{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

Thomas Gallagher January 7, 2010 at 5:07 pm

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.

Randall Ryder Sr. January 7, 2010 at 5:21 pm

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?

Andy Mergendahl January 7, 2010 at 5:23 pm

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.

Boyd Johnson January 7, 2010 at 6:26 pm

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.

Patrick Warner January 7, 2010 at 10:09 pm

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.

Sam Glover January 7, 2010 at 10:12 pm

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

Shawn January 8, 2010 at 6:10 pm

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?

Sam Glover January 8, 2010 at 6:51 pm

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.

Carey Unruh January 9, 2010 at 2:49 pm

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

http://www.t-mobile.com/Templa.....print=true

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

Sam Glover January 9, 2010 at 2:58 pm

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

Gavin Craig January 9, 2010 at 3:00 pm

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

D. Niknejad January 11, 2010 at 5:55 pm

Feel free to file this claim in CA without fear of the class action waiver. Such waivers have repeatedly been adjudged unconscionable: http://www.thecomplexlitigator.....gle+Reader

A. Suarez January 12, 2010 at 10:27 am

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.

Ophie January 16, 2010 at 4:15 pm

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.

Kate January 31, 2010 at 11:13 am

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.

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