ST Telco Code of Practice

Current Version: 4 (Feb 2017)

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About Us

Straight Talking Telco Limited (ST Telco) is a business to business telecoms solutions provider. Our main commercial offering is to reduce the cost of your business telephone calls through our carrier pre select service (CPS) & Wholesale Line Rental (WLR).

We also provide additional telecoms services as may be required by our customers.

We are registered in England and Wales and our registration number is 6838085.

Our Contact Details

The Purpose of the Code

This Code of Practice informs you about our Products, Services and Customer Care policies and has been approved by OFCOM, the independent regulator for the UK Communications Industry.

This code aims to provide:

• Information on how to contact Straight Talking Telco
• Information on some of our main services
• Information on Billing and Pricing issues
• Contact details for alternative compliant bodies

Access to our Code of Practice

Our Code of Practice is also available in LARGE PRINT. Please visit our website or contat our Customer Services department and request for a copy to be posted or emailed to you.

Our commitment to you

We are committed to providing you with the highest quality of customer service. When we purchase our services from wholesale provider(s), we choose those providers carefully to ensure that you receive a high quality service. We make every reasonable effort to supply services that satisfy your requirements. We work to all relevant laws and regulations.

Our Product and Services

• Landline calls using BT and alternative Tier One Networks
• CPS-Carrier Pre-Selection – Reduced call charges
• ISDN-digital telephone lines and standard PSTN lines
• Broadband access
• Internet start-up packages with pop3 e-mail
• Mobile phones and data services
• Non-geographic services (0800, 0845 and 0870 Numbers)

Price List

Pricing for our products and services can be found on our web site, by emailing save@sttelco.co.uk or by calling us on the number above.

Terms and Conditions

When you subscribe to a service from Straight Talking Telco, we will send you our Standard Terms and Conditions and ask you to sign a contract. You may also download our standard terms and conditions from our website. If you have any questions, please phone our Customer Service Team on the number above. We may carry out a credit check as part of our assessment procedures.

Order Processing

All services can be ordered by calling our Customer Service Team on the numbers above. The time it takes to setup can vary depending on the service purchased. We will aim to confirm all new orders by email within 4 hours during our normal office hours.

The minimum contract term for our services is 18 months. We aim to provide services within 24 hours for Non Geographic Numbers and 5 working days for IVR (Interactive Voice Response) services from the time of your original request, subject to the availability and installation of any equipment and, where appropriate, lines to your premises. If we need to carry out a survey of your premises or lay additional cabling we will advise you of the revised timescales as soon as we can.

Cancellation

If you decide to cancel your order or agreement before we have provided the services, you may do so without charge within 10 working days after your order is placed. After 10 working days we will charge you an administration fee of £25.00.

If you wish to terminate your contract within the minimum term, we will also charge you for the remaining rental period of the contract.

After the minimum term you can cancel any service without charge.

You can cancel your contract by writing to Customer Services, Straight Talking Telco, Premier Business Centre, 47-49 Park Royal Road, London NW10 7LQ giving us one months’ notice.

Fault Repair

Faults can be reported around the clock via email to faults@sttelco.co.uk. To report faults to our helpdesk please call the numbers above during office hours. However unless otherwise stated in your service agreement, engineers only attend to faults in normal working hours.

Faults can occur on the BT Network, or another operator’s network, as well as your own equipment. If the fault is reported during normal working hours, we will try to establish the location of the fault. We may request that you carry out some simple checks to help us establish the cause of the fault. If the fault is on the BT network then we will not be responsible for its repair.

We reserve the right to charge for any abortive work or visit arising from faults over which we have no control. Should an engineer need to visit your premises we will agree this with you.

Compensation and refund policy

Our policy with regard to compensation and refunds is to review each case on its merits. If you have overpaid or have been overcharged then we will either credit your account or make a refund.

Billing

We currently accept the following payment methods:

• Direct Debit (preferred)
• BACS
• Cheque

We provide you with a monthly bill which is issued on the ninth working day of each month, for the calls made in the previous month.

We may invoice you for services or additional costs such as cancelling an order before work is actually carried out.

Payment is usually by direct debit (we charge a non-direct debt handling fee of £2.75) Itemised Bills are provided free of charge by email or for a monthly fee of £1.25 for printed bills.

Billing Queries

We take billing accuracy very seriously. If you do not understand or disagree with part of your bill, please call us on the number quoted on your bill.

You are liable for the costs of any calls that you make over our network. If you query the charge for dialled calls, we will re-check the bill. If we find a mistake you will be credited accordingly.

Suspension or Disconnections of services

We reserve the right to suspend or cancel your service within the contracted timescales – for example, if you do not pay your bill.

Please call us as soon as possible if you think you may have difficulty in paying your bill. If there are special circumstances, we may be able to agree special arrangements with you to prevent disruption to your services.

In the event that a bill is not paid we will make all reasonable attempts to resolve the matter with you. However, if we are unable to get a satisfactory explanation for the non-payment we may suspend or disconnect your service in accordance with our terms and conditions.

Complaints

If you would like to register a complaint, there are a number of different ways you can contact us:

What happens once we receive your complaint?

We will acknowledge all complaints received by letter or e-mail within 24 working hours of receiving your complaint.

A customer service adviser will note the details of the problem and will agree a course of action with you. The same person will be responsible for providing you with regular updates until your complaint is resolved.

If you are not happy with the way your complaint is being handled

Please notify your customer service advisor and ask to have the matter escalated to the Head of Accounts.

If you are still not satisfied, then please write to our Director at the above address.

Dispute resolution

If we are unable to resolve your complaint satisfactorily, we will issue a “deadlock” letter so that you may make a complaint through Ombudsman Services: Communications, an independent alternative dispute resolution scheme.

Alternatively, if more than three months has passed since you first made your complaint and we have not responded, please contact Ombudsman Services: Communications directly:

Statement of Ethical and Social responsibility

We take fraud, deception, theft, nuisance calls and malicious communications very seriously and work closely with the police and others authorities. If you have been a victim of any of these activities then please call us on the numbers above to report the incident and for information on how to deal with this situation.

Data protection

We take the privacy of our customers and visitors very seriously and comply fully with our obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998.

We may collect personal information about you from a number of sources. These may include:

The customer agreement, i.e. the agreement that you sign when you take a service from Straight Talking Telco. This may include your name, address, other contact details and banking details.

• If you contact us with an enquiry
• From direct marketing organisations
• From other publicly available sources such as the electoral role

Straight Talking Telco takes all reasonable steps to ensure that there is no unauthorised access to your personal data. We may use the personal data that we have to promote Straight Talking Telco’s products and services but these details will not be passed to any other organisations for marketing purposes.

In some circumstances we may supply information to organisations such as the police where the law permits us to do this. We may record phone conversations in order to provide training services or to provide evidence of a transaction. If you wish to know what personal information Straight Talking Telco holds on you, you can obtain this by writing to us at the address above.

Communication with customers

It is our policy to maintain contact with our customers on a regular basis. We may call or write to you from time to time to inform you of any new services and to review your current requirements.

Useful addresses

Office of Communications

Ombudsman Services: Communications

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