Vodafone - unwanted texts charged

Somerset

Apologies if this has been covered before.I'm on a monthly plan with Vodafone which I was happy with.
Two months ago I noticed a £ 3.33 charge for texts on my bill. I queried this as I don't text ( weirdo huh ? ), Story from Vodafone was that a ringtone company was texting me ( can get name tomorrow ) and I was being charged for it. They said I must have signed up for it but I told them no. Anyway they gave me the company's details and told me I had to ring them and tell them to stop. They also gave me a small refund of £ 1.50 or something.
Got my bill today and guess what ? there's another £ 5 odd of text charges. Now I can ring Vodafone again and go through this palaver again - but I don't see why I should. I'm getting texts from companies I don't know, have no relationship with and am being charged for the privilage. Vodafone are washing their hands of it. Why do I have to 'cancel' companies I have no relationship with ? What's to stop another and another company doing the same thing ?
Is my only option to cancel my Vodafone contract ( I'm past the 12 months ) and get a new phone & number ?
This system is all wrong - any advice appreciated.

Browntoa

Martin did a thread about this here

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=80710

pricefighter

Have a look at the site https://www.grumbletext.co.uk you might find it useful in your case.

Somerset

Thanks guys

Read both threads but didn't get an answer there.

pricefighter I looked at the grumbletext. To be honest, texting back 'STOP', keeping a record of it ( time/date ), reporting non-compliance to Vodafone etc is not worth the effort for me. The mobile is rarely used - I never text. Obviously this is a 'rip-off' and scam by these companies, and the onus seems to be on the customer to do all the work to reduce/stop it. Why ? I understand some people 'agree' by accident, but I haven't, my mobile number is only known by friends/family.
Anyway, thanks for the input. In my case I'm just going to cancel my Vodafone contract. Maybe if enough people do this often enough, companies will take it ( ie their profits ) seriously.
Btw - when I did the ring to cancel thing in May the company was ' NetVision' don't know if it's the same one this time.

Somerset

Throughally pi**ed off with Vodafone.
Ring 08700 770020 ( Cust Svcs ) they had me on hold 40mins waiting to get through to dept who could give me the name of the company who sent text. Eventually told 'they're really busy, best to phone them after 6pm'. Asked to be put through to disconnections dept - was told they didn't have one. Persisted and spoke to Martin in disconnections. Advised to e-mail cancellation request ( fine - will do ). Asked why - told texts - he said I must have responded to one - no. Passed back to Cust Svcs, on hold another 15mins, new person said ring 08700 701702 ( Cust Services Provider Support ). Rang them, another 15min wait, but spoke to nice woman. Texting company is WIRELESS INFORMATION NETWORKS. Vodafone woman actually said she'd just had a load of unwanted texts that she hadn't signed up for and that she didn't know how these companies got the numbers.
Off to e-mail contract cancellation.

Somerset

And I've got a headache now.