Code of Practice on Complaints Handling

for consumers and small businesses

Updated 20/3/2007

I GENERAL INFORMATION

1. Purpose of this Code of Practice

This code is addressed to current and potential residential and small business customers (referred to as “you” or “customer” in this code). It aims to provide you with information on Bulldog’s operating philosophy, range of services, customer service practices (including contact information) and customers’ rights/obligations.

2. Our contact details

In the event of questions or comments concerning the service that you are receiving or interested in receiving, you should contact Bulldog as follows:

By Post:

Bulldog Customer Correspondence
Christie Fields
Derwent Avenue
Manchester
M21 7QS

Web: http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/

By Telephone: 0871 702 7777 or select a 0800 free phone number from the list below.

For specific queries, please refer to the relevant department as follows:

Customer services (residential services)

Monday – Friday

08.00 - 20.00

Saturday – Sunday

09.00 - 18.00

0871 702 7777

bulldogcustomerservice@pipex.net

 

Technical support (residential services)

Monday – Friday

08.00 - 20.00

Saturday - Sunday

09.00 - 18.00

0871 702 7777

support@bulldogbroadband.com

 

Customer servicesand Technical support (business services)

Monday – Sunday

08.00 - 20.00

0871 702 7777

repair@bulldogbroadband.com

 

II INFORMATION ABOUT OUR SERVICES

1. Range of services

1.1 Bulldog residential services

Bulldog currently offers seven residential broadband services. Its five phone + broadband services include both ADSL broadband and telephone line and are provided on-net (within our LLU network footprint). Bulldog’s two AllTime packages are broadband-only services, provided off-net (outside our LLU network footprint). Details are as follows:

Bulldog phone + broadband services come in the following packages for home users:

Phone + Unlimited broadband offering:

Phone + Anytime broadband offering:

Phone + Pay-as-you-go broadband offering:

Phone + Unlimited Plus broadband offering:

Phone + Anytime Plus broadband offering:

For a snapshot of the current phone + broadband offerings including promotional prices, please visit: http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/index3.asp

Bulldog AllTime is for customers who live outside our LLU footprint and cannot get the phone + broadband services. There are two services available, offering an unlimited 1 meg and 2 meg ADSL broadband experience at very competitive prices.

AllTime 1000 offering:

AllTime 2000 offering:

1.2 Bulldog SoHo and SME services

Bulldog offers the following broadband services for its SoHo and SME customers:

Bulldog Small Business

Comprises 2 types of ADSL broadband connection packages.

Bulldog Small Business offering:

Bulldog Small Business Plus offering:

2. Ordering

You can order our services online. Availability of services in your area can be checked on:

https://secure.bulldogbroadband.com/shop/checker.asp?searchtype=telno .

If our services are available in your area, you will then be taken through the rest of the ordering process, which includes choosing your desired package as well as the payment method.

If the availability checker shows that the service is not available in your area, you can register your interest for the desired service by filling in the pre-registration form located here:

http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/shop/pre-register.asp .

You will need to be over 18 years of age. Payment can be made by Direct Debit with Visa, MasterCard, Switch or Solo; alternatively, just on Credit Card (Visa or MasterCard).

3. Pricing

Pricing information about our broadband packages as well as telephone tariffs included by each package are published on our website at http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/index3.asp , for residential customers and http://www.bulldogbusiness.com for business customers.

4. Terms and Conditions

All our products are subject to our Terms and Conditions, which can be found on:

http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/general/termsandconditions.asp

and our Acceptable Use Policy, which can be found on:

http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/residential/legal/acceptable_use.asp

5. Minimum Period and Cancellation

Depending on the service you order, there will be a minimum contract period as indicated in the following table.

 

Product

 

 

Minimum Period Offered

Bulldog phone + broadband

Phone + Unlimited broadband

12 months

Phone + Anytime broadband

Phone + Pay-as-you-go broadband

Phone + Unlimited Plus broadband

Phone + Anytime Plus broadband

Bulldog AllTime

AllTime 1000

12 months

AllTime 2000

Bulldog Small Business

12 months

Bulldog Small Business Plus

12 months


Terminating the service contract (prior to service activation)

If 40 working days have passed since the order was placed and the service has not yet been activated, you may terminate your contract with Bulldog by sending Bulldog an email indicating that you wish to end your contract. Bulldog will refund you any payments you have already made in respect of the ordered service.

You may also terminate the service contract within 7 working days from the day after the date the order was placed. Bulldog will refund you any payments you have already made in respect of such contract.

Terminating the service contract in other circumstances (prior to service activation)

If you want to end your contract before activation for any other reason you may do so, but you will be required to pay to Bulldog the full activation charge, without any promotional discount.

Current activation charges are:

£99 for new lines

£33 for transfer lines

Please note that if we receive your instructions to terminate your contract with us within 5 calendar days preceding the advised activation date, in addition to the above charges, you will also be liable to pay the recurring charges for the minimum period.

If you instruct us to terminate your contract with us before activation and such contract involves the transfer of your existing telephone line, we will not transfer your line. However, we can only guarantee that the line will not be physically transferred if we receive your instruction no later than 12:00 pm on the second working day prior to the advised activation date. For example, if we have advised you that your service will be activated on a Thursday, your instruction to terminate and, consequently, to cancel the transfer, should reach us no later than at noon the preceding Tuesday in order for the physical transfer not to take place.

Terminating the service contract (after service activation)

Termination is subject to a 30 calendar days’ notice as set out in our terms and conditions.

If you terminate the service contract within the minimum period and do not commit to a new contract (e.g. in the case of moving house), you will also be billed for the remaining period of your contract.

Any request for termination should be made in writing or by telephone to the following Customer Service contacts:

By Post:

Bulldog Customer Correspondence
Christie Fields
Derwent Avenue
Manchester
M21 7QS

If by email: cancel@bulldogbroadband.com

If by telephone: 0871 702 7777

III COMPLAINTS HANDLING

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service, you should first try and resolve your query with our Customer Service Teams. If they are unable to help you, please ask to speak to a Team Manager, who will try and resolve your problem.

In the event that you remain dissatisfied with the solution or explanation offered, we ask that you submit a formal complaint in writing or by telephone to the following Customer Care Manager contacts:

Bulldog Customer Correspondence
Christie Fields
Derwent Avenue
Manchester
M21 7QS

You are also welcome to submit a formal written complaint in the first instance.

To help us respond to your complaint quickly and effectively, you should include the following information (as appropriate):

Within 24 hours of the complaint being received and logged, an acknowledgement will be sent to you allocating a case number.

The Customer Care Manager will respond to you addressing all issues raised under the complaint within 28 calendar days.

2. Escalation

If you are not satisfied with the resolution offered by the Customer Care Team, you may request that the complaint is escalated to the Complaints Manager.

3. Adjudication

If a complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction within 12 weeks of Bulldog receiving the complaint, you may appeal to the Communications and Internet Services Adjudication Scheme (CISAS), which is an independent adjudication scheme approved by Ofcom.

You may also refer a complaint to CISAS whenever Bulldog issues a deadlock letter to you with a CISAS reference number.

Contact details for CISAS are as follows:

By Post: CISAS
The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
12 Bloomsbury Square
London
WC1A 2LP  

Phone: 020 7421 7432

Fax: 020 7404 7150

IV OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION

1. Services for the disabled

1.1 Relay Services.

Bulldog services support TypeTalk, which is the Royal National Institute for Deaf People’s ("RNID") national telephone relay service.

1.2 Directory Information and Directory Enquiry Facilities

If using a phone book is difficult - for example if an end user is blind or partially sighted – customer will qualify for the free 195 Directory Enquiry service. Simply by calling 195, an operator will ask the user for its PIN number (given when you register). The operator will then ask which number the end user needs and will find it for him/her. Option of onward connection to the desired number will also be available. To register for this free service, please call 195 from any Bulldog phone.

1.3 Contract and Bills

Any blind or otherwise visually impaired customer may request our contractual terms and conditions as well as our bills to be provided in an acceptable format. If customer has a relevant disability, he/she may appoint a nominee for billing and payment matters.

2. Disconnection

Bulldog has in place a Code of Practice on Domestic Disconnections aimed to:

The code can be found on: http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/residential/legal/code_domestic.asp

3. Privacy Policy

Bulldog is committed to the protection of your personal information. We recognise the concern our customers have about what information is collected from them and what Bulldog does with that information. Therefore, Bulldog has in place policies and procedures designed to ensure that personal information is protected.

Our privacy policy statement is to provide you with reassurance and information about Bulldog's use of your information and can be found on: http://www.bulldogbroadband.com/residential/legal/privacy.asp

4. Useful Contacts

Internet Services Providers' Association (ISPA UK)

23 Palace Street
London
SW1E 5HW
Phone: 0870 0500 710

Ofcom Contact Centre

Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA
Phone: 0845 456 3333

RNID TypeTalk

PO Box 284
Liverpool
L69 3UZ

Email: helpline@rnid-typetalk.org.uk
Switchboard: 0151 709 9494
Text relay, International: +44 151 494 1260
Voice relay, International: +44 151 494 2022
Text helpline: 18001 0800 500 888
Voice helpline: 0800 7 311 888
Fax: 0151 709 8119
Email: helpline@rnid-typetalk.org.uk
http://www.typetalk.org/frame.html

V APPROVAL AND REVIEW OF THIS CODE

This code will be reviewed on a regular basis in accordance with Ofcom’s requirements. Any member of the public may request this code to be provided in a different format – where required - and free of charge. If you have any queries in respect of this code, you may contact Chris Gallimore, Regulatory Affairs at chrisgallimore@cw-access.com.

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