MOBILE PHONE RIPOFF ALERT
April 26th 2007 00:44
PHONE RIP OFF
Hey, has any other mobile phone user out there been caught out by a bunch called Sol Mobile? Or others like them?
A few weeks ago I started receiving SMS messages from someone called Push. I activated the message and was told in text to a URL and when I did this nothing actually happened.
But Push kept sending messages. If I just hung up, my phone would beep an SMS alert every five minutes or until I viewed Push just to make it stop.
Other than being slightly irritated, I thought nothing more about it.
THEN I received my Telstra phone bill and noticed items under “Separate Purchases.”
These were for individual items costing $6.61 a pop from a mob called Sol Mobile Pty Ltd for “mobcontent.”
Knowing nothing about this, not knowing of Sol Mobile and not being aware of any “purchase” I may have made with them, I rang the phone number for them provided on the Telstra bill, 1300 767 306.
I got a voice machine, and a female voice with an American accent said, “Hi and thanks for calling. If you are receiving content or text messages to your cell phone or charges to your phone that you want to stop we can help you.”
The help provided was an instruction to lodge my mobile number and the “service” would cease.
But there was no option, no access to anyone else to work out what these charges were for and why I received them, how I received them, what did I purchase etc?
Very frustrating – and very fishy.
The only message you get when you contact this mob is an offer to stop content or message which was costing me six bucks a pop.
Obviously they’re ready for a barrage of pissed off people who have bothered to read their phone bill carefully and bothered to try and determine what this crap is all about.
What a nice little racket. I was down over sixty bucks with no idea why.
I thought about it and figured this could have resulted from an email I got some time ago telling me that I had won a plasma television set. Yeah, stupidly I replied. I was taken through a set of elaborate questionnaires and after a few minutes I knew this was a bullshit deal and logged off. But I probably activated something that gave them a legal in to start notching up six buck sms messages. A nice little earn really because by the time people wake up to what’s going on they’ve already been charged quite a few times.
The prompt turning off of the service when you call the company is probably another legal necessity to keep themselves operating – and they’ve already got my money. Or at least thought they had.
This is what happened next
I then went top their web site, www.solmobile.com and found the following contact details:
Level 1, 225 Miller Street
North Sydney
NSW 2060
Australia
By Phone 61 2 9900 3636
By Fax 61 2 9900 3655
By Email sales@solmobile.com
I emailed them asking them to contact me urgently about a business matter.
This is the automated reply I received:
“Please find below some information that may answer your questions.
The charge that has been added to your phone bill or the messages that you are receiving to your phone are premium SMS content services.
These services include;
- Ringtones
- Wallpapers and Images
- SMS Chat
- Games
- SMS Trivia or quiz
- Daily text alerts - example horoscopes
These services are advertised on TV, the internet, in magazines and newspapers.
For a charge to be applied to your phone bill a request MUST have been made. Content services are requested by either entering your mobile/cell number on an internet site, or by sending a message to an advertised premium SMS number. An SMS message is then sent to your phone requiring you to reply alternatively you may be issued with a PIN that you have to type in to a website. Those checks are done in order to verify that the service request is valid.
You may cancel this service at anytime by replying STOP to any SMS message you have received from that service number. This is a standard policy for all numbers offering mobile/cell content.
Kind regards SMSHelpDesk.”
No matter what email message I sent I got the same standard reply which of course was assuming I was another dude wanting to stop the rip off.
I rang the landline number and got the same message as with the 1300 number.
But now I was really cheesed off. I rang Telstra who were helpful and put me onto a Telstra ombudsman who was also helpful and who put me onto an on-the-ball Telstra investigative service.
They checked out the situation, and got back to after a few days saying I wouldn’t be getting any more problems from Sol Mobile, or any more bills and that I wouldn’t have to pay the amount owing. Plus they said they checked my bill that is about to be sent and there’s more of these cursed charges. But those charges too will not have to be paid.
Meanwhile they are adding my complaint to a data base to check how widespread the problem is.
The Telstra Ombudsman number is 1800 062 058.
Sol Mobiles lists most major telco’s as their “partners” so if you are with Optus for example, ask them to fix it and if they won’t or can’t, try contacting the Telstra ombudsman because they will probably be able to guide you to someone who can deal with the problems.
The entire process took me about two hours but I saved myself at least $60 plus, and more importantly I got some satisfaction. I didn’t feel powerless. So if you too have been ripped off, help put these people out of business.
Hey, has any other mobile phone user out there been caught out by a bunch called Sol Mobile? Or others like them?
A few weeks ago I started receiving SMS messages from someone called Push. I activated the message and was told in text to a URL and when I did this nothing actually happened.
But Push kept sending messages. If I just hung up, my phone would beep an SMS alert every five minutes or until I viewed Push just to make it stop.
Other than being slightly irritated, I thought nothing more about it.
THEN I received my Telstra phone bill and noticed items under “Separate Purchases.”
Knowing nothing about this, not knowing of Sol Mobile and not being aware of any “purchase” I may have made with them, I rang the phone number for them provided on the Telstra bill, 1300 767 306.
I got a voice machine, and a female voice with an American accent said, “Hi and thanks for calling. If you are receiving content or text messages to your cell phone or charges to your phone that you want to stop we can help you.”
The help provided was an instruction to lodge my mobile number and the “service” would cease.
But there was no option, no access to anyone else to work out what these charges were for and why I received them, how I received them, what did I purchase etc?
Very frustrating – and very fishy.
The only message you get when you contact this mob is an offer to stop content or message which was costing me six bucks a pop.
Obviously they’re ready for a barrage of pissed off people who have bothered to read their phone bill carefully and bothered to try and determine what this crap is all about.
I thought about it and figured this could have resulted from an email I got some time ago telling me that I had won a plasma television set. Yeah, stupidly I replied. I was taken through a set of elaborate questionnaires and after a few minutes I knew this was a bullshit deal and logged off. But I probably activated something that gave them a legal in to start notching up six buck sms messages. A nice little earn really because by the time people wake up to what’s going on they’ve already been charged quite a few times.
The prompt turning off of the service when you call the company is probably another legal necessity to keep themselves operating – and they’ve already got my money. Or at least thought they had.
This is what happened next
I then went top their web site, www.solmobile.com and found the following contact details:
Level 1, 225 Miller Street
North Sydney
NSW 2060
Australia
By Phone 61 2 9900 3636
By Fax 61 2 9900 3655
By Email sales@solmobile.com
I emailed them asking them to contact me urgently about a business matter.
This is the automated reply I received:
“Please find below some information that may answer your questions.
The charge that has been added to your phone bill or the messages that you are receiving to your phone are premium SMS content services.
These services include;
- Ringtones
- Wallpapers and Images
- SMS Chat
- Games
- SMS Trivia or quiz
- Daily text alerts - example horoscopes
These services are advertised on TV, the internet, in magazines and newspapers.
For a charge to be applied to your phone bill a request MUST have been made. Content services are requested by either entering your mobile/cell number on an internet site, or by sending a message to an advertised premium SMS number. An SMS message is then sent to your phone requiring you to reply alternatively you may be issued with a PIN that you have to type in to a website. Those checks are done in order to verify that the service request is valid.
You may cancel this service at anytime by replying STOP to any SMS message you have received from that service number. This is a standard policy for all numbers offering mobile/cell content.
Kind regards SMSHelpDesk.”
No matter what email message I sent I got the same standard reply which of course was assuming I was another dude wanting to stop the rip off.
I rang the landline number and got the same message as with the 1300 number.
But now I was really cheesed off. I rang Telstra who were helpful and put me onto a Telstra ombudsman who was also helpful and who put me onto an on-the-ball Telstra investigative service.
They checked out the situation, and got back to after a few days saying I wouldn’t be getting any more problems from Sol Mobile, or any more bills and that I wouldn’t have to pay the amount owing. Plus they said they checked my bill that is about to be sent and there’s more of these cursed charges. But those charges too will not have to be paid.
Meanwhile they are adding my complaint to a data base to check how widespread the problem is.
The Telstra Ombudsman number is 1800 062 058.
Sol Mobiles lists most major telco’s as their “partners” so if you are with Optus for example, ask them to fix it and if they won’t or can’t, try contacting the Telstra ombudsman because they will probably be able to guide you to someone who can deal with the problems.
The entire process took me about two hours but I saved myself at least $60 plus, and more importantly I got some satisfaction. I didn’t feel powerless. So if you too have been ripped off, help put these people out of business.
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Comment by Savv
Cheers