Unsolicited Text Messages

justpaper

MRS_TO_BE wrote: »

yes sadly although vodafone are a communications company they seem to be lacking in the ability to communicate all this to their customer service team!!

That and ALOT of other services hints and tips they should know !
I'm going to call up and state the proper term BAR all !!!!ing Premium Rate Short Message Services,

Last time i called for barring the above msg's i was told ALL incoming texts would be barred,

Note. on a £1.50 the network takes 60p the scammer(company) gets the 90p, they are the prices i got when i was going to do a legitimate text marketing project,

stickywicket

SJ_Jones wrote: »

I know - I think the whole thing is disgusting! And the only reason I think 3 has actually done anything is cos I sent an email to EVERY email address I could find for 3 (including those of their parent company) - and probably annoyed them so much, they decided it was easier to placate me!

At the end of the day I'm getting refunded, so for this small battle it's success for me - but on the larger scheme of things, something's got to be done!

Hi, could you let me know of the names and addresses you complained to. I have written to phonepay plus including all bills showing premium tests amounting to over £100 in 16 months. I cancelled the last DD and closed my contract. I will pay my final bill whenl this has been sorted also copied local 3 in. I have not had a reply from phone pay plus and have been told by 3 they are passing me onto a debt collector.

stickywicket

Hi- in response to people who have also been subject to these scams to the tune of over £100. I wrote to PhonepayPlus (the regulators) including photocopies of all my 3 phone bills. I have compalnts with 4 companies who have sent me unsolicited texts when I had a mobile phone. 3 would not take any responsibility even though they get a cut for each sent text. I also conside this to be an abuse of trust with the direct debit set up with 3 and the bank. Also I believe this type of scam contravenes the Electronic Communication Act in 2003. Phonepay plus said that companies have to abide by the phonepayPluse Code of Practice. They also suggestd contacting each service provider and request refunds. I am in the process of doing this. This has taken a lot of time and energy in dealing with charges I have not authorised or services that i have not requested. Good luck.

Hanco

wantmemoney wrote: »

mBlox also has an impressive PhonePayPlus fines record.

of cause if you have troubles with mblox you can always report them to the regulators PhonePayPlus(aka Icstis)

And they are at it again. But this time mBlox are using unsolicited or junk "Service Messages" to try and get the recipient to reply and/or sign up to something.

The Service Message I received on 20th December 2008 was "JacksOrBetter Poker. 10 GBP free bonus just to sign up! Download and play your 10 GBP FREE now!"

The thing about this Service Message is that there is no telephone number and no reference to who actually sent it (none AT ALL)

So I called my mobile service provider and they told me text STOP. I have not done this, it is not a premium rate text message. My provider confirmed that there had been no cost to me (I did not respond, I did not visit the dodgy looking link in the message)

But my provider was, when I politely insisted, able to tell me who it was from: mBlox and I was told I can call them on 08712230000 (non-geographic so costs on a mobile £££ because I read elsewhere that mBlox do keep people on hold a while and then often only to be cut off)

A quick "saynoto0870.com" search and I got this:

020 84321281 and it works - now why would a mobile provider only give their customer an 0871 number... I'll leave that with you!

As it's out of office hours the number above went to a message but I think a short note to the office of chocolate fireguards (PayPhonePlus nee Icstis) might be in order. It seems to me that mBlox are trying to find new ways to rip people off and it seems dubious to do so without any sender detail in their message. Perhaps they think Service Messages (as opposed to SMS texts) are less regulated. And perhaps they are. It could be illegal but I am not a lawyer.

I don't know what the costs of responding to such a message would be but even though I would not go to their apparently promoted gambling site, I would bet my last pound that mBlox are up to something morally dubious (IMHO only)

Hanco

Lardyvegan

the_rottweiler wrote: »

complain to your supplier and they will give you a phone number (local rate)to call the company that are sending the txts,tell them you want the total cost of the txts refunded, they will do this rather than have youcomplain to the ombudsman

No they won't. If you sign up to something whether knowingly or not, it's nothing to do with the network. You will be given the info mentioned above, and instructions on how to cancel, but think of it this way: Would you complain to the water company if a plumber does a bad job? Same thing with these, you're using something the networks have no control over.

wantmemoney

the network operators have an agreement with mblox to deliver this bulk marketing (spam) to their customers on behalf of mblox.
the network operators agree to deliver this bulk marketing to their customers at a charge to mblox of approximately 0.5pence/text message sent.

All the network operators may claim they are not responsible for mass marketed spam but they are making shed loads of money from it.

Lardyvegan

wantmemoney wrote: »

the network operators have an agreement with mblox to deliver this bulk marketing (spam) to their customers on behalf of mblox.
the network operators agree to deliver this bulk marketing to their customers at a charge to mblox of approximately 0.5pence/text message sent.

All the network operators may claim they are not responsible for mass marketed spam but they are making shed loads of money from it.

That may be so, however marketing texts don't get charged, it's the subscribed product which is chargeable.

Bob_W

Hi,

I've just realised I've been hit with a few of these messages - I'd been adding the numbers to my block list when the texts arrived so the messages had stopped, but then I spotted a couple of charged messages on my bill, so I'm obviously still paying for them. I've cleared my block list, and will be dealing with any new offenders as they arrive, using the methods outlined above.

One thing though - among the messages I received, I had one or two a few months back that didn't have a number displayed. The messages are listed as coming from 'Louise' or similar names, as though they were in my phone book (which they're obviously not!) and are the usual !!!!!! nonsense. My mobile couldn't reply 'STOP' to them since there's no shortcode displayed. I tried saving the contact and a few other things, but couldn't find the proper shortcode. From memory, I believe there was a helpline number displayed in the text, but I didn't ring it as I didn't imagine they'd be much help. I don't think these messages were charged, but I could still do without them. Is there any way to deal with it?

BarryWalsh

Does anyone recognise this company 700044077 that is 'unknown to Virgin Mobile' as I would like to get my money back for the unsolicited texts I've received. Thank you

wantmemoney

hi Barry,
you might want to look here. it appears this is an ongoing thing with Virgin and the other ............

http://whocallsme.com/Phone-Calls.aspx/700