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Barely a day goes by without me getting at least one e-mail from a reader who has discovered they are subscribed to a so-called “value added” cellphone service at, for example, R5 a day - and they are adamant they neither wanted nor authorised the service.
Their anger is directed at both the Wireless Application Service Provider (Wasp) - supplier of “content” ranging from expensive ringtones and “inspirational quotes” to pornographic material - and at their network for enabling the allegedly unauthorised deductions.
They almost always feel betrayed by their networks, and, in my opinion, for good reason, as in many cases the networks’ call centre people do relatively little to help when they receive panicked calls about these deductions, other than tell the callers to take up their case with the “third party” Wasp in question.
The fact that the industry has coined the term “auto subscribe” suggests that the practice is not uncommon - that is, cellphone subscribers find themselves subscribed to such services at a hefty cost without their knowledge or authorisation. Outrageous!
To its credit, MTN recently took a stand against a Wasp by the name of T-Mobile, possibly because of the massive numbers involved.
I took up the issue with MTN recently after receiving quite a few complaints from MTN subscribers about the allegedly rogue T-Mobile charges on their cellphone accounts.
One of them, Mike van Zyl, said he received the following SMS from MTN on his cellphone on May 3: “Yello! T-Mobile debited your account for R5 for content ‘Inspirational Quotes’. Please contact them if you wish to query the transaction.”
“I phoned MTN to query where this transaction originated, and they informed me that I should contact T-Mobile directly and gave me the number,” he said.
He called the number and was told the subscription would be cancelled “but the agent could not tell me how and where this transaction originated”.
Two days later, he was among the thousands of affected subscribers to receive the following SMS from MTN: “Dear Customer, your account was irregularly deducted by T-Mobile. We are in the process of reversing the deduction and taking action against the provider. MTN.”
According to MTN, T-Mobile was found to have “irregularly” charged more than 100 000 MTN subscribers between late April and early May for “inspirational quotes” - at R5 a time.
Kevin Jacobson, MTN SA’s general manager of business indirect sales, said MTN had been told by its subscribers that they had received “no voluntary request” via web or SMS to subscribe to the T-Mobile service, nor did they get a “double opt-in” - a mandatory confirmation that the subscriber does indeed wish to subscribe. They also didn’t get an SMS from T-Mobile confirming the content charge.
Wasps are required to follow these steps in order to comply with the regulator Waspa’s (Wireless Application Service Provider’ Association) Code of Conduct. That’s why the network sent that SMS about irregular deductions, he said.
They also suspended T-Mobile, for the second time, for unauthorised billing. MTN also reported the issue to Waspa and began refunding those rogue deductions to affected subscribers.
“This serves to confirm that we are listening to our customers and continue to implement processes that seek to protect our customers,” Jacobson said.
Waspa has made several rulings against T-Mobile relating to complaints of unauthorised billing.
Oh, that the networks would take such decisive action in every case of suspected auto subscription.
Usually when the subscriber finds out they are subscribed to a Wasp service they are told by their network that the service will be cancelled, but they won’t be getting any refunds.
*So what is the relationship between the networks and the Wasps?
The networks provide Wasps with access to their customers and a billing platform, and they carry the credit risk on behalf of the Wasp - for a decent “cut” of what the subscriber pays, of course. Wasps are required to be members of Waspa and are bound by the regulator’s Code of Conduct, but transgressions are common, as you’ll see if you check out the Adjudicator Reports on the website: http://www. waspa.org.za/code/complaints.php- Pretoria News
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victor, wrote
Thank for reporting this. Please don't let the 'thieves' get away with this - the man in the street needs this kind of help to put an end to the unsolicted charges to cellphone accounts. Somebody, please keep nagging these service providers until they put a stop to this unethical process of robbing!!!
Hayden, wrote
If the Cell Service Provider gives third parties access to our accounts which we did not authorize then we should not pay them untill they sort it out, or deduct the unauthorized fees from the account like Kevin did. put the ball back in their court. Tired off being ripped off!!!
Anonymous, wrote
@Kashiefa: here is the Integrat website http:www.integrat.co.za. I also know that given enough pressure, Vodacom can tell you what the 'service' is that Integrat billed you for. With each billing request, the WASP has to submit your number, the amount and the service name that is billed for. All that info is stored in the billing plarform and is easy to report on. http:www.integrat.co.za
Anonymous, wrote
WASP are pretty useless – they do seem to try assist with getting you a refund but they seem a bit toothless (and probably swamped). I have been fighting with T-Mobile for over 4 months trying to get a refund. My provider Autopage\MTN are also useless (at best) and completely complicit (at worst).
Carlo, wrote
"Leon, wrote IOL Comments 12:17pm on 23 May 2011 IOL Comments A great service will be, if the cellphone service providers, can offer a facility where you can log into your account, and see what WASPS are currently "subscribed" to your cell no." Vodacom provides such a service for prepaid users on their website, likely for contract users as well.
Matthias, wrote
Nigerians??? @Art totally agree, i have received bills for over R1600 for WASP usage (April 2011). Reported this to my service provider Autopage as my cell numbers had been cancelled on the 21.02.2011. Autopage investigated and gave me six accounts which i was subscribed to and i had to do the dirty work to contact them which i did. All six of the contacts i had no subion to. i reported back to Autopage that they cannot bill me if i have no subion and they should sort this out. After speaking to aproxametly 16 people at Autopage i eventually got through to someone that understood and iswill be sorting it out.....still waiting. My next bill came with more WASP expenses i reported it to Autopage again and have now been told to contact WASPA to get this resolved. 2 months down R2000 down and still waiting. Anyone that has been successful please let me know the way you went.
Tereza, wrote
My daughter was getting sms'early hours of the morning for some sordid porn site and I entered a competion on the net for a new phone and all of a sudden i was registered to some music site taking off R15 a day but no songs were forth coming. This i only picked up when i had loaded pre-paid airtime and my balance was zero the next morning after not using my phone. However, i must be honest and say MTN's callcentre were very helpful and the assisted us in deregistering these sites, though the money is gone.........
Cecile-Ann, wrote
I received a pornographic ad about two weeks ago and deleted it as it said I will be billed R9 a day. After deleting the Ad I was still being billed and I am a Vodacom prepaid customer. Now I have resorted to loading R5 at a time just to avoid being billed. How do I stop this?
Kashiefa, wrote
Any advice on how to get the money back??? My account was debit R1.75 on a daily basis for more than a year. After numerous phone calls with Vodacom I learnt that the company's name is Integrat but ofcourse Vodacom has nothing to do with it. I added up the amounts of the debits and it totalled to more than R1000. I tried getting Vodacom to refund me or give me the company's details but ofcourse, Vodacom knows nothing. Tried emailing Integrat, nothing. Two weeks ago i got an email from Waspa saying that i have requested the service to be removed and they "think" that it has been done. Check your itemised billing guys..
Kashiefa, wrote
Any advice on how to get the money back??? My account was debit R1.75 on a daily basis for more than a year. After numerous phone calls with Vodacom I learnt that the company's name is Integrat but ofcourse Vodacom has nothing to do with it. I added up the amounts of the debits and it totalled to more than R1000. I tried getting Vodacom to refund me or give me the company's details but ofcourse, Vodacom knows nothing. Tried emailing Integrat, nothing. Two weeks ago i got an email from Waspa saying that i have requested the service to be removed and they "think" that it has been done. Check your itemised billing guys..
John Pepper, wrote
I don't see how the networks can deny either liability or resposibility. I don't see it as any different than if my bank allowed an unauthorised direct debit from my account. And the bank is certainly liable if that happens.
Kevin, wrote
I too was billed by MTN on behalf of Tmobile since last year. Fortunately I cancelled the debit order on my bank account & pay be eft - so I simply deducted the extra amount from my account before paying. I had quite a fight with MTN for about 5 months before they cancelled this "service". In my opinion if the allow third parties access to this client information it is their responsibility to sort it out... NOT the client. In this story MTN certainly does a good job of trying to make themselves look good, but I know better!
Leon, wrote
A great service will be, if the cellphone service providers, can offer a facility where you can log into your account, and see what WASPS are currently "subscribed" to your cell no.
Art, wrote
Totally criminal. Those who are 'awake' enough might get refunded - but weigh that against those who didn't notice - I wonder how much money was stolen? My mom had over R400 deducted for some horrorscope rubbish after smsing to vote for Idols. They acknowledged it and offered a refund, but my mom (being in her 60's) didn't want to give them her bank details. bottom line - it's worth the risk for them to steal money, because the odds are in their favour.
Sash, wrote
I complained about unauthorised billing in Oct 2010, MTN was unwilling to help saying i need to go to T-Mobile. T-Mobile promised to cancel the subion and refund my money.... still waiting for the money....
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