Vox’s posts tagged ofcom

Bugger, forgot to record that call! Tiscal-wags...

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:31:37 +0000

They hadn't got back to me, so I thought I'd give 'em a call and see what's up. Ended up explaining my situation to yet another person and as helpful as they were, they couldn't guarantee anything. I don't think anyone was really going to call me back either, they just said that last time to get me off the phone.

So what now? Well they might get back to me tomorrow but maybe not. I really need to have an official complaint thingy from OFCOM and CISAS if I want to do things properly. If I remember correctly CISAS only get involved after 3 months! Er, I kinda want my money back today.

I was made to feel bad that if I got help today it would be at the expense of all the other people in the queue. I don't like to queue jump so of course I'd feel like a bastard for doing so. However, I want my money back today and I have no idea how long the queue of complainents is (doing a Google would suggest there could be tens of thousands of people ahead of me!)

Now what? Well I can ring India again and see where I get. I'm also in London on Wednesday, so doorstepping their HQ seems like a mighty fine idea. I know where it is as I've been past it enough times.

All this because they overcharged me £6 a month for many months, so decide to cancel and had £108 taken from my account for no reason, no permission. Why can't they just simply credit my money back and let me move on?

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Tell me your story. Have you been fleeced by SMS spanners?

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 03:40:57 +0000

That's not a typo, I meant SPANNER, 'cause that's what they are... tools! Oh, enough of my never ending wit already...

Regulate this!

I would love to hear from those of you that have had a run in with PhonepayPlus/ICSTIS maybe even OFCOM or OFTEL, ~~PayPal~~ or ~~PalPlus~~. Whatever they like to be called on a Tuesday! Crikey, it's Tuesday already!

Of equal interest to me and presumably the majority of the people reading my Fraudwatch posts (remember don't have nightmares, goodnight and good luck) are the perpertrators and enablers, the likes of mBlox and the Tanla's and Spread Media's of this world. Anyone got any stories about these less than savoury folk (oh I hate biting my tongue!)

The world (okay the UK) needs to hear your story, so please get in touch. I know you're reading as lots of people were checking out my latest Fraudwatch posts, from across the country - and they can't all be Andrew Bud (scroll to comments for a treat) or David Shepard.

BTW for those new to my blog, Andrew Bud's company is in cahoots with the scammers and he is also The Regulator - I'll be back... to steal your money!

The Bud-dy Movie of the Year!

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

PHONEBrain: Patronising crap from PhonepayPlus

nobody@vox.com(Ant UK) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:13:36 +0000

Oh this really does take the piece of pie. I've just come across the most annoying website I've seen in a long time. What to check it too? Here's PhonepayPlus's 'How to patronise the yoof 101':

PHONEbrainless

I don´t even know where to start with this one. CBBC were involved in some dodgy phone voting themselves. I personally recommend telling kids and adults don't use shortcodes at all if you can help it. Do you really need to vote someone off an island, singing contest or jungle? No, I didn't think you did. Do you really need a crappy ringtone that costs more than the real song on iTunes? No, of course you don't. Do you really want to show off your individuality and creativity by downloading a crappy jpg of what you've seen in some magazine or other? No, why would you?!

Unfortunately PHONEbrain is run by an organisation whose members make money from the above - That's why you won't see them recommending the yoof leave these services well alone. It'd be silly for them to give up their cash cow that is us, the unsuspecting public. But even if you avoid all premium services it won't make you completely immune to bill-shock. You don't need to call or text any premium rate service or shortcode to end up with a nasty surprise. And I'm sure there's been a time when many on prepay/PAYG needed to call mum or dad and were left with no credit because of this.

Doin my PHONEbrain in!

Notice that they now offer a service called SMSus. It can cost upto 12p to call and what it does is tell you who ~~scammed you~~ sent you a lovely premium message that you of course opt-ed into. Kinda interesting that PhonepayPlus.org.uk has no mention of paying upto 12p for the same service...

How much does it cost, who knows!

This would appear to suggest that texting 76787 is completely free. There's no mention of 'never more than 12p' If the industry regulator can't even offer a service involving shortcodes without mudding the waters, how do we expect them to regulator the likes of mBlox?

Oh, and hi to "client use" in London (if that is your real name!) - Repeated visits over four and a half hours? You're taking a lot of interest in my posts about these shennanigans. I just missed you half an hour ago but hopefully you'll come back and read this. Remember, if you're from mBlox and/or are in any way responsible for the the shortcode 84566 you owe me £1.50 for every page hit I get from your IP address. I'll be dropping by your London office(s) to collect, so don't forget! And as a treat, I'll be Qik-ing it live to the interweb.

And if "client use" is a fellow victim, please get in touch I'd love to find out more. Alternatively it could be PhonepayPlus, but you way as well be mBlox for all the good you do. Useless bunch of muppets.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend