Hi everyone,

Nicolas from Rogers here. We have great SMS news that will now help you manage your Premium SMS messages easier.

We provide a $40 monthly subscription cap for premium SMS programs, so when your subscription to a premium SMS program reaches $40 you won’t receive any more texts or charges.

Rogers and Fido are the only Canadian carriers to also offer other ways to manage these messages. You can now block all premium SMS messages, receive a reminder when you reach $100 for SMS chat programs, and you will now see detailed information on third party premium SMS message services on your bill so if you have questions about a charge, you can easily contact the message provider.

You can find more details on these premium SMS management details on RedBoard http://redboard.rogers.com/2011/rogers-offers-premium-sms-choices-for-customers/.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

@RogersNicolas

Haaaaaa ! Those famous premium services !
Avoid them by becoming a responsible user, dont throw out your number on msn, facebook, blogs ect.

If you give away this info on internet, to me you deserve to get hooked by these companies.
Today it's now possible to buy things with your cellphone number and have it billed to your provider's invoice.

If a quiz, contest, advertisement asks for your cellphone number, there is something wrong and you should definetly put your pants on and look at further details on the site instead of just going on and than whine about charges they didnt expect.

I did some customer service for about 4 years under a big carrier's banner, and most of the time it's the user that was faulty. And I dont say that cause I work for one company like that cause I no longer do...

And to those that claim not to have used the service, there's so many ways to be caught with those charges, but people, stop blaming Bell, or Fido or whatever provider you are with.
Learn how to read, your bill clearly states the charges are coming from elsewhere then your phone provider and you also get the companies contact number to be able to opt out of it or dispute their charges.

If you receive weird text like these and are not responsible enough to call in about it if you really dont know what it's about and wait for such high charges previously described by so many people above, you shouldnt be having a cellphone at your charge.

Many reps actually, and very sincerly, believes people should pass an IQ test before being allowed to buy a phone, I believe the same.

Gosh it's really incredible all the dumb stuff you can hear from people over customer service, I could litteraly write a book about it.

But just going back to the main point, premium services. You pay for your services provided by your carrier so if something new shows up, it's probably not random, ask about it, why take a chance.

We get paid to answer questions, it wouldnt be right to say there is no dumb questions, but when it comes to stuff you ahve to pay might as well be aware.

Another thing concerning cellphones when you call in to have answers, listen to the answer and dont assume if you're not certain.

Anyway I could write all day long about cells services and customer services issues and enquiries but I got other things to do...

READ YOUR BILLS !

Same issue. And to the person who wrote above that somehow I must have given out my number, sorry you should be careful about disputing something that other people are experiencing. Remember for decades it was disputed with apparent facts that smoking was hazardous to health? There are many examples of this type of thing over the years.

This time its Fido and large bill just came in, most of it to third party providers. Yes I did notice some funny text messages that were cryptic at best but really, if Fido is not accountable, then why are they carrying the billing for these companies? If Fido is really not at all part of this, then these so called premium SMS providers should send us a bill by some other means that leaves the phone company out of it.

Thats like saying I carried the gun for the murderer, knew who they were but absolutely I did not commit the murder. In criminal law that's called accessory to a crime.

My dad came across the same situation as everybody here...He got charged few months ago and ate the $5 as it did not worth his time to further complain. He typed STOP.. The message stopped for a while......then he started getting them again..from 2 different companies. Be aware..the company may share your phone number to other company (I know they're not supposed to share your phone number..but they're also not supposed to spam us without our unauthorization)!
Unfortunately, there's no consumer protection in Canada for this kind of problem. You just need to eat the cost :( and everytime you got the message, reply "STOP"..it will cost u probably $5 already..but it could be worst. My dad got billed $29 + taxes for the second time!!!!

I was in contact with someone from PIAC. Please email [email protected] to share your story. They're gathering stories from people like us...hopefully they are able to propose consumer protection for premium text message victims. Help them to help us!

http://www.piac.ca/other/public_interest_news_ellphone_bills_les_prteurs_ubb_retail_price_maintenance_25_set_aside_premium_text_messaging/

Since 2006, I have been using Fido & Telus forever .. I haven't gotten any sort of SMS Premium Messages from 2006 to 2011 ..

With that said, I know for a fact that the service providers has nothing to do with it.

So if you start getting them premium messages, it's either because

#1: you have subscribed to it somehow. Even though you would say "I have not subscribed to anything of this sort." , but in fact you did but just didn't know you actually DID do it.

#2: The last owner of your number subscribed but never bothered to cancel the subscription before they changed numbers.

It's not always right to go and blame the people who works for our cellphone network providers. Before you complain, you need to investigate WHEN did you start getting charged for these, and after that, find out if anyone in your household ESPECIALLY kids, have entered your number on some sort of website without letting you know.

After all that investigations and you find nothing, then, ask your service provider if they can do something about it. They won't do anything that might end up being the cause of losing their costumers, will they?

I've just been raped by Fido, and only through complaining did I learn how to "STOP" it. I never asked to get a premium text and have been getting them for a month now. Fido reimbursed me a lousy $5 for 2 texts since my last top up. They the customer service rep said Fido makes no money off premium texts, but Fido has everything to gain for you to be wasting your airtime on them or charging a fee for a bulk texting service. I hate this company, and will attempt litigation if something like this happen again. I could switch carriers but Bell, Telus, Rogers are all scoundrels cut from the same cloth......

hi, am so glad i atlast found someone who could maybe discuss and reach a solution on this problem.its same with me, FIDO HAS CHARGED ME 63.75 DOLLARS!!for some 'premium text messages!!!this is outrageous!if FIDO was contacted by this third party for something, why didnt FIDO first contact the customer(me) before paying the bill to that company?if a person comes to my door, puts a parcel that i have not ordered,with a bill on it, and then asks bc hydro to charge me for it, will bc hydro do that? bc hydro will ask the person to collect the bill from me directly!!!wont it?or will it send me a letter asking me to pay the bill for that parcel or face power disconnection?
similarly, what has FIDO to do with this?i HAVE NOT SUBSCRIBED to any of those damned sms services, then why is FIDO trying to quarrel and fight with its customers rather than the third company that is a fraud?
WE SHOULD DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
please, help me if you can....and let me know what to do.
what would happen if i would not pay the 63.75 dollars?let them show it on my bill, i could subtract that amount plus tax and pay....cant i?
this is really really ridiculous.

Because did that with my device so get charged 5$

You pay for MSN on your cellphone 5$ and for Mobile radio A lot. This is true

We at Mobile Messenger would like to assist you with your concern or complaint. If you need assistance in regards to being unsubscribed or other related issues, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please call 1-800-416-6129 Monday to Friday 0600 – 1800 US Pacific Time or email [email protected]

Sandra
Mobile Messenger

Hi,

I work for a consumer's right defense group. We are currently looking into this issue.

We are looking for people who have been charged for prenium services without having subscribe to this service or for people who did suscrib but were unable to stop the subscription.

You can email me at [email protected] or call me 514-521-6820 ext. 240.

Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you
yannick labelle

The above post explained it perfectly! You don't get these SMS without subscribing to them somehow.
(Unless, maybe, and I think fairly unlikely, that your number was recently recycled) If I ever recieved what seemed to be a Premium SMS I would definately look into where it came from before my bill gets run up, especially if it is a new number.

To all Fido customers who see premium services charges on there bills.
First thing first, find out the 5 or 6 digit number that these SMS are coming from....create new sms with word "stop" and send it to that 5 or 6 digit number.... they will respond within 1 min to 48hours that your cell phone number was removed from there list.
Second thing you need to ask yourself is this my 1st or 2nd Fido invoice i see the charges since joining Fido OR changing my cell phone #?

If Yes?
Than there is chance that previous owner of the cell phone # signed up to this service....call Fido customer service and CSR will review the transactions on your cell phone and will credit you all those charges IF AND ONLY IF they see incoming SMS charges right away from those providers...CSR will credit it as Billing System Error, no question asked. However If they see 2 incoming SMS from this 5 or 6 digit code that wasn't charged but you where charged on the 3rd incoming SMS and every one after that from that code, it means that you signed up this service and there will NO CREDIT.

If No?
I am sorry to inform you that your responisble for charges incurred and they will be NO CREDIT.

WHY?
There 2 ways to sign up to premium services
First way, is enter your cell phone # on a website. next the website will send you no charge SMS with 4 or 5 digit pin asking you to enter that pin # back on the website. If you do enter that pin on the website, you are confirming to the website that this your cell phone number and you accept the terms and condition + charges to sign up to this service. at this time, the website my send you confirmation no charge 2nd SMS to your cell phone advising you have signed up to there service. The 3rd SMS and every SMS you receive after this will cost you between $.05 up to $8 per sms depending website

Second way, is to send sms to those 5 or 6 digit code with word "OK" or whatever key word this company advertise on there commercials.

Here are few of the website that I see a lot
Code 33777 www.mylovereadings.com $1.25 per sms
Code 33444 www.myluvcrush.ca $1.25 per sms
Code 89474 ca.yourdestinyrevealed.com/saltar $1.25 per sms
Code 88588 www.wixawin.com $2 per sms

To all Fido customers who are parents......EDUCATE your children NOT to enter yours or theirs cell phone number on any website. Based on my experience, the children or the users of the cell phones are the one who sign up, not account holder who is the one who calls in to complain about the premium charges. The reason why we don't credit these charges is because this a cost that Fido has to pay to these companies. Fido is not responsible for any charges incurred because you dealt with third party providers......These premium service companies are not scams, they are a ligit business that provide a service that have been given the green light to operate in Canada by CRTC..........

HAHA FIDO will charge you for anything! You don't even have to know what it is. They will say their plan includes such and such to get you to join, once you join, they take away some privileges included in your package, and start charging you for calls. When you complain, they will only say those minutes used are not part of your package (even though they are supposed to be)

Bad company eh? Cheating customers for money, people need to know about this man...

FYI,

After similar problems I thought it worth passing on some information for those with similar issues. First you can try and quote the consumer protection act in your province since their activities could arguably be considered that of a collection agency which are very highly regulated in all provinces.

Unfortuatly, this on did not get me as far as reading the fine print in my contract. Rogers contracts (and likely other carriers) states that all disputes must go through third party arbitration. The arbitration is not 100% binding so that afterwards either side can escalate it up to a legal matter. However, according to the contract you must first go through arbitration before you can bring them to court (or vis versa). Note that the contract even states that Rogers will cover the entire cost of mediation. You have the option of being represented by a lawyer, but it is not a requirement. Therefor, it is possible to dispute these charges at no cost to you (other then some of your precious time).

Rogers changed their tune really fast when I customer service for information on how to start the mediation process as outlined in their contract. Although I am still going though their email reply and the number, to make sure I am getting all my money back, they have at least refunded me most if not all of the money involved. Its worth noting that it would likey have cost them more to pay for mediation then the disputed billing amount. Even if Rogers won mediation they would have still lost money and they knew this (not to mention I likely had a good chance of winning).

Oh yeah? And what happens if Rogers/Fido doesn't pay this bill that the 'shady providers' send them? Will the shady providers of this crap stop?

The service providers have alot more control then you think, think about what a spam control does on your ISP's network

So if the phone provider can not verify you texted a message to recieve the premium service in the first place, or at least texted a confirmation text message if signed up online, withhold payment for these "premium services" from the provider of the content.

Hello everyone,
I see you guys have problems with unwanted SMS messages or else known as Premium srvices. Well, I work for Fido, so I can tell you what they are to resolve your problems and perhaps save you some time and money. First of, do not give out your cell phone number over the internet that is the fastest way to get scammed by these services... yes scammed! By law they have all rights to charge you as all of those companies actually notify you of a charge for their service but most people don't bother reading the whole message. also for those who dont subscribe for it they will just go ahead and send it to you as they get a chance. they way to stop these services is to reply to one of these messages and write: STOP ( letters have to be capped!!!! ) and then within 24 hours (usually right away) you will get a messages: As per your request we will stop sending you messages ( something of that sort). that is the only way. the reason why FIDO or any other provider will not reimburse you for it is BECAUSE they get billed for it themselves and they only get a small portion for the seriveces rendered. but the service providers have nothing to do with it. so hopefully this will save you some time and money :)
tae care ;)
Alexader

I've recently encountered this problem to no satisfactory reimbursement from my cell phone provider, FIDO. I'm interested in starting a class action lawsuit to recover monies charged to cell phone on the basis that these services are "fraudulent" and minors are not permitted to enter into contracts with companies that cannot be traced, or for which the cell phone service provider will not provide detailed information on the monthly billing as to what services exactly are being charged. Remember, the service provider is skimming money off the top from sub contracting their phone lines for this product. anyone who would like to join up to start a formal complaint (I am in Quebec) please email me at [email protected].

yes recycled numbers can still carry the premium message services, not everything gets taken off or is sometimes missed which may have happened in your case. usually when people sign up for premium message services they get sick of all expensive charges and change the number on the account instead of texting back stop. call your service provider and explain to them what happened, some say to bad nothing we can do, and some reverse charges. i had this happen to me before and I never got any money back then changed my number and now i work with this kind of stuff and it happens every day!! As for it get proven that you never did it, its probably not likely they can find out for sure, but good luck and hopefully it works out for you!

to pookerjams:

first thanks for the reply...however saying that "no mobility company will reverse any charges, even if you dont sign up" doesnt make sense! if I did not subscribe to a premium service I therefore did not enter into any contract with the premium service provider and cannot be charged any extra money! it is my service provider who is responsible for making business with fraudulent company. If my service provider can prove that I signed up for any premium services I will gladly pay for that...but otherwise I am not willing to...
also I was just advised by my friend, that my number (604...) could be possibly recycled and the previous owner might have subscribed to these premium services...is that provable/possible? thanks