Unsolicited Text Messages

RichardsonBubblehat

Wow - Dialogue have been busy. It's good to see that the fines and formal reprimands are really making them get their act together...

diamonds

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Soubrette

RichardsonBubblehat wrote: »

Wow - Dialogue have been busy. It's good to see that the fines and formal reprimands are really making them get their act together...

:rotfl:

I haven't received any refund. My MP has asked for more details and I've been hanging on for my phone bill and hopeful refund so I can tell him exactly how much money I've spent (on the premium rate number) and whether or not I receive the refund. I've emailed and will wait until Weds and then I'll send him the details anyway.

Sou

wantmemoney

just a suggestion
it may be an idea for you guys who posted problems on this thread to post the details of the scams on grumbletext
it's probably best to keep the post short but include all the important details
http://www.grumbletext.co.uk/

onacrusade

Hi all I also had one of these unsolicited texts from 83373 on 30th may which was for Astrojune horoscope. At no time would I ever subscribe to such a service. I rang orange who gave me the details and said going back to November 07 they could never see me having texted this number to subscribe.they gave me the tel number for Phone pay plus 0800 500212. I rang them and logged a complaint. I maged to get tel number for Innov8 which as others have said is just a recorded message. I emailed them on [EMAIL="sales@innov8messaging.co.uk"]sales@innov8messaging.co.uk[/EMAIL]. mentioning this thread and due to the numbers of people involved i did not believe it to be an error, was more likely mass fraud/theft and that if I did not get a response I would be contacting the police.
I received a reply within 30 mins stating that they had fully investigated (unlikely) it was a data inputting error and lots of numbers were input incorrectly. If I gave them my address they would arrange a cheque by way of refund.
Having never wanted to deal with this company in the first place I rwas unwilling and refused to give my address and told them to issue a cheque made payable to me and send to Phonepayplus for the attn of Nathan and to quote my case number. As they are the regulator I would be willing to give them my address and they could forward the cheque to me. I received a reply from Innov8 yesterday agreeing to do this.
So I am slightly hopeful that this might have been resolved. will let you know if and when I receive a cheque.

On a secondary point my next crusade is with Orange, they have told me there was is no way they can stop these chargeable text messages being put through to my phone. Basically I went mad and have accused them of being in coersion with these companies, and that if they can not protect me as a customer from this kind of fraud then I will be looking for a company that can and there is absolutely NO way they are holding me to my contract.
I rang and spoke to a lovely guy at T-mobile, who advised me that their customers can request that chargeable text messages are blocked from their phones.

He said that they have had this service in place for 18 months and they bought it in because of this activity as it was affecting not only their customers but also their staff.

I am now going to take this matter further with Orange, and will certainly be moving to T-mobile.

I would be interested to know if Orange take a percentage of the cost of these chargeable text messages,

does anyone know?

becky

onacrusade

Hi I have had same problem from 83373 Orange told me there is nothing they can do to block them,
Rang T-mobile who I saw on another thread, lovely guy there said that they have had a service in place for the last 18 months where you can request that a block is put on these types of chargeable messages. It was put in place as so many of their customers AND STAFF were being scammed by these companies. If they can do it so should all the other mobile phone providers. The only way they will learn is if we all move to a company that will protect it's customers.
Will definately be moving myself, my next move is to find out what percentage Orange is making from these messages.
Anyone know?

MRS_TO_BE_2

I have had similar dealing with vodafone and wrote on their E forum. After several communications by email they confirmed they receive a small percentage of revenue from these text messages. this was after their agent said they didn't. I too am leaving to go to Tmobile but going to post about in another thread as need advise about breaking out of contract.

I would suggest you and everyone else email vodafone orange 02 virgin etc and complain. Ask about revenue and what are they doing about it.

Vodafone claim they are hoping to have a bar in place by end of summer but for me its too little to late.

onacrusade

I have just spoken to phonepayplus who have told me due to the numbers of people that have complained about 83373 they are starting an investigation into this, that will take 12 weeks and they will contact me at the end of that time,


Have also just spoke to Orange who firstly told me that they dont take any money from these chargeable text messages then went away and checked and came back saying they take 10-20% from each message.

and in their words
"we dont at the moment have any way where we can block these messages, we might do in the future! were not allowing these companies to do it we just can't stop them"

In my view It's not a case of they CANT stop it, they DONT want to stop it, why stop a nice little earner when you have one!!!!!!

MRS_TO_BE_2

Email them to complain. They take no notice of a phone call.

by the way phone pay plus are useless see prev posts!

wantmemoney

your Network Operators are misleading you

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/09/01/2904770.htm
1/9/2007
(Total Telecom Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Innovation in the premium SMS market is being stifled by mobile operator revenue-sharing models, with smaller content providers and aggregators being hit the hardest. But the growing interest of larger companies such as eBay in using premium SMS to charge for new services could force operators to change their business models. At present, mobile operators can take up to 50% of the revenue generated through premium SMS, but models vary widely. Jeremy Flynn, former head of commercial partnerships at Vodafone and now CEO of mobile video specialist D2see, says UK operators generally keep around 20% of revenue from premium SMS. Mobile transaction specialist mBlox confirms this, adding that while 80% is passed to the hosting content company or aggregator, 95% of this revenue share is then passed to the content provider. This is a similar model to the participation TV revenue share (see diagram). But for smaller content platform developers such as Mobiya, the revenue share model breaks down on average to 50/50. Based on the model of a premium SMS costing 1.50, Orange UK keeps 68 pence including VAT while Virgin Mobile keeps a whopping 98p. These figures relate to SMS volumes of fewer than 5000 per month, notes Martin Davis, CEO of Mobiya. The revenue share will largely depend on the technology that the aggregator provides and the complexity of the service that the aggregator is running for the service provider, says Davis. The more the aggregator does in terms of user support and IT infrastructure then the more revenue the aggregator will keep. Davis says high transaction fees charged by operators for premium SMS services are increasing costs for consumers. Were struggling to make a margin. We look forward to mobile operators reducing their costs, he says, adding that mobile operators in Scandinavia quickstarted the market by reducing their cut in premium SMS services. But Flynn adds that countries such as Italy and Spain are far behind the UK with appalling revenue share models. In future, the increased involvement of larger brands such as e-commerce payment system PayPal and its parent eBay have a greater chance of helping to reduce these rates, forcing network operators to rethink the unbelievable portion of the revenue that they charge, says Ben Wood, director at CCS Insight. Smaller companies cant afford this, which may be a blocking point for the business case, adds Wood. Premium SMS is typically used by businesses that make use of the mobile channel to bill customers. According to mBlox, it works like a standard text message that is wrapped in an invoice, which appears on the consumers monthly mobile phone bill or is deducted from their pre-pay account. A new report from Telephia shows that premium SMS revenues totalled more than $273 million in the first quarter of 2007 in the US alone. Meanwhile consumer spend on premium SMS in the UK totalled 400 million in the financial year 2006/07, according to regulator ICSTIS. Generally, companies like Mobiya are trying to drive innovation in the premium SMS market, while network operators have typically been reluctant to invest. Mobiya hopes to turn the mobile phone into a classified advertising platform. It has brokered a deal with free daily newspaper Metro in Belgium and is launching a trial service in September with Reed Business Information in the UK. Service providers have stood away because they are worried about spamming, [but] they will enable other companies, says Emma Mohr-McClune, principal analyst, wireless services Europe, Current Analysis. Theres a reluctance to blend the SMS model to the advertising model. Nonetheless, mobile operators are increasingly being forced to explore new revenue streams, including advertising. In the case of Mobiya, posting an advertisement costs a maximum of 9 and a minimum of 3 if you dont add location and tag information. Respondents pay 25p to send an SMS to a short code. EBay, for its part, signed a deal with Vodafone at the start of the year to provide the eBay mobile application for free on the Vodafone live! portal, and enables bidders to track auctions using premium SMS. But there is an increasing threat that PayPal, which makes use of premium SMS now, will usurp SMS for mobile payments because of its dominant position in the online payments market. The company has already launched Mobile Checkout, a service that allows consumers in the US, UK and Canada to buy items securely using the mobile Web. Meanwhile start-ups such as D2see are backing premium-rate services such as mobile video using video shortcodes. Premium SMS [growth] is flat; video is the growth marketcontent providers are looking at video as the next genre, says Flynn.

Government also take 17.5% VAT
PhonePayPlus take approx 0.4% (Industry levy)