blacbutterfly ([info]blacbutterfly) wrote,
@ 2007-10-23 12:01:00
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Current mood: angry

textcosmo.com are a pack of thieving bastards.

for the last few weeks I've been getting random spam text messages from 67778 informing me I have a premium message waiting and/or that I've qualified for some free offer from textcosmo.com. this is annoying at best, given I have no idea who these people are and have not requested anything from them. however, it gets better.

every text they send me costs me £1.50. they've sent at least three today. costing me about £4.50. and the cost is taken automatically regardless of what I do. in the last month or so they've probably cost me at least £10, probably closer to £15.

(for USAns, that's about $20-$30)

needless to say I'm more than a little fucked off about this.

Further info:

GetAFreelancer.com account

domain name lookup


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[info]_53
2007-10-23 03:57 pm UTC (link)
wow, I posted the wrong comment in the wrong post. I am epic failure today.

I meant to say, that HAS to be illegal, right? Can't you contest that with the phone company, or even call the authorities on them or something?

(Reply to this)


[info]kawaiinoir
2007-10-23 06:02 pm UTC (link)
Oh shit!! I've been getting texts from them too, though when I try to open them, nothing comes up. I've not had a bill since they started coming.. eek! I wonder what we can do??

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[info]blacbutterfly
2007-10-23 10:07 pm UTC (link)
first thing I'd suggest is texting "STOP" to 67778 as that - in theory anyway - should stop them sending any more messages, meaning at least you shouldn't keep getting money taken.

I called their "help" line but it was of little use - "no one here to answer your call, please leave your name and message", which given it's an 0870 number seems more like a scam to get more money than anything else.

someone I know suggested talking to OfCom - gonna check it out but I'm not hopeful.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]kawaiinoir
2007-10-23 10:12 pm UTC (link)
Thanks for the advice

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[info]blacbutterfly
2007-10-24 08:04 pm UTC (link)
your avatar is made of awesome. :)

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[info]kawaiinoir
2007-10-24 08:43 pm UTC (link)
Thanks :) It belonged to someone else but they kindly said I could use it :)

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(Anonymous)
2007-11-17 10:39 pm UTC (link)
I have having the exactly same problem atm, today I had £8 worth of credit on my phone,now I have £1 left. I am, (as anyone would be) really angry with this. I have even texted back 'STOP' to the them and it hasnt worked.Help?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]blacbutterfly
2007-11-18 01:58 pm UTC (link)
I haven't had any luck trying to sort it out unfortunately - the STOP thing worked for me but I'm not sure who to go to about getting money back, shutting them down, etc. been looking into it tho.

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(Anonymous)
2007-11-24 11:30 pm UTC (link)
Thankfully they have not sent me any of those texts to me since, but I am still afraid they will try and send them again next time I put credit into my phone. I seriously hope they get caught for doing this.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
textcosmo
(Anonymous)
2007-12-21 12:35 pm UTC (link)
My daughter has had problems with them too. I have contacted them by email and threatened them with the Police for theft.

I have also contacted the regulator for this industry on 0800 500212 and they are formally investigating. Textcosmo never answer their phone and I have also contacted their service provider on 0871 2230000 who have also emailed them, asking them to cease taking money off my daughter's phone. The initial email pruported to come from her provider 02, so these people are into fraud as well as theft, they are the same company as media halo, which seems to have disappeared.

Texting them 67778 does not stop them, there is some person somewhere behind this making a fortune, if I get any success I will post further.

Paddy

(Reply to this)

textcosmo
(Anonymous)
2007-12-21 03:06 pm UTC (link)
Today after complaining to the industry regulator and sending a very strong email direct to textcosmo, they replied by email asking for my address to send a refund to.

Needless to say I am happy but somewhat amazed, so will await the refund.

Paddy

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(Anonymous)
2007-12-21 04:04 pm UTC (link)
Same thing happened to me when my son complained about being charged from textcosmo, so I gave them a call directly and left a voicemail message asking them to get back to me, needless to say I was pretty pi**ed at first when my son was charged and then not being able to speak to someone - however I got a call back within an hour and was told that my son texted in YES to join the service - I also phoned up our network provider who confirmed that this was the case and a text had been sent to 67778.

The gentleman I spoke to offered a full refund and removal of the number from the database. A cheque came in the post a week later - now I make sure my son dosnt respond to any mobile adverts he's unsure of to stop the same thing happening again.

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2007-12-29 01:00 am UTC (link)
What the fuck is textcosmo. Com? Bastards are taking 1.50 off me everytime they text me, my account has apparently been topped up to 200 credits which would be very nice if i knew what it was!

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Textcosmo
(Anonymous)
2008-04-29 04:30 pm UTC (link)
Just an update, they have changed their number to 83008.

I phoned up t-mobile straight away and they have very helpfully put a bar on numbers such as this for me, after requesting that I text stop to that number, which I have done.

I hope that'll be the end of those gits, but I won't hold my breath just yet!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)
Re: Textcosmo
(Anonymous)
2008-05-15 01:53 pm UTC (link)
Further update

Textcosmo have changed their number to 80160, but that was not in use when I sent the STOP text to them. I'm not holding my breath either.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(Deleted post)

(Anonymous)
2008-04-30 04:43 pm UTC (link)
Just contacted the regulator, and this is what they told me. They also gave me a reference number.

Text "STOP ALL" to 83008.

Then call "DIALOGUE COMMUNICATIONS" on 0870 0790400 and ask for your number to be removed, and then ask for the details of the company behind 83008, (DIALOGUE COMMUNICATIONS is just the shortcode provider) and how they got your number.

Now, I followed the above advice, and according to Dialogue Communications, the company behind 83008 is "TWO SCREENS" and their direct number is 0870 479 1158.

Good luck hunting them down!

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

(Anonymous)
2008-04-30 04:46 pm UTC (link)
Last one from me. Here is TWO SCREENS, the company behind 83008, corporate web site and contact details.

http://www.twoscreens.net/contact.html

Have fun!

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(Anonymous)
2008-04-30 04:49 pm UTC (link)
And this is who to sue to get your money back.

Name & Registered Office:
TWO SCREENS LIMITED
145-157 ST. JOHN STREET
LONDON
EC1V 4PY
Company No. 06234754

Registerd company in England and Wales. The small claims court will cost you around £20, but you'll get that back if you suceed with your claim.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]blacbutterfly
2008-04-30 04:49 pm UTC (link)
whoa - good research, nice one :-). they stopped sending me messages after I texted them but I've started getting similar ones from a different service in MMS format so this should be useful.

there's *got* to be some legal avenue for this tho I'm not sure how to pursue it. they effectively stole £15 from me, and it seems to have happened to a lot of people.

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]blacbutterfly
2008-04-30 04:50 pm UTC (link)
further replies came while I was writing that one - small claims court it is!

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(Anonymous)
2008-04-30 06:16 pm UTC (link)
Here is some more info from a guy called Dave M on how you can get your number subscribed, WIHOUT EVEN DOING ANYTHING!

http://www.grumbletext.co.uk/vt.php?p=4156&subj=lsh+2402+2024+complaints+69196+complaint&highlight=

Sender: 83008

Questions: email: info@ringtoneking.co.uk or call 08701217397.
---
Sender: 83003

Ringtoneking>> Get new ringtones, logos and games from www.ringtoneking.co.uk.
---
Sender: 83003

Service Message (.../Skateboard. jad)
---
Sender: 83003

Ringtoneking>> Need help? call us on 08701217397 if you're having problems ordering!
---

Now, it wouldn't be so bad if it were just basic spam. But these are costing me £1.50 GBP each. I've received a total of 49 totalling £73.50. There is nothing that can be done, I've written to Virgin Mobile 3 times, called them 4 times, called ICSTIS 3 times, wrote to ICSTIS twice, wrote to Ringtoneking 3 times, emailed them twice, and called them 5 times, (3 times to stop any subscriptions), I've even emailed BBC's Watchdog program but had no response.

The mobile phone company (Virgin Mobile) aren't really that bothered and they just tell me that the company is nothing to do with Virgin Mobile, and because of that there's nothing that they can do, they have to refer me to ICSTIS. But they just pushed me onto the company, and when I called Ringtoneking customer support I was hung up on 2 occasions.

I really don't think I should have to hange my mobile number because (yet again) that will cost money and I don't believe I should pay to change my number just because of some companie's malpractice.

And the missing money? well, I dont think I have any chance getting that back. Changing my number woud mean they've won. They have been sending me 8 text messages a month and its getting beyond a joke.

The way it works is this: if you subscribe then they have obvious direct access to you're number and send you marketing messages, each useless in content yet very expensive. Stopping the messages is virtually impossible, unless you're the managing director's daughter, I dont think you have any chance (by direct contact) anyway. So for a start, please don't use Ringtoneking especially if you can't afford to.

Now if you don't subscribe: well, you're a bit buggered anyway.

They take the specific dialling code for a mobile company (the favourite: Virgin Mobile (07905 or 07906)). They then use the system to "guess" the next part of the number, if sussessfull, it gets sent to another part of a system whereby it "subscribes" itself via a "proxy" party. It then sends you messages and he records that you are subscribed.

So you get money taken despite not subscribing to anything.

And Virgin Mobile say they have nothing to do with the company. Well, they're shielding the situation. In fact, Ringtoneking is involved with all the mobile phone operators. The mobile phone companies aren't simply going to let Ringtoneking use carrier overhead on the network for free, are they? The mobile company gets approximately 45% of the monies requested from Ringtoneking's customers. (*or victims). So dont be fobbed off by "They're nothing to do with us" junk.

Oh and another thing. Ringtoneking is infact just a company that employs 10 people. Quite a small operation for such a big scam.

about 3 weeks ago I contacted OFFCOM. they decided to do absolutely nothing at all, and they just told me to do to the company. I take it us victims are the "little people" then. I also take it we don't have a say.

Well thats just where they're wrong, because we can all put our problems to Ringtoneking in one big complaint and maybe they can start coughing up all that cash they so wronly stole from us.

Im sorry to hear about all you're problems with this company, and I know what you're going through. Let's get this operation shut down for good.

Take it easy, and remember. never use Ringtoneking unless you can afford it.

(Reply to this)

wCRAMzUDfbSdNXrw
(Anonymous)
2008-05-23 12:18 am UTC (link)
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