Parents innocent of wicked ways of Internet face phone bill shock

There follows a cautionary cyber-tale to make all parents think twice about how their children access the Internet. Pay attention if you want to avoid a £3,000 phone bill.

Therese, which is not her real name, is like many parents conscious of the important part computers and the Internet will play in her children's life. With this in mind the single mother from Co Wicklow bought a computer on hire purchase from the ESB. Her 15-year-old daughter and nine-year-old son were delighted.

So was Therese, especially when she learned that a glossy UK magazine called Internet Advisor was available with a CD that allowed free access to the Internet. For the same price as local telephone calls her daughter could be online, it promised.

Therese, a self-confessed computer illiterate, was clued in enough to know the time spent on the Internet would result in an increase in her phone bill.

What she didn't realise was how much.

Last Tuesday she received a phone call from Eircom. "The man was really nice but he said that he thought I should know that my two-monthly phone bill would be more than it usually was. Then he told me it would be £2,500 plus £500 for VAT," she said.

Therese was in shock, but gradually with the help of the nice Eircom assistant linked the astronomical figure back to her daughter's Internet use. Further investigation revealed that while Therese thought her daughter's surfing was being done for the equivalent of local phone calls, the computer's modem had been calling the UK and she was being billed at Eircom's international rates.

A colourful array of Internet magazines, the majority of them UK publications, can be found on the shelves of most newsagents. Like Internet Advisor, many come with a CD attached and most offer special Internet deals. These are offered through Internet service providers such as madasafish, the one accessed by Therese's daughter.

It requires little more than a few clicks of a mouse to get online with these disks. At one point a number appears on the screen, in this case beginning with the UK code digits 0044. Perhaps Therese's daughter should have realised that the code meant she was calling Britain, but she didn't. Until it was too late.

Kevin Fennelly from Co Dublin found himself in exactly the same position recently. "I was thinking about getting the kids on the Internet but was concerned about issues such as them having access to pornographic sites. I went on holiday and when I came back my 14-year-old daughter said: `It's OK, Dad, we got a disk from a magazine that let us get on the Internet'."

For Kevin this development highlighted the increasing gap between parents and children in relation to most things technological. "The decision had essentially been taken out of my hands," he said.

Kevin (like Therese, he freely admits he knows nothing about computers) thought no more about it until the next telephone bill - usually around £130 - arrived. It was for more than £1,600. "There should be a warning on these magazines," he said.

In fact, both the relevant Internet service provider, madasafish, and the magazine publisher are already working on it.

"We really regret what happened and are working so that when someone accesses the software it is very clear that the UK is being dialled, and that extra costs will be incurred," said the product manager of madasafish, Mr Forrest Duncan.

The publishers of the magazine say that from now on each magazine distributed in Ireland will feature a sticker that says the offer is only available in the UK.

One industry source suggested that parents who want to get their children online would be better advised to sign up with one of the Irish companies which offer a variety of low-cost Internet packages.

According to a spokesman for the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, the fact that the magazines are from the UK should put people on notice that any deals advertised in them may only be applicable there.

That doesn't help Therese, who says she has never seen £300, never mind £3,000, and is at a loss to know how she will pay the bill. She is heartened by news of an anonymous donor to RTE's Liveline programme, where the issue was first aired, who has donated £250 towards the cost of the bill. This reporter also received an e-mail from a man wanting to help her out financially.

The fact that other people have been through similar experiences has also helped Therese. "I don't feel as alone now," she said.