Prizefun, SB7 mobile Ltd scam

Martin50

OK - this is my experience and bear with me because it might be long! I got caught by one of these from somebody called 'WhatsRinging' and had a text thanking me for subscribing (which of course I hadn't), telling me that I was being charged £4.50 per week, and including a reply number to stop. As I normally would with unsolicited emails and texts, I didn't reply on the basis that this would most likely just alert a scammer to the fact that mine was a valid phone number and in use. I did make a point of reporting this to Vodafone customer services and point out that I'd not authorised any such payment.

The good news is that Vodafone have promised to refund four weeks' charges, and that I hope that I've managed to stop these being taken from my bill in future. I have stopped my direct debit to Vodafone - for the avoidance of doubt I will of course pay any undisputed costs to them as soon as they appear on the bill but I would like a bit more control before it comes out of my bank account. Vodafone refunded the first week fairly readily, the other three weeks rather grudgingly after asking me to phone a number belonging to another compay which handles the payments.

The bad news is that this was at the end of an atrocious experience with Vodafone customer service - having tried the three options of phone, live chat, and visiting a Vodafone shop.

First of all I was twice told that I'd been transferred to somebody else, with the implication that the contact was being escalated, and then cut off. The first time was when I was on the phone and the agent explained that she was putting me through to somebody who could help. After a long wait I then got an automated voice asking if I wanted to pay my bill and offering me no other options. The second was the live chat, where the agent told me that he could connect me to the somebody else who could help. He actually phoned me, told me that he was putting me through to a colleague, and then terminated the call.

Secondly I was consistently fed outright lies. More than once - including the first time I called Vodafone after receiving the text, I was assured that no payments would be taken out of the account, which turned out to be a hollow promise. One of the agents told me that if I contacted the company that had initiated the texts I would get a credit against my phone bill, which judging from other messages on MSE isn't the way that it works.

Thirdly I was told to go ahead and do the impossible. Eventually one of the agents asked me to text a STOP message to the shortcode in the acknowledgement message. Having read around the subject this was actually sound advice in this particular case. However when I tried to send the message it failed. It turned out that my account had been set up not to allow messages to premium rate texts, but this didn't stop the weekly charges being applied. So I was in the surreal position of having these charges applied but not being able to send a text to stop them. Eventually somebody in the Vodafone shop was able to remove the bar temporarily so that I could send the 'stop' message.

Fourthly, I was patronised by one of the agents observing that I shouldn't let my children use the phone because they might download something dodgy, which frankly is the equivalent of phoning up my bank to report a card stolen by an ATM that had been tampered with, and being told that I shouldn't have been out in Kilburn on a Saturday night.

The uncertainty is that I still don't know for certain whether the credit has been applied, and won't until I get my next monthly bill from Vodafone. I'm not 100% certain whether there's anything to stop somebody with the same scam, perhaps under a different name, going in again although I'd respond even more quickly if it happens again. I've also seen one more payment appear. The date and time on the entry according to my online statement are before I sent the STOP message, but it was only posted online afterwards.

Finally the official way of dealing with these, with the customer phoning up the providers of the additional service to get their money back, is appalling and no business which is customer-focused or responsible should have anything to do with this. It means that customers are expected to approach another business with whom they have no ongoing relationship and which has no incentive to be fair to the customer. And it means that a customer who has explained the situation to somebody at the phone network will have to go right back to the beginning when approaching the providers of the additional service as there seems to be no mechanism for the two to share information.

Worst of all, I can't help feeling that the people who operate things like WhatsRinging have a business model that is based on deception and that, by allowing this situation to continue, the phone networks are actively encouraging this

George1949

Just had the same competition scam experience fortunately on a Tesco pay as you go mobile so,it has only cost me £8 which Tesco say is not refundable. In my case I deleted the original text without reading all of it, it presumably contained an acceptance to enter a competition which I suggest is a form of inertia selling which is I believe illegal. I will persue it through Pay Phone Plus without much hope how can SB7 continue to get away with this. Their website is quite open about the service they provide.

HardSpend

Got charged in excess of £80 by this company over 4 months.

3 mobile not interested in refunding me.

edit: 3 mobile told me all charges were from same company but found out from PhonePayPlus that it's 3 different companies!

HardSpend

grumbler wrote: »

Why would they? Typically they keep ~50% of the loot. Easy money for doing nothing.

any evidence of this?

bob490

I have suffered the shock of this company debiting my account to the tune of £300. I did manage to fix it though, here’s how.
Bit of history.
Long winded but incredibly satisfying.
I first noticed this company had been debiting my bank account in March 2018, on closer inspection of my O2 invoices it became clear that this company had been debiting my account since 2016.
I had given my wife my old iPhone 4 after an upgrade to the then newer iPhone 7 sometime around 2015-16. My wife only wanted the phone for emergencies as she is a technophobe. I purchased her a simple sim with free text small amount data etc. she was very happy with it. Being a technophobe, I always advised my wife to simply delete any messages or text she didn’t recognize for security. I never felt the need to check my account with O2 as she rarely used it to phone many friends, it was only my phone I kept an eye on online. Until by chance I viewed my account for her number in March 2018. Ouch.
On viewing invoice history, it became apparent SB7 mobile Ltd had been debiting for texts sent to her number since 2016 @£4.50 per text? Sometimes 5 texts a month. Grrr. I was very angry.
The Fix (Tip: stay calm stay civil)
I composed a letter to this company demanding a refund for the monies debited from my account. I complained that they had obtained her mobile number illicitly and underhandedly.
I advised that if I had no reply within 7 days to my complaint I would pursue a claim through county courts. I had no reply from this company to the request sent.
I made a claim to the county court regarding this matter around 16th March 2018. On the 23rd March 2018, I received via post confirmation of my claim through the post from the County court.
The same day I also received the first answer from SB7 regarding my complaint with an offer of £180 as compensation without excepting responsibility. I refused stating that I had already started a court summons and that it was my intention to pursue full settlement of my account debits plus the expense of the court £325.27.
SB7 subsequently revised their offer to compensate for the full amount £325.27 to be paid via the post office message system. I agreed to this on the proviso that I would only close my claim with the courts on receipt of cash owed.
So, I now await the post office text message from SB7 mobile Ltd for a full refund!.
Advice for you if you want to recover monies owed by unscrupulous companies.
Be polite but firm, state your complaint, request a resolution, give 7 days’ notice. If you get no answer take out a court summons, you can do this online (£25).
Do a search google (for company info Directors etc) Glean a home address for a director or Directors and include this address within your county court claim.
Hope this info helps someone, if I can do it so can you!

bob490

In an ideal world I would we would all be checking our accounts regularly.
Unfortunately, most of us live in the real world where we are just trying to earn a living and get on with our daily lives. I, for example, have a joint account with my wife? There is no way I'm going to start challenging her for any expenses she makes? Lol
This scam isn't about debiting large amounts of cash from individuals although this can happen as I have proved!
This scam is about understanding modern lifestyle and Volume? By these companies.
How they glean our phone numbers is irrelevant, but they have them? They have probably purchased them via a data exchange. Who knows.
I am betting nobody here with a complaint will bother to peruse a claim if it is of small amount let's say £10 or even £20? Most people will text STOP to the relevant number and that will be that. A few of us will contact the company directly to complain and may receive compensation. But not many? These companies know that.
It's the sheer volume of customers who have had this type of attack that matters? You can prove this searching google for company information and viewing the turnover? Unbelievable!
What's needed is proper regulation by government and accountability by the scammers.

mobilejunkie

bob490 wrote: »

In an ideal world I would we would all be checking our accounts regularly.
Unfortunately, most of us live in the real world where we are just trying to earn a living and get on with our daily lives. I, for example, have a joint account with my wife? There is no way I'm going to start challenging her for any expenses she makes? Lol
This scam isn't about debiting large amounts of cash from individuals although this can happen as I have proved!
This scam is about understanding modern lifestyle and Volume? By these companies.
How they glean our phone numbers is irrelevant, but they have them? They have probably purchased them via a data exchange. Who knows.
I am betting nobody here with a complaint will bother to peruse a claim if it is of small amount let's say £10 or even £20? Most people will text STOP to the relevant number and that will be that. A few of us will contact the company directly to complain and may receive compensation. But not many? These companies know that.
It's the sheer volume of customers who have had this type of attack that matters? You can prove this searching google for company information and viewing the turnover? Unbelievable!
What's needed is proper regulation by government and accountability by the scammers.

I too live in the "real" world. I am not technologically advanced but can use it to check my bank account every day. It amazes me that anyone believes they can only check every few YEARS. No wonder the con artists have a field day - but it will never be with me.

Castle

bob490 wrote: »

I composed a letter to this company demanding a refund for the monies debited from my account. I complained that they had obtained her mobile number illicitly and underhandedly.

You could have also sued them for further damages for breaching the 1998 Data Protection Act and the PECR2003 regulations.

bob490

Good for you.

bob490

mobilejunkie wrote: »

I too live in the "real" world. I am not technologically advanced but can use it to check my bank account every day. It amazes me that anyone believes they can only check every few YEARS. No wonder the con artists have a field day - but it will never be with me.

Cant see where I say that I believe I need to check my bank account? my bank paid it obviously!.
you appear to be missing the theme or point around my post that I was trying to explain?.
it was my mobile phone provider account that I should have checked more thoroughly.
Can't quite work out what you're peed at? my lifestyle?
lol was just trying to offer a solution is all.