How easy is it to set up Premium SMS services on someone else’s phone?
I don’t know the answer to that, but I suspect someone does. I noticed almost $40 in premium services on my first T-Mobile bill. I’ve already worked with T-Mo customer service and they’ve agreed to wipe these charges as a one-time goodwill gesture. That’s fine and good, but nobody can tell me how they got there in the first place. They’re listed as "Mobile Messenger" on my bill and hit every seven days at the same time; which adds $5.99 to my bill each time except for one day where it was $9.99.
Per T-Mobile, I’ve sent a "STOP" text to the five digit number that the messages originated from, but in less than a minute I received a message back stating "Service Not Available". Hopefully, this is over with, but I’m not so sure. Regardless, it’s very concerning to me as a consumer. How do you find out who signed you up? What the heck is the service, anyway? Is it because my number was recycled? I’ve never signed up for a premium TXT service, so I wouldn’t know where to start. Please tell me you can’t just plug in someone’s cell number on a website….please….
I had a similar problem with Cingular, except mine was with a company sending me expensive incoming SMS messages for an australian dating service.
Same thing: told to send them a stop by Cingular. Only I sent them a STOP but they wouldn’t stop.
Cingular had to turn off my eWallet so now I can’t receive such SMS’ even if I want them (such as those from eBay.)
I have this one filed away in my “Little Black Book of Dirty Tricks”.
Darn I didn’t think you’d catch on so fast.:)
Do you use the web on the phone? If so, that may be what’s charging you. Also, some IM applications on Windows Mobile send their messages over SMS, instead of using the internet connection, so you may be sending a whole bunch of SMS messages that you didn’t intend.
Of course, it could just be that Twitter addiction.
In the UK, you’re able to get a customer care number for the service as it should be listed against the company details for the short-code. Had you been in the UK, I could have checked it when I was next at work and got the number for you, but I’d suggest you ask T-Mobile customer service if they have a contact number for them. I’m surprised they refunded the charges – I wouldn’t have done that; I’d have told you to seek a refund from the company that caused the charges.
There are some companies who use random number generators and rely on the networks being nice like T-Mobile have in this instance (as they’ll still get their money).
I truly believe customers should not be charged for receiving SMS. For voice calls, at least we can refuse to anser them, but we have no control for SMS. Anyone can easily sign up someone else’s number or bomb others by sending web based text messages. Double the cost for sending if necessary, but receiving ends should not be charged especially for unwanted messages.
I had the same issue with T-Mobile; five sms messages at 0630 every morning – weather, news, etc.
I complained to T-Mobile to no avail, until I told a third-level support manager I would move all my accounts, private, personal and business ($1500 per month total average billing) to Cingular unless T-Mobile stopped the messages within 72 hours.
Within two days, I received a callback asking me to log onto My T-Mobile and modify my alerts (the alerts were not listed on My T-Mobile 48 hours before my phone call).
I was able to cancel the alerts I never initiated in the first place and the sms messages stopped.
I had a very similar incident with T-mobile. For a few months premium services were showing up on my account which I had never signed up for. They told me, that perhaps someone else had access to my phone and had signed up for them, which is impossible. They gave me phone numbers of the companies behind the services, but none of these phone numbers ever lead to a human voice. Overall, it was very frustrating, and they only agreed to credit me back for about $10 worth of charges
I had T-Mobile with 4 accounts and had many problems with them just like you and also missing many calls, phone drops, etc.. I called almost twice a week for this to get fixed and they would always say they couldn’t fix it and that in a month everything would be taken care of. I finally gave up and sent a letter to there main office and I have a friend over at UCAN which I forward the email along with the response from T-Mobile because I switched over to Sprint. T-Mobile was charging fees for all lines plus other fees which I wasn’t going to pay because they never provided the service I signed up and they where charging extra’s on my phones. Good luck Kevin I personally won’t every get T-Mobile as my wireless provider.
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