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Gag me with a spoonful of maggots. I had to stop watching at 2:45 where his guest list was shown. I’d pay money to have those folks no where near me.
But–just another instance of the lack of CONSUMER PROTECTION from obvious criminality. Surprise (really–for true) that these “mandatory opt out” provisions aren’t already illegal.
All big business is corrupt. “Thank you for using Comcast today” as if I had a choice.
Thanks for the heads up. Time to go pore over the phone bill.
Man! Why didn’t I think of that? It’s so simple! These freaking idiots are too stupid to read their bill and just send money to me every month! I’m going to have to work on a new business plan 🙂
Seriously… This is ingenious!
I fell for one of these scams the other week. I texted some number to receive a coupon code for GAP, to which that notorious opt out message appeared. Thank god for well researched slickdealers, the wiki just had a huge warning with opt out instructions. 🙂
About 12 months ago I had to help a co-worker deal with this exact problem. There was a $3.99 fee for a mystery subscription on her last few cell phone bills.
I called AT&T and they canceled the subscription and explained that we probally got a text message and did not reply STOP. If I recall they refunded a few months but she and I were very pissed to say the least.
Ok did a little research.
According to Verizon
http://tinyurl.com/6j7aehj
you are opting in to this by tricked websites. Verizon’s is suing because JAWA and company set up shell websites. That appeared to be up to Verizon’s standards will all disclaimer when they really didn’t.
90 – 95 %
The simple reason these scams work is because your cellphone bill is so complicated, and contains so many damn added charges.
How about a 49.99 a month cell phone service costing 49.99?????
The simple reason these scams work is because the large Telco’s are in on the scam. They directly profit and no doubt they lobby for such mechanisms to be legal.
Its fraud and should be illegal. The fact that Telco’s go along with it is a good measure of their corruption and “who” our government is really all about serving.
Its right there: just LOOK!
How sad that people are getting wealthy on this kind of scam. What’s even worse is the number of people who will work for such a scammer and not think twice about it. I just got scammed at Cash4Laptops.com. They quoted me $322 for a 6month old used Laptop and they offered me $145!
I consider myself a very smart consumer. But I really felt ripped off.
What we need is a Government FTC that has some real teeth to stop some of this. Its obviously genius to scam so little people hardly notice the fee’s.
Look at how many businesses legally charge fee’s with little or no overhead on their part. Its just a fee.
jescott418 is on to something — what does it say about our economy/society when someone can have a ‘legitimate’ business and get rich and build the modern-day equivalent of a freaking castle, and yet they contribute absolutely NOTHING (positive) to society/world/etc. The business model is not making something useful or providing a needed — or even WANTED — service, rather, just *stealing* from people’s pockets (more or less). We live in dark days…
Well, if you had a phone that was just a phone, and didn’t do stupid things like text with it, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Well, if you actually looked at your bills before paying them, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Well, if you had some self control such that you didn’t generate a 38 page cell phone bill to being with, it wouldn’t be a problem.
Well, if you didn’t allow anything except phone service on your cell phone bill it wouldn’t be a problem.
Me? I gave up paying the cheapest, grandfathered in $19 a month ATT cell plan ($25 with the taxes) where I never even used up the minutes. I switched to a prepaid that I have to put $15 a month into, and even there, I don’t use it up. It accumulates and I have something like $80 on it now. I guess I could call my sister and have her blabber on for a few hours….
I use “P.O.T.S.” and don’t have that problem.
My problem is charges, fees, and taxes that add up to 10% of the basic charge.
WOW,
so we have the ability to send SPAMMERS on the net to JAIL, but a cellphone scammer?? wont go to jail??
Wow, I’ve gotten several of those in the past 2 months. I figured if you responded that they would then know it was a legitimate number and then the real spamming would begin. I guess I now have to start looking at my bills.
Nice! I like investigative journalism like this! But wait – I did not see anything about this in the media… How come?
This is happening with Canadian cell companies too. I purchased a new phone with a new number in October and received a similar text message about a month later telling me to text back “STOP” to not be charged (some sort of celebrity news service, which I never signed up for or received updates from). To be clear, the only companies that had this number was Telus and Future Shop (where I bought the phone).
So, thinking that it was spam, I ignored it, like we’ve been told so long to do regarding email spam. Sure enough, when my bill came in, there was a text message charge. I called Telus to complain and try to have them explain to me how someone can just charge me without confirmation. She told me that is how the system works and if I receive another message like that to text back “STOP”. My account was credited the amount, but obviously these scammers are making millions doing this.
Follow John’s advice and Never do business with ATT.I use a prepaid plan and have not had a problem.ATT sucks you dry.
#18 You think these twits actually do research and care about consumers? Most of them learn about something from bloggers then they repeat what each other says.
The next point is toxic. They aren’t going to air anything that might hack off an add buying client. Adam and John are right about that.
And of course the true job of Congress and the White House is to sell out the voters and they are willing to do it for chump change.
This type of fraud is called “cramming” because the bogus charge is “crammed” at the end of the billing statement.
There is the case of Willoughby Farr who operated shell companies from a jail cell in Palm Beach County Florida 6 or 7 years ago. He made millions of dollars and his associates purchased real estate, luxery items, etc.
Some of his shell companies and business associates may still be operating.
#11 jescott 418 & #12 alt173 – Check out the 2006 documentary “Maxed Out” about the credit card industry.
Well, I tried to shut off premium messaging….
After about five minutes of rummaging through their web site, I found the box to check.
The web site told me it couldn’t process the update, and that I should call Customer Service….
Guess I gotta think about dropping Verizon….
Everyone affected by this should go to Scottsdale and send Jason a text message, say painted on a brick and thrown through the windshield of one of his Lamborghinis. The message could say “cram this up your (fill in an appropriate body cavity)”. Or perhaps through an ATT corporate office window.
This type of sleazy, greedy parasitic corporate behavior should be countered by physical consequences.
another reason not to have a cell phone
This is why I ended up dropping the iPhone and switched to a pre-paid plan, and just opted out of SMS culture. Now I pay something like $25 a month for my TracPhone… Right now I have something like 250 minutes and 3 years of service…
My TracFone is looking better and better. $20 every 90 days, period.
When I traded my cell phone for a home phone after having a cell for four years, I was much happier. It was very refreshing not to be bothered by people I didn’t always want to talk to while I was going about my business.
Sure, I could choose not answer the phone, but it’s still in my mind that someone is calling. I could also turn the phone off, but people would complain and ask why I had my cell phone off.
The bottom line, for me, is that I found it almost theraputic to have the option to mentally prepare myself for people I usually did not want to talk to by having them use my answering machine.
For those needing a cell phone for business and work, you have my sympathy. For those falling victim to cell phone scams, you have my deepest sympathy.
ATT did this to me. Simply added ‘Can Int Dial’ to my bill for two years before I noticed it. ‘Canadian International Dialing’
And I have never called Canada. They would
only refund me 6 months. I didn’t know it was one of their scams. If we did it, we would be in jail.