If you are one of the tens of thousands of people in the UK who pay for a personal alarm system then chances are you are unaware of a secret charge added on to your bill.
Customers confronted with emergencies and false alarms are being given premium rate numbers to call in the face of a crisis.
Ten of the UK’s leading personal alarm companies use 084 numbers which charge customers a super-high rate of nearly £1 per minute if they make a call.
And in many cases when a person’s alarm system is activated, it alerts the alarm monitoring centre using an 084 number, which a customer will also be charged for.
This is because the alarm system software is linked to your telephone line, which when triggered, contacts the alarm monitoring centres, which assess the emergency and then call to check on you.
A joint investigation with the Fair Telecoms Campaign (FTC) found 11 security companies, which offer alarm monitoring services, openly advertise 084 numbers on their websites, invariably for customers to call for alarm emergencies.
Customers of some personal alarm companies, when confronted with emergencies and false alarms, are being given premium rate numbers to call
Telecare 24, endorsed by Dr Hilary Jones (pictured), claims to offer ‘affordable personal alarms for the elderly’, despite charging for customers to call in the face of a crisis
This means customers could face charges of nearly a £1 a minute for a call from a mobile phone or nearly 35p a minute from a landline, according to the Fair Telecom Campaign (FTC).
But many personal alarm systems are set up using 084 numbers, according to industry insiders, which means when they are triggered you will be liable for the premium rate call.
It is estimated that up to 40 per cent of UK households have personal alarm systems but not all are monitored.
The FTC point out that the elderly and vulnerable who rely on personal alarms and alarm monitoring centres are particularly at risk because they are often not aware they are calling premium rate numbers.
One of the companies is Telecare 24, endorsed by Dr Hilary Jones, which claims ‘affordable personal alarms for the elderly’.
Installing a personal alarm system in your home can cost between £600-£1200, excluding VAT, and it can cost around £30 a month for the alarm monitoring service.
Custodian, which is part of the large Chubb Fire and Security empire, is one of the country’s largest alarm monitoring companies and uses 084 numbers on its website.
Many of the websites fail to state clearly the costs involved in calling an 084 number, even though they are legally required to do so.
Consumer regulations, introduced in 2013, make it clear that 084 numbers should not be used for existing customers for services or products they have already bought.
Existing customers should be charged at a ‘basic’ rate, which equates to a ‘normal’ telephone call charge.
David Hickson, of the FTC, believes that the use of these numbers by these alarm companies breach consumer regulations because they should instead charge a ‘basic rate’, which is the cost of a normal phone call.
Just to complicate matters the bulk of the charges on these 084 numbers do not go to the security companies but your telephone network provider.
Hickson believes that if trading standards cracked down on the security companies, they would be found to be in breach of consumer rights protections.
He said: ‘Alarm monitoring companies have long been known to amongst the worst offenders. This is made worse by the fact that many calls are made automatically when the alarm systems are triggered so victims are only aware if they check their telephone bills and understand what is happening.
‘This is most concerning with personal alarms, which, by their nature, are used by those who are vulnerable.
‘Any organisation which now uses 084 or 087 numbers for any contact from contracted consumers has, we think, been in breach of the regulations implementing the Consumer Rights Directive, since their introduction in 2014.’
Julian Shersby, 61, has spent 20 years campaigning against premium rate numbers so when 084 flashed up on his mobile phone the alarm bells started ringing.
The retired financial data analyst was being called by Custodian because his personal alarm had been accidentally triggered.
Having had an expensive new alarm system installed Southern Fire Security(SFS) at his Surrey apartment in October, Shersby, realised that insult was to be added to injury.
He said: ‘My mother has been dead for seven years now but in around 2015 I remember discovering that her alarm system had an 084 number in its auto-dialler, so she was being charged at a premium rate.
‘That is the problem, isn’t it? Many people buying these alarm monitoring services would think that an 084 number is a normal number and just part of their call plan. They would only realise it is not when they look at their phone bill.
‘I’ve campaigned to have these numbers shut down since 2004. In 2014 we even have had consumer rights regulations that should have stopped this kind of thing but here I am 20 years later, and this still goes on.’
The experience of Shersby illustrates just how complex the picture is. Although his alarm was installed by Southern Fire & Security, and the contract is with SFS, it is monitored by Custodian, one of the largest companies in the UK.
Shersby said: ‘With Custodian, every interaction, they want you to use 084 and they even want you to use this for the sales number. When people do not see anything ethically wrong with 084 numbers the seem to use them at every turn.
‘Nowhere on the contacts page to they indicate there is an access or service charge on any of these numbers. These companies claim they make no money on these numbers but they would not use them unless there was a financial advantage.’
The complications do not end there. Even the term premium rate is a minefield. Although you will pay a premium rate for calling 084, Ofcom restricts the term to 09, 118, and 087 numbers.
Ten of the UK’s leading personal alarm companies use 084 numbers which charge customers a super-high rate of nearly £1 per minute if they make a call
These provide premium services, such as adult entertainment, directory enquiries, competitions, and mobile games.
Although you will pay the same access charge to your provider for 084 and premium rate numbers, the service charge for an 09 number can be up to £3.60 a minute.
Since 2015, there have been two separate charges for calling these numbers, with a service charge going to the recipient, in this case the alarm monitoring service, and an access charge going to the telephone provider.
For the access charge, BT landlines currently charge you 28.18p per minute, but for EE mobiles it is 89p per minute, according to the FTC. By comparison, the service charge, which is paid by the recipient, is up to 7p per minute.
David Hickson, of the Fair Telecoms Campaign, calculates that a five-minute call to an 084 number, on an EE mobile, would pay an access charge of £4.45 (£3.71 to EE + 74p VAT), and 35p service charge (29p to the alarm company + 6p VAT).
A Department of Business and Trade spokesman says, ‘If the trader uses a telephone line in order for consumers to contact them about an existing contract, consumers cannot be charged more than the basic rate for that call.’
The Mail contacted the companies involved. EE declined to comment. O2 said they are transparent about network charges, and it is up to companies what numbers they use. Vodafone did not respond.
Andrew Gordon, of ABS Alarms, said that they were only an installation company that subcontracted their alarm monitoring to Custodian, and they were not responsible for the 084 numbers.
Cornerstone Group, said, they ‘do not make any money on people calling this number’ but declined to answer further questions.
AIM Alarms said that they were only an alarm monitoring provider for installations companies and offer basic rate alternative numbers.
J&D Security said that they were only an installation company that uses another company for alarm monitoring and had now removed the premium number from their website. They declined to comment on whether they had removed this number because of our approach.
Custodian, AMCO, Chubb, SFS, APS, Clymac, EMCS, Abel, and Telecare24 did not respond.
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