

After this period we may restrict your telephone service by way of call barring to prevent an increase in the debt. Further reasons for which we may disconnect your service can be found in our Terms and Conditions, a copy of which is available from our customer services team or via our website www.onebilltelecom.com

Complaint Procedure

Should you have a complaint about our service, in the first instance please contact our customer support team on. All complaints are treated very seriously and we operate a complaint procedure in order to resolve issues as quickly as possible to everyone’s satisfaction. If you are still not satisfied the complaint has been addressed properly, and a letter confirming your complaint is closed has been sent to you, you are entitled to contact OTELO (Office of Telecommunication Ombudsman), the independent dispute resolution service:

OTELO, PO Box 730, Warrington, WA4 6VW. Phone: 0845 050 1614 Website: www.otelo.org.uk

Social Responsibility

Malicious calls cause annoyance, inconvenience and a great deal of anxiety. Onebill views this problem very seriously and works closely with the BT nuisance call bureau, the police and others in the Telecoms industry to tackle it. Should you experience malicious or nuisance calls please call our customer services team for information on how to deal with the situation.

Services for customers who are older or who may have a disability

We are committed to helping our customers to communicate easily. These codes of practice are available by request from Onebill Customer Service or visit our Website www.onebilltelecom.co.uk and are applied in spirit as well as in the letter. Should there be a conflict between these Codes of Practice and Terms and Conditions, the Contract Terms and Conditions will apply.

Sales

This code of practice sets out how we comply with our regulatory obligations in the sales and marketing of fixed line telephone services. The code applies to the sales and marketing of our services to domestic and small business customers and covers all aspects of the sales process. We aim to avoid mis-selling and misrepresentation by ensuring that you fully understand the services and the terms of the contracts we offer you.

When selling or marketing our fixed line telecommunications services, we will not:

  • Engage in dishonest, misleading or deceptive conduct
  • Engage in aggressive sales techniques
  • Contact customers in an appropriate way, or
  • Engage in “slamming” (transferring a customer’s line without their knowledge or consent)

All our sales and marketing staff and agents are briefed on this code and we routinely monitor compliance with it. If you feel that any representative of Onebill has breached the terms of the code, please report your concerns to Tony Fitzpatrick who has responsibility for compliance with this code, and for handling associated complaints.

  • By phone: 0344 880 0444 From 8.30am until 5.30pm Monday-Friday.
  • By e-mail: service@onebilltelecom.com
  • By fax: 0207 793 5549
  • By letter: ONEBILL TELECOM LTD, First Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP
  • Or via our website www.onebilltelecom.com

Copies of this code are available free of charge in various formats on request, including via our website www.onebilltelecom.co.uk. The code has been prepared in line with guidelines published by Ofcom, the industry regulator, in December 2009 and set out in General Condition 24. The General Conditions of Entitlement (part of the Communications Act) can be found on the Ofcom website and we will provide you with a copy of General Condition 24 on request.

Sales, marketing, advertising and promotional activity

We advertise and promote our services by various methods. In all cases, we act responsibly and try to comply with relevant legislation.

We will respect your wishes if you have registered with any relevant preference service, including the Mailing Preference Service, the Telephone Preference Service, the Fax Preference Service and the E-mail Preference Service.

All our advertising and promotion activity keeps to the principles of the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion. In addition, we ensure that advertising and promotional literature is clear, unambiguous, accurate and fair, does not contain false or misleading information about price, value or service and does not belittle other companies.

Customer contact

Our sales staff are given clear guidelines on contacting residential customers at home, particularly during the hours of darkness. They must not visit you before 8am or after 8pm, and must not telephone before 8am or after 9pm, unless you ask them to.

Representatives involved in face-to-face sales and marketing have identity cards or badges that clearly display our company name and the representative’s own identification number. The identity badge also displays the representative’s name and photograph and a date showing the validity of the card. Information on the card is clear and easy to read without close examination.

On making contact, our representatives will immediately identify themselves, state our company name, the purpose of the call and how long it should take. If visiting or meeting in person, they will show you their identity card.

Our representatives are trained to be courteous, to use appropriate language and to offer clear and straightforward explanations. They must offer only factual and accurate information about our services and contracts and must not misrepresent our services or those of other companies. They must check that if you enter into a contract you fully understand the terms and are sure that this is what you want to do.

Our representatives will not abuse the trust of vulnerable customers, for example people who are elderly or who have special needs, or whose first language is not English.

When visiting sheltered housing, nursing homes or residential care facilities, our representatives will make contact with the warden or other person in authority before approaching a customer.

We will not aim sales or marketing activity at people who are under the legal age for entering into contracts.

Our representatives will cease contact with anyone who indicates that the contact is inconvenient, unwelcome, inappropriate or too long. At your request, the discussion will be ended immediately and, if making a doorstep call, the representative will leave your premises immediately.

To ensure we maintain these standards, we keep the records of our sales and marketing activity for at least six months. Records include the date and the approximate time of the contact with you. To help us deal with any complaints or queries, all such records clearly identify the salesperson(s) who made the call or visit.

Entering into a contract (information at point of sale)

We check that the person entering into a contract with us is authorised to sign a contract for services and be responsible for bills at the premises in question.

Our order forms and contract forms are designed to ensure that you understand that you are entering a contract.

We will tell you that you have the right to change your mind during the switchover period and that there is no cost for cancellation during this period.

In all cases we will give you the following information:

  • Confirmation of our company’s identity and full contact details;
  • A description of the service you have chosen, including how it works
  • The costs and charges including any minimum contract charges and early termination charges
  • Arrangements for providing the service, including how we deal with the order and, as accurately as possible, when it is likely to start;
  • Your right to cancel and how to use it;
  • Your right to early termination
  • How long the charges will remain valid; and
  • The minimum period of contract, and minimum contract charges, if any.
  • Our representatives have a full summary of our tariffs, which you can ask to see.
  • Our representatives have a full summary of our tariffs, which you can ask to see.

If our representative meets you in person, they will give you the information in writing. When you sign an order form, or enter into a written contract, you will also get a copy of the order form or contract, as well as information about any after-sales services or guarantees and arrangements for ending the contract.

You will get this information at the same time as you sign, or within 5 working days, unless you received it in writing before signing the contract.

Orders placed with us by distance-selling methods (such as phone, fax or internet) comply with distance-selling regulations. As with order forms, our telephone scripts are designed to ensure that you understand that you are entering into a contract and will be sent the information detailed above.

In the case of internet orders, a well signposted and easy-to-see hyperlink to this information is prominently displayed and the information is readily available for downloading and printing.

Regardless of our method of selling, you may cancel orders and end contracts by telephone, in writing, by fax or by e-mail to

  • By phone: 0344 880 0444 From 8.30am until 5.30pm Monday-Friday.
  • By e-mail: service@onebilltelecom.com
  • By fax: 0207 793 5549
  • By letter: ONEBILL TELECOM LTD, First Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP
  • Contract review

Our procedures are designed to minimise the risk of errors or mis-selling on our part when taking orders or making contracts during face-to-face or telephone selling.

We confirm orders by sending a “notification of transfer” letter to the customer in accordance with the industry-agreed process. The letter, which is clearly dated, gives details of the transfer, including the date of transfer, and information on any services and features which may be affected by the transfer. The letter also provides contact details for any questions.

We contact all customers entering into a new contract to confirm that you understand that you have entered into a contract, are happy to proceed with the contract and are content with the way in which we conducted the sales and marketing.

This check is generally incorporated into the order confirmation letter but is always completed no more than 5 working days after a contract is agreed. Where we contact you directly, this is done by a person not involved with our sales and marketing activities, who will tell you who they are.

The letter may be sent electronically if you have applied online and have confirmed online that you wish future correspondence to be sent electronically.

We will terminate the contract without charge or other penalty to you if we find that you did not understand the contract or it was not what you intended or if it was finalised before the expiry of the switchover period, and you wish to cancel.

We keep our contract procedures under review and take steps to prevent the recurrence of any problem identified through audit (see below).

Record retention

We keep all records of sales and marketing of fixed line telephone services for a minimum of six months.

Audit (reviews)

We carry out regular audits of the systems, procedures and documents we use in sales and marketing.

Customer complaints procedure

Complaints about sales and marketing are dealt with under the procedures set out in our Code of Practice for Complaint Handling which sets out how you may complain, and this includes complaints about ONEBILL TELECOM’s sales and marketing. It specifies what to do next if you believe the complaint has not been dealt with satisfactorily.

You should first direct your complaint to ONEBILL TELECOM. If we cannot resolve the complaint to your satisfaction, you may contact Otelo – PO Box 730, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6WU. Tel: 01925 430870 or 0845 050 1614 email: enquiries@otelo.org.uk Website: www.otelo.org.uk. You can also ask for advice from your local Trading Standards Department or Citizens Advice Bureau.

Status of this code

Compliance with this code does not guarantee that it complies with any other legal requirement.

Non-compliance with this code does not affect the validity of any contract between the company and the consumer, unless the law states otherwise.

Useful addresses

Otelo – PO Box 730, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6WU. Tel: 01925 430870 or 0845 050 1614 email:enquiries@otelo.org.uk Website: www.otelo.org.uk

If you wish to find details of your nearest Citizens Advice Bureau or Trading Standards department you can search on the following websites

Citizens Advice – http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk

FCS

This code has been licensed by The Federation of Communication Services Limited 2007
Licence Number 1255
Published September 2007. Correct at the time of printing.
© The Federation of Communication Services Limited 2007

Complaints Code

Onebill is an independent company that delivers communication services to business customers While we may not provide all the component parts of our services ourselves, we do take responsibility for the services delivered to you. So we will liaise with our suppliers to ensure that any problems with their services are resolved promptly.
We make every effort to ensure that our customers are happy with the level of service, and the products and service they receive from us. However, despite our best efforts, things can go wrong. We take customer complaints very seriously and aim to resolve them quickly and efficiently.

If you have a complaint about any part of our service, please contact our Customer Service Team using one of the following:

  • By phone: 0344 880 0444 From 8.30am until 5.30pm Monday-Friday.
  • By e-mail: service@onebilltelecom.com
  • By fax: 0207 793 5549
  • By letter: Onebill Telecom LTD, PO Box 42177, SW8 1UE
  • Or via our website www.onebilltelecom.com

If you telephone, our advisors will ask you about your complaint and seek to resolve the problem while you are on the line. During any discussions we will protect the privacy of the information that we hold on you. To do this we may have to ask you questions to confirm that we are speaking to the right person.

If you make your complaint by email or in writing, we will acknowledge receipt, advise how and when we will next respond and provide you with a contact point for checking progress on the resolution of your complaint.

We will try to resolve your complaint quickly and efficiently, and to keep you informed at all times. We normally aim to resolve complaints within 10 working days but, depending on the nature of the complaint, this is not always possible. However, If you are not happy with progress in resolving your complaint you can ask the person to whom you are speaking to escalate the matter to their manager, and ultimately to the C.E.O. If we cannot resolve the problem, we will write to you to say so.

If it has been more than 8 weeks from the date you first contacted us to complain or you have received a letter from us saying that your complaint has reached “deadlock”, then you may ask for help from:

The Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman (Otelo):
PO Box 730, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6WU
Tel: 01925 430870
email: enquiries@otelo.org.uk
Website: www.otelo.org.uk

OTELO is an independent organisation which is approved by Ofcom to provide an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service. Ofcom-approved ADR services sort out disputes between communications providers and their consumer and small business customers. Their job is to investigate complaints fairly by listening to both sides of the story. They look at the facts given to them before recommending any action that may be needed to put things right.

Alternatively, if at any time you are not satisfied with the progress of your complaint you can ask us to agree an early referral to ADR (i.e. that we issue a deadlock letter). However, we may decline to do so if we do believe we will shortly resolve your complaint and are taking active steps to do so.

Useful addresses

Otelo
PO Box 730, Warrington, Cheshire, WA4 6WU
Tel: 01925 430870 or 0845 050 1614
email: enquiries@otelo.org.uk
Website: www.otelo.org.uk

Ofcom
Riverside House, 2a Southwark Bridge Road, London SE1 9HA
Tel: 020 7981 3040 or 0300 123 3333
email: contact@ofcom.org.uk
Website: www.ofcom.org.uk

PhonepayPlus (formerly Icstis)
Clove Building, 4 Maguire Street, London, SE1 2NQ
Tel: 0800 500 212 or 020 7940 7474
Website: www.phonepayplus.org.uk
email: info@phonepayplus.org.uk

Telephone Preference Service
DMA House
70 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8SS
Tel: 0845 070 0707
Website: www.tpsonline.org.uk