Consumers are understandably outraged when made to pay for something they didn’t request. When the product in question is pornography-related, that outrage is amplified tenfold.
Hundreds of cellphone subscribers have discovered “content charges” of several hundred rand on their cellphone bills.
And when they’ve contacted their service provider, they’ve been told to deal with Smartcall Technology Solutions – a wireless application service provider, or Wasp.
Wasps sign agreements for networks to bill subscribers for the Wasps’ “value-added” content – everything from music to horoscopes … and porn.
A huge number of these subscriptions are contested by consumers, who deny agreeing to a subscription for content of any sort – and feel angry with the networks for allowing third parties to add these extra charges to their bills.
Because so many consumers have been tricked into subscribing to services, the Wireless Application Service Providers Association (Waspa) – which regulates the industry – continuously tightens its code of conduct, forcing Wasps to be ever more transparent in the way they punt their services, and in the steps they have to follow to ensure consumers know exactly what they’re agreeing to and what it’s going to cost .
Scores have alleged that they received a message on their phone, opened it, saw it had something to do with a link to a porn site and quickly closed it.
Weeks later they discovered they’d been subscribed to a service – among them Adult Zone and Erotic Tube – at R10 a day. Some were charged that fee several times a day.
Ironically, because no one appears to have been sent any porn, they were none the wiser until they got their bill.
Reader Gert Kalesse’s latest MTN statement included a content charge of R385.44.
A call to the network revealed that Smartcall had been billing him R10 a day.
He called Smartcall last Monday. “Yes, they could cancel, they said, but I would get no refund as I had supposedly subscribed via the internet on my cellphone,” he said.
“After a long discussion it transpired that they sent me a message offering me some Adult Zone porn service and to opt out I had to actively say no.
“If one does what I have done and simply deletes this message, one is automatically opted in, totally unknowingly until it is too late.
“This is simply outrageous. MTN, in my opinion, is complicit as they willingly collect the money… despite all the hundreds of near-identical complaints on HelloPeter.”
MTN subscribers aren’t the only ones affected.
Leigh Brand wrote: “I recently checked my Vodacom cellphone bill and saw that I’m being billed three times a day for some service at R8.76 a time.”
His call to Vodacom also led him to Smartcall.
“So I called Smartcall and asked what this service is, because I did not subscribe to it. The woman said she would send me proof that I did subscribe on June 16, but she could not tell me what service this was for. I asked her to send the proof, and to unsubscribe me.”
He subsequently received three SMSes saying he had been unsubscribed from the Erotic Tube service.
“I had no recollection of subscribing to this service, but then I remembered that a couple of weeks ago I received an MMS from an unknown number, which I opened, and saw that it was adult in nature, so I closed the page and deleted the MMS.
“I did not click on any checkbox saying that I subscribe to this service or that I agree to their terms and conditions or anything like that. They have been taking money from me for something I never gave them permission for, for a service I have not even used.”
Brand was refunded by Smartcall last week. Many others have reported similar experiences.
According to the Waspa’s code, before a person can be subscribed to a content service, whether via a cellphone or online, they must go through a “double opt-in” procedure, whereby a second, separate message pops up, revealing the service which is being subscribed to and what it will cost, and then asking the consumer to confirm.
And when it comes to pornographic content, the Wasp is required to get extra, specific consent. This didn’t happen in the case of these Adult Zone and Erotic Tube subscriptions.
Responding last week, Lorinda Wepener of Smartcall Technology Solutions (STS) said the company had received “an influx” of complaints in the past month about a service offered by third party client JP Consulting.
“A third party mobile advertising company was commissioned to acquire customers on behalf of the service, using another gateway,” she said.
“As we had no control over the advertising platform, the complaints we received assisted us to identify a possible issue with the service offered by the third party.
“In the meantime, STS has suspended the service in question pending an investigation. STS has always worked closely with Waspa and the networks in order to assist in eradicating any unlawful practices.”
And here’s the bit the victims will be interested in: “STS will refund without question any consumer that was affected by this marketing campaign.”
So check your cellphone bill immediately, and if there are content charges you don’t know anything about, confirm with your network which Wasp has billed you.
If it’s a Smartcall subscription you did not authorise, e-mail Smartcall and request a refund. The address is [email protected].
Despite all the codes and rules, Wasps continue to “sting” consumers by “auto subscribing” them to services.
In May this column carried the story of the T-Mobile scandal – the Wasp “irregularly” charged more than 100 000 MTN subscribers between late April and early May for “inspirational quotes”, at R5 a time.
Asked to comment on the Smartcall matter, a Waspa spokesman confirmed that Smartcall had suspended its client and that the refund process was under way. - Pretoria News