Mobile charges scam

weringo · 20 May 2018 at 19:09

I was checking my Vodafone online account earlier and noticed 3 additional charges on my most recent bill for £4.50 each called "load 03330030585". I spoke to Vodafone on the online chat and the only explanation was that "you got charged for a third party service "load"", and I need to contact the company directly to get the money back.

I have no idea what the charges are and from a quick Google it seems to be some sort of scam. I would have thought that if unauthorised charges have been made to my account then that is Vodafone's problem and not mine, I don't see why I should be forced to go on a wild goose chase to get my £13.50 back.

I threatened to cancel my direct debit unless they removed the charges (empty threat, obviously this would create more trouble than it's worth) but they didn't bite.

Vodafone is one of the worst companies in the country to deal with but even this surprised me, anyone else had something similar happen to them?

Diddums · 20 May 2018 at 19:18

Odd, I find Vodafone to be the lesser of all the evils. Try dealing with Plusnet. I'd rather forego all communications for the rest of my life.

Kenai · 20 May 2018 at 19:25

My flatmate used to have all kinds of trouble with Vodafone and fraudulent charges on her bill, it would take months to sort out each time.

Dis86 · 20 May 2018 at 19:25

Nothing to do with vodafone.

rebel rebel · 20 May 2018 at 19:26

Diddums said:
Odd, I find Vodafone to be the lesser of all the evils. Try dealing with Plusnet. I'd rather forego all communications for the rest of my life.

That's weird because I have never had a problem with Plusnet. For me, o2 have always been a nightmare to deal with.

neil_g · 20 May 2018 at 19:31

Diddums said:
Odd, I find Vodafone to be the lesser of all the evils. Try dealing with Plusnet. I'd rather forego all communications for the rest of my life.

Vodafone are a vile, lying and deceptive piece of work. They only showed any sort of remorse after we'd cancelled all contracts.

weringo · 20 May 2018 at 19:33

Dis86 said:
Nothing to do with vodafone.

Vodafone are the ones taking the money, so it does have something to do with Vodafone. From checking Google, people have reported this scam from this number going back 2 years, so at the very least it seems negligent of Vodafone to allow it to continue with them as the intermediary.

Comparably if an unauthorised charge went on my credit card, that would be the credit company's problem, not mine, albeit I realise they are governed by different regs.

Diddums · 20 May 2018 at 19:34

neil_g said:
Vodafone are a vile, lying and deceptive piece of work. They only showed any sort of remorse after we'd cancelled all contracts.

They've screwed up a few times over the 10 or so years I've been with them and every time they've fixed it, and fixed it well. I've had free phones, a free Suresignal, free unlimited data, and tons of other stuff. Maybe I just got lucky, dunno.

Kenai · 20 May 2018 at 19:37

Diddums said:
They've screwed up a few times over the 10 or so years I've been with them and every time they've fixed it, and fixed it well. I've had free phones, a free Suresignal, free unlimited data, and tons of other stuff. Maybe I just got lucky, dunno.

I think you're about the first person I've seen mention Vodafone without it being a hate filled torrent of abuse

Kenai · 20 May 2018 at 19:40

Which carried out a survey last month;

Vodafone has been rated the worst mobile phone provider in Which?’s annual mobile customer satisfaction survey for the seventh year running

Read more: https://www.which.co.uk/news/2018/04/best-and-worst-mobile-phone-networks-of-2018-revealed-by-which/ - Which?

Seven years running is good going.

weringo · 20 May 2018 at 19:41

Another thought, perhaps the Direct Debit guarantee would help me get the money back directly from the bank?

andicole0 · 20 May 2018 at 19:41

Google is your friend!
You need to google the number 03330030585 it will tell you it's something like sb7mobile, further, on the O2 community page it gives help on where to go.
Andi.

Rroff · 20 May 2018 at 19:43

Ridiculous if there is no 2 step verification on stuff like this - it is absolutely in the operator's hands to solve this kind of problem.

Diddums · 20 May 2018 at 19:49

Rroff said:
Ridiculous if there is no 2 step verification on stuff like this - it is absolutely in the operator's hands to solve this kind of problem.

Agreed. They facilitated the payment, they need to fix it and prevent it happening again.

I wasn't aware Vodafone was so strongly disliked, guess I'll be awaiting their failure now.

Dis86 · 20 May 2018 at 19:50

weringo said:
Vodafone are the ones taking the money, so it does have something to do with Vodafone. From checking Google, people have reported this scam from this number going back 2 years, so at the very least it seems negligent of Vodafone to allow it to continue with them as the intermediary.

Comparably if an unauthorised charge went on my credit card, that would be the credit company's problem, not mine, albeit I realise they are governed by different regs.

Alas no. Vodafone have been charged by a 3rd party for their services on your behalf.

https://psauthority.org.uk/

The 3rd party is responsible, not your provider.

Rroff · 20 May 2018 at 19:53

Diddums said:
I wasn't aware Vodafone was so strongly disliked, guess I'll be awaiting their failure now.

Most of the time I have no problem with VF.

Few years back I had one of their "authorised" 3rd party add-on resellers phoning me like 4-5 times a day - got £10 off first month it happened then 1-2 months refund when it happened again the next month - stopped PDQ after that though I saw other people complaining about it on their forums.

Lately I've been getting absolutely battered by advertising (phone calls, text messages, the app notifications granted as I said before I could uninstall that but it is otherwise quite useful) and mailshots, etc. for their broadband which I have zero interest in taking up especially after the constant spam to the point I'm about to kick off about it.

Other than that though to be fair the service I've received has been excellent and CS reasonably good though I've sometimes had to be pretty firm to get anywhere.

Dis86 said:
The 3rd party is responsible, not your provider.

That is absolutely BS really - it is like letting people just leverage charges against your bank account with no accountability then try and get it resolved after. NO company should be able to load charges against your mobile without some form of 2 step verification.

Dis86 · 20 May 2018 at 20:02

Rroff said:
That is absolutely BS really - it is like letting people just leverage charges against your bank account with no accountability then try and get it resolved after. NO company should be able to load charges against your mobile without some form of 2 step verification.

Unfortunately that's how it is. There is a clear and straightforward process to recovering the costs. To operate such schemes the company in question is bound by regulation, unlike any other company that can debit a bank account. Thus that's why you approach them.

Rroff · 20 May 2018 at 20:12

Pretty poor none the less - a callous implementation that has the potential to cause all kinds of problems for people who are elderly and/or have mental health issues and so on. Such services should be blocked by default unless a user requests them.

shauncr91 · 20 May 2018 at 20:16

neil_g said:
Vodafone are a vile, lying and deceptive piece of work. They only showed any sort of remorse after we'd cancelled all contracts.

I was subcontracted to them for ~3yrs doing everything from billing disputes to debt recovery to high level complaints, can confirm they are infact awful. We were offered 50% off contracts and I turned them down as they were so awful and would rather pay full whack than be subjected to their disgusting customer service, the amount of complaints that would get to the Financial Ombudsman because of some pathetic <£10.00 charge or Customer Service Advisor that hadn't cancelled a contract they'd clearly acknowledged termination for was shocking.

Dis86 · 20 May 2018 at 20:54

Rroff said:
Pretty poor none the less - a callous implementation that has the potential to cause all kinds of problems for people who are elderly and/or have mental health issues and so on. Such services should be blocked by default unless a user requests them.

The user has requested it. That's the issue. Or at least vodafone have been lead to believe they have.