Budget buster: beware of solow.com and sendmemobile.com

[purplegirl247]

Long but important!

Checked my Verizon account today and it was $20 more expensive than usual (our bill is exactly the same every month). Called Verizon to find out why and they say it's due to a third-party premium text messaging service on my husband's phone number: $9.99 per text message!

I said my husband would never sign up for something so stupid. The CSR said that the charges were for either solow.com or www.sendmemobile.com. I asked him to remove the charges and he said he couldn't, since it was a third-party company. I then asked him if there was any way to prevent this from happening again, and he said he could put a block on all our phones. I said yes, go ahead!

Did a quick google search and apparently this is the type of thing that usually dings you when you're on facebook and you fill out some sort of IQ quiz (or something related). They ask for your cell number so they can send your results and ta-da! you're signed up for this scam. My husband isn't on facebook (he was recently laid off so he's been doing a lot of job hunting online though) so who knows what happened. **It can affect any wireless carrier, not just Verizon.**

I asked Hubby if he had gotten any weird text messages lately and he said yes, at least six! I immediately had him call the number I found online, but it was just automated and you could only remove yourself from the list, not talk to a live person. I sent an e-mail, but I doubt anything will come of that. If we only got charged $20 for last month, that means we're in for at least another $40 next month! Great timing, since he hasn't worked for the past 5 weeks.

I can't believe it's possible/legal for a random third-party vendor to charge your wireless bill! I would think...I don't know...that only your wireless company should be able to charge you!

Anyway, you might want to:
1. Call your wireless carrier and pre-emptively ask for a block for any third-party text messaging.
2. Be very wary of any spam you get on your cell phone; you might end up being charged for it!
3. Go into a cave and hide, 'cause apparently there's no getting away from spam!!! At least e-mail spam doesn't charge you for it!

 

[Kristi1357]

This also happened to us and I think it's outrageous that Verizon does nothing to stop it. I "need" third party text messaging!

At least you got the company names out of them - they wouldn't help us at all.

 

[tinkabella627]

Something like this happened to my mom once and they did take the charges off. Maybe you could try to call back and ask another person. Explain to them that you never signed up for these and had been getting weird texts but deleting them because you didn't think they were meant for you, wrong number, whatever the case may be. Worth a try.

 

[DisneyLover83]

This happened to us a few months ago also. Verizon would not remove the charges for us either but did block premium messages from our plan. Ours was somehow connected to registering for Photobucket

 

[mantaz]

But they should be able to give you the name and number of the person who is charging you. I had a company do that to my house phone. I know I didn't sign up for any kind of diet plan on line. My phone is set up to block 3rd party billing. But after 3 emails and no response, I called. Told me it had billed but they were crediting me too. Got the $15 credit but never did get charged for it. You should be able to dispute the charge. Especially when you get your bill. I think it is wrong they do this too. I had to make my mom get 3rd party billing as she does a lot of playing around on the internet.

 

[Conway733]

We've had this happen twice now with a company called ILD. Verizon took the charges off, but I had to call ILD and cancel. I'm not even sure what ILD is, but if you google it, you get lots of info about what a scam it is.

 

[dawson5]

But they should be able to give you the name and number of the person who is charging you. I had a company do that to my house phone. I know I didn't sign up for any kind of diet plan on line. My phone is set up to block 3rd party billing. But after 3 emails and no response, I called. Told me it had billed but they were crediting me too. Got the $15 credit but never did get charged for it. You should be able to dispute the charge. Especially when you get your bill. I think it is wrong they do this too. I had to make my mom get 3rd party billing as she does a lot of playing around on the internet.

Long time ago I worked at DQ. My boss allowed someone to set up a box for a chance to win something. I don't know how many times people filled those out, I was bored one day and read the whole "rules & regulations." Yes it was a giveaway but it was also a way to change your long distance carrier. By signing up for the "giveaway" and putting your signature on it, it stated that you were giving them the right to change your long distance carrier and that you were the authorized person to make these decisions. There was a box on the back, you had to check this off to opt out of the long distance portion of the give away. I told everyone that filled one out to flip it over to opt out. Finally pointed out all the info to my boss and he threw it in the trash. Beware filling out anything in stores, I always flip it over and skim it before signing my name on anything, a signature required is a red flag for me.

Also, my youngest let his cousin play games on his phone, cousin downloaded more games without my sons knowledge. Next month we were charged $10 for a premium game service that we didn't know was even available. I called Sprint, they took it off and blocked the ability to subscribe to 3rd party services.

 

[Ladysunflr]

there is always a two or three step opting in process for third party applications... always read the fine print!!!

 

[taximomfor4]

similar happened to my dd...except it was some sort of photo service she "signed up" for. ATT removed the charge, and put the block on our phones.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Happened to us for 2 companies. DS13 was downloading ringtones and didn't know he was signing up for monthly charges.

First, I was able to get the company names from Verizon and blocked all downloads to our phones.

Second, I googled and was able to get company contact info - email and phone numbers. The phone numbers turned out to only allow us to remove his phone from their lists which I did but the email addresses turned out to be just fine for contacting the companies.

Third, emailed both companies - one automatically credited our account since DS was underage. The other I had to argue back and forth with for a couple of months and I contacted the FTC and Better Business Bureau for the companies state. I was able to get the 9.99 removed from our account.

I also filed a complaint with Verizon so they would hopefully stop allowing companies to bill 3rd party charges onto peoples bills. DS13 would have never been able to download ringtones if he'd had to pay for them seperately because he doesn't have a CC. I don't know if it will ever happen but at least I tried.

Good luck OP.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I had the same thing happen to me, it was from facebook and my sister used my cell number because the message kept saying hers was blocked so she tried mine. She didn't have a clue. Of course I got charged and called Verizon. The lady on the phone took off the charges and gave me a number to text to and spell STOP. I also had them block the 3rd party texting.

I would call back and try and get the extra charges taken off.

 

[musicchef]

solow.com ripoff
contact San Francisco District Attorney: 415-551-9595
He is very interested in hearing from victims.

 

[trustknoone]

This happens to us all the time and Sprint is great about removing the charges.

Be aware if you have a block put on your phone you may not be able to send text msgs from your PC, like Aols instant messaging. We use this frequently and it's a real pain to have a block.

Also it's not necessarily something you signed up for it can be blind texting hoping to get a response (like cold call telemarketing) do NOT ever respond to the texts that can be what triggers a charge. I always keep the texts on the phone so I can go over it with Sprint.

 

[mjkacmom]

This happened to dd13 - verizon took the charges off as a courtesy, so maybe you can call them again, and speak to a different rep. I put blocks on all of our phones.

 

[purplegirl247]

Update: After the third time calling Verizon, I finally found someone who was sympathetic and they took off all charges. I also sent out an e-mail to pretty much everyone I know, warning them to get blocks on their lines. I think it's close to criminal that you have to call and opt out of third-party billing when most people (including me before this incident) don't even know that it's possible!

We haven't had any problems since then. *knocks on wood*

 

[mommyof3princess27]

i had that on mine but mine was jamster? $9.99 a month!!! I had it taken off immediately

 

[marsha123]

thanks op, just called to get mine blocked and we have 5 phones on our verizon account. one phone has the 9.99 charge. i have to text stop to some number from that phone and they will credit my account. thanks again as i had never thought to block

 

[bumbershoot]

Long time ago I worked at DQ. My boss allowed someone to set up a box for a chance to win something. I don't know how many times people filled those out, I was bored one day and read the whole "rules & regulations." Yes it was a giveaway but it was also a way to change your long distance carrier. By signing up for the "giveaway" and putting your signature on it, it stated that you were giving them the right to change your long distance carrier and that you were the authorized person to make these decisions. There was a box on the back, you had to check this off to opt out of the long distance portion of the give away. I told everyone that filled one out to flip it over to opt out. Finally pointed out all the info to my boss and he threw it in the trash. Beware filling out anything in stores, I always flip it over and skim it before signing my name on anything, a signature required is a red flag for me.

I agree.

The other week I was on a rewards site I do, and a link to dietbug dot com said I'd get x cents for signing up, so OK. I'm going through, and this one page looked like I *had to* give them my phone number and other info, so I filled it in, then they had a checkbox saying that clicking it meant I agreed to their terms and conditions (which was a link) and I HAD to click the box to do whatever. So I click the T&C, read through the java box that popped up, and down at the bottom....paraphrasing...."you are agreeing to xyz voicemail service and we will charge you 9.99 through your phone company". Uh, NO. So I went back to the page, and looked carefully...turns out it was sort of a page within a page, and there was a button to go further UNDER a different button to go further. I unchecked the box, cleared my phone info out, clicked the lower buttton, and hey, dietbug account wihtout having a phone number. I didn't get credit for doing it, but I also did let the site owner know so they could put a warning on the page to read everything.

I'm SURE that those are sitting around on many things we sign up for. Like when I order from shoebuy, and at the end of the purchase there's a link to get $10 towards a future purchase. It's all on the page that you're signing up for a certain service, it's free for x weeks, and after that it'll be $y to continue unless you cancel. Very few people read all of that, and that's how they get you.

When signing up for things, read! I don't do any facebook apps, b/c just the box you check after clicking on the app states that you're giving up all your info, and I don't want to do that.

Also it's not necessarily something you signed up for it can be blind texting hoping to get a response (like cold call telemarketing) do NOT ever respond to the texts that can be what triggers a charge.

Ruh roh....

 

[tasha99]

Long but important!

Checked my Verizon account today and it was $20 more expensive than usual (our bill is exactly the same every month). Called Verizon to find out why and they say it's due to a third-party premium text messaging service on my husband's phone number: $9.99 per text message!

I said my husband would never sign up for something so stupid. The CSR said that the charges were for either solow.com or www.sendmemobile.com. I asked him to remove the charges and he said he couldn't, since it was a third-party company. I then asked him if there was any way to prevent this from happening again, and he said he could put a block on all our phones. I said yes, go ahead!

Did a quick google search and apparently this is the type of thing that usually dings you when you're on facebook and you fill out some sort of IQ quiz (or something related). They ask for your cell number so they can send your results and ta-da! you're signed up for this scam. My husband isn't on facebook (he was recently laid off so he's been doing a lot of job hunting online though) so who knows what happened. **It can affect any wireless carrier, not just Verizon.**

I asked Hubby if he had gotten any weird text messages lately and he said yes, at least six! I immediately had him call the number I found online, but it was just automated and you could only remove yourself from the list, not talk to a live person. I sent an e-mail, but I doubt anything will come of that. If we only got charged $20 for last month, that means we're in for at least another $40 next month! Great timing, since he hasn't worked for the past 5 weeks.

I can't believe it's possible/legal for a random third-party vendor to charge your wireless bill! I would think...I don't know...that only your wireless company should be able to charge you!

Anyway, you might want to:
1. Call your wireless carrier and pre-emptively ask for a block for any third-party text messaging.
2. Be very wary of any spam you get on your cell phone; you might end up being charged for it!
3. Go into a cave and hide, 'cause apparently there's no getting away from spam!!! At least e-mail spam doesn't charge you for it!

I had a similar issue on my daughter's phone a few years ago. Verizon wasn't going to do anything about it ($75!). I paid but wrote to the BBB and prepared a package for my atty general. Never had to mail the package--even though Verizon customer service was no help, once I made a bbb complaint, they gave me a $75 credit on my bill. It's scandalous that they participate in this type of fraud by doing the fraudster's billing. That's what I wrote in my complaint and at least someone higher up listened.

 

[dewdropfairy]

solow.com ripoff
contact San Francisco District Attorney: 415-551-9595
He is very interested in hearing from victims.

How do you know he is? Who is he, anyway? The San Francisco DA happens to be a woman. The number might be right, but I'm curious why you posted it since you obviously didn't discuss it with the DA.

OP, thanks for the heads up. I'll mention it to my dad too, since he has just gotten started on Facebook.