Every once in a while, we receive spam messages from tuition centres, loansharks, property agents…
And more often than not, they will work their magic on you and make you pay for their “services”.
Then, they will disappear into thin air.
According to The Straits Times, some Singtel customers said that they received “subscription confirmations” for mobile services that they did not sign up for.
Personal experience
IT consultant Alexander Lim received an SMS on Jan 27, notifying him that he had subscribed to a service called Unlimited Gamez.
Ok, first of all, what kind of a name is that?!
He also received a renewal notice on week later.
Alexander ignored these messages as he thought that they were spam messages.
Lo and behold, he saw an extra $9.98 charged in this phone bill.
“I don’t really play games and I’ve never purchased anything from the app store – I definitely did not opt in to this,” he said.
He tried to call the hotline and access the unsubscribe link provided in the SMSes but they did not work.
When he contacted Singtel, they agreed to waive the charges, and activated the premium rate services (PRS) barring service for him.
This service blocks chargeable mobile content.
It did not work. More messages came in, and some were from game services Cool 360 Virtual Reality and FunGames.
Not just him
There were at least twenty other people who were affected by this, and most of them received messages regarding their subscription to Unlimited Gamez.
However, some customers voiced out that the messages kept on coming in even when the PRS barring service is activated.
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You can’t escape
The links to unsubscribe doesn’t work as well.
These game services may send the customer a message saying that it’s cancelled, but they send another saying that they’re subscribed again just minutes later.
Some messages don’t even have an option to unsubscribe!
The hotline numbers didn’t work as well, and some providers even gave the same hotline number.
Guidelines
According to Singtel, they have “strict guidelines” for third-party content providers.
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It is necessary to have a three-step registration process, and also provide instructions on how to unsubscribe.
The subscription process requires consumers to take multiple steps and authenticate the subscription request with a purchase keyword before activating the subscription.
These content providers must also have to provide a hotline number for users to call for assistance.
Singtel
Singtel says that there is a “process gap in the updating of information to content providers”.
This has resulted in some customers receiving pre-renewal SMSes even though they unsubscribed and activated PRS barring.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and will be reviewing our process urgently to ensure this does not happen again”, a Singtel spokesman said.
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Not to worry, once PRS barring has been activated, there will be no additional charges relating to PRS content.
Other service providers
Because we’re Singaporeans and we like to compare and complain, here’s what’s going on with the other service providers:
StarHub
StarHub said that in addition to ensuring strict compliance to the code, they work with only a handful of PRS providers.
This helps to protect its customers, and limit the number of customer enquiries on PRS providers.
M1
M1 said that Unlimited Gamez is not one of their partners, and did not provide any information for PRS-related guidelines and the number of complaints.
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Hmm…
Need help?
If you have unresolved disputes, please approach Case for further assistance at www.case.org.sg, or through its hotline at 6100-0315.
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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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Featured Image: The Straits Times
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