Your Premium Rated 086 Support number is a rip-off

I write relevant to the 086# support line which is a so-called Premium Rated number For openers, I decline to interact with you via this channel for a number of reasons: - You do not disclose the cost to the caller (as, eg; ICASA requires SMS # response promoters to do and yes, I have some appreciation of the complexity that attaches to cost disclosure in the Premium Rated Service (PRS) voice comms environment) - When I have called in the past or when your agents have suggested that I call in on your 086#, they can never tell me what such calls will cost me - The costs – possibly unregulated – are exorbitant to the caller - The costs are in fact, hugely unfair for a large percentage of your membership who operate on pre-paid or low-end cell phone contracts and have to have sufficient airtime available (how much airtime will be enough for a call to you?*) to pay for the real time cost deduction (and risk call drop when airtime runs out) processed into their service providers by the PRS providers - with one of whom, you are probably contracted. In effect, such low-end members have to pay for the calls (and the service – see below) upfront - You (probably) derive an income from calls to your 086 numbers thus in effect, charging your members for service which, according to my understanding of the WASPA Code of Contact should not be the case - You do not provide landline #s for member use as an alternative (* a call to you on approx 15 March via your ********** # - made available to overseas callers in your web site - had a duration of 22 minutes. Based on initial cost research done on this topic and on call costs to the 086 # of another service provider, that call could have cost me R 60 – appreciating of course, that tariffs offered by the PRS’s, and accepted by 086 # “owners” will vary based on negotiation between, and acceptance by the parties. I wonder how much of that call cost would have become revenue for you) These issues are not unique to Discovery and I am also addressing other service providers who provide support via PRS #s. This is one side of an ‘activism’ to address the total lack of transparency for consumers in the PRS/Inbound Call service environment I am currently studying the WASPA Code of Conduct as well as the various ICASA regulations (this will include their Premium Rated Code of Conduct once published) and am in comms with ICASA on this topic. At their request, I have already lodged a complaint “against” my cell phone service provider in which I have tabled a more detailed case along the above lines Therefore, I request that you agree to share information relevant to your PRS (or Inbound Call) service in the interests of transparency for your members and ultimately, for consumers in general I can be reached at (preferably) ********** or ********** Thank you in anticipation