Ruth666:So I'm sitting here at my desk and my phone plays its "you have a text message" tune. Three times.
Not being a teenaged girl, you might imagine the number of text messages I get is pretty low, so this is unusual.
I look at the messages, and they are all from 90900, the Joke of the Day mobile phone service (jokemobi.com).
The first message gives me the PIN I will need to start the service, and the next two messages are a second invitation and the first joke.
I NEVER ASKED TO GET THIS and I din't reply with the PIN number to start the service, but just to be safe I call AT&T and what do you know, WITHOUT MY PERMISSION they have enrolled me in this and already charged me $9.99.
How does it relate to LA? I'd love to know how many other people here have had this happen, and if any lawyers are interested in making these guys stop. I'm thinking class action lawsuits probably work that way (I could be wrong).
It's not just them sending unsolicited invitations (which suck because I'm charged for text messages) - what totally freaks me out that they just signed me up and started charging me without my permission.
How many people are being charged by them (and maybe others like them) without their knowledge???
UPDATE:
I sent a hostile email through the link on their website, and got this emailed response within a few minutes:
We, apologize for the misunderstanding.
Your cell number below will be removed from our service. Please allow 48 hours for the change to take effect.
Your cell account may have been charged our $9.99 monthly fee. If you reply to this email with a mailing address, we will send a refund.
Any lawyers out there who'd like to go after these creeps? It's one thing to send one email looking for subscribers (annoying) and quite another to sign us up and begin billing without permission.
Comments (8)
Comments on this Entry:
(Pushing Tide onAug 29, 2007 5:20 PM)Yep. Got that too. Only this was because I just happened to look at my statement and see I had a 9.99 charge and a 2.99 charge on it....for tetris and something else. I called them and they said "oh, that happens automatically, i'll just take it off"Fuck them. If I didn't see it, I would have paid for it. How many people don't see it? fuckers.
(frazgo onAug 29, 2007 5:33 PM)Fuck that shit. Can I join? I cancelled my teens texting as it just wasn't needed. AT&T enrolled her into a pay as you go plan without my knowledge or consent and I got fucked with a $170 bill and their position is too bad so sad.
(Diego onAug 29, 2007 5:35 PM)I got it too while I was in Mexico, so I had to endure about a week of text messages because I could not respond. I hated it. What number did you call?
(metoo onAug 29, 2007 5:37 PM)I handle cell phones for the small company I work at. 4 months in a row the phone of a 60 year-old guy I work with was charged $9.99 by Mblox. He swears up and down he's never even sent a text. I believe him because he doesn't even know how to save phone numbers on his phone (people just call him). Every month, I'd call Cingular and get the charges reversed. After I got really sick and tired of calling Cingular every month, I canceled the ability for him to receive texts.These rackets are rampant.
(cybele onAug 29, 2007 6:53 PM)Definitely, everyone should contact your wireless service (they may ask you to forward the message).I've had phone spam before and got them to reverse the charge for the message (I don't have text service on my calling plan).Don't wait to call, as metoo mentions, these are fraud rackets and who knows what you'll get caught up in. The earlier AT&T (and others) know about it, the sooner they can get the plague out of their system.Consumerist covered some of the third party charge scams on wireless services recently.
(coffee burt onAug 29, 2007 6:57 PM)This is an outrage. Ruth, may I suggest.....it's time to whip up some insane new cocktail!!!! CHEERS!!!!
(Jenny onAug 29, 2007 7:14 PM)That sucks!But I'm dying to know...what was the joke?!
(edwoodca onAug 30, 2007 4:20 AM)"...and the name of the act is... The Aristocrats!"[cue: crickets]