Mobile Phone Micropayments

salen40

Hi all, This is my first post so please bear with me. I need help to tackle the problem of my son using my mobile phone number to pay for credits for an online game called Runescape. He has racked up £150 in the last month without my consent and I cannot pay the bill. My phone company will not help out. Has anyone come across this before and successfully managed to deal with it? Thanks!

MamaMoo_2

Unfortunately, it's not the phone company's fault that your son got hold of your phone and ran up charges. In future, may I suggest passcode protecting your phone? The network will just see it as you being negligent by allowing your phone to be used in this way (as you haven't passcoded it etc, nor has your phone been reported lost/stolen, you're not covered. It's a matter between you and your son)
You need to make your son pay all the charges back, but in the meantime, I'm afraid you'll have to foot the bill.

salen40

I think I realise that the phone company will not be able to help as it is not their problem. I have contacted the company who run Runescape directly to appeal to them but don't hold out much hope. Who knows though? My son does not have my phone but knows my number and that is all he needs to input on the gaming site in order to gain credits to play. I hope this proves useful for other parents falling into this trap.

shocky_2

I'm really sorry to hear that. Its a rather common problem these days. I encountered the same thing when my teenage brother got hold of my credit card.

I think it is worth pushing Runescape. It seems rather odd that all he needs is your number, as anyone could know your number. You should make it clear that your son didn't have authority to incur charges and still doesn't, so they are obliged to refund. If you keep pushing I hope you will be able to get a refund (your son's account might get closed depending on if they can deduct the credits).

MamaMoo_2

salen40 wrote: »

I think I realise that the phone company will not be able to help as it is not their problem. I have contacted the company who run Runescape directly to appeal to them but don't hold out much hope. Who knows though? My son does not have my phone but knows my number and that is all he needs to input on the gaming site in order to gain credits to play. I hope this proves useful for other parents falling into this trap.

Again, unfortunately, it's highly unlikely that Runescape will absorb the cost. Presumably their T&C's (that your son has agreed to) will ask him to confirm that he is the bill payer, or has the bill payer's permission. He has confirmed that he had this permission, and has presumably had the virtual goods and used the service, so Runescape have held up their end of the bargain.
Also, are you sure these payments are to Jagex (Runescape's owners) themselves, or are they to one of the many sites out there selling "Runescape gold".
Additionally, your son will have done more than just entered your number, he will have had to reply to the service to confirm the payment.

salen40

I don't know how my son engineered the payments (although I will find out when he gets back from school) but from what you say It doesn't sound very hopeful then. I will await their response to see what comes out of it all and post the reply for future reference.

I cannot find any threads on any other consumer sites about this problem although I am sure it must have happened to others.

Thanks!

MamaMoo_2

salen40 wrote: »

I don't know how my son engineered the payments (although I will find out when he gets back from school) but from what you say It doesn't sound very hopeful then. I will await their response to see what comes out of it all and post the reply for future reference.

I cannot find any threads on any other consumer sites about this problem although I am sure it must have happened to others.

Thanks!

At the very least, he would have had to reply to a text to prove he either owned or had permission to use that particular phone.
Having looked at Runescape's site, it appears they only offer a £6 per month subscription via mobile. Could you perhaps provide the number that this money was paid to, please, as this will help identify whether he paid it to Runescape or another site for Runescape gold, and we can also establish the website's procedure.

salen40

Looking back on my phone bill the number used was to Paymo-08081202341 on 13 occasions for between £3.00 and £14.00 at a time.

He does have an email account on the phone so could have had it set up that way too.

somethingcorporate

I don't understand - surely you need more than just a phone number to run up the bill - otherwise I will just use random numbers for an unlimited supply of runescape money!

Something is not quite right here.

salen40

I am beginning to realise that there is certainly more to it than him just using a mobile phone number and I will be looking into it as soon as he gets back from school. It strikes me that these sites should be governed and if someone (presumably a minor) is spending quite a bit of money then there ought to be some warning trigger or mechanism that questions the purchase of these so called game credits. There may well be a system in place that he has of course somehow over ridden. Thanks!

MamaMoo_2

salen40 wrote: »

Looking back on my phone bill the number used was to Paymo-08081202341 on 13 occasions for between £3.00 and £14.00 at a time.

He does have an email account on the phone so could have had it set up that way too.

Right, a bit of research would suggest that your son has been buying Runecoins in "Solomon's General Store" in the Runescape game. Paymo require input of your phone number. They then send a confirmation text to the mobile phone used, and this requires the person using the mobile phone to reply to this text message with the letter "Y" for yes.
This will be what your son has done.
200 RuneCoins are £3.50, 420 are £6.99 and 900 are £13.99