Being Billed For "Premium Text Messaging"

[Moriturus]

I just got my latest Verizon Wireless bill and I found TWO months of charges for $9.99 for "premium text messaging."  (Why the first month didn't show up on the last bill is puzzling.)  The problem is, I haven't signed up for any premium text messaging services, ever.  (My cellphone can't even send text messages.)  When I called a Verizon Wireless billing representative about the charges, he told me that: 1) he couldn't take the charges off my bill because they were from a third party; 2) he couldn't tell me who the third party was; 3) he couldn't make the third party stop charging me; and 4) since I had signed up with this third party I have to figure out how to get rid of them.  He said that no else above him could tell me who this mystery "premium text messaging" was either.  Has anyone else has this problem?

[nmchileman]

For Premium Text Message content VZW does in fact require a "double opt-in" where you have to confirm twice that you agree to be billed. If you did not infact sign up for this service then your text message records should show that you never sent the first or second opt-in and VZW will be able to view these records. I would use that as leverage to get the credit for the charges, because they are in fact invalid if you did not meet the opt-in requirements. If the rep won't do it for you ask to speak to a supervisor. Ultimately though, you do need to respond in text form to the number that's charging you. Only after the subscription has been cancelled can you apply the Premium text block. If the block is applied before you cancel the message, the subscription may keep billing you.

Call customer service, get your money back.

[malevolence]

This has happened to me as well. A few months ago. The message hit me twice at 9.99 a pop. This also was the first time I'd ever heard of this. I called Verizon's customer no-service number. They were of no service. I was told that Verizon could do nothing to stop this fraud. I was told that I had to cancel the service and request a refund from the company. The company is: sms4gamecheats.com. Their toll free number is: 877 244 7035. Feel free to spam them. They are criminals and Verizon makes it possible for them to prey on Verizon customers.

I called the toll free number and they promised to refund the charges. They are liars and frauds. Verizon facilitates this by doing NOTHING to prevent it and then doing NOTHING to provide a remedy. Verizon does not care about customers if this is the way they provide service.

I had the premium service blocked. Today I have received numerous more attempts to access my premium text messaging. I have no doubt that if I hadn't had it blocked, I would have been charged for each attempt and Verizon would merely shrug. My contract expires in a little more than a month. Verizon is about to say goodbye to my family and all of my business lines. It is the only way I have to send a message.

[sassy38915]

I live in Mississippi and this junk showed up on my cell bill ( 30 bucks worth!) . I am with a different carrier than Verizon. Anyway, I had to call my carrier and they had me to text the word STOP to a certain number and then my carrier could block those idiots from charging me again.

[Spanky]

as a last note, not only can vzw reps tell you where the charges are coming from, it can be verified whether or not it was initiated via text message or not.

A lot of these services are initiated via a website. (stupid Facebook)  Watch anything online that pops up and wants you to enter your mobile # in order to verify results for something...  it happens all the time, one of the common ones is an IQ test

[malevolence]

In reply to Spanky, I just called my VZW rep and they pretty much repeated the stuff I already knew from the text message that was used to steal my money. Again, I explained that Verizon is acting as the middleman for crooks by TAKING my money and giving it to a crooked business. And then Verizon is shrugging as if they are clueless. I asked the rep for the identity of the crooks. She merely repeated that it was sms4gamecheats.com and that the toll free number was the same one that I already had. She had no idea what the mailing address was or anything else that would allow me to pay them a visit.

Customer no-service has lived up to its reputation again.

[malevolence]

In case there's someone from clueless land (aka Verizon), I've managed to find out that the owner of the domain for sms4gamecheats.com is:

Narnin Aleksej
   Email: games@mail.ru
   Organization: Private person
   Address: nopli 18.1
   City: Narva
   State: narva
   ZIP: 10475
   Country: EE
   Phone: +372.56676899

It took me about 10 minutes of casual looking. So Verizon is facilitating some crook in Narva, Estonia by acting as his bagman for some internet fraud. Nice.

I have some suggestions on how to solve this situation if any of you clueless Verizon people are reading this.

[DaniLove13]

---

malevolence wrote:

In reply to Spanky, I just called my VZW rep and they pretty much repeated the stuff I already knew from the text message that was used to steal my money. Again, I explained that Verizon is acting as the middleman for crooks by TAKING my money and giving it to a crooked business. And then Verizon is shrugging as if they are clueless. I asked the rep for the identity of the crooks. She merely repeated that it was sms4gamecheats.com and that the toll free number was the same one that I already had. She had no idea what the mailing address was or anything else that would allow me to pay them a visit.

Customer no-service has lived up to its reputation again.

---

The only info that can be provided about premium sms companies by customer service is name of premium alerts, what they send, 800#, contact email (if available), 5-digit short code and opt out procedures. Premium sms services are third party so VzW doesn't have access to all info about that company.

[mamatrueby]

I have just been the victim of this also and I have never gone on any website or replied to any text messages. Verizon did give me a phone number though 877-225-1198 and I called that number. It is some Top Logo ringtone company. I spoke with two very rude agents who after I told them I never signed up for anything or responded to any text messages said to me that someone else in my household did it then. I told them there is no one that would have done it - I am a widow and have enough trouble just figuring out how to use my phone without wanting to, or attempting to sign up for anything that is going to cost me additional -- and especially not fancy ringtones! Both of the agents responded that they never believe what the customer says. I do not remember seeing the original message they sent me in April in which I was told I or someone in my household had to have entered that pin number into their website to activate the subscription and now in May my subscription was renewed. They said they could prove that I did this, but I don't know how I can prove that I did not. That is now up to two $9.99 charges. I was able to have them cancel my subscription.I believe this is a scam -- how did they get our telephone numbers (from Verizon?). I was not aware that Verizon could bill me for something from a third party payor.

[malevolence]

Mamatrueby,

It IS a scam. You have been robbed. Anyone can put ANY cell phone number into one of those scam websites and the service provider will TAKE your money and you can't do anything about it except beg for a refund. Verizon is only one of many service providers who facilitate this kind of theft. The only way you can avoid it is to have the premium messaging service blocked.

The same thing happend to me. I didn't even know there WAS such a thing as premium messaging service. Like you, I sure didn't know that someone could steal money by charging my account and I sure didn't know that Verizon would help them do it.

Like you, when I called customer no-sevice, I was told almost nothing useful. I was informed that Verizon can do nothing to stop this predatory business model (liars) and that the only recourse I had was to call the crooks to demand a refund, LOL. Verizon told me they had no way to address the problem other than to block the premium messaging service.

OK, it's blocked. I called the crooks and they promised a refund. That was in January. I'm still waiting. And I'm still angry as hell.

My advice is to make sure the premium messaging service is blocked and then make a sport of pestering Verizon about this problem. They take the attitude that they have no responsibility and until they feel some pain they will never change.

I used to spam the crooks with repeated calls to their toll free number. I have learned that they will block these attempts after a while so I have to use different phone lines from time to time. I am becoming adept at understanding people who speak with an Indian accent. Cheers.

[mamatrueby]

I just have to tell you that Verizon said they will credit my account for those two charges -- I will believe it when I see it. This guy kept referring to my inadvertently responding to a text message that initiated these charges - which I know I didn't do . I did start my conversation with the fact that I am very unhappy about Verizon  participating in fraudulant business practices, which I am not sure if that helped me or not. I will be reporting this top log ring tone company to the business bureau also. How in the world do we as consumers put a stop to this type of thing?!?!

[malevolence]

Mamatrueby,

I'm glad Verizon said they'd credit your account. I suspect that they actually will do that. They have told me that they would note my request for a refund but no action yet.

The problem is that giving us a refund is not a solution and they know it. The solution is that WE should have to opt into services like this with informed consent. As it is, until we are victims of theft, many of us don't even know we have the service, much less use it. It just lies there like time bomb waiting for some internet scam artist to tell Verizon to give them some of our money. I suspect that Verizon derives some revenue from this and even if they don't, the losses of refunding a small fraction of victim's money will be passed on through fees or higher rates.

{keep it relevant}

I'm just hoping that sometime one of these crooks will show up on this side of the pond. I'd like to have a nice chat.

Message Edited by WendyM on 05-21-2009 11:42 PM

[jannine]

We have the same problem with trying to get info from Verizon about a download, WSRUNNER.  All they can/will tell me is that it is a third party and they have no idea who.  Can I really get that info from a knowledgeable rep?

[DaniLove13]

---

jannine wrote:
We have the same problem with trying to get info from Verizon about a download, WSRUNNER.  All they can/will tell me is that it is a third party and they have no idea who.  Can I really get that info from a knowledgeable rep?

---

WS Runner is Wireless Sync Email. It should be listed as in app in either your Get It Now menu or Media Center, depending on the phone you have. If you're not using it, delete the app and charges will stop.

[Moriturus]

UPDATE TO ORIGINAL POST

I managed to finally get the charges reversed on my bill.  On the Verizon Wireless website, they have a link to a "How are we doing?" type of survey, in which they ask whether or not I would recommend Verizon Wireless to a friend or family member.  I responded by rating Verizon Wireless's service with a "zero" based on their stonewalling me on these charges, and pointedly noted that I would recommend NOT signing up with Verizon Wireless to anyone who might ask.  I also said that since my contract was up I'd be switching carriers immediately.  I was contacted by a representative a couple of days later who said that Verizon wanted to keep me as a customer, etc.  I said I'd be delighted to renew if these charges were removed.  The charges were removed, I renewed, and I now have a very nice new Verizon cellphone which I'm quite happy with. I don't know what Verizon's response would have been, however, had I not been up for renewal.

I'm baffled as to why Verizon perpetuates this scam by making it so difficult to remove these fake charges, when it causes them so much ill-will from long-time customers.  Considering how much they charge per month, it would seem that their long-term contracts are their main profit center even if they make a lot of money on each one of these scam text messages.  I've been a loyal customer of Verizon Wireless for over ten years. They've had their problems, but have generally provided good service at an affordable price over a broad coverage area.  I've recommended Verizon in the past to people who asked me how I liked my cellphone plan.  Had they not reversed the charges on my bill they might have made some significant percentage of $19.98 but they would have had a hostile ex-customer for life.  Oh well, I guess that's capitalism . . .

[malevolence]

 mamatrueby and moriturus, I think I also just received credit for the fraudulent charges. Moriturus, I agree with you completely regarding Verizon's involvement and response to customers. Years of being a good customer is quickly forgotten if they think there's a quick profit today.

Verizon, if you are reading this, be advised: The bitter taste of poor service (and in this case facilitating fraud) remains long after the sweetness of a discounted phone.

[lifesgreat]

I also got burned with  the 'premium text messaging' scam.  I just received my first bill & it has $538.29 of premium text messaging charges on it.  I didn't even know there was such a thing as premium text messaging.  I spoke with customer service who told me Verizon couldn't do anything about the charges but gave me the 3rd party # to call & work it out with them (866-242-0384).  I've tried several times & never get anything except an answering machine.

I would like to respond to the 'How Are We Doing?' survey but can't seem to find it on Verizon Wireless website.  Can you be more specific as to how I get to the survey?

[malevolence]

Lifesgreat, I did a reverse lookup and that number led to: http://www.Clubm8.tv

It looks like one of those adult texting websites and someone must be using your number fraudulently. Did you get the premium text messaging service blocked by Verizon?

I wish you luck at getting the Clubm8 people to give money back, but if I was in your place, I wouldn't bet the ranch on it.  

I think Verizon may have in effect acted as an agent by making this kind of fraud possible and facilitating it. As I've written before, Verizon will get serious about this problem if they start to feel the pain as well. And the only way to make Verizon feel the pain is to make it cost them. Otherwise, this kind of fraud is just more profit for them.

As far as "how are we doing?", that kind of outlet is mostly to allow you to vent. The customer no-service people will probably not respond. You could write actual letters to the corporate officers, copies to FCC, BBB, consumer agencies, etc. That would be more likely to get a response.

Message Edited by malevolence on 05-30-2009 08:33 AM

[madmia]

WOW!! The anger! Just FYI: Yes, Verizon DOES care what you think. No, Verizon DOES NOT need the small percentage they would receive from your PSMS. Yes, most reps WANT you to be happy, healthy phone users. YOU pay their bills! By all means, block PSMS BEFORE problems arise, especially if you're in the habit of NOT reading the fine print. Finally, any rep at a call center has the ability to see the flow of the double opt-in requirements for these services, educate you as to how EXACTLY to opt out or unsub or cancel the subscription, and yes, they can even CREDIT you, but not indefinitely. The rep can, and will, process the cancellation for you, but you are ultimately responsible to cancel.

And please oh please, if you EVER hear the words "my supervisor will just tell you the same thing" ABSOLUTELY ask to hear the same thing from the supervisor. Chances are, they will go above and beyond to satisfy you, close contract end date or not.

[malevolence]

{no personal comments please}

OK, WendyM, rather than asking an individual responder who claimed something on behalf of Verizon if they actually represent Verizon, I will instead ask:

Are there any Verizon representatives willing to respond? Nothing personal in any of that.

I did read the fine print. I just read it again, at least the print in my contract. I saw nothing where Verizon notifies the customer that some slime can use our number to create bogus charges and Verizon will take our money with no questions asked. The reps I talked to mentioned nothing about double opt in conditions - and if they noticed that, in my case, there hadn't been a double opt in, that detail escaped their consideration while they were telling me that Verizon could do nothing but block the service at my request. In case this is confusing to you, I did not opt in even a single time and Verizon cannot produce any evidence of it. And, I didn't see the fine print that the only way I could get my money back was to beg the thieves for a refund, as I was told.

I can surmise from your message that the words, "my supervisor will just tell you the same thing", must be used frequently by Verizon's customer no-service people. I never heard it though. What I did hear was something that translates into, "Tough luck."

Like I mentioned in my previous message, the bitter taste of poor service remains long after the good feeling of a cheap phone has gone. Yes, I am angry.

This is not to say that Verizon cannot redeem itself. There are things they could do to fix this. And they could produce some prosecutions for fraud or larceny. I'd settle for a discreet , personal, private chat with some of the perps. I'm not holding my breath for any of it. Verizon, if you're listening....surprise me.

Message Edited by WendyM on 06-04-2009 09:39 PM

Message Edited by malevolence on 06-04-2009 06:48 PM

Message Edited by malevolence on 06-04-2009 06:48 PM

[hopelesskase]

My son had the same thing on his bill and paid it for a year. He thought it was his unlimited text package charge until we were comparing his bill to mine. He called verizon customer service and they told him it was from someone (his old girlfriend) doing a survey online. She had did the same thing to home phone. Anyway they blocked the third party from texting him and canceled the service from his account with no problem

[Moriturus]

As a followup on a couple of the replies:

1) I can no longer find the survey page on the Verizon site to which I previously responded.  Perhaps Verizon was not receiving the reaction it was anticipating from its customers.

2) I should have been clearer as to the response I received from the Verizon representative when I called about the fraudulent charges on my bill.  I asked to talk to someone who could help me with these false entries on my bill.  I was told by that customer representative (who Verizon holds out on its website as the person who has authority to help me with my billing questions) that NO ONE above him could do anything about my problem.

3) While is true that Verizon SHOULD be interested in keeping its customers happy, what most people on this thread have been discussing is what Verizon DID to them.  Just because a large corporation has a vested economic interest in keeping its customers happy does not mean that it will necessarily do so, and it is apparent that for some reason Verizon has been trying to ignore and downplay this problem.  It may be that Verizon still has internal policies in place from when Verizon was making a lot more from these fraudulent text messages. I was told that previously the charges on these phony messages were $29.99, which is a lot of money to split between Verizon and the texting crooks.

4) Finally, it might make short-term internal economic sense for Verizon to try and stonewall its customers on these fake messages. While the long-term economic results are probably negative, it may be that certain profit goals need to met for purposes of realizing bonuses, stock options, etc., especially if these goals are not tied to any negative long-term feedback regarding lost customers.  As news events have recently shown, large corporations can have internal economic goals and policies which are non-rational and extremely destructive towards the company as a whole.