Stop the costly text pests who even prey on children
TFOCUS: Our story on December 3 HE Mail on Sunday’s call for tough regulatory action on companies that charge people for receiving unwanted mobile phone texts has received further parliamentary support.
Earlier this month we revealed how t housands of people are unknowingly paying to receive pestering text messages – a practice Labour MP John Mann described as a ‘national scandal’.
Now Rebecca Pow, Conservative MP for Taunton Deane and a member of the all-party Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, has intervened. She says: ‘It is dismaying how easy it is for customers to find they have inadvertently signed up for messages they do not want, and are then charged for them.
‘It is scandalous there are unscrupulous companies out there deliberately taking advantage of people in this way. It is an area the regulator ought to address.’
Pow’s comments come as more people have stepped forward to share their experience of being charged to receive text messages they did not want or ask for. Many people disregard texts as spam and hit the ‘delete’ button, without realising they could be paying for them.
YOUNG CAN BE CHARGED
MARCUS Hardingham paid nearly £50 for unsolicited texts sent to his daughter’s mobile.
He only discovered this when he contacted mobile phone provider Three UK to upgrade his handset and an employee commented on the £3-a-time texts on his daughter Ava’s phone.
Aged 11, she is adamant she has never subscribed to any phone paid service – indeed the experience has caused her great upset.
Marcus, 54, says: ‘ Ava’s initial reaction was shock and embarrassment, then annoyance, worry and loss of confidence.’
Three directed Marcus to contact the company responsible for sending the messages, which in turn told him he would need to send a copy of Ava’s passport or birth certificate as proof of identity.
Marcus says: ‘I did not want to pass on my daughter’s personal details so I have written off the charges and instead cancelled my daughter’s phone contract.’
A spokeswoman for Three UK says: ‘If any of our customers have concerns about t heir bill , we encourage them to contact our customer service team by calling 333 from their mobile.
‘There were additional charges on Mr Hardingham’s bill because a subscription had been activated. Three has no control over the costs that third-party providers charge subscribers.’
After The Mail on Sunday intervened, the mobile network agreed to refund the charges as a goodwill gesture.
THE COSTS MOUNT UP
DAVID Jennings says it was ‘sheer luck’ he recently spotted erroneous charges when checking his phone bill following a trip to Japan.
The 62-year-old, from Sutton Coldfield in the West Midlands, discovered he was paying around £4.50 a week to be entered into a competition he knew nothing about.
As he pored over past bills, he traced a string of charges back to August last year – and calculates he and wife Lynne have been charged more than £270. These fees would have continued to accumulate had he not stopped them.
David, a business owner, says: ‘The costs mount up and because the amounts are small, unless you are on your game you will not notice them.
‘Every so often we received messages saying we were entered into a competition for £4.50 per week until we sent a ‘Stop’ message – but as we never opted in, we had no idea we had to opt out.’
When David saw he was being charged, he sent a ‘Stop’ message to the number provided, but this had no impact. The Mail on Sunday asked his bill provider Vodafone to investigate. A spokeswoman says: ‘The premium rate text messages originate from third-party companies and not from Vodafone.
‘The contract is between the customer and the third-party provider of the service, so our advice is to contact them to discuss a refund. If this does not resolve the issue, we do everything we can to help individual customers.’
David rejects the idea he had a contract with the company sending the messages since he has never had any dealings with them.
Vodafone agreed to refund £36 of charges covering the past two
months and put a bar on David’s phone so he cannot receive further premium rate texts and calls. David adds: ‘There appears to be a legal loophole ordinary people fall through and the big mobile phone companies could not care less.’ that particular service provider. Consumer expert James Walker, founder of online complaints service Resolver, says: ‘ These paid-for services are crying out for tougher regulation – and an ombudsman that can step in if things go wrong.’
Have you been paying for texts and calls you never asked for? Email laura.shannon@mailonsunday.co.uk to tell your story.