While paying my bills today, I noticed on my wireless bill, an additional charge for an item called “Premium TXT Messaging” service.
I am proud to admit, I did NOT use my cell phone for anything other than placing or receiving a call.
I have occasionally used my cell phone to verify accounts, Google, Facebook, etc., but that is it.
I do not do ring tones, or games or any text messaging.
I am boring on my cell phone.
So I was a little surprised to see two charges for this “Premium TXT Messaging” service.
I went online to my carrier’s website, logged in and found that there was no additional information on these charges, including billing contact info, so I resorted to calling my Carrier.
In talking with the Customer Service representative, I got the opinion that the Carrier has received numerous calls on this topic.
The Rep was able to provide me with a number to Text message (23687) a Cancellation request (stop), but was unable to provide a Refund for the charges, and it was up to me to contact the Vendor.
I went to the Vendor’s website, www.solow.com, and easily found a contact number: (877) 402-3687.
SoLow.com is a sister website to www.sendmemobile.com, and both websites offer Cell Phone users a chance to sign-up for games, ring tones, etc.
Again, I do NOT use any of these enhancements, and was prepared to do some battle for a refund.
When I got a human on the first try, I was surprised. I explained my situation, and requested a refund.
I was told that they would be more then happy to take my number off their list and block any additional requests from my phone, but could not offer me a refund.
I said to the representative that I would blog about my experience, and would suggest a deceptive business practice, at which point she offered me a “Complimentary” Refund for one of the charges.
I tried to get a second one, but no luck.
In 2-3 weeks, I should be getting a check.
We’ll see.
In the mean time, I did a quick Google search on SoLow.com, and found the following:
One of the complaints suggests that the Vendor got the Users Cell Phone number from a Facebook game…
I am not sure how this happened to me, but I just wanted to illustrate how easy it can happen.
I know I have some Lawyers in my audience, is there anything else I can do?
Bottom line – Keep an eye on your Cell Phone bill.
– Andrew