What Next? 3rd Party Cell Phone Charges!

[merlinmagic4]

You know, I really try hard not to complain but here I am again!

Some of you may have read my post about an unexpected 300 (or so) dollars for a medical device we received yesterday.

Today I open my cell phone bill and have 6 charges for "Premium Services (non-telecom) Purchases. They are 2 "messages" for 19.98 and 4 "ringers" for 39.96. This is all on a cell phone we bought for my son while he was in the hospital last year. He never uses the thing but it sits in his backpack for "emergencies". I finally get out of him that he clicked on a "free ringtone" banner on a game site he was playing on. The only information he gave was the cell phone number. The really bad news is that he doesn't know how many times he did it!

Now I know we are responsible but I just find it appalling that the cell phone companies participate in this third party billing scam.

I actually saw an ad on tv. It offered a "free ringtone". My son asked if he could get it. I had him play it back (gotta love dvr) and showed him the fine print that said you were agreeing to subscribe for 9.99 a month. Too bad I didn't get to him first!

I know I'm going to get the comments that say kids shouldn't have cell phones but how do people feel about the cell phone companies allowing this?

I did call Sprint and the guy had me on hold for 15 minutes "looking up the details of the charges" so I hung up. It sounded like he was from another country and there was a lot of interference on the line. I know we have to pay but I need to find out how to cancel the service.
There is no information about the origination of the charges on the bill at all.

[kakn7294]

I understand exactly where you are coming from. Today both DD and I got "unauthorized" text messages from an unknown source. My service is pay-by-the-message so I got charged for both of these messages - granted, it's not a lot of money but several of these a day could really add up quickly. The worst part is that we're all on the "Do not call list".

[Ian]

I agree with you. There's too much shady stuff that goes on with new technologies and some people (kids included) just aren't savvy enough to know how to avoid the pitfalls.

Oh, and for the record I see no problem with your son having a cell phone. I don't advocate giving kids cells and having them texting and yakking their heads off all day long, but it sounds like your son just keeps his handy in case of emergencies. I think that's a good thing for a kid to have.

[kakn7294]

BTW, my DD with the cell phone is only 12 yo - and she's had her phone since she was 9. The primary reason that she got one was that the phone was free and I pay the same for 3 lines as I would for 2, so it seemed to make sense to get the 3rd phone. For for a while it was simply a back-up battery for my phone (all 3 are the same). She uses it for emergencies and when she goes out with her friends, even though someone's parent is along. She's not allowed to text and call her friends from it constantly. Our cell company has recently introduced a program where parents can set limits on their kids cell phones - we can restrict the hours it's used (for example, we can say she can't use it between 7:30a and 2:30p M - F) and the number of hours for calls and the number of text messages sent. I think it's a great idea and hopefully more cell companies will see this and move in that direction as well as more and more kids get cell phones. I see nothing wrong with kids having one - the problems occur with how they use them.

[Disneyatic]

I have a friend at work that had this happen and she had heck getting it corrected.
Her daughter had also clicked on one of those sites and was getting all these fees and a monthly charge.
It took alot of time on the phone, but she eventually got the monthly fee to be cancelled and after paying that 1st huge bill it was taken care of. That is the biggest racket, that they would allow charges to be instated to someone's bill with only a phone # as the authorization.
Don't give up! It will take some time and I totally understand about getting the overseas customer service with language barriers, that is SO frustrating!

I have also had the problem of getting "spam" text messages. For everything from credit card offers to special phone lines. It is just ridiculous!

Good luck with it!

[JPL]

I have to say these third party billing companies wether it be for your home phone or cellphone should not be legal. The company selling the product or service should bill you so you understand exactly what you are being charged for and have to provide the billing information to that company. The reason the cellphone providers are going along with this is because you are dealing with the same companies that allowed it on land line phones. They are getting their cut of the money from these scams as well.

[crazypoohbear]

I have been complaining to sprint for months now. If you are late paying they send you a text... then charge you for the text!. I have asked why I can't block texts from the phones and the say because!
I have found that within the last 6 months or so the customer service at sprint has dropped drastically. I can't wait until December 22 when I can switch carriers.

[thrillme]

I think it's appalling that a 3rd party can get away with billing you THROUGH your cell phone company without any information to where you can get to the company and block them.

Have you asked Sprint to have the number changed? I'm not sure that will work but it seems like Sprint is OBLIGATED to give you information about the third party company.

I also totally agree with you. I really HATE going through some other country to talk to a business here. So often the reps are programed for specific responses and if you ask something out of the parameter you're really not going to have much luck.

Slightly off topic...I tried to order from a local company once (Circuit City)...and got transferred to the land of "Lord Only Knows"...the gentleman in a very THICK accent asked for my email address. After 10 minutes of PAINSTAKENLY spelling out each letter of the first part of the address (ie...Jane.Dear@...)..."J" as in Jump, Jam, Jelly..."A" as in Apple..."N" as in New, Never..."E" as in Elephant....DOT..."D" as in..Dog..."E"... as in Elephant....etc

He proceeded to stop me at DOT and ask me to spell that....ARGGGGHHHHH...After that it became one of those Abbot and Costello routines...With..."I can't spell DOT...it's a DOT like a Period..."..."Ma'me does that start with a "D" as in Dog or a "P" as in Parrot....

Good Luck with this...Hopefully you'll have a few choice words in December when they ask you WHY you are leaving?

[jdcastle]

This post made me call Verizon and ask that all 3rd party charges be blocked, and they told me that the FCC required them to allow the charges and the use of their network and that the only way to stop these charges would be to disable all text messages. The lady told me all I had to do was call the company that made the charges and they must refund them, but Verizon could do nothing pro-actively. She also said anytime a customer has this problem, they have a form letter that they will send to the FCC on your behalf (with your permission) to complain about the current regulations prohibiting cell-phone companies from blocking these charges from ever occurring.

[DizHawk]

Heh. This isn't a third party charge, but it's the biggest phone bill I've ever heard of. And it was mine.

A couple months ago I got a Samsung Blackjack from AT&T. In order to qualify for a $100 rebate, I had to sign up for a data plan. My wife and I discussed which data plan to get, decided, and told the guy at the store.

So, a month goes by and I get my first bill. We had just returned from Colorado and picked up our mail. I look at the top line. Amount due: $2,900. After my heart returned to my chest, I looked through the bill and found that I was being charged $0.10 per kb on my new "unlimited" data plan. So, I call AT&T and after a great deal of run around, I was refunded the money. I had to go through more paperwork than normal because the guy at the store claimed I never requested a data plan. He had not keyed the data plan in when we purchased the phone, even though he remembered me asking about the rebate and how long it would take to get it, after purchasing the phone.

Fun times.

[ElenitaB]

I have found that within the last 6 months or so the customer service at sprint has dropped drastically. I can't wait until December 22 when I can switch carriers.
You mean it got worse than it was before? :eek: I made the huge mistake of switching to Sprint a few years ago. Just 2 months into my 2 year contract, I had a countdown to the day we could switch carriers.


BTW, my DD with the cell phone is only 12 yo - and she's had her phone since she was 9. [...] She uses it for emergencies and when she goes out with her friends, even though someone's parent is along. She's not allowed to text and call her friends from it constantly. Our cell company has recently introduced a program where parents can set limits on their kids cell phones - we can restrict the hours it's used (for example, we can say she can't use it between 7:30a and 2:30p M - F) and the number of hours for calls and the number of text messages sent. I think it's a great idea and hopefully more cell companies will see this and move in that direction as well as more and more kids get cell phones
My DS is almost 12 and he has a cell for when he goes out with friends (and their parents) and for emergencies as well. I can see why you would restrict the hours she uses the phone, but in case of an emergency taking place during school hours, she would be unable to use the phone (being a NYer, I think about those things). Just a thought... (My DS has to be convinced to even take the phone to school as he doesn't want to break his school's rules.)

[merlinmagic4]

This post made me call Verizon and ask that all 3rd party charges be blocked, and they told me that the FCC required them to allow the charges and the use of their network and that the only way to stop these charges would be to disable all text messages. The lady told me all I had to do was call the company that made the charges and they must refund them, but Verizon could do nothing pro-actively. She also said anytime a customer has this problem, they have a form letter that they will send to the FCC on your behalf (with your permission) to complain about the current regulations prohibiting cell-phone companies from blocking these charges from ever occurring.

Thanks for passing this on! The funny thing is that I thought we had disabled text and internet on his phone.......but maybe it was just internet. Oh, and that's the real kicker - he doesn't have internet on the phone and you need it to get the ringtones :D He has learned a great lesson here..............

[merlinmagic4]

My DS is almost 12 and he has a cell for when he goes out with friends (and their parents) and for emergencies as well. I can see why you would restrict the hours she uses the phone, but in case of an emergency taking place during school hours, she would be unable to use the phone (being a NYer, I think about those things). Just a thought... (My DS has to be convinced to even take the phone to school as he doesn't want to break his school's rules.)

I thought the same thing. My kids' elementary school is literally in my back yard so this is the first year my son has actually taken a bus to the middle school. I definitely want him to be able to call me should we have another major event like 9/11.