Premium Text Messages Driving You Mad?

February 12th, 2008 by admin

Premium text messages can become the bane of your life if you’re unlucky enough to become a victim.

They will cost typically $2.00 - 5.00 (£1.00 - 2.50) each for you to receive them and it’s not uncommon to receive several each day.

I have seen victims charged anything up to $40+ a day for these messages, and monthly cell phone bills topping $800 thanks to these little beauties.

I have even known people to stop using their pay as you talk cell phone altogether because every time they top up the credit the money vanishes as all the premium texts they haven’t been receiving start to fill up their inbox again.

What’s more, not only can it be difficult for you as a cell phone user to work out where all these charges are coming from but it can be even harder to work out how to stop them charging you.

So lets start at the beginning - where do these texts come from?

Not surprisingly given the figures above these premium-rate sms services are big business. They might be horse racing tips, results, weather forecasts, ringtone subscriptions or adult chat messages among other things.

There are 4 main ways you may have a subscription:

1) You unknowingly signed up yourself.

More common than you’d think - you pay for a single ringtone, news report or wallpaper without reading the fine print and realising you’re actually signing up for a monthly subscription with, for example, a new ringtone to be sent out to you each day until you cancel. The message here is before you give out your cell phone number for anything like this *check the fine print and ensure you are dealing with a reputable company*.

2) Someone else signed you up.

I have seen numerous cases of family members (typically a teenage son or daughter) borrowing a parent’s phone to download a ringtone and accidentally signing them up to a subscription. I have also seen a few cases where someone’s mates have signed them up to an adult chat line for a laugh when they’re in the bar!

3) Your number has been gleaned illegally.

Somehow the company in question has gained access to your number (perhaps from another legitimate company) and is charging you fraudulently.

4) Your number used to belong to someone else who signed up.

Most cell phone numbers are now being slowly recycled. It’s likely any new number you have has previously been owned by someone else at one time or another.

Typically 3-6 months will elapse between someone cancelling a number and someone else being given it but sometimes they *do* slip through the system.

And, as I’m sure you can guess, if someone has previously subscribed a cell phone number to a premium-rate text line and then you inherit the number, they’ll likely keep charging you.

Now when it comes to actually resolving these issues let’s start with the bad news. As these charges are happening via your phone bill rather than your credit card there is no real chance of a chargeback and even if you *do* manage to get the subscription(s) cancelled, there is little chance of getting your money back - you’re really just protecting yourself from future charges.

The good news, of course, is that there are *some* things you can do to counteract these charges…

1) Trace The Number

First off, if you can, keep any texts sent to you and try to trace the number it comes from. This is likely to be a computer not a physical phone number you can ring but you may have luck either tracking down the company responsible online.

2) Text Response

If you haven’t managed to find the company responsible the next step would be to try texting the universal unsubscribe command for your cell phone network. Simply hitting reply and texting the word “STOP” without the speech marks is enough for some networks. If in doubt, ring your network and ask.

3) Network Intervention

If this doesn’t work then your final port of call should be your cell phone provider. Show them your bill and the texts you have been sent. Explain you have done everything reasonable to try and get the texts to stop and you need their help.

With details on the originating number plus copies of the texts received most networks should be able to either contact the originating company and demand they stop spamming your phone or at least provide you with the contact details for the company so you can call them directly.

4) Change Number

Unless you’ve only just got a brand new number and so you don’t mind losing it you should regard changing your number as the last possible option. Typically you will pay for a new number unless you have just entered into a new contract (as in, days, not months) and of course you are likely passing the problem along to someone else but if all else fails this method will work.

Bear in mind in addition that you will have to update all your existing contacts which can be an absolute nightmare - people are so slow at updating their phone books you’ll be missing calls and texts for ever more

Hopefully this article has given you something of a battle-plan to get those charges stopped. If you’ve enjoyed the content here please tell others about it so as many people as possible can benefit from it.

One last tip before I go - if you’ve just got a new number and the problem has just started it’s almost certain that you’ve inherited the problem in which case try putting pressure on your network who will likely (a) change your number free and (b) refund any out-of-pocket expenses you have incurred.

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