SMS Premium Services Theiving Bastards Update

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call from SMS Premium Services yesterday. The lady who called said that she understood I had a query relating to the service on my mobile. I soon put her straight that it was my wife's mobile phone that had the problem.

I explained that Miky had been charged for the "Download sexy babes to your mobile service" at the rate of $4.95 per received SMS and that I wanted the money refunded that had been taken. Reema, the customer service officer, assured me that the service would be stopped and that no more SMSs would be received and no more charges would be forthcoming. "No," I said, "I want a refund. I want the credit taken from us."
"Maybe I didn't make that clear for you," she said. "You won't receive or be charged for any more messages."

I went on to explain that we did not sign up for the service in the first place so a full refund was warranted. I was told that we must have signed up online or on the mobile phone otherwise the service couldn't have been initiated. Well, I know that Miky is close to being a technophobe, so there is no way that she signed up online or on her mobile. So I informed Reema that this hadn't happened. "Somebody at your house must have signed up. It is not possible to receive the service otherwise." Reema was then informed that our house has a six year-old and the two parents, none of whom signed up, therefore I wanted a full refund.

She spoke to her manager. A short while later she returned and offered me a 50% refund on the credit. I had been thinking that about $27 had been stolen. "I'm not interested in receiving 50% credit for a service that I never asked for." Then I asked how many messages had been sent. In a seven day period they sent "More than 10." Don't forget these bastards charged us $4.95 per SMS received. Nearly two a day! Theiving bastards. After going over this point a couple of times I then instructed her that I wanted to speak to her manager. She put me on hold for about five seconds only and then informed me that a 100% credit would be issued. Let's face it, the service would have cost them 5-10 cents per SMS so it's not as if it's going to bankrupt them.

I have to get an itemised account of the phone to show the SMSs received and fax it to this company. Then a cheque will be sent to me and it will be finalised within 10-12 days. "We send out cheques every week," Reema informed me. I very nearly said something about that being an admission of guilt on her company's behalf for a service that was "impossible" to receive without having signed up for. But I held my tongue.

Not far to go now. But "the cheque's in the mail" doesn't fill me with a great deal of confidence.

We've Been Robbed

Not meaning to be too dramatic but we have been robbed. Not in the "stick 'em up" sense but in cyberspace. Now, we both have mobile phones. And they cost a bit of money to maintain. I put $30 credit into Miky's phone a week ago. Four days later she tried to call me but was told that her credit was less than $2. Only problem is that phone calls between our phones are free.

Angry mode. I rang Optus customer service to find out why was it so. They quickly told me that we had been receiving text messages from a company which charges $4.50 every time you receive one. I had seen one of these messages and it went along the lines of "If you want to download sexy babes just text to etc, etc". And for this we get charged $4.50? If you wish to unsubscribe text "stop" to .

At first I just thought it was a scam to get you to validate your mobile phone number to some scammers. But now, after some $27 has been stolen from Miky's credit, I don't think that it is a scam anymore. It is robbery. And of the faceless kind.

The Optus customer service dude new exactly how to unscribe from this service and he even had their name and customer service phone number. That started ringing alarm bells straight away. Optus are obviously fully aware of this problem. They warned us to be careful when handing out our mobile number for competitions and marketing - things that we never do. Armed with the telephone number I finished my call.

Next day I rang this Mobile Messenger customer service line. You don't talk to a person. Surprise, surprise. You are prompted to use the keypad of your telephone to input your mobile phone number. Do I look like a schmuk? Normally holding the line lets you talk to an operator. No such luck. You just keep getting prompted for your mobile number. So I tried again and input 0400 000 000. It let me through to the next menu. The second menu gave me two options and one of them included leaving a message for a customer service operator to call me back. I left a message.

No phone call. I rang Optus again to let them know how unhappy I was and for them to give me the Telecommunications Ombudsman's number - 1800 062 058 in Australia. This person will be getting a call. Theft is not on in my book, fella. This time Optus informed me to call them to ask for my credit to be refunded. As if that is going to happen.

Maybe I should call the Australian Tax Office to investigate them. Mobile Messenger is supposed to be provide a *cough* service and as such should be registered for the Goods and Services Tax. I'm afraid that what we receive was not a service. Are they passing on the tax money being collected? Yes, I'm wild.

Check out their Website. It is full of bullshit about nothing, e.g. we use the latest technology to do wonderful things for our customers, blah, blah. They go to great lengths to say fantastic things but don't quantify anything. They even have call centres in Australia, not India, where you can talk to a customer service rep 24 hours a day. No phone number to contact them on the Website however. More alarm bells.

I'll let you know when I get to the bottom of this.