Mobidol - What to do if you have been charged

bob_a_builder · 26 August 2014 at 3:58PM

Just noticed a couple of mgs on my phone as follows, one for june and one for aug
===
Thank you for subscribing to Mobidol for 4.50 per week from Mobidol until you text STOP to xxxx
===
Of course I never intentionally subscribed to anything

I'm on PAYG 321 with 3 only top up £10 once in a blue moon, so if they were taking anything I should have noticed a lack of credit pretty quickly I would have thought

But unable to see in my 3 account on line any such charges ( or any charges or call log etc ) not that I make many /any calls from this phone, just us it for apps/net access

If I am 'subscribed' how come I'm not aware of £20+ a month being taken ?

Does texting STOP just indicate a 'live' account, ripe for the taking ?

Is it the case that 321 PAYG balance can't be charged this way ?

bob_a_builder · 26 August 2014 at 5:09PM

Since found this LINK

But still not clear why I don't seem to have been charged £18 / month ?

forgotmyname · 27 August 2014 at 1:20AM

If i had not subscribed to the service i would not reply back with the stop message.

Just keep a track of your balance. If money goes AWOL then contact the service provider ASAP..

perjubs · 15 January 2015 at 9:12PM

Hi, my son (2yr) got hold of my phone when I wasnt looking and clicked an app and subsequently an advert that took him to the mobidol website where with one click and no real security or confirmation measures signed me up to a service I dont want that is costing me £4.50 a week, I have immediately unsubscribed but I dont want to be charged for this service. Can I get my money back, surely this cant be a fair and legal method of charging people, simply clicking on their website?

Baby_Angel · 29 January 2015 at 2:51PM

Just had this happen on my DH's phone bill. The purchase was made at a time our DD was in school so it would have been my DH and no one else. Payforit refused to refund as it was some kind of video my DH has allegedly downloaded. They said it was a legitimate website and legitimate purchase Thankfully it was a one-off payment. Unfortunately we had to pay it and will be a lesson learnt for my DH. If an adult can accidentally click on something like this, there is less chance for a kid, let alone a toddler to be wary of this.

Anyway Payforit said it will block all downloads from this website for my DH's number and in the same call I made sure Three (our network provider) will block any "out of bundle" payments.

loxley561 · 6 February 2015 at 12:36AM

The same thing happened to my son who is 12 and has got his first mobile phone. He didn't realise anything about the text received from mobidol so didn't tell me, I don't look at the bills as they get debited from my bank account. I happened to be looking at my account a few weeks back and noticed 2 lots of £4.50. I rang vodaphone who told me it was mobidol and to text a number to unsubscribe. I did this but got and undelivered reply. So I emailed mobidol but have had no response to date. I Thought as I had emailed them the subscription would stop and that would be the end of it but no. I looked at my account last week and had 3 more payments go through. So texted to stop but this week another payment has been deducted. So even by sending the stop text the payments are still being debited. Tonight I rang vodaphone and changed my sons number so no more payments can go through. With all the security around purchases these days I find it unbelievable that innocently someone (mainly a child), can do a few clicks and then be charged. In my email to mobidol I asked what app/game it was but have no idea as they haven't replied. Not too happy at all. But lesson learned. So many young children have phones and there should be more security around this kind of thing happening.

MrChips · 14 February 2015 at 7:51PM

I got the same text message today - I'm guessing it is a result of my 3 year old son messing around on my phone. I've done my best to avoid things like this by setting a password so he cannot download non-free apps or make in-app purchases. However, this doesn't seem to protect me from this sort of agreement. It won't surprise you to know he cannot read and so any facility where you can incur charges from three taps of the screen without having to input some sort of written confirmation/acceptance is bound to inadvertently sign up some users in this way who do not wish to subscribe. A quick Google search confirms this hypothesis.

I have emailed Mobidol today (same day as receiving the message) to confirm I have no wish to subscribe to their services, nor have I used any of them. Does anyone know if this will be in time to opt out of the first £4.50 payment? Their terms and conditions say there is a 14 day withdrawal period.

Thanks.

macman · 14 February 2015 at 11:05PM

PIN-lock and SIM-lock your phone?
I do that anyway, even without a three year old around.

poppasmurf_bewdley · 15 February 2015 at 11:35AM

macman wrote: »

PIN-lock and SIM-lock your phone?
I do that anyway, even without a three year old around.

Anyone who doesn't do this is just asking for trouble.

MrChips · 16 February 2015 at 4:08PM

I'm going to sound rather feeble - but what's a SIM-lock? I have a lock on the phone so that you need to swipe a certain pattern to use it. But you underestimate 3 year olds if you think he can't get past that!

Even if I changed the pattern on a regular basis so that he doesn't know what it is, it wouldn't get round the fact that he could sign me up for something while he is using it legitimately to play games on. The only way I can think that these companies could avoid signing up customers by mistake is some sort of requirement to enter a credit card number, or to confirm your phone number. Or maybe this SIM-lock is the answer to my prayers!

Getting back on topic, I rang Mobidol this morning who confirmed that I will have already incurred the first £4.50 charge but that they can refund me by cheque. Sorted.

tomlou · 21 July 2015 at 11:55AM

It has taken nearly 6 weeks and i've just had a phonecall saying my cheque is in the post.6 weeks of daily emails and a few extremely frustrating phonecalls.what i have learned throught lots of research,that Mobidol and its owners Cell fish,both of whom profiteer from this scam,are allowed to scam us by a company called Payforit.
Payforit was set up by the mobile network providers.Hence the network providers get a cut of the profits from the scam.
No wonder ,even after thousands of complaints,and after publicly saying they would investigate.....that nothing still has been done!!!

Mobidol - What to do if you have been charged

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