Additional weekly charge of £4.50

[LJohn95]

Why am i being charged an additional £4.50 per week for UME MP 0333003596? I never signed up for anything and i can not afford these payments

[BandOfBrothers · Accepted solution]

Hi @LJohn95

Unfortunately it can be straight out of the blue that these types of costs appear and can be from inadvertently visiting a webpage and hitting something there.

There are a number of things you can do to rid yourself of this.

Use https://psauthority.org.uk to find out the companies details if a number appears along with the charge.

Then Contact that company and request they stop deductions and issue a refund.

This is a very informative page too which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/im-being-charged-for-unwanted-premium-rate-text-messages.

Also Vodafone offer help too by the way of bars explained in Vodafone and PrPremium-rate-SMS-FAQ.

In this help link from Vodafone it suggests to text STOP to the number. People have different opinions on doing this as it can highlight to the business they have a live line.

It's upto the individual if they wish to follow Vodafones advice > Premium-rate-charges/How-can-I-stop-premium-rate-services-being-accessed-from-my-phone.

It's the responsibility of the merchant to stop these charges and refund any monies taken in error and not Vodafones.

All Vodafone have done to this point is assume you've subscribed to a subscription and as such added it to your bill. 

Customer service on 191 or Live Chat can also help.

I wish you all the best with this.

Edit.

 From a Google search the company maybe called United Mobile Entertainment 

 I appreciate the following link is from Ireland but it may further highlight the issue your having.

Pensioner-hit-huge-phone-bill-repeatedly-charged.

[chistery]

"In this help link from Vodafone it suggests to text STOP to the number. People have different opinions on doing this as it can highlight to the business they have a live line."

They know it's live. They are being given £4.50 from Vodafone!

EE seem to have actually done something about it and require a PIN to be sent and confirmed, according to The Independent. Make a complaint, Vodafone is complicit in the scam and it's about time they did something.

[BandOfBrothers]

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@chistery wrote:

"In this help link from Vodafone it suggests to text STOP to the number. People have different opinions on doing this as it can highlight to the business they have a live line."

They know it's live. They are being given £4.50 from Vodafone!

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Hi @chistery

Yes I understand what your saying   but in the past when I've included the link from Vodafone that advises to send STOP I've had replies then saying they wouldn't advise to do so because of the above. Problems can occur if the business isn't UK based and do not adhere to the regulations. So they could then know the line is indeed live as they won't probably micro manage individual phone numbers to know they are getting funds and possibly apply further subscriptions.

Which is why I said "People have different opinions"

Take care. 

[LJohn95]

Thank you, it's my husband's phone we just have them in the same account. He did mention and complain that when he was at work his phone in his pocket would just do things, go in apps and such and play music while he was at work. Since he's started switching it on aeroplane mode it has stopped. This is around the time the charges started it's the only thing he can think of? Do you have any suggestions for this as at the moment I cant get hold of him at work in case of emergency 

[BandOfBrothers]

Yes if accidental touches have been happening while the phone has been in his pocket then its conceivable that this happened when for example Facebook launched or the internet browser opened and it chose a link or something similar to that  

What model of phone is he using ?

Most smartphones nowadays have lock screens that can be set to come on after a set period of time and some have the ability to know when they are in a pocket or bag and again stop accidental touches.

If it continues and an update does not help then a Vodafone Store might be able to help and or the manufacturers themselves.

He could turn Off mobile data within the phones settings which would stop network connection but will leave calls and texts still working.

[LJohn95]

He  has a Samsung galaxy s8 and it has fingerprint, face recognition and pin code for security locks

[BandOfBrothers]

In its settings > Secure Lock Settings are options too.

And in Settings > Display > Block Accidental Touches can help.