when i called the toll-free support line, i wasn't expecting to hear that i only had 60 cents remaining on my mobile's monthly prepaid account. after all, my wife and i rarely use that cell phone. it's more of a "second line" in our household. and when i asked the operator to explain the charges on my account as she read from my mobile log, i was even more surprised to learn that we had received almost 30 "text and win" messages over the past three months.
naturally i asked the operator if she could determine the source of these mysterious text messages. after a few minutes of investigation, she was able to ascertain that the sender was a montreal-based enterprise specializing in online and sms contests and promotions.
so how much was i paying for these text messages then? well, it turns out that each of those texts was running me two dollars apiece. two dollars! let's see then... thirty messages at two dollars a pop equals... equals $60! um, but i thought incoming messages were free on my service. yes, the operator replied, but these were premium messages. premium messages? what the hell is a premium message? well, the operator continued, a premium message includes text voting, chatting, contests, and text alerts. text voting? what would i be voting on: my favourite video on punchmuch? chatting? who would want to chat with me? contests? i've never won a contest. text alerts? yeah, maybe to alert me that i hadn't won the contest.
and what's more - i wasn't even aware that these messages were being received in the first place. now i must say that the operator expressed some doubts over this particular assertion. but i promised her that i was completely in the dark when it came to these specific texts. nothing in my inbox. nothing in my log. nothing. and just to cover my bases, i immediately inquired of my wife as to whether or not she was familiar with the texts at issue in this matter. she claimed ignorance, as well.
but when i mentioned this to the operator, ms. mobile implied that the messages were the result of an invitation on our part to receive information from this particular firm. once again i asked my wife if she had made any contact with the company in question. once again she claimed ignorance.
then the operator asked if i had ever replied to the incoming texts with a "stop" message. how could i have replied with a "stop" message if i had never received the incoming texts to begin with? then i asked my wife if she had replied to the texts and once again she responded in the negative.
so here's the problem then. first of all, what's to stop these unscrupulous marketers from charging $3 per text... or $4 per text... or why not even $5 per text? when i mentioned this to the operator, she seemed to suggest that nothing, in fact, would stop these deceitful con men from applying those higher rates.
and secondly, how can i be certain that a "stop" reply to the first incoming "text and win" message would have been obeyed by the individuals responsible for the scam anyway? when i mentioned this to the operator, she seemed to suggest that nothing, in fact, may persuade those companies from abandoning their unethical ways.
alright, so enough bad news already. the good news? the good news is that the supervisor i eventually spoke to at my mobile service provider was kind enough to credit the full $60 back to my account. you see virginia, there is a santa claus.
"honesty is the best policy. if i lose mine honor, i lose myself." - william shakespeare
sometimes you gotta laugh, sometimes you gotta cry, and sometimes you just gotta dance:
p.s. what do you mean, "the huge gap underneath the post"?
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That happened to me once I got charge $90!! I was on the phone arguing with the customer service rep for more than 2 hours about it! It's actually really easy for just ANYONE to sign you up for those kind of texts; they just go to the website and enter your phone number; and next thing you know, you're getting a bill of $90 - a result of 12 year olds finding it funny to enter a random person's phone number into a random website. *sigh*.
ReplyDelete-M.
oh wow to the comment above me.... i didn't even know that....
ReplyDeletebut anyway, what's with the huge gap underneath the post?
just saying.
I think that person can't see your video link. I can see it though :)
ReplyDelete-M.
where is saturday's post? getting lazy now?
ReplyDeletethis happened to me too!
ReplyDeletewhat happened was that Rogers gave me a new phone in September and then I had the first 3 months free on it. I occasionally got a text message from somewhere saying something like "do you want cool ringtones? text ___ to ____!" (which i didn't).
then 3 months later i start being charged $8 YES $8 for the incoming texts. And i complained to Rogers, who said to talk to the company that was charging ME because THEY had no affiliation with them, but _I_ signed up with them. And i called the company and they said that I signed up in February. "But i got my phone in September!" "Oh well, we don't know. We just charge you."
So i call Rogers back and say this person signed up in February, I got my phone in September, HOW could this be me who signed up (they didn't believe I didn't know where the texts were coming from). Rogers finally realized that the person who my number USED to belong to had that service.
They saw no reason to give me back my money.
Summation: Rogers is a douchebag. They charged me $16 out of the $24 i owed them.
correct me if i'm wrong, but did YOU actually type, "my wife". shocking!
ReplyDeleteum sir, if you do only keep that cell phone as a secondary line for people to contact you, how did these con people get your number in the first place?
ReplyDeletesame thing happened to me. this time, $140 was in the arguement. apparently, those messages informing you that you have $____ remaining in your account after each call costed me $4 a piece. i complained my butt off, and CTV news even did a "Web Mania" thing about these con guys. and if my problem got resolved? all i was told is that a full investigation is now in progress. gezz thanks, like that is going to help. i think this problem is unavoidable, seeing that most people get charged for incoming messages. so if, lets say, some bad guy gets a hold of a phone number, the user is pretty much screwed. pardon the language. remembering this event just got me all mad. sorry. but sir, at least you aren't alone on this one. though YOU actually got credited the full repayment of the charges.
ReplyDelete