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links to other SOS Premium Rate pages..
Unwanted premium rate text services - the good news.. how you can stop them
If you are receiving premium rate text messages, typically costing £1.50 per message, then there is now a universal command to stop them.
Simply text back to the 4 or 5 digit number with JUST the words:
"STOP ALL"
(minus the quotes)
This is being much more robustly policed now and will work in most cases. If STOP ALL doesn't work, try STOP on its own. When you have successfully cancelled a subscription, you should then receive a further text confirming this, which will be sent free of charge (it should start with something like 'Free message').
REFUNDS
If you believe you never signed up to a service in the first place and shouldn't have been charged, you can attempt to get a refund from either the 'service provider' or failing that your mobile phone network.
To do so, you will need to be able to contact the 'service provider' - if you can't find their website or other contact details, then you will need to use a 'number checker' to find out which company is responsible for sending them.
Here are 2 number checkers I am aware of:
ICSTIS's number checker
Three's number checker
STOP NOT WORKING?
If you have tried STOP and STOP ALL and neither are working then our advice is as follows:
1) please - you MUST try and post on the forum to tell us and other consumers. Where we see such reports Grumbletext will itself sign up to the service and then attempt to stop it - if we can't STOP a particular service, then we have something up our sleave (for the next few weeks at least) which could make life pretty uncomfortable for whichever 'service provider' is responsible.
2) contact your mobile phone provider and report it to them - require that they get the service stopped for you. Here is a list of links to the mobile phone operators conctact details:
Three contact details: - good page devoted to premium rate SMS including shortcode checker
Vodafone contact details
O2 contact details: - if you are unhappy about the way in which your enquiry is then handled http://www.o2.co.uk/help/complaint/0,,500,00.html.
Virgin Mobile contact details
Orange contact details
T-Mobile contact details
3) You can also try contacting the 'service provider' directly to request them to cancel you from the service. in the absence of contact info in the texts, to get the contact details for any particular service use one of the following links:
ICSTIS's number checker
Three's number checker
4) If you can't get the contact info from these links, then you need to either call your mobile network operator, or you can call ICSTIS, the premium rate regulator, on 0800 500212 (freefone). If you call ICSTIS, then please be sure to make a formal complaint about the service to them - they aren't likely to be able to get you a refund, but they will do an enquiry on the service provider, which is often then fined.
The mobile operators recently strenghened their own rules on how the 'service providers' are required to advertise and run these services - if properly policed, these new measures should go a fair way to improving the problems in this area. Read the press announcement on the ICSTIS website.
Grumbletext's STOP non-compliance reporting tool has unfortunately been discontinued - please click here for the background.
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