WTF AT&T? Recurring charges by third parties?

[Dr. Zaus]

I just noticed my family plan bill was a bit high... turns out that my wife had a recurring charge of $10 a month and my mother $20 a month, put on there by 3rd party vendors.

No doubt this reflects their lack of tech-savvy in deleting unwanted text messages, but still.. wtf, why is AT&T allowing this shit?

I did some research; apparently they get a text message saying "you have been signed up for... you must reply STOP to opt out"

My mom can't even find the texting button on her iPhone.

 

[Paladin3]

I just noticed my family plan bill was a bit high... turns out that my wife had a recurring charge of $10 a month and my mother $20 a month, put on there by 3rd party vendors.

No doubt this reflects their lack of tech-savvy in deleting unwanted text messages, but still.. wtf, why is AT&T allowing this shit?

I did some research; apparently they get a text message saying "you have been signed up for... you must reply STOP to opt out"

My mom can't even find the texting button on her iPhone.

You called and got those charges, and any similar past charges, refunded? Right?

 

[Dr. Zaus]

You called and got those charges, and any similar past charges, refunded? Right?

Yep. But if my mother or wife were in charge of paying bills we'd be hosed. No doubt there are many a grandmother out there paying these fees.

Speaking of which, I just got an idea for a business. I'm going to collect debts by sending text-messages to debtors that they will be entered into a payment-contract via phone bill.

 

[KeithP]

http://www.att.com/esupport/article...avoid+spam+messaging+charges#fbid=W0HSDPCeIEz

Turning off text messaging to avoid spam messaging charges

You cannot disable text messaging on your wireless account, as this service comes bundled with your wireless service from AT&T. All of our messaging-capable wireless phones come pre-activated to send and receive text messages at pay-per-use rates. It is not possible to remove text messaging from your wireless account or turn it off on your wireless device.

If you are receiving unsolicited text messages on your wireless device, there are steps you can take to address the issue. See Related Articles for more information.

AT&T, gotta love 'em

That being said, it really sounds like your mother and wife need some education. Forewarned is forearmed.

-KeithP

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yikes, did not know this was possible. I would probably notice, but it's quite terrible that companies are able to opt you in on stuff that cost's money. This should not even be possible, let alone legal.

 

[lxskllr]

That being said, it really sounds like your mother and wife need some education. Forewarned is forearmed.

-KeithP

That's scamming of the highest order. Since when is it ok to get crap(usually invisible crap) you didn't want, and have to opt out of it ok? ATT would hear from me once, and once only when I cancelled my account with them. Those fuckers are getting kickbacks with the service, so I hold them 100% responsible.

 

[alkemyst]

I did some research; apparently they get a text message saying "you have been signed up for... you must reply STOP to opt out"

My mom can't even find the texting button on her iPhone.

So we should dumb down the nation because your family mistakenly gave in to Capitalism.

You must be Pro-Obama Care.

Teach your family members to type in STOP. Capitalization is not important. They can probably even put in hearts and symbols on both sides of it.

 

[MrPickins]

So we should dumb down the nation because your family mistakenly gave in to Capitalism.

You must be Pro-Obama Care.

Teach your family members to type in STOP. Capitalization is not important. They can probably even put in hearts and symbols on both sides of it.

You're seriously defending the scammers here?

Or this just another troll by Alky?

 

[Newbian]

I did some research; apparently they get a text message saying "you have been signed up for... you must reply STOP to opt out"

Isn't that like the spam email you get saying to respond with a stop response and then they know they have a live one?

Just get the phone company to block the number.

 

[alkemyst]

You're seriously defending the scammers here?

Or this just another troll by Alky?

You live in Texas, you got Home Equity loans banned because you idiots didn't realize you were signing your house over because you wanted a couple ATV's or other crap.

Good game Sir, good game.

 

[Merad]

I used to work in customer service for AT&T wireless.

You know all of those commercials that come up on TV and say something like "Text ABC to 1234 to get free ringtones" or "find out if your love is forever" and all of that BS? Basically all of those sign you up for some kind of subscription. Either your mom was exploring texting or, more likely, kids/grandkids/etc were playing with her phone and did it.

Yes you can call AT&T and have the charges removed, but it might take a month or two for them to be credited. Yes it's essentially a scam and I'm sure AT&T is getting some kind of kickback for it. No there's no way to block them short of blocking texting on that phone (if they even allow that now).

 

[Wreckem]

It is very easy to opt into shit like this. They probably opted in on accident or didn't read the full TOS when doing something.

 

[Wreckem]

You live in Texas, you got Home Equity loans banned because you idiots didn't realize you were signing your house over because you wanted a couple ATV's or other crap.

Good game Sir, good game.

HELOC were "banned" because of our strong homestead laws(strongest in the nation) are part of our constitution and the Texas constitution had to be amended to allow for HELOCs. That was done 16 years ago.

 

[Ms. DICKINSON]

Class action I'm in: http://www.attthirdpartybillingsettlement.com/

 

[Malak]

I worked for AT&T home phone and got those calls all the time. They are just like viruses; you got them, they weren't just put there. And the same people who riddle their computers with viruses also sign up for third party charges. There's nothing illegal about it because it is consentual business like any other.

 

[IGBT]

had the same problem. ATT is in collusion with 3rd party scam scum. I'm for ever finding unsolicited charges on my bill and have to call ATT to kill the charge. 3rd party billing should be illegal without a signature.

 

[drinkmorejava]

My mom had one of these charges a couple of months ago. The problem is she knows how to text, isn't an idiot, and the billing history shows that she never sent any messages to a random number. Never mind the three other times in the last two years that AT&T screwed up the bill for no reason.

I'd really love to learn where their executives learned to hate their customers so much. I think I'd be a fan of colleges retroactively and publicly taking degrees away from people for being sacks of shit.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

My mom had one of these charges a couple of months ago. The problem is she knows how to text, isn't an idiot, and the billing history shows that she never sent any messages to a random number. Never mind the three other times in the last two years that AT&T screwed up the bill for no reason.

I'd really love to learn where their executives learned to hate their customers so much. I think I'd be a fan of colleges retroactively and publicly taking degrees away from people for being sacks of shit.

We should have an MBA certification board, like law.

 

[Viper GTS]

I worked for AT&T home phone and got those calls all the time. They are just like viruses; you got them, they weren't just put there. And the same people who riddle their computers with viruses also sign up for third party charges. There's nothing illegal about it because it is consentual business like any other.

This is not correct, do some looking around. It is completely possible to end up subscribed without doing anything.

You need to call your service provider and disable premium sms on your account. This really should be an opt-in thing instead of an opt-out, while I would expect someone posting on this forum to be aware of this kind of thing the average consumer is not going to have any clue about this. Nor should they have to, the idea that some worthless company can put charges on your phone bill without you confirming them is absurd.

Viper GTS

 

[dabuddha]

So we should dumb down the nation because your family mistakenly gave in to Capitalism.

You must be Pro-Obama Care.

Teach your family members to type in STOP. Capitalization is not important. They can probably even put in hearts and symbols on both sides of it.

Can you ever stop being a retard or is this something permanent?

 

[Pheran]

I don't know about AT&T, but with Verizon you can stop this crap by going into your account on their web site and enabling "Block Premium Messaging". It will prevent you from getting signed up for this garbage.

 

[alkemyst]

Can you ever stop being a retard or is this something permanent?

wow, so you think someone signing up for something is someone else's problem?

 

[Dr. Zaus]

wow, so you think someone signing up for something is someone else's problem?

This is not correct, do some looking around. It is completely possible to end up subscribed without doing anything.

:hmm:

 

[alkemyst]

:hmm:

Still requires user input to be charged:
http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/Premium_TXT_and_MMS/faq_premium_txt_and_mms.html

 

[PokerGuy]

I'm fine with third party billing provided there is a double-opt-in mechanism, ie you need to sign up and confirm the specific sign up with a followup text. Otherwise, nobody should be able to just add stuff to your bill.