When I wrote about preacquired account marketing for Consumerist back in October, I never dreamed I would fall victim to the scam. I also never dreamed the company who screwed me would be T-Mobile, a company I have had a relationship with since February 11, 2004 (I checked), and from which I have always received excellent customer service.
But last month, my bill was $9.99 too high. I looked into the charge, which shows up as “41463GamerData_8668958697″ on my bill, and spotted another $9.99 charge coming due on my next bill. I have no idea who Gamer-Data is, but I do know I have never had anything to do with them. The only way I could have incurred these charges is by not doing anything.
Which turned out to be the case.
At some point, Gamer-Data sent me a text message to which I did not respond. When I did not respond, T-Mobile decided that was good enough to pay Gamer-Data and then charge me $9.99 for its trouble. I do not have the message from Gamer-Data, but I do have one I received from Info-Text-Alert, to which this month’s $9.99 would have gone. Here it is:
Info-Text-AlertText Alert ProgramAll Alerts 9,99/m Unlimited Alerts#1info,help,stop Info-Text-Alert.comNotifications 2 ur cellTop Alerts
Is that supposed to be some kind of contract? How in the world does my failure to respond to that message constitute my consent to be billed $9.99 by T-Mobile? The message does not even contain the amount of the charges unless you squint really hard at that comma in “9,99″ and imagine a dollar sign somewhere nearby. The message has no warning that I will be charged if I do not respond, or what I should respond if I do not want to be charged.
If you want to know about the valuable information that Info-Text-Alert will deliver for your $9.99 per month, here is the only other message I received from it:
Info: Newcomer Kesha took her first solo chart single “TiK ToK” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
That message is hardly worth $9.99, even if I wanted it. It was also sent before the one above, which I assume was supposed to warn me about the charges.
This is a scam. The unfortunate part of the scam is that T-Mobile is in cahoots with Gamer-Data, Info-Text-Alert, and probably other text-message scammers. Just as bad, T-Mobile has apparently trained its customer service representatives to defend the practice. The CSR I spoke with insisted that T-Mobile “had” to pay Gamer-Data and Info-Text-Alert (both have websites—just add .com—obviously designed by the same person), but insisted that it was not T-Mobile that billed me for their services. Staring at the charges on my T-Mobile bills, I assured her she was mistaken. She insisted I did not understand how this works; that even though I never gave T-Mobile permission to pay anyone else on my behalf, they just had to do it.
I admit, I got mad. The CSR I spoke with remained impressively perky in the face of my anger. I am ashamed to admit I may have used words like “lawyer,” “blog,” and “preacquired account marketing” at various points during the call. The CSR’s perky lies had me sketching out a class action lawsuit on a nearby note card. She offered to credit my account for the charges, but I refused. I wanted the charges refunded immediately, or I wanted interest during the delay. In the end, she spoke to a supervisor and then agreed to an immediate refund (which is not a refund, but shows up as a credit to my T-Mobile account).
One might say that T-Mobile made this right in the end. I would not. This sort of thing is bullshit.
I should not have to yell at a CSR to have fraudulent charges removed from my bill; they should never have been there in the first place. And I should not be charged for not responding to a gibberish text message. If this was an isolated mistake, T-Mobile should immediately refund the charges, no questions asked. If not, I hope T-Mobile has to answer a very expensive lawsuit—or maybe a congressional inquiry.
As for me, I intend to leave T-Mobile as soon as my current contract ends in April, and I encourage you to do the same. At a minimum, start scrutinizing your bills and asking questions if you see any suspicious charges.
(photo: 22n)
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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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
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!!!
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.
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!!!!
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?
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