Premium Text Messages

[StreetDocRN]

Hi, all,

As a parent, I allowed my teen to have a Blackberry on my family plan.  On my most recent bill, I saw a charge for a Premium Text Message service for $9.99 to a Dada.net.  After searching the internet, I found that this was a music service that has music and ringtones for download.  The user pays the $9.99 monthly fee and has unlimited downloads. 

I found out how to cancel the subscription on his phone and did so, all the time while he was outside doing extra chores, LOL.  My point is this, as I have seen this topic come up in the forums.  Premium Text messages are subscriptions that ARE NOT included in any of the unlimited text messaging plans.  Look at your bills and be aware of what your other useres are doing.  Other examples of this type of messaging are some of the TV shows that allow users to "vote" for their favorite person such as Big Brother, Survivor, etc.  As a parent, you can have premium text messaging blocked from your phones simply by calling customer service at Verizon Wireless. 

I thought I would pass this info along to any parents who may have had this come up in the past.  Read your bills and know what is going on with the other users.  I hope this helps some of you understand premium text messaging.

Sincerely,

Doc

[sadie85]

No need to call customer service...just go to your Myverizon-->My Services-->My Plan-->Add/Remove Features and add the Premium Text block. It's better to be proactive about this as premium text companies are getting sneaky with the adding. They hide it in Terms and Conditions to something unrelated(a lot on Facebook quizzes where you have to sign up for something extra to get your results). The first message you get is supposed to inform you it's a billable service, but you have to read it

[ronisloss]

Not True at all.

I blocked everything on my child's phone except regular text messaging. That is unlimited on the plan.

Only to get my first bill and there was a 9.99 charge and data charges on the cell phone, that got signed up mysteriously.

After doing some research, I found out the company name is inphomatch.com, read up on them and they provide messaging service to cell phone carriers. And Verizon wireless is one of those companies they provide this service to.

Now even though they can see on the account that all these services were indeed blocked, they were inclined to tell me that someone can still go on a website and sign up for subscriptions to be sent to the phone and that someone did go on a website and signed up for these services, therefore they can do nothing about it, nor can they refund the charges.

Added they told me I have to contact the company and have them take this off of my phone.

My concern is this, why block these services, when a third party company, that they do business with is allowed to sign up your number anyway. It seems to me, that if I have these services blocked, this phone should have never received this even if someone signed up on a website.

This is ridiculous, frustrating, and should be illegal, for this type of thing to happen to a customer. If I block these services to keep unnecessary charges off of my bill., that is exactly what I should get. No one should be able to sign up for anything if I have it blocked.

Verizon yawl need to do better than this, I have read a lot lately about third party fraud going on with these cell phone companies and I will be following up to see what is done about this situation.

[sadie85]

The person you spoke to was wrong/uninformed. The block will stop premium services from billing to you, however there was a system glitch when some account were billed when they shouldn't have been. You should have been credited back the charge as long as the block was in place BEFORE the premium text started/billed.

Like I said earlier you were notified that it was a billable service. Verizon requires the company to do so, however you actually need to read the full message, or if it was a child's line they needed to tell you.

Premium text are not 3rd party fraud, several sign up for them and enjoy them. Some banks even use the premium messages to notify their customers about account information. What if you wanted one of the services and Verizon blocked you from it? You'd be singing a different tune.

That being sad, several states are suing these billable premium messages that may be hiding their agreement within something else. I know Florida has a class action law suit. Take a look at your state, contact your Attorney General.