[ccslb]

Hello,

Can someone please explain why Vodafone allowed w2mobile to take £5 from my PAYG account without my authorisation?

Thanks, Lee.

[Pendarric]

ccslb, on Oct 14 2009, 07:48 AM, said:

Can someone please explain why Vodafone allowed w2mobile to take £5 from my PAYG account without my authorisation?

Hi,

having googled W2Mobile it would appear to be a subscription service, i.e. something that requires you to request, in this case, games from them. As it's a separate company to Vodafone, why would they have any control over requests made to your account?

[ccslb]

Pendarric, on Oct 14 2009, 07:59 AM, said:

Hi,

having googled W2Mobile it would appear to be a subscription service, i.e. something that requires you to request, in this case, games from them. As it's a separate company to Vodafone, why would they have any control over requests made to your account?

ok... prove I made the request.

Do you think my bank would allow a third party to take funds from my account without being sure I made the request?

[Fast Response]

Hello

An email is on its way to you now. Please respond with the information requested and we will be in touch as soon as possible.

Regards

Moderator
Vodafone eForum

[mpw2081]

same happened to me today i would like a response from vodafone over this matter, i did not subscribe to this site, itme downloaded itself :angry:

[Reidar_Vodafone]

Hello Mpw2081

Welcome to the eForum.

As mentioned earlier in the thread we have no control over what 3rd party subscriptions occur on the account, we can however request your account details and look into your account to see what we can find. Third party companies are constantly devising new was to market media or set up subscriptions, in many cases customers are not aware that they have subscribed to a service.

An email is on its way to you now, we'll be happy to look into this in more detail.

Thanks

Reidar

eForum Team

[Ali0123]

I have just received a service message similar to service messages I get from Vodafone but when I clicked open it proceeded to download a video. I cancelled it as soon as I realised what it was doing. I then received a SMS to say thanks for downloading the video. I didn't ask for this video or this service message and have been deducted 4.50 from my credit. How can vodafone alow these companies to get away with steeling money from peoples accounts like this. It's a disgrace.

I have sent the work STOP as a reply and found out that the unsolicited service message was from w2mobile. Surley this is not legal. How do I go about getting my money back.

[DaveN_Vodafone]

Hi Ali0123,

Welcome to the eForum - I wish it was under better circumstances.

As mentioned by the guys previously, w2mobile is a third party subscription service. Whilst a physical "subscription" by the user is required, as Reidar mentions there are many ways this can be done and it is possible to do so without realising, especially if you register with a site or download something at any point without reading the fine print.

Again, we'll get an email to you so we can get your details.

DaveN

eForum Team

[morten]

guys,
just a quick search on the net shows there is a huge problem with this service that really should be reported to Phonepayplus

enter these terms into google

whocallsme"v762.net"
whocallsme"w03.w478.net"
whocallsme 82355
whocallsme 84748
whocallsme 83435
whocallsme 83044

there are numerous complaints about receiving vague 'service' messages and messages that the receive believes has been sent by someone they know.
None of the messages are containing any price warning. The people are told they have been charged after they have inadvertently clicked the message. This is all clearly against the Phonepayplus code.

Why isn't anybody reporting this

@Vodafone. Which UK aggregator do those short codes belong to? The company using them is Venista but who owns the short codes?

[Number774]

OK let me join the list. A few weeks back I got a "service message". Never had one before, so I assumed it was from my service provider. As soon as I clicked "Retrieve" it was away with a WAP connection, pulling down what was obviously spam. So I stopped it and deleted it, thought nothing more of it until I saw my bill. I never use WAP. So I know that the 42.5p WAP on my bill is for this half-message.
I have now had another message. This time all I've done is check the URL, which starts w03.w478.net. This belongs to Maximilian Hunnekoetter, of Koeln (Cologne), Germany. And the email address is m.hunnekoetter@w2mobile.com, which lead me to this thread. Apparently this guy is tied up with 27 other domains. Now I'm listed with TPS, so I shouldn't get calls - so surely this guy is breaking some EU law?
Advice on how to block this kind of spam gratefully received.

[Daz_Vodafone]

Hi all,

as stated a few times above, we don't have control over spam messages - our advise is that if you get a message that you didn't request, don't open it just in case.


Hey Morten,

All codes listed are owned by WIN PLC, and can be contacted by emailing customerservice@winplc.com. I trust this helps!



Daz

eForum Team

[Brian2872]

Daz_Vodafone, on Dec 20 2009, 08:19 PM, said:

as stated a few times above, we don't have control over spam messages - our advise is that if you get a message that you didn't request, don't open it just in case.
eForum Team

Daz,

What sort of advice is this? As you will know in the case of unsolicited reverse bill texts you are charged when the text arrives, you don't have any option to reject it. There have been many reported cases of accounts being charged without the text being received. In many cases with wap messages, such as these mentioned, they will open immediately without any action from the handset.

What are Vodafone doing to protect its account holders from these scams? Yes, The Premium Rate Text ban was brought in over 18 months ago but unless you are aware of this service you will not find any info about it. CS actually denied to me that it was available, when I told them the date it was introduced I was then told it was not available for PAYT. It took 4 e-mails before it was added to the account.

It happens too often, something needs to be done.

[MartinB_Vodafone]

Hi Brian 2872

You are correct in saying you will get charged as soon as you get the text through, but there are premium services which send for e.g a picture, you would only get charged if you opened the picture.

These premium services will only get phone numbers if something has been brought from them. Vodafone would not provide your number to any off these services.

If any of our customers get these messages we can assist in getting these unsubscribed from and with the Premium Rate Text ban.
But it is something that needs to be managed by the user, as everyone's needs are different to each other

Martin
eForum Team

[Milbers]

I have recently changed from a PAYT to a monthly payment account with Vodafone. I have received a service message from these jokers at w2mobile. I did not know what it was so opened it briefly. When I realised what it was I texted STOP to 83052 as instructed on their site. My concerns are 1 - have I now stopped the unsolicited messages from them 2 - will i be charged for briefly opening their service message.
Thanks in anticipation

[hrym]

MartinB_Vodafone, on Dec 21 2009, 03:44 PM, said:

These premium services will only get phone numbers if something has been brought from them. Vodafone would not provide your number to any off these services.

Martin
eForum Team

Or they could be generating random numbers. Computer viruses have been known to propagate by sending themselves to random IP addresses.

I don't know at what point Vodafone can block traffic from a rogue sender, and I suspect some sort of legal action make have had to take place, but it's probably something that should be investigated. I assume other service providers are being affected as well.

[Claire_Vodafone]

Hi Milbers

To be honest, I would expect you to be charged for anything you have been sent from them.

Im afraid that you would to contact them to get any appropriate refund.

Claire

eforum Team

[Milbers]

Thanks Claire

I will probably give up on any kind of refund. I just want to make sure they will not be able to pull off this scam with me again. Can you offer any advice on this? Thanks in anticipation.

[Holly_Vodafone]

Hi Milbers,

As mentioned earlier in the thread we have a Premium Rate Message Bar' will will stop any more premium rate messages coming through to your phone.

Please note this will not stop services you have already subscribed to. If you are already receiving messages from a company test back STOP and they are obliged to cease texting you. The bar will however stop any more companies from bombarding your phone with chargeable texts.

I have sent you an email to your registered address, please reply with the requested information and leave the subject matter. If you want the premium rate bar added to your account please state this clearly in your reply.

I trust this answers the question, let me know if you need anything else.

Thanks

Holly
eForum Team