Archaeology Cymru

[mercenary]

I think I'll skratch this company off my possible employer list.

Check this out. Sorry the hyperlink didn't work.

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Service provider (SP) Archaeology Cymru Ltd
Telephone network(s) British Telecom
Service type Information
Source of complaint(s) Public

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Complaint
A complaint was received from a company that had received an answer-machine message requesting an advisor to contact the caller with some information. A premium rate number had been left as the contact number. Another complaint from another company was subsequently received with the caller claiming to be an archaeologist seeking specialist information.

The following breaches of the ICSTIS Code of Practice (Tenth Edition, Amended July 2005) were raised:

? Prior permission (Paragraph 3.3.1): Archaeology Cymru Ltd did not have the required prior permission to operate a live service.

? Misleading (Paragraph 4.3.1a): Recipients of the telephone calls would have been likely to call the contact number given as the fact that it was a premium rate number was not made clear.

? Pricing information (Paragraph 4.4.1): The promotional telephone calls did not give pricing information.

? Contact details (Paragraph 4.5): The promotional telephone calls did not give contact details for the service provider.

? Further information (Paragraph 7.2.3): To assist the investigation, the service provider was asked to provide further information about the service and its promotion, including an explanation of the purpose of the service, details of where they had obtained the complainants? contact details and information about the nature of their business. Call revenue statistics were also requested.

Due to the potentially serious consumer harm posed by the service, ICSTIS used its Emergency Procedure to bar access to the service with immediate effect.

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Investigation
Archaeology Cymru Ltd did not respond to the breaches raised and failed to provide the requested information.

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Decision
The Committee upheld breaches of paragraphs 3.3.1, 4.3.1a, 4.4.1, 4.5 and 7.2.3 of the ICSTIS Code of Practice (Tenth Edition, Amended July 2005).

Archaeology Cymru Ltd were fined ?1,000 and issued with a formal reprimand. In addition, access to the service was barred for six months.