Scam texts

[jazzyb1965]

I am absolutely at my wits end with Vodafone.  They are absolutely useless and unhelpful and have now cut my phone off despite passing my matter to "resolution" who they promised would phone me within 24 hours and, surprise surprise, nearly 48 hours later still no response.  Why do we put up with them and their shoddy customer care?  I am leaving Vodafone and will never darken their bloody doors again.  On 11th December last year I started receiving random test messages telling me I had subscribed to win Tesco vouchers/winmarks for £9 a week when I know full well I haven't.  My daughter researched and advised against texting back "STOP" to the number they supplied as this could involve me in further expense.  I reported it to Vodafone - their ever useful Indian call centres - and they assured me they would place a bar on the premium rate numbers and that I wouldn't be charged and would not receive any further texts.   Yeah right - 20 more texts later and my bill rose from £35 per month to £86 last month and £109 this month???  I went back to Vodafone and spent 55 minutes on the livechat and was assured that the block was in place - hence why Indian call centres just DO NOT work - we were going round and round in circles and getting absolutely nowhere.  I advised that i would be cancelling my direct debit as I was not about to be relieved of £109, especially as I am unable to access my account to look at my bills as the site won't accept my password and despite them re-setting it still couldn't get in.  I have written to Vodafone and also called and was told that resolution would get back to me but no - nothing.  Is this how little Vodafone value their existing customers?  Vodafone have now cut off my service but I don't have any problem paying my £35 which is what I have contracted to pay but I will not allow them to just dip into my bank account and take what they like when they are failing to protect me.  Where do I go from here?  

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi

One of the pieces of advice regularly given is to not cancel the Direct debit as this puts you in the wrong. This can lead to defaults and late payment markets on your Credit File. 

As your services have been suspended I would suggest you do check your Credit File via Experian. 

If there is something shoeing get then you'll need to raise your concerns via customer service to have it investigated. 

If they find in your favour they'll involve the Vodafone Credit File Support Team. 

It seems you've started the ball rolling already and I hope you get a response asap. 

Vodafone have a code of practice that explains the process. 

http://www.vodafone.co.uk/about-us/code-of-practice/index.htm

[forumfairy]

I would usually be necessary to contact the company who are texting you to have these stopped, regardless of a premium bar being attempted. They will also be the only ones able ot discuss a possible refund of costs with you, rather than Vodafone. Each text will usually come from a short dial number - this number allows Vodafone to see the name of the company you are receiving them from and also their contact details. If you would prefer not to text stop then you can call that company direct on the contact information given by Vodafone - the company will then be legally obliged to remove you from their database within 24 hours.

I'm sure you already have plenty of information given your daughter's research but I've attached a link below just in case this can be of any further assistance. 🙂

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/phones/stop-spam-texts#premium

[AnnS]

Hi @jazzyb1965

Fully sympathise with your issue, there is nothing worse than finding you are being charged for unsolicited premium rate short code reverse charge SMS messages.

The first thing to do is to find the details of this scam organisation to enable you to make contact, make a complaint, and get your money returned.  The Regulator of the premium rate services is the Phone-Paid Services Authority (previously PhonePayPlus), where you will be able to check the number on the website for further information.

There is further information to help from Vodafone on the link below.

Support - Premium Rate Services

As soon as you are able to log into your online account, you will be able to enable the charge to account bar which will stop any further short code reverse charge messages.

Although not your fault you have received these scam messages, the golden rule in any dispute is to pay the bill and sort it out afterwards.  Vodafone are only too good at reporting against a credit file.

If you continue to have issues, please come back to the forum.

[hrym]

Account bars are a lot more granular than they used to be and I think it's possible to stop incoming premium rate texts but not outgoing ones.   This should mean that you're not caught by this kind of problem, but can still do things like paying for parking.

[jazzyb1965]

The problem being that having just lost one of my jobs I simply can't afford to pay £80 more than I should be - that would mean other bills going unpaid and I don't see why I should wait for Vodafone to get their act together and refund me my money when they have failed to protect me despite their assurances that they have.  E-mailed the company that are apparently sending the messages and they say they have no knowledge of my number and need to see evidence from bills, tried to log into Vodafone account again and, yet again, keep getting the message "sorry - there seems to be a problem.  We are working hard to fix the issue so please try again later".  Little or no point ringing Vodafone as I get nowhere with them so seem to be stuck going round and round in never ending circles.  I shall just wait for Vodafone to do whatever it is they need to do be it threatening to take legal action and then, when I have their attention, perhaps they will listen to me!!

[AnnS]

Hi @jazzyb1965

The reason you are unable to log on is because your account is in default.  Just because you have been scammed by this dishonest company, does not give you the right to withhold payment to Vodafone.  By not paying, you are immediately putting yourself in the wrong and in default of contract.  You need to get the outstanding charges paid and the account up to date.

As soon as this has been done, you will have access to your account and will be able to access the evidence needed to pursue the return of money taken by the company who sent the unasked for reverse charge messages.

I am not defending Vodafone, but they do provide the charge to account bar and the unsolicited premium rate reverse charge short code restriction bar.  As customers, it up to us whether or not we add the bars to our accounts.  Some customers do not want bars for various reasons.

I hope all works out for you.

[forumfairy]

Vodafone are able to email you copies of any bills that you require - this may be a solution for you meantime.  It wouldn't be Vodafone refunding you the money though as they haven't charged you anything - they have merely passed on charges which have been incurred through services from a third party.  The only notification that they receive about the charges is that the third party confirms to them that the charge to account has happened.  Any refunds would be coming direct from that company, not Vodafone.  It may be an idea to install the Vodafone app going forward as this would at least show a balance throughout the month and if any out of bundle charges were to appear you would have knowledge of them straight away.  I hope the third party company are able to resolve this quickly for you. 🙂

[forumfairy]

Just as an add on to this, usually if you phone the customer services number for the third party company involved it will ask you to input your number into their automated system when you call.  This gives the option for you to be removed from all services within 24 hours.  This may be of benefit to you for two reasons - 1) it would allow you to have confirmation that your number is in fact registered on their system in some way, and 2) would allow you to remove it directly.  If this confirmation is received then you have additional clout when discussing your bill with them and also you have a direct response from their system that the removal process has been completed. 🙂

[Tash]

Hi @jazzyb1965, so we can look into this for you please follow the steps provided in the private message that will be sent to you shortly.

The team will then be in touch to help.