Premium text? OMG

Nicky321

My son has just received his o2 bill and to his horror it was £120.00! when he has checked with o2 it seems the charges are from a 3rd party service. He put the code into phonpayplus.org.uk and it says "This is a text message service charged at standard network rate. The types of services operating on this number can be ring tones, jokes, games, tarot, chat, mobile internet services (WAP) and more." He remembers receiving a txt message off a short number and then was bombarded with texts over the next few hours. Looking at his bill it says Interactive services received 76 cost £63.308. He has rang O2 and they have come across this before and advised him to ring an 0800 number to see why he is being charged for something he hasn't subscribed to.

Just wondered if anyone else has had a similar problem and how they have gone on?

gjs6385

I had a similar issue, and as it was the first time I had problems, they simply credited my bill with the relevant amount to cancel out the charges.

I would advise going on to their website and speaking to them through their live chat - they really were fantastic with me!

Nicky321

gazsharpe101 wrote: »

I had a similar issue, and as it was the first time I had problems, they simply credited my bill with the relevant amount to cancel out the charges.

I would advise going on to their website and speaking to them through their live chat - they really were fantastic with me!

which website did you go on? He spoke to O2 earlier and they cannot do anything about it, and advised him to contact the company concerned.

Did you have a similar issue with the same company? from what I can research its a company called switchfire, many people have had the same problem.

gjs6385

That company name doesn't ring any bells with me but I can't remember which one it was to be honest.

I went along the lines of I didn't realise these texts were costing anything more than normal i.e. were not included in my allowance and that it wasn't made clear to me and theyn refunded me the money.

Saying that I have been with them for the last 8-9 years so it could have just been a gesture of goodwill. Worth trying with them again through their website - www.o2.co.uk - if you go into the support section then a window usually pops up saying to click if you wish to chat to an operator.

I would just keep pushing them (not in a nasty way) and say you will be more aware in the future and would be grateful if on this occasion they could refund the money onto your account with it coming up to Christmas and all.

Good luck.

Nicky321

gazsharpe101 wrote: »

That company name doesn't ring any bells with me but I can't remember which one it was to be honest.

I went along the lines of I didn't realise these texts were costing anything more than normal i.e. were not included in my allowance and that it wasn't made clear to me and theyn refunded me the money.

Saying that I have been with them for the last 8-9 years so it could have just been a gesture of goodwill. Worth trying with them again through their website - www.o2.co.uk - if you go into the support section then a window usually pops up saying to click if you wish to chat to an operator.

I would just keep pushing them (not in a nasty way) and say you will be more aware in the future and would be grateful if on this occasion they could refund the money onto your account with it coming up to Christmas and all.

Good luck.

My son has been with o2 for approx 9 years, 4 years on contract. When he spoke with O2 on the phone they said they couldnt do anything about the charges as these charges are through the 3rd party. I googled txt 69400 and it came up with a few things relating to switchfire. My son hasnt sent any texts, he received 76 txts between the hours of 8.30pm and 1.40am, which where costing him 83p a time to receive. He never to his knowledge subscribed to anything of this, and obviously this has left him very distressed as he is on JSA for which he hasnt received any payment since 14th November and cannot afford to pay this amount on his bill.

gjs6385

Nicky321 wrote: »

My son has been with o2 for approx 9 years, 4 years on contract. When he spoke with O2 on the phone they said they couldnt do anything about the charges as these charges are through the 3rd party. I googled txt 69400 and it came up with a few things relating to switchfire. My son hasnt sent any texts, he received 76 txts between the hours of 8.30pm and 1.40am, which where costing him 83p a time to receive. He never to his knowledge subscribed to anything of this, and obviously this has left him very distressed as he is on JSA for which he hasnt received any payment since 14th November and cannot afford to pay this amount on his bill.

In that case, definitely do what I have suggested and mention things like that i.e. the inability to pay the funds due to circumstances and say that you will monitor bills in future and ask them to put a block on these types of texts to stop the same thing from happening again.

Nicky321

gazsharpe101 wrote: »

In that case, definitely do what I have suggested and mention things like that i.e. the inability to pay the funds due to circumstances and say that you will monitor bills in future and ask them to put a block on these types of texts to stop the same thing from happening again.

So even though over the phone O2 cannot help, you think he should go online on their website and see if they can dismiss the charges from this 3rd party?

Jon_01

Nicky321 wrote: »

My son has been with o2 for approx 9 years, 4 years on contract. When he spoke with O2 on the phone they said they couldnt do anything about the charges as these charges are through the 3rd party. I googled txt 69400 and it came up with a few things relating to switchfire. My son hasnt sent any texts, he received 76 txts between the hours of 8.30pm and 1.40am, which where costing him 83p a time to receive. He never to his knowledge subscribed to anything of this, and obviously this has left him very distressed as he is on JSA for which he hasnt received any payment since 14th November and cannot afford to pay this amount on his bill.

Unless things have changed there's a limit to how many text these jokers can send in a day and 76 is WAY over it.
Every network has a dept to monitor these things, you need to get back on to O2 Cs and get them to pass it to that dept and get it sorted that way. . .

gjs6385

So even though over the phone O2 cannot help, you think he should go online on their website and see if they can dismiss the charges from this 3rd party?

Yes that is my suggestion, and to be honest it doesn't seem he has any other option.

I would also mention the O2 what Jon 01 has said and see if that gets them moving.

Nicky321

OMG not getting anywhere with this
they say its a service he has used, therefore he has to pay

Nicky321

my convo with o2 was unsuccessfull