what should i do with a mobile scam?

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bluefirefly

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I have subsribed to a game sms service after seeing an advertisement on Bebo.But on the same day i unsubscribed it. (18th April)
But im still receiving txts off them now and i just noticed everytime they send me a msg they charge me!! 2.7euros per msg!! I found the company who operated 57030 ,tried to e-mail them but it bounced back!!
I havent try call them..but what should i do if i cudnt reach them??
 
Assuming you have unsubscribed as outlined, then this is theft.

I am still amazed that these schemes continue to run and run and take money from peoples phone without any form of effective sanction. There are regulations covering how to subscribe and unsubscribe - if you have told them that you want to unsubscribe and they have continued to charge you then they are in breach of the regulations (this is for comreg to pursue) and they are also more than likely in breach of their agreement with your carrier by continuing to charge amounts to your phone.

Contact comreg and your carrier and lay out the exact details - for example, subscribed 18APR @ 1045, unsubscribed 18APR @ 1550. Point out that any charges levied outside this period were unauthorised transactions on your account and insist that they be refunded immediately. Don't accept that the service provider can't refund the money easily - they can certainly take it from you at will.

Don't let it drop. It's theft.

z
 
Contact Regtel, the industry "watchdog" (more like a poodle) covering this area.
Contact your mobile phone company.
Kick up a fuss with both.
reply "STOP" to one of the texts
 
i have always been affraid of these premium rate text numbers and the reasons why are stated above. i hope you get it sorted. i'd say €2.70 a go adds up quickly. what a rip off.
 
I had a similar problem a good while ago.
Your service provider should be able to give you a contact number using the shortcode that sent you the messages.
If they persist to send messages after you un-subscribed then they should refund the money. I got mine back but only after a good few phone calls
It's was not easy
Mik
 
bluefirefly said:
I have subsribed to a game sms service after seeing an advertisement on Bebo.But on the same day i unsubscribed it. (18th April)
But im still receiving txts off them now and i just noticed everytime they send me a msg they charge me!! 2.7euros per msg!! I found the company who operated 57030 ,tried to e-mail them but it bounced back!!
I havent try call them..but what should i do if i cudnt reach them??
Click to expand...

reply with the word STOP ... by law they are supposed to remove your subscription to the service.
 
ok. I called them Waited for AGES! got contact to a girl. She said she'll put a stop on the messages.. And very strangely she can predict what i was going to say!
Fist thing she said was "is your problem with the messages coming from the shortcode 57030? and do you want to stop them?" yes " are you looking for a refund?" yes
she took down my details and said she'll pass on to the accounting department and will get contact in 5 days.... do ye think i should have pushed harder? well,at least those rip off texts are gona end..(should be)

good thing meteor has the view call logs so i copied them so hard evidence!

i just added all the money up (include the cost i spent for STOP, and added up to 30euros!! i didnt top up for awhile and if i did,they would have got more money off me!!! OMG



ps. her name is Emily. took it down just incase.. oh and she said i'll get a free txt saying the service has stopped...but no sign of that after 10mins...i got only 8 cent credit left..they sent me 4 of those stupid msgs today!
 
Alex said:
i have always been affraid of these premium rate text numbers and the reasons why are stated above. i hope you get it sorted. i'd say €2.70 a go adds up quickly. what a rip off.
Click to expand...

yep. learned my lesson,never gona do it again! cost me almost 30euros! hopefully refund will be back soon
 
I asked O2 if they could block all premium-rate and non-personal SMS messages to/from my phone....guess what? They can't (or don't want to).
 
They can, but as you note above, they don't want to. They are in the business of making money and as long as the service providers continue to churn (your) money through them and the carriers make a % on the money that is spent in this way they will continue to not offer the service of blocking these texts.

It is possible that one or other of the regulators might issue a decree which says that carriers must offer this service (which would be a common good) but I wouldn't hold my breath.

There is no technical reason why this service couldn't be offered.

z
 
I have had the same problem with receiving these service messages from 57030 in the last few weeks. When the messages came in I just deleted them and did not retrieve them as I had no clue what they were. My credit was dwindling very fast so I soon realised that they were costing me money. I have never set up a subscription service in my life so I was less than impressed to find out that they were charging me at least €2.50 per text, possibly up to €5.

When I rang Vodafone they said it was happening to a lot of people and put me in touch with the company who was sending them (Zamano). Phoned Zamano and they have stopped the texts but they cannot tell me how they got my number as the texts were actually from a company called Blink. They could not give me the details for this company which i find strange. I said I wanted a refund so they've sent my details to their refund department and I will be told within 4 to 5 working days of what the outcome is.

I have phoned Comreg to complain and they said all they can do is advise Zamano to contact me to let me know how they got my number (already been told they cannot tell me this) and the date subscription started. If I am not happy with Zamano's response I have to contact Comreg again. I somehow think I will have a battle on my hands to get any refund. I am guessing I have lost about €40 to this scam so I will do all possible to make sure I get my money back.
 
Lindy - there's so much wrong there, it is hard to know where to start.

Basically, the powers that be are telling you that some company decided to pick your number and start charging you money without any authorisation and *you* have to pursue the issue. This is crazy.

Imagine if the banks operated this way - you check your balance and see a daily direct debit coming out. When you pursue it with the bank they tell you that "it all looks OK to us here - these people told us to take money from your account". This would not be allowed operate like this. Why on earth should the carriers and service providers be allowed do this ?

If you pass a pickpocket every day and every day he takes a €5 note out of your pocket, would you expect to be told you have to go up to him and ask for your money back when he has *clearly* stolen from you. Your carrier (and yourself) have an audit trail of the transactions where the money was withdrawn, and there is no record of you approving the transactions . . . what's to argue ? The money should be refunded.

You could try the data protection commissioner route - it's possible they may be able to help with getting a disclosure of where they got your number from. However, it is also possible that the company simply made up your number so you may not get anywhere with this.

z
 
Lindy said:
I have phoned Comreg to complain and they said all they can do is advise Zamano to contact me to let me know how they got my number (already been told they cannot tell me this) and the date subscription started. If I am not happy with Zamano's response I have to contact Comreg again.
Click to expand...
So have you done this?
 
RTÉ's Prime Time did a report on this phenomenon a year or two ago (produced by Frank Shouldice and presented by Miriam O'Callaghan) which I can't now find in their online archives.

I remember at the time some hand-wringing suits from Comreg and Regtel promising that tough new regulations were going to solve the problem. Maybe Uncle Joe and his team might prevail on them to revisit the matter?

I've moved this thread to Consumer Issues and Rights where it more properly belongs.
 
ClubMan said:
So have you done this?
Click to expand...

Not yet. Only made the calls to Zanamo and Comreg this morning so going to wait until the 5 workings days are up and call them again next Thursday if I have not heard anything. It is unbeliveable how they can think they can get away with this sort of scam.
 
Why do you have to wait 5 days when...
Lindy said:
I have phoned Comreg to complain and they said all they can do is advise Zamano to contact me to let me know how they got my number (already been told they cannot tell me this) and the date subscription started. If I am not happy with Zamano's response I have to contact Comreg again.
Click to expand...
:confused:
 
I think the reason people get these texts is because they do so called free competitions.
I was in a pub 1 night and there was a competition for a holiday for 2 weeks in New York.
Simple question what is the other name for New York. Answer The Big Apple
Texted it in.
Within 5 days I was getting those stupid texts.
No more "free" competitions for me.
 
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