Ok, so I received 3 text messages from a dating service yesterday at a cost of £1.50 each. After phoning up '3' and speaking to customer services it seems I have subscribed to a service in order to get these text messages. They insist I cannot be billed for a service unless I subscribed to it. Now here's the problem. I've had my mobile for 3 months now and have not subscribed to any such service. After a bit of research It seems there's a lot of people receiving such texts and a lot in the same boat of not subscribing for the service.
So, feeling a bit insecure about the whole receiving texts and being charged without my consent I decide to phone back 3 and ask them if they can bar my phone from receiving premium rate texts starting in '8'. They tell me they cannot bar them and cannot do anything at their end. They tell me all I can do is text 'STOP' to the same number and it SHOULD stop it.
So, I'm now a bit peeved at both the premium text service thieves and my service provider offering bugger all help to stop this happening to me again. So I decide to do a bit more homework. I eventually get a contact number and email address for the premium rate service. I try ringing them and waste 10 minutes on hold (being charged 15p/min) . Bugger this I thought I cant afford to be on hold forever and I decide to email them instead.
So I email the company 'mBlox ltd' and it seems their inbox wont accept my email, something about their inbox being full..
Now...I'm in the mood to complain and toddle over to www.icstis.org.uk, after making a complaint I do a search of their website to see if anyone else has made any complaints about the company and whether they have been fined.
Lo and behold...
£32,000 in fines since december 2005 and on 23 January 2006 a '12 month bar on access'
Kinda miffed as I though the bar on access would mean they cant send their crap through any network but April 3rd I still get their spam...
Anyone else experienced any of these rip off 'services'? It seems there's little the recipient or the service provider can do to stop receiving texts which the recipient is charged for, with or without their permission.
So, feeling a bit insecure about the whole receiving texts and being charged without my consent I decide to phone back 3 and ask them if they can bar my phone from receiving premium rate texts starting in '8'. They tell me they cannot bar them and cannot do anything at their end. They tell me all I can do is text 'STOP' to the same number and it SHOULD stop it.
So, I'm now a bit peeved at both the premium text service thieves and my service provider offering bugger all help to stop this happening to me again. So I decide to do a bit more homework. I eventually get a contact number and email address for the premium rate service. I try ringing them and waste 10 minutes on hold (being charged 15p/min) . Bugger this I thought I cant afford to be on hold forever and I decide to email them instead.
So I email the company 'mBlox ltd' and it seems their inbox wont accept my email, something about their inbox being full..
Now...I'm in the mood to complain and toddle over to www.icstis.org.uk, after making a complaint I do a search of their website to see if anyone else has made any complaints about the company and whether they have been fined.
Lo and behold...
£32,000 in fines since december 2005 and on 23 January 2006 a '12 month bar on access'
Kinda miffed as I though the bar on access would mean they cant send their crap through any network but April 3rd I still get their spam...
Anyone else experienced any of these rip off 'services'? It seems there's little the recipient or the service provider can do to stop receiving texts which the recipient is charged for, with or without their permission.
