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ISPA slaps LineOne

Oi... LineOne... No!

LineOne's decision to ditch unmetered access is in breach of its industry code of conduct, according to the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA).

The British service provider has been given seven days to reply to allegations that it has failed to "act decently, fairly and reasonably at all times".

ISPA claims it has received a barrow-load of complaints from users who are incensed at the way LineOne has acted.

Last week it confirmed that it was ditching unmetered access because it was costing the company too much money. LineOne offered unmetered access as part of a telephony deal with discount telco, Quip!.

Not only is ISPA calling on LineOne to offer a cash refund to those people who forked out £20 for a dialler as part of 24/7 unmetered Net access, it is also demanding that LineOne considers offering compensation as well as the refund.

So far LineOne has only offered a £20 refund in voice calls via Quip!.

According to ISPA, this is not satisfactory. Nicholas Lansman, Secretary-General, ISPA UK, wrote: "While a £20 credit on voice calls made via the Quip telecom service has been offered to customers, as well as the opportunity of joining BT's Surftime, many customers are angry that they have not been offered a refund of the initial £20 that was paid for the service.

"Many of the complainants have alleged that they do not use Quip! for voice calls and only signed up for this service because it was part of the package for free Internet access," he said.

"All members of ISPA are obliged to comply with the Code. We consider on the basis of the information provided to us that Line One is in breach of the...of the ISPA Code," he said.

ISPA also claims that LineOne's actions reflect badly on Britain's Net industry and that it does nothing for consumer confidence.

No one at ISPA was available for comment. However, in a prepared statement ISPA said that the letter, dated 20 July, was addressed to LineOne and was "not intended for publication nor does it represent the final view of ISPA on this matter in relation to LineOne or Quip.

"Quip is not being investigated under this complaints procedure," it said.

No one was available at LineOne for comment. MD, Mary Turner, has not been in the office all day.

To view the ISPA letter in full click here. ®

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