Meteor to refund overcharged customers

MOBILE phone company Meteor is to reimburse up to 23,000 customers who were overcharged on their calls over a two-year period.

Users of the network, both bill pay and call credit, have been notified that they will receive full repayment plus 10%.

However, with 16,000 people overcharged by less than €1 over two years, the total amount to be paid out will be less than €20,000. Just 15 people were overcharged between €30 and €110.

"In the last month we discovered the problem so we immediately took steps to rectify it," a company spokesman said.

Meanwhile, a new code of practice which will place a required price limit on subscription ring tone services for under 18s will be in place by the summer, said Regtel, the independent regulator of premium rate telecommunications services.

The regulator Pat Breen said the guidelines will be drawn up in the coming weeks after discussion with the mobile phone industry and public bodies.

However, he would not reveal the proposed price limit, which is set to cut the amount of money lost by teenagers who inadvertently subscribe to phone services.

"There will be more tightening (of the guidelines) in terms of putting a monetary restriction on logos, wallpapers and ring tones for those under 18," said Mr Breen said. "We hope it will be in place by May or June at the latest."

There has been criticism that mobile users are being ripped off by some companies offering ring tones. Last August, the regulator asked companies to simplify the process of cancelling a subscription to a service.

A Cork-based graphic designer revealed how €60 of call credit was lost buying a ring tone for his wife's new phone.

Dermot Ahern said they used an Irish website to acquire the ring tone, only for €12 to be deducted from his wife Bernice's call credit the following Sunday.

"We noticed it and said it was a once-off, but the following Sunday another €12 was deducted," Mr Ahern said. "Then the following Sunday, another 6 was deducted, at which point we tried to stop it."

When his daughter attempted to unsubscribe to the service on the website, she was told that their PIN number used to download the original ring tone had expired. In the succeeding weeks, €6 was deducted every Sunday from Bernice's call credit while she received only one ring tone.

Following a call to the company supplying the ring tone, the family will be reimbursed some of the money, dating from the time they tried to unsubscribe.