£1.50 text charge?????

Oscarina_2 · 5 September 2007 at 1:09PM

Hi

Same deal as everyone else here. Received an 81404 reverse charged
SMS for £1.27 + VAT on my O2 bill to which I hadn't subscribed or even
recieved. Apparently it came from Tanla Mobile (surprise surprise).
Spoken to O2 three times now including a manager - all of whom said
they couldn't do anything. Spoke to Tanla Mobile and got a call
centre in India twice. Both times they said someone would call me
back in 2-3 working days (I'm still waiting). Have also reported this
to ISCTIS - http://www.icstis.org.uk/consumers/how_to_complain/default.asp.
Tanla Mobile are no stranger to ISCTIS and reverse charge texts -
http://www.icstis.org.uk/consumers/adjudications/default.asp?mode=1&s....

After having come across a Google Forum about this - http://groups.google.com/group/uk.telecom.mobile/browse_thread/thread/2523a8996b40ae7d/0bf968364b72cbd3 , I tried O2 again and as
suggested, asked them if they'd check my records for proof that I'd
done anything to request a premium rate text (they couldn't). I then
told them as suggested in this forum that if they couldn't provide
proof that it was fraud which is a breach of the 1968 Theft Act and
that I would be involving the police and taking them to court. O2
have now said they'll refund the money - so I'll wait to see if the
credit appears on my next bill.

By the way, if your 'phone company directs you to Tanla Mobile and
gives you the 0871 9180999 number, which will cost you money,
especially when they direct you to the Indian call centre and you have
to ask for everything to be repeated, use the national rate number of
0207 494 5600 and either explain the problem to the first person you
speak to in the hopes they won't transfer you to India or take the
plunge and ask for Customer Care (call centre in India).

Also if you need to speak to O2, don't do it on their 0870 number
(also costly), go to http://www.saynoto0870.com/ and find either an
0800 freephone or national/local rate number.

It seems that if you want to make lots of money, set up a 'phone
business. Remember O2 get a cut (up to 30%?) for these premium rate
scams, so don't give up.
Oscar

Intasun32 · 5 September 2007 at 1:24PM

You have all been victims of the scam known as 'Unsolicited Reverse Bill Texts/ SMS.
It has been going for many years and everyone in the Telecoms Industry denies it's exsistance or it legality, as I found out being a victim like all of those that have posted here.
Read my long tale of woe: www.cattolica.blog.co.uk
I hope it helps.

Gotthem_2 · 6 September 2007 at 11:11AM

I got scammed back in June. I made a complaint to icstis and got a reply today. We got 'em! Tanla Mobile, the company which ran the scam, were fined £50,000 and the service was barred. If you want your money back, go to Tanla Mobile Ltd, 39 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0AR.

scotty · 9 September 2007 at 2:34PM

I found one of these "Text Service" items on my latest bill. I used the ICSTIS website to find the company involved and it turned up Tanla mobile. The unsolicited text was sent at the beginning of this month. I searched further on the ICSTIS site and discovered that there had been three rulings against Tanla this year with a six month ban on service in June and a 12 month ban in September. I don't understand how these bans work but Tanla appear to be continuing to operate in the period where they are supposedly banned!

Phone company were not very helpful initially, claiming they could do nothing. It took 3 or 4 emails to get someone who understood the problem and do something about it. Although they refunded me, I doubt if they are pursuing the real problem of these unsolicited SMS messages. It appears that the system allows these rough companies to send you messages and pass on this £1.50 charge to you through your phone company and neither you or the phone company are in any position to do much about it. They probably rely on a large percentage of people not noticing the charge on their bill or deciding that it is nor worth the hassle chasing it up for such a small amount. This problem needs to be picked up by one of the consumer associations and to be widely publicised before any action is going to be taken. As it could save people money, perhaps Martin would consider championing the cause!!! What is needed is a result similar to the "reclaim your bank charges" campaign. If sufficient numbers of people claim the charges back from the phone companies, these companies may be persuaded that it is worth their while to act on this matter.

wantmemoney · 9 September 2007 at 4:08PM

scotty wrote:

This problem needs to be picked up by one of the consumer associations and to be widely publicised before any action is going to be taken. As it could save people money, perhaps Martin would consider championing the cause!!!

The UK Premium Rate Industry is riddled with companies involved in every con, scam theft and fraud you can imagine
http://www.icstis.org.uk/pdfs_consult/GovCode_MW.pdf

Icstis is a sham and is sponsored by the companies it is supposed to be policing.
Directors of the companies that are routinely fined by Icstis sit on the board of Icstis. (o2, mBlox)
Icstis are partly funded by the fines it levies on these companies.

examples of companies that are routinely involved in premium rate fraud:
Telecom One and their involvement in the multi-million pound internet dialler frauds from 2004.
Opera Telecom, Dialogue Communications, mBlox and their continual involvement in unsolicited reverse billed text messages. The list goes on. Look at the Icstis web site.

What part does the DTI and Ofcom play in the success of this premium rate fraud?
Who are protecting these companies from criminal investigation?

FIZILIZI · 25 September 2007 at 9:54PM

I have received 4 messages from 80708 which means 'Mocon' has stolen £6.00 from my phone.

How much did the phone call to cancel cost? I'd like a refund but I'm scared that the phone call to ask for a refund will be too costly!

I have sent a 'stop' text so I hope I don't get any more messages but I'm disgusted that a company can get hold of my telephone number (I never give it out!) and then send me unwanted messages and charge me for them when I never gave them permission in the first place.

It's criminal! These companies must be raking in money, it's downright THEFT!

djohnsonhk · 11 October 2007 at 3:45PM

I've just noticed I've also been charged £1.50 for a text from 81404 (Mobizar/Tanla).

Complained to O2 - here's what they say:

--
I'm sorry you're receiving unwanted premium rate text messages. You received a premium text message, as you've subscribed to a premium rate text message service.

As this service is provided by a third party and not us, we're unable to cancel this service for you. This must be done through the third party company. We can only advise you on how to stop this service, as we've no control over these messages.

To cancel the service you'll need to send STOP as a text message to 81404. Please allow five working days for this service to be cancelled.

For all disputed charges from third party services that you've registered to, you'll need to contact the relevant provider of this service. I'm sorry but I'm unable to refund you the charges for receiving premium text messages.

Please find the details below of the company that sent you a premium text message:

Short Code - 81404
Service name - Mobizar Limited.
It's not possible for us to place a restriction on your account to block premium rate text messages.
--

How annoying is that. I'll contact Tanla to see if I can get a refund, and also wrote a rather grumpy email back to O2.

I think it's unbelieveable that there's no way of restricting/blocking receipt of premium texts. If only they could make a SPAM filter for txts like we can have for emails...

djohnsonhk · 11 October 2007 at 4:53PM

Just a quick followup... following my 'grumpy' email I last sent to O2 earlier today, they've refunded my 1.50...

I basically asked them to check my records to see whether I had sent any txts out to 81404, and also reiterated that I had not subscribed to them. I also said that since O2 gets a cut of premium rate charges, they have a duty to help investigate what I considered fraudulent activity.

Here was their reply:
--
Thanks for emailing us to find out if any text messages were sent to the shortcode 81404.

I've checked your recent bill and I'm unable to find any text messages sent to the shortcode 81404.

Account security is very important for us and we can't sell your account details to a third party. I'm unable to tell you how 'Mobizar' got your account details.

On your current bill you've been charged £1.50 including VAT (Value Added Tax) for receiving a premium text message from 81404. I've credited this amount (£1.50 including VAT) to your online account and this credit will be added to your next online bill.

Please note that this is a one time credit adjustment.
--

Might give Tanla a call anyway to make sure I'm not registered on their 'system' and won't receive any more Premium txts.

Does anybody know if there's a way of identifying Premium Rate Text messages when receiving them?

Nick66_2 · 8 November 2007 at 4:11PM

I've had the same thing.

I have received 3 messages over the past few months and a 4th today, along with a message saying "U have reached your limit regarding the Mocon service. 2 stop the service....". So I texted "stop" to 80708 and had an confirmation text back from them.

I looked up 80708 on PhonepayPlus (new ICSTIS website) http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/numberchecker/DisplayServiceDetails.asp
and got the mBlox number and they referred me to Outsource Logistics, 0870 042 9664 (there's no alternative number listed on http://www.saynoto0870.com/) who answer the phone as Mocon Digital.

I have been promised a refund, but I'll believe that when I get it!

What was interesting was the honesty of the person I spoke to (who I'm not going to name!!!) who told me that I probably didn't opt-in to receive texts, they just send out random texts to mobiles, but also that I will have been charged to receive the "U have reached the limit..." text message AND charged to receive the confirmation of my "stop" message. So in addition to the 4 unwanted text messages I've also been charged for the additional 2 messages which is a bl**dy cheek!!

Nick

Nick66_2 · 9 November 2007 at 2:30PM

Unbelievable!!! This morning, less than 24 hours after my phone call, I received a Postal Order for £5 and a letter of apology.

I'm not sure how £5 relates to the cost of the 6 texts I received, that's the downside of pay as you go, but I'm pleased anyway.

Nick

£1.50 text charge?????

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free