Have you ever had your cell phone bill charged for "Premium Messaging"?

@roxxtime (299)
United States
May 15, 2010 3:33pm CST
Have you ever had like a random $6.99 or $9.99 charge on your cell bill for premium messages? I work for a cell carrier and I get these calls all the time you put your cell # in somewhere online or send a text message to this 3rd party vendor and it they piggy back their charges onto your cell carriers bill. I deal with this daily and as much as I may believe with all my heart that it is scamming they do it in a legal and legit way so we will request an adjustment if you want but the charges are valid.... usually. Here is my issue with that service I know better than to use those services and got tricked into charges I feel because I put my # in to the wrong area online.... twice. Now with any premium messaging service you can "reply" with the word "STOP" and it auto cancels even if it's a free service. So the minute I got that shady text I replied stop and got confirmation it was cancelled, but guess what, I still got charged. As an employee I cannot request an adjustment through my employer so I have to go through the vendor, which is a horrid process. I am now way more against this shady premium messaging scam and want there to be a stop put to it, but how? I do like premium messaging though, at least the free ones. Like having myspace, yahoo, and facebook via text is awesome (and free), and the free 411/information service google provides through texting is my favorite. But why is this tricky deceptive form of messaging allowed? So if you see it you can request to remove it, but I have customers who don't see it for 6 months and we can only request to adjust 2 of those 4 charges. How is this fair someone gets ripped off $40 and it's legal? I am just in awe that this type of service is still allowed being as criminal as it is. If this is infact a service people want then they should seek it out to apply not be accidentally suckered into it. Has this ever happened to you? What is your view on premium messaging?
1 person likes this
1 response
@rosekiss (30380)
• Eugene, Oregon
17 May 10
Yes, I have had premium messages on my cell phone. When that happened I did text stop back, and never got charged. I don't like the fact they can use my number to charge me for something I don't need or even want. I have seen things on the internet, where they are quizzes, and you have to put in your cell phone number to get your results. I did that once and will not do it again. I got it canceled, but I just hate the fact that they will use my cell number to send my premium messages. When I see those things online now, that want my cell phone number, I won't do them. I am glad I am not being charged, but sorry to hear that you are. I guess it is a lesson learned the hard way. Take care, and happy mylotting.
@roxxtime (299)
• United States
19 May 10
I know I think it is criminal. Usually they process adjustments with no problems which also should say how criminal it is. Why or how can this service be legal? There are some great premium messaging services but the sneaky and underhanded ones are the ones I hate. If we don't want to buy the service don't trick us into it.