• http://secondscripter.com John L

    Oh yeah, jokes on you. I happen to know for a fact that T-Mobile doesn’t have a feature to block 3rd party billing. They have a feature called “content block” which prevents the line from being charged for T-Mobile related charges, but not 3rd party charges with the exception of two. T-Mobile farms out it’s TeleNav gps service and T-Mobile TV service out to 3rd parties, and those two 3rd party charges can be blocked, however, flirt sms tips, coupon subscriptions, 3rd party ringtones, wallpapers, etc are NOT blockable. The best you can do is block short codes from being delivered to the handset which seems to pretty much stop them, but go find a “free ringtone” website that wants you to put in your phone number for “free ringtones” and see if that gets blocked by the content block you think you have.

  • yoshi

    On 11 Jan 2012, I received a spam text message that read,

    “ChalkBoard: Welcome to IQ! For HELP call 18668611606 $9.99/mo for 3msgs/wk. Reply HELP for help, Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data Rates May Apply.”

    Immediately I replied “stop” to this spam without even blinking an eye and received a msg back that read,

    “This msg confrims that u have discontinued and will no longer receive messages or charges for this service. Go to http://www.chalkboardiq.com to rejoin the service.”

    Little did I realize replying “stop” only confirmed that my phone number is an active number and on 17 Feb 2012 found a $9.99/mo recurring charge on my phone bill. If you receive spam text on your cell phone do not reply to them. Also be sure to keep an eye on your phone bill from third party members. I have AT&T and as soon as I asked them what this charge was they immediately began to refund my money. It appears they are familiar with problems from third party charges…

  • Bob

    Bev,
    Where the confusion comes from is your phone company does have a 3rd Party Block however that is for 3rd Party Calls, meaning youcall the operator and tell them you want to bill the call to your home phone. There is confusion and miscommunication between service representatives and the consumer because they may be thinking you’re asking about blocking 3rd party calls when you are actually talking about 3rd party billing companies. Whatever the scenario may be phone companies do have to comply with allowing these charges appear on your bill. I personally do not agree that this is allowed and if it continues to be allowed 3rd Party companies should require more verification for security purposes than just a fake name and phone number.

    • John L

      What needs to be asked for is a 3rd party CONTENT block. A feature that blocks 3rd parties from charging your telephone for services provided by the third party.

  • Bev Seaberry

    I have been crammed twice in the last few months, and a friend was crammed this week by AT&T, both of us via home telephone bills. ATT claimed the FCC forbids them to block 3rd party billing even if you, the account holder, request it. When I called the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), the agent said the phone companies “can’t discriminate,” interpreted to mean you can’t ask for a blanket blocking of all 3rd party billers. Agent did admit this is getting to be a huge problem with many scam “companies” simply asking your phone company to charge for their “services” via your phone bill. They can get your name and phone number and phone company very easily without your knowledge. Phone companies aren’t compelled to check with you for legitimacy and wouldn’t want to because it would cost them money to do so, whereas they get a percentage from the “service company” from the money collected from you. FCC gets thousands of complaints, the agent said, but the place to complain is the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) for these scams not directly involving your telephone operational service. What the FTC will do other than collect complaints, I don’t know; but I am also writing my Congressperson to ask that steps be taken to change the law to regulate these practices that must be costing unwitting consumers collectively big money. I urge all of you to do so, too. And keep examining your phone bill because the first time I was crammed, I asked AT&T to block 3rd party billing and was assured by the rep that it was taken care of. But when I called ATT after the second cramming and complained about not honoring my “block,” the rep then told me FCC wouldn’t allow it.

  • http://www.hocmn.org/ B

    I just called T-Mobile to request that they block third-party billing, and was informed that what I needed was their content blocker, which blocks third-party billing and chargeable downloads (such as ringtones). That might not work for the iPhone crowd, but since I’m old school with my phone, I didn’t inquire further about whether Apple’s apps and such are ever blocked.

    • John L

      The content block offered by TMobile is a free feature that blocks 3rd parties from adding charges to your wireless bill. As a iPhone user, you have your credit/debit card information stored at Apple, and that’s how you’re charged, therefore, you can safely add the content blocking feature to your TMobile account without affecting purchases made through Apple’s App store (or any Apple service you use your AppleID with.

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