It may come as a surprise, but some scams that are even older than the smartphone are still taking advantage of people. One such scam may not be considered a scam to others, but to the more tech minded people-it is. This scam comes in the form of a text message, actually a “premium” text message. However, T-Mobile is on to the “Premium” text, and is going to help save us from ourselves.
This trick is an old one, but surprisingly people still fall for it. A “premium” text or “premium” SMS comes in many different forms-weather, horoscopes, contests, pretty much anything you can find on the internet. Which is why back in November, T-Mobile announced they would put a stop to this. T-Mobile had announced that they would no longer allow premium text vendors to charge their customers for their services-at least not through the carrier. The way it works is you get a text message that has an offer and asks for a reply. Once you reply, the vendor charged your account 99 cents-sometimes more. Usually, these texts ended with the words “reply ‘stop’ to cancel.” One of the problems was, when you replied “stop” you’d still get charged. Now, with the internet only one click away at all times, there’s no need to get weather updates, horoscopes or anything like that by text message. That said, T-Mobile has pulled back their defense and is moving to offense.
Though T-Mobile has made an effort to prevent these texts from happening, some slipped through the cracks-but T-Mobile has an answer for that as well. In a move that only says “we care about our customers” T-Mobile has announced that they are going to pay back every penny to the people who fell for these unneeded services. Everyone who has been charged for a “premium” SMS since T-Mobile made that announcement back in November will be refunded for each one. T-Mobile even plans on refunding former customers, meaning even if you’re no longer with the carrier.
Starting in July and going through September, T-Mobile will be notifying everyone who is entitled to a refund. This notification will let everyone know how to claim the refund. There was no word on how they plan on contacting everyone, but surely they will get this done. “Beginning in July and running through September, T-Mobile will notify current and former customers who paid for Premium SMS services and have not already received a refund to let them know the process to request a summary of these charges and then request a refund for charges that were not authorized. A special website will also be available in July to provide further information.” Mike Sievert, Chief Marketing Officer at T-Mobile said, “If customers were charged for services they didn’t want, we’ll make it right. That’s being the Un-Carrier.” Think back to 7 months ago, were you part of T-Mobile’s network and getting these “Premium” texts? Well get ready to get a refund, and let us know, what was the service you last remember getting a “Premium” text from?