Suhail Bhat(MEF) alarming response to Paul Whiteing(Phonepayplus)

[El Gringo]

firstly both Paul Whiting and Suhail Bhat share responsibility for some of the regulatory failure that as lead to this deplorable situation the UK Premium Rate Industry now finds itself.
Both have failed to address the problems honestly and instead tried to hide the problems with misleading PR statements.
http://www.the-scream.co.uk/forums/s...04&postcount=1

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/32384...-we-had-to-act
PhonepayPlus: Why we had to act against abuses
Jan 22 2009

Chief executive Paul Whiteing explains the thinking behind new UK regulations.

PhonepayPlus says a 'staggering rise' in complains about mobile content and services last year compelled it to introduce new rules for the UK industry this morning.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/32383...tent-providers

Specifically, the number of worried consumers contacting the regulator about so-called mobile phone-paid services rose by 108 per cent between 2006/7 and 2007/8, and in some months accounted for 94 per cent of all complaints it logged.

Writing in an article for ME,
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/features/1...-we-had-to-act
PhonepayPlus chief executive Paul Whiteing said: "Ultimately, [the new rules] ensure consumers don’t have to work too hard to understand the full price of any service, can opt out of any they weren’t expecting or no longer want to receive and, fundamentally, can use legitimate services with confidence."

Phonepayplus had to act because they and the 'industry' they regulated couldn't hide the high level of public complaints they were responsible for.
Complaints ranging from misselling to and swindling children to theft from phone accounts in the form of unauthorized debiting of those accounts.
It should be noted that Mr Bhat was a key player at Icstis(now Phonepayplus) when this abuse was taking place.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/32394...epayPlus-rules
MEF cautious on PhonepayPlus rules
Jan 23 2009

Trade body warns against punishing legitimate content providers with mountains of red tape.

The Mobile Entertainment Forum says it welcomes the sentiment of new rules governing the selling of mobile content put forward yesterday by UK regulator PhonepayPlus.
http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/32383...tent-providers

However, the MEF has cautioned that the proposals "appear to collectively punish the majority of content providers by creating a layer of red tape, without actually addressing a small number of rogue elements that persistently mislead consumers".
[many of those rogue elements are members of the MEF]

The body says it will be study PPP's consultation further following discussions with its members and legal experts at Denton Wilde Sapte, before producing a guide to its implications.
[Tesco doesn't have to consult with 'legal experts' every time it sells a tin of beans. Most people know the difference between fair and rip-off without consulting legal experts ]

Suhail Bhat, policy and initiatives director at MEF, said: "MEF welcomes the sentiment of today’s PhonepayPlus (PpP) consultation on mobile phone-paid services. Our members support measures that promote transparency for consumers without hindering their access to and enjoyment of mobile services.

"We believe that all forms of non-compliance and consumer harm should be dealt with immediately and we would have liked elements of the new rules to allow for consumer complaints to be resolved more quickly.
[Bhat is unable to comprehend that if a business model is generating thousands of complaints then the problem is in the business model]
While we are still studying the changes, at this stage we are not convinced that the new regulations achieve anything that wasn’t possible under the previous Code of Practice."
[if it was possible to address the problems that were generating the thousands of complaints under the old regulations why the hell didn't he ]

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