Unsolicited Text Messages

[ApexClipper]

Anyone had any experiences with this?

My girlfriend had been receiving texts to her phone, offering her the chance to subscribe to various ringtone services etc.

As it turns out, she was getting charged for each text received at 2 pounds per text!!!

Vodafone apparently cannot do anything about it, but gave her a number to call to block the texts - which worked.....until Sunday night, when she got one of the aforementioned texts

A quick call to Vodafone reveals that she'd been charged for the text - 1 pound!

What the is going on here?!

[beanbag]

I got loads of them over Halloween last year. Maybe 10 every hour.

I phone T-Mobile and they took me off their "mailing lists", which i was never told i would be on and it stopped immediately.

Maybe it's the same with VF?

[anniesdad]

All I can say is a while ago, 2 shisters, were caught doing this and IIRC are doing bird now(?)

[ApexClipper]

Just a thought, but this is basically theft, is it not?

I mean, she hasn't entered into any kind of contract with them nor has she requested any "goods" from them either.

Ergo, they cannot legally charge for services unrendered or unwarranted.

[Piglet]

You need Happy Snapper on this one - he's a bit of a whizz on direct marketing rules. I think unsolicited text messages are banned under the direct marketing rules but it may be that someone has signed her up in some way?

[alexkp]

Gazboy said:

I get junk texts, but not been cahrged for them iirc. Did get this the other night: IS YOUR **** HARD, IF YOU WANT ME TO **** OR **** JUST CALL 0906 123456 Now, I don't know how they got my number, but you imagine if they sent that to an 8 year old kid?

Sorry, that's just the missus working to buy my F355 for Xmas....I'll tell her to stop texting you.

[ApexClipper]

Up ye go......

Tonker et al!

[happy snapper]

Subscribe To TPS (telephone preference service) ITS FREE !

www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/

That will eventually stop all marketing calls and txt's etc you can register your land line and you mobile(s).

There is also a thing call Silent Call Monitor that you pay a subscription to.

I was at a conference in Glasgow last week on this very subject some of the call centres mainly outsourcers are very concerned their potential market base is shrinking rapidly.

[AlexH]

I had a call last night on my mobile that as soon as I answered, got a ringing tone in my ear as if I was calling out for about half a second followed by some bloke answering and launching into his sales speech 'I'm from Blah-de-blah telecommunications....'. I just said 'Not interested' and hung up, but it only occured to me then that I was probably charged for that call...am I right? Looking at my calls received list it was an 0870 number. If I'm correct its thieving pure and simple.

[happy snapper]

I had a real go at Orange the other day they had passed my (unlisted) number onto a third party who were trying to sell me a phone upgrade!

I reminded them that it was not just a breach of the data protection act but a violation of the EU directive on privacy which if they continued would be a £5000 fine for each call or if they defended it in court there is no limit set, strangely the calls stopped.