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London, 21st September 2004
Get SMS spam? Grumbletext says it's time to turn to your mobile phone
provider
Grumbletext� (www.grumbletext.co.uk) announced today that it has
changed its recommendation for people who receive SMS spam and scams.
Grumbletext previously directed consumers to address themselves to
ICSTIS, the regulator of the premium rate industry, but changes in the
law and the inability of ICSTIS to put a stop to what is in many cases
effectively fraud, has led Grumbletext to conclude that consumers will
be best served by contacting their mobile phone company.
One issue is that there are really no reliable statistics to
determine how big the problem actually is. Unsurprisingly, the mobile
operators are not falling over themselves to publicise the scope of the
problem, since in the case of reverse billed premium rate text scams,
they themselves take a very healthy slice of the �1.50 per message
charged to your phone. However, the scale of the problem can be
perceived in the volume of complaints received by the premium rate
regulator, ICSTIS. According to Channel 4 News in July this year, ICSTIS
is besieged by 2,000 calls a day form angry consumers and the
regulator's helpline is "in meltdown".
Harris points out that anecdotal evidence isn't hard to come by. He
suggests, "If you haven't received SMS spam yourself, ask 3 friends
whether they have and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that 1, if not 2,
have done - we know the penetration of mobile phones in the UK is
astronomic, so do the math".
How do you recognise SMS spam when you get it? These days, they come
in all sorts of forms. There are date 'service' messages such as
"Text & meet someone sexy today. U can find a date or even
flirt its up to U. Join 4 just 10p. REPLY with NAME & AGE eg Sam 25.
18+", variants of which have been around for quite some time. There
are messages which say you have a new voicemail and to ring an
unrecognised number to obtain it - ask yourself this; "does this
look like my voicemail service?" If it doesn't, don't respond.
There are yet other messages which suggest you participate in SMS
'auctions'. If you don't know what a text message is about, or who it's
from, just delete it - responding might end up costing you a lot of
money.
However, the single most complained about issue on Grumbletext is
about being repeatedly sent unwanted ringtones. Whilst in principle
there is nothing wrong with a paid service which provides your mobile
phone with a new ringtone, the issue is that all these 'services' are
operated on a subscription basis, meaning you often think you are asking
for one ringtone and you start getting three or more a week. That's
assuming you asked for one in the first place - this area really is the
wild west of modern communications and there is absolutely no effective
policing of how 'service providers' (as ICSTIS terms them) operate.
Grumbletext is certainly aware of several services which apparently send
out premium rate text messages, such as ringtones (paid for each time
you receive them), which appear to have no regard for whether the
consumer subscribed for them or not. Even when a subscription request
text has been received by the service provider, the marketing which
leads to that request rarely makes it clear that you will receive
ringtones on a continuing basis - ICSTIS is in print as stating that it
has almost never seen a case where its code of conduct was complied with
in the promotion of these 'services'. The amounts of money add up and
Grumbletext has heard of people often paying �30-40 a month for these
unwanted services, sometimes as much as �20 per week, with no idea how
to get rid of them.
So how do you get rid of them? In theory, there is now a universal
unsubscribe command; you text the word STOP back to the service which is
charging you. However, when this doesn't work, up until now Grumbletext
has directed consumers to complain to ICSTIS, the premium rate
regulator. But experience has now shown that this appears to be of
little benefit to consumers. Firstly, many of the same operators are
operating minor variations of exactly the same scams they have been
operating for the last couple of years. Secondly, as mentioned above,
ICSTIS is inundated by complaints so there is usually too great a delay
in their acting against these services. Thirdly, it is hamstrung, as it
does not have the regulatory tools to do the job it is supposed to do;
the result, according to Channel 4 News is that "around 70% of
fines imposed by ICSTIS go unpaid" - Grumbletext has evidence of
this, and it is not hard to work out that if fines are ignored, then
they are no deterrent to these 'service providers'. In fairness, ICSTIS
is well aware that it has not been given the tools for the job and
appears to be lobbying hard to make the changes necessary - however, the
wheels of government turn slowly. Fourthly and lastly, ICSTIS is not in
a position to effect re-imbursement to consumers, which with the sums of
money now involved is an important issue.
Grumbletext now recommends that consumers having problems with
premium rate text messages address themselves to their mobile phone
service provider. Mobile phone operators have become a better bet in
recently history for a number of reasons. Firstly, having angry
customers phone them constantly to complain about these services costs
them a lot of money in terms of tying up customer service agents.
Secondly, since December 2003, the Privacy and Electronic Communications
(EC Directive) Regulations 2003 provide that if no 'opt-in' subscription
message has been sent to the service by the consumer then charging
consumers via these premium rate text message at �1.50 a time for an
unrequested service is illegal, and the mobile operators cannot be sure
that they would not be held responsible in law, particularly as they
share substantially in the profits of these services; and after all, it
is they who are billing you and with whom you have a contract. Thirdly,
even where the services, such as ringtones, have technically been
subscribed to, there will be a number of arguments which consumers can
use along the lines of commercial abuse, unfair terms and conditions,
and misrepresentation - again, the operators are potentially at risk of
being held liable, even though in many instances they themselves were
not the promoters and operators of these services.
Lastly, Harris advises that when dealing with the mobile operators,
as with any complaint, stay calm, be firm but polite, and if you get
nowhere with the customer service agent you speak to, notify the agent
that you wish to escalate the issue as a formal complaint.
Enquiries
Contact: Adrian Harris, LiveWebs Ltd t/a Grumbletext
Tel: 020 7751 4401 Mob: 07931 381198
Email: [email protected]
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