• Stacy Dillinger

    I too have been getting ripped off by my mobile provider……at $ t…..I used to think ppl who claimed they were getting ripped off by phone companies were just ignorant and didn’t understand their bill. Not the case now as I see these companies are getting increasingly deceptive and it seems as though nobody is going to stop them.

  • Clarence Clay

    I’m not a T-Mobile customer (I cancelled my service about 5 years ago due to poor coverage) thank the Lord. My problem is that I keep getting automated collection calls to one of their customers that comes to my work phone. I called about 3 weeks ago, and they said they would remove my number. I’ve gotten 2 calls since then. So I call back in a rage, and all they can do is give me the Do Not Call Registry phone #. This doesn’t work for me since my employer’s phones go through a switchboard, and the registry won’t except the number I enter, my actual number and the main number. So I called T-Mobile, and they say they can’t do anything. I sympathize with you poor customers. This is a rotten company.

  • TJames vs. T-Mobile

    I saw three text messages on my T-Mobile phone that I hardly ever use. And it’s a pay-as- you-go plan. One e-mail mentioned a 9.99 charge along with some flaky supposed service. I called T-Mobile to check on my remaining money and minutes. Sure enough it was unexpectedly low. When I talked to the service rep, he just gave me some run-around crap, but offered to remove the 9.99. I called back to talk to a supervisor, who tried to put the blame on me somehow and kept saying I didn’t understand and that I downloaded something. All of which was bullshit. TMobile is in conspiracy on this scam, and they don’t want to admit it. I eventually got a third-party block for NO charge, but I am pissed. TMobile is allowing scammers to take ten bucks a month from customers, who might not be vigilant or savvy enough to put a stop to it. It’s theft and they should be prosecuted. I will not contact my congressman because he’s a “free-market” type, meaning people are free to steal other people’s money without being called to account.

  • sigmar

    I cancelled after 12 years of loyal service because of this. I was with them when they were voice stream. It was like pulling teeth to get tmto refund the charges. Then I get a bill for a full month I didn’t use after I cancelled service. I have Straight Talk now. No SCAM extra charges

    • sigmar

      AMEN

  • wangwen

    My T-mobile phone kept receiving spam message from 89333 which is originated from IMImobile Europe Ltd, which provide a platform for Circle Marketing with number 01618840150 at their customer services. BT said that they are not responsible for the charges, ask me to go to IMImobile, who in turn shrug off and ask me to go to Circle marketing. I am trying to call them to get my money back but I have no reply. Any one can help?

  • Themcgrooveyz

    My poor teenage daughter got a talking to because we had this happen on her number and
    T-mobile blamed her.  I was dumb enough to believe them!!!!

  • Jimbobthornton

    I just found this 9.99 charge on my tmobile bill for something called 360txt. I found out it was charged to my wife’s phone, and she doesnt even know HOW to use txt! Thanks for all the info here. After this fee was added along with the so called taxes and fees, I see it would save money and agrivation, so I’ve decided to switch to BOOST as it’s just $50 for all you can eat, period, and they obviously reject these scammers since there’s no “billing” involved with the pre-paid service. Screw tmo and their scams. Freakin scumbags wont get another 10 CENTS from me.

  • another t-mobile victim

    We bought a pay as you go phone from t-mobile at our local wal-mart a few years back.  Returned it withing 24 hours (we have, according to consumer protection laws here in NY state, at least 7 days (should be 30 days in some cases) to return anything WITHOUT penalty from any of the company involved!  This includes both Wal-Mart AND t-mobile!).  T-mobile has sent us bills for approx $60 for cancelling with them, a service we NEVER activated in the first place, the phone box was never even opened!  we finally got them to stop… or so we thought.  On the phone they agreed we did not owe them anything.  We got nothing from them for years and today, 1/30/2012, we just got a letter from a bill collector that says the amount t-mobile said we did not owe years ago, is now in recovery with this agency.  The balance is now almost $100 according to them and they are willing to settle for the original (approx.) $60

    An amount we NEVER OWED T-MOBILE IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

  • Holly

    I dealt with this 9.99 3rd party charge on my tmobile bill too for june,july,and august of this year. The first charge I called they said they would black list and credit my account but would take up to 30 days. Next month same charge I call them again and they said well it was black listed dunno why your getting charged Ill credit your account itll take 30 days. By august I get another charge by this point Im fed up I call the 3rd party customer(jamster) who informs me Ive never been subscribed to their service so I call tmobile this time the rep tells me no your account wasnt black listed or blocked from these charges and your not getting credited…..so your saying the other tmo reps lied to me great ok well please block this im sick of it and am i going to get credited oh itll take 30 days you say…..its safe to say I got no credit to my account but I quit getting charged after 3 months. Im fed up with tmobile and waited hoping they would refund me but i guess it was only a dream

  • Brandon

    I am 16 and I have been getting charged 9.99 for cellflirt? And now I have also been getting charged 9.99 for mobitv? WTF my dad who pays for my phone is getting pissed, and I don’t know what to do?? Please help!

    • http://caveatemptorblog.com Sam Glover

      The best way to deal with this is to block third-party billing on your account. And you can ask your phone company to remove the charges, but be prepared to fight for it.

  • James

    I’m experiencing the same issue with t mobile. Its down right immoral to secretly deal and support these 3rd party schemes. What makes it worse if that t mobile claims they are helpless to stop this – unless you pay them $ 4.95 a month. I’m being taken for about $ 20 a month with these charges. When I call I get to upset – its like being pick-pocketed.

    Call your Congressman!

  • Jerry

    Oh–it gets better than that— TMobile will block 3rd party charges for a extra $4.95 per month on your bill– so you still get screwed–but only 1/2 as much –and TMobile still gets their cut of the bogus $9.95 3rd party charges you won’t be paying anymore. It’s a great scam. Either way, you pay. It’s La Cosa Nostra 101. Protection money—pure and simple.

  • Paul Memoli

    July 29 2011…Last night, while watching tv, my cell phone made a noise. I looked at it and found that some-one had just texted me. Now I refuse to text and do not pay for a phone/text package, so every text that I receive is a separate additional charge, generally 20 cents. But this text message was different… it said it was from something like the mobile forum group, and that in 3 days I would be charged $9.99 unless I texted back the word “stop”.

    I was incensed that anyone COULD DO such a thing. I went to T-Mobile at the Trumbull Shopping Park this morning and showed it to the manager. I said: IT IS AS IF I LEFT A NOTE SOMEWHERE IN YOUR KITCHEN, SAYING THAT I WAS GOING TO ROB YOUR HOME, UNLESS YOU FOUND THE NOTE AND CALLED ME WITHIN 48 HOURS TO TELL ME TO NOT ROB IT.
    The manager was a decent sort, and he checked my billing and saw that this had occured last month too. He gave me credit for that charge and he texted “STOP” to halt this month’s, but he said there was no way to block future ones…I would just have to stay on top of things….
    I agree with the guy who started this thread… this is total bullshit and outright theft. I am going to make sure that I tell as many people as possible about it.

  • Tennickly

    I just had a conversation with a T-Mobile CRS and an account specialist about this subject this morning. They told me they will black list the “service” and credit me back $9.99 times the six months it was being charged. This is the third time I’ve called them about this and I have not received a dime refunded. Also, the supposedly black listed service continues to charge me. The charge is already on my August bill and that is to be refunded. I told the account specialist that if I see the charge on my September bill, we are done and I’ll go to another carrier. I am going to look at my contract as it seems they have some obligations to protect my privacy and protect me against fraudulent charges. I am going to try to get out of the contract without paying the early termination fee and if not, I will look in to legal action as much as I would prefer not to go that route.

  • Danielle

    This kind of scam has gotten so bad in my city there was a report on the news. I called into T-mobile this afternoon as asked about a purchase block and it took the rep about 5 minutes to add it to my account. She advised the only downside is that you can’t make any purchases for ringtones or wallpaper or donations or paying Tmobile bill through text, but I don’t use any of that. Hopefully it will really work and not just be something they say now, but conveinently was never real if charges come through.

  • Ali

    T-mobile has been charging me for a phone I never received or ordered. I was charged fees to go along with that phone. I called them was assured that I would be credited the overages. They did not credit all the overages then suspended my service due to nonpayment. I called to inquire and found out that I was not credited all the overages. They still demanded payment. I had to pay them $50.00 to turn on service. I was eventually credited the $150.00 of overages. They over charge me then turn off my service and demand payment. Nice

  • debruce

    I was traveling and woke up to a series of T-mobile text messages, your bill has exceeded $50, $100, $250. Somehow they decided to bill me for $474 in data roaming charges in that 8-10 hour stretch. Multiple calls to customer service and letter to headquarters to no avail. Same thing about how they’re ‘passing on’ charges from the local carrier. Suffice it to say, if you’re traveling, make sure data roaming is disabled.

  • Jeanette

    I have been in conflict with T-Mobile as well regarding the text alert program showing up on my bill for my teenage daughter’s phone. T-Mobile states they are not affiliated with this company and is very defensive and protective of the company refusing to allow me to call it a scam. It is a scam – anything that is provided under a sneaky pretence is of scam nature. You are billed if you do not text back? On a teenager’s phone. How do I explain to her to prevent this from happening again. It is trickery and the next time will probably present itself with if you do text back we will charge you. I also asked T-Mobile how it is that i have to give all security info almost down to the color of my underwear just to have access to my account but this company can come into their network and add a service to my secured account? Do we not have rights?

  • JImmy

    These bogus charges seem to be becoming more rampant. You can call TMO and they will credit you for the charges and you can ask them to block them in the future but that also blocks your ability to download ringtones and wallpapers on a feature phone (non-smartphone). From what I’ve been told they can come from receiving these strange texts mentioned above, from online quizzes, popups, facebook apps, etc., where you enter your info. Even if you just have ur cell number in your profile and access certain facebook apps and games it seems they can get your info. I wish there was more to be done about it at this point but TMO has no way of knowing which charges are legit and which are bogus unless they are contacted by the customer. You may also try getting on the mobile do not call list which can keep your number from being phished out.

  • Kelly

    The same thing happened to me! I have paperless billing and automatic withdrawal, so I didn’t notice it for like 4 or 5 months- and T-Mobile only credited me for 1 month. I still don’t understand how I can be charged for something I never signed up for! I had a friend who replied STOP to one of those services like the message said to, and she ended up getting a bunch of messages from them and was charged. So your screwed if you do or don’t text STOP back. This is so wrong- to me its no different than theft, but legally I still have to pay. WTF!!??!!

  • debed

    I did as someone stated on another website to text “unsubscribe”. by entering 41463 STOP i did and received confirmation that it was unsubscribed. I also called the #1-,888..351**6703 it listed and they are sending me a 9.99 refund as well in the mail but it will just take a few days to receive :)

  • Kate

    this happen to my bill too, 3 months straight. T-mobile also gave me a phone number to unsubscribed to that GamerData charges. i will see if they still gonna charge me in my next month’s bill. After i get my refund, imma cancel t-mobile asap.

  • Ophie

    We’re going through the same ordeal. Tmobile says they can’t do anything, but to give us numbers to “text” that will remove the charges while we stand at Tmobile looking like idiots. You text them, they still do not take off the charges even though the text reply clearly indicates you are NOT subscribed to these services. Then you ask Tmobile how can the charges be on THEIR bill and they simply say its not our charges. Well it is if it is on YOUR bill and you are clearly billing us for these 9.99 amounts for the past 4 months. One of these “3rd party scammers” were kind enough to reimburse us, but only half of what we kept getting charged. The other “3rd party scammer” we got charged $29.99 from will NOT reimburse us, even after fighting with them on the phone about the bogus charges. I did mention to Tmobile that if this happens one more time, I’m going to file a complaint with the state’s BBB.

  • A. Suarez

    Just as a heads up: AT&T does the same thing. I had to go through some hoops with them about 2 monthly charges (adding up to $30) that were added onto my mothers account through similar means. Since she never uses text messages and has her bill set to auto-pay, this went on for months. I know these are just extra hoops that should be done by default, but at least with AT&T you can put a ‘purchase block’ on an account, which requires a password to be entered before any charges can be added. I was told this would eliminate any way for charges to be automatically accepted…but we’ll see.

  • D. Niknejad
  • http://www.twincitiesbusinesslitigation.com/ Gavin Craig

    Thanks for the post. I had a similar thing happen that showed up on an AMX card. I called and AMX credited me within a week. There are a lot of scams out there. Gavin Craig

  • http://caveatemptorblog.com/find-consumer-bankruptcy-attorney/ Sam Glover

    Notably absent from those terms: anything that gives T-Mobile the right to charge me $9.99 for receiving spam text messages.

  • Carey Unruh

    Try T-Mobile’s Tems and Conditions found at…

    http://www.t-mobile.com/Templates/Popup.aspx?PAsset=Ftr_Ftr_TermsAndConditions2004&print=true

    They include Mandatory Arbitration, a Class Action Waiver, and a Jury Trial Waiver of all things.

    • another t-mobile victim

      ok, what about ppl who NEVER activated service, even after buying a phone and returning it right away?  Why do we have to allegedly pay them money we never owed?!?

  • http://caveatemptorblog.com/find-consumer-bankruptcy-attorney/ Sam Glover

    For all I know, it probably requires me to spin around twice before making calls. I don’t think I have ever actually seen my agreement with T-Mobile, nor do I know where to find it.

  • http://www.shawndking.com/ Shawn

    Indeed. In any event, I (as a non-lawyer) was under the impression that phone service providers were actually PROHIBITED from interrupting or terminating phone service for refusal to pay for third party charges–even charges the user legitimately made. For example, if you call a phone-in voting system and then refuse to pay the charges, the phone company cannot disconnect service, or take any other adverse action against you. The third-party is responsible for any dispute resolution or collections.

    Not to pry into your playbook, but doesn’t your contract with them stipulate binding arbitration and/or an agreement not to seek class-action?

  • http://www.newyorkdivorceattorney.com/ Sam Glover

    Whoever told you they are “required by law” to pass along these charges was lying.

  • http://www.climacolaw.com Patrick Warner

    I am an attorney and this happened to my daughter (on my bill). Sprint informed me that they are required by law to pass along these types of charges. I have not verified the accuracy of Sprint’s statement or looked into whether this is something appropriate for suit. But I would certainly like to see more attention given to this scam.

  • http://mnestatelaw.com Boyd Johnson

    Thanks for posting this. I’m a T-Mobile customer too, so I’ll need to watch out for this. Maybe it is time for me to start looking around for a new carrier too.

  • http://newwaylaw.wordpress.com Andy Mergendahl

    I am also (I thought) a happy T-Mobile customer. This kind of BS drives me crazy. I love the fact that you took the time to go back through your text message history, then put that exact text language on your post. That’s awesome, which, I feel I must note, is not merely a synonym for “good,” but which means “inspires a feeling of awe, admiration, or wonder.” Thank you, Sam.

  • Randall Ryder Sr.

    This happened to me with Sprint. For four months I received a $9.99 charge for “stock quotes.” I called Sprint and indicated that I never requested this third party service and they should creditmy account. They said they had no control over third party charges (how can that be?) but they would credit my account. The next month’s bill again had this charge. Again I called Sprint. They once again said they had no control but would credit my account which they did. Same thing happened a month later but I asked if they could block the service. They said they could. Why didn’t they inform me of this the first time? So a few weeks ago I received my bill and once again I had the charge. Once again I called Sprint. They said the block had not as yet been set up. What is this scam? Why are the charges $9.99? Why isn’t some bright attorney bringing forth a class action suit? How can I join the suit?

  • http://www.liberty-lawyer.com/ Thomas Gallagher

    Thanks for the heads up. I will scrutinze my T-Mobile bill closely. I can’t believe T-Mobile would be a party to such fraud and theivery. Hopefully they will stop it immediately, or the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office will sue them; and-or a consumer class action lawsuit.

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