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Being charged for premium SMS texts

  • 28 December 2019
  • 10 replies
  • 1381 views

I receieved my bill tgis month and found id been charged for premium rate text messages. 

I called id mobile who then put a cap on my account and disabled premium rate services. 

My issue is i havnt actually recieved any premium rate texts yet id mobile say i have to pay for them.

 

I had a call feom. Customer services yesterday who said i had to pay for the service id recieved, i advised yes i get that but i havnt recieved anything and that id mobile are allowing us to be scammed in this manner. 

What are my rights? What can i do?

Customer services hung up on me so i doubt they will help.. Should i try trading standards or ofcom? 

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Best answer by Mohammed 30 December 2019, 14:30

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Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Hello @Leerich999 

 

I am sorry to hear about your experience. I have had very similar issue in the past where I was being charged £4.50 a week for service I have never subscribed to. It happened when I was still with "Three" network. They have refused to even set a cap or turn off premium services, just left me on my own to deal with it. ID Mobile did not ever once charged me for anything I haven't used and I feel like my data is safe with iD Mobile. 

 

Back on your case though. The best thing that comes to my mind that I could recommend to you is to send an email with all the details:

* Full name

* Date of birth

* Mobile number

* Full address

* Link to this thread

* Description of your case

 

They will pick up from there and have a look into your account and see what will be the best way to help you solve it. 

 

Kind Regards

Gregor

Hi, ive emailed the group as above but no response yet.

Will give it until early jan then ill go via trading standards and ofcom or whoever can help

Userlevel 8
Badge +9

Hey @Leerich999 

 

Community Support usually reply within 24 hours but in super busy periods it may take up to 72 hours. Thank You for being so patient, they will get back to you as soon as possible.

 

Kind Regards

Gregor

Badge +10

@Leerich999

Hi welcome to the iD Community! Additional information that might be of some use...

 

With this particular issue, another way to find out the company involved with the premium rate charge is by inputting the premium rate text number listed on your mobile bill into the following link;

https://psauthority.org.uk/for-consumers/service-checker

Premium rate text charges can include calls to chat lines or TV competitions and reality shows, like I'm a Celebrity and Strictly. Premium text messages for TV competitions (these usually say something like 'text WIN' to a certain number) or charity TV events like Comic Relief. These can include purchasing apps and making e-money transactions ,other premium rate numbers provide services like news, sport, weather, games or adult content.

 

I hope this helps.

Hi, i dont text or call any premium services. To be honest i barely even use text anyway. 

These messages appear on my bill every few days but as stated i dont get any messages on my handset. 

 

The number was linked to a grocery alerts vompany who when i called just fobbed me off

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hello Lee,

iD Mobile does not directly charge you for this so we're not able to provide a refund. The subscription charges us which we place onto your bill.

 

The text subscriptions are only signed up from the user end not by the network so we're not able to stop these or unsubscribe. To stop the subscription by texting them back incurs a charge but it will stop any further messages.

 

There's a regulatory body called the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) who regulate these. If you believe that this was signed up in error and are disputing the charges, you can make a complaint via the PSA here: https://psauthority.org.uk

 

PSA should be able to help further as well as give you more information on this. They will be able to help you stop receiving further subscriptions as well as assist in recovering any monies paid.

 

Please also see the following article: https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/im-being-charged-for-unwanted-premium-rate-text-messages

 

Mohammed

I 100% understand that if ive signed up for something then i would get charged. I dont recall signing up for anything so ass me my details have been gained unlawfully.

Regardless.. I have had no texts to my handset. 

So what am I paying for?

Ill send you a bill for something you have not seen or know about and see how you feel About having to pay for it... ID Mobile are allowing me to be charged for something that i do not get... They are in effect hosting a platform for these scam artists and more or less turning their back on the customer

 

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hello @Leerich999,

 

We’ve previously fed this back to our Team already to look into this and see if there are any ways we can implement a fix to prevent this. This is something that is being looked into.

 

I completely understand your frustration here, however, we would maintain our response as per the above.

 

You can see search results here: https://community.idmobile.co.uk/search?q=%C2%A34.5 for other users who have been affected by the issue.

All the steps to escalate this have been provided to you.

 

We’ve also got a Blog on our Community here: https://community.idmobile.co.uk/bills-allowances-charges-21/how-to-stop-unwanted-premium-rate-text-messages-30819 with further information on this.

 

I’m sorry that I could not be of more help.

 

Mohammed

 

The text subscriptions are only signed up from the user end not by the network so we're not able to stop these or unsubscribe. To stop the subscription by texting them back incurs a charge but it will stop any further messages.

 

Ok so i unwillingly signed up for this apparently and either way i have to pay for it to canel or whatever... Great. Thanks. 

Anymore cashbyou wanna take off me for nothing while we are at it? 

Userlevel 7
Badge +10

Hello @Leerich999,

 

I’m sorry that you feel this way.

All I am advising is, the network does not sign you up to this type of service, it is done at user/service end.

 

That doesn’t mean I’m implying you definitely signed up to it, as you’ll see in the link above, there are other users who have complained about being signed up to this and never having received said texts. It may well be a marketing scam you’ve been targetted by.

 

I have, however, provided all the correct advice as well as where to complain regarding this.

PSA are the regulatory body for these types of companies so if you are unhappy with receiving these charges, I urge you to complain to them and they will investigate this as well as provide support on how you can go about obtaining a refund for these charges.

 

Yes, I agree, it’s not the response you were hoping for, however, please understand that we’re trying to provide as much support as possible.

 

This is something that has happened on other networks also, some quick googling and you will find plenty of posts on other forums showing this also. Switching networks is not the solution to this always as you’re signed up to a subscription via the number not by network. Though, you’re welcome to switch if this is what you want to do.

 

Mohammed

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