Australia: More Opera Telecom Complaints

[El Gringo]

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sto...000117,00.html
Superhighway robbery
Andrew Bolt
May 07, 2008

I WISH to report a robbery. Last December I started to get messages on my mobile phone - motivational ones of the kind I despise.

I had no idea who was sending them, and no idea who could want them. But there was one other thing of which I had no idea: each one cost me $2.

By chance, my wife noticed this odd $2 item that kept popping up on our Optus bill, 15 times in all.

Not our problem, said Optus, who nevertheless had taken its cut of the $30 I'd so far paid for these Premium Services messages I'd never asked for.

It gave me the number of Opera Telecom, a British "call aggregator" that had used Optus to send me this garbage. Not our problem, said Opera Telecom, which had nevertheless taken its own cut of my $30.

It in turn gave me the number of a Burnitmobile, a Canadian company that had given it these unwanted messages to pass on. And finally I reached the Burnitmobile help line and said I wanted my money back, please. This, to me, was stealing.

The girl on the other end said the company would consider my request, but I had to send all my phone records to prove which calls I'd got.

This, from the buggers who knew exactly how many calls they sent me, having billed me for every unwanted one.

I don't know if I'll get back my money, and I suspect others who've lost similar amounts will figure it's not worth that hassle chasing so little.

They'll write it off, and just block all Premium Service calls, or at least text STOP to them. Indeed, I suspect companies like Burnitmobile rather count on people giving up.

Many readers on my blog site say they've had just this trouble, having been tricked into joining a Premium Service - perhaps during some phone-in competition. How I got dragged in I cannot say, although I've found pests can sign you up through the internet.

Several say they've got Optus and Telstra to repay what they've lost. There's also a Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman, but that does little more than count your complaints -- more than 10,000 in just its first six months of taking calls, and rising.

This is robbery, with the sheriff asleep. Sure, many Premium Service outfits - even Burnitmobile, perhaps -- are honest, but if only 100,000 of us are pinged $30 a pop in this electronic wild West, that's a $3 million heist.

Only it's not just $30 - readers tell me they've picked up even spare mobile phones not used in months to find they've been charged $180 or even more for unwanted messages that just built up in their in-box.

A tip for our authorities. Force all such messages be sent with a clear warning of the cost of the call, and have a return-call function to cancel the call and the charge. Make the carriers, big enough to police these things, responsible for repaying consumers who've been burgled by phone.

There. Was that so hard?

Andrew goes 'walk about'
considering Australia's population that puts to shame our '4,500' PhonePayPlus complaints in the first three months of this year

[El Gringo]

http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/1265
Hawker slams text scams
Posted on September 16, 2008, 11.11am

Federal Member for Wannon, David Hawker, last night put the telecommunications industry on notice during a speech to the House of Representatives on the growing problem of text scams.

“Mobile service providers are going to have to sharpen up their game very quickly and stop this ridiculous practice where people are being ripped off quite dishonestly,” Mr Hawker said.

“It is clear that mobile phone service providers have to take a lot more responsibility than they do at the moment.”

Mr Hawker cited the case of a local 15-year-old girl who received an unsolicited text message and quite sensibly deleted it thinking that would be the end to it. Little did she know that by not replying with the word “STOP” her pre-paid account would be charged on an ongoing basis.

“Her father had to get onto the provider to get the money refunded, spending almost an hour in the process,” Mr Hawker said.

“To me it is analogous to getting junk mail in your mailbox: if you do not write back to the person who sent the junk mail and say ‘I do not want your product’ you are going to be billed for it.

“I do not think that is good enough.”

Mr Hawker told parliament that after warning people of these scams his office had been inundated with calls from unsuspecting mobile phone users who suddenly realised that they too were being taken advantage of under this so-called ‘premium phone charge’ that was being added to the bottom of their account.

He said he was particularly concerned that many of these scams are aimed at teenagers and children.

“It seems that there is no level below which some of these people will stoop when it comes to trying to rip off innocent consumers,” he said.

“It is a scam any way you define it, and it really has to be dealt with.

“Consumers who sign up in good faith with providers like Telstra and Optus expect better than they have got so far.

“The communications industry is on notice. I know the federal government is aware of this, but it too has to move a lot faster than it has so far.

“This ridiculous practice has to be stopped.”

who are these 'people' ?

[El Gringo]

looks like they are 'appearing' to be cracking down premium rate.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...9-8362,00.html
ACCC cracks down on SMS competition scam
September 24, 2008

IT SEEMS almost too easy. Answer a simple quiz question, send the answer away by SMS and win a $2499 MacBook Air.

Surely you know the colour of the Australian $10 note? You probably have one in your wallet.

But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission argues this high-rotation television advertisement and others like it mislead viewers.

While the quiz might have seemed like an inexpensive and entertaining diversion, quiz entrants were actually charged a $5 joining fee, sent up to 10 subsequent quiz questions at a cost of $5 each, and received an ongoing subscription of six $5 SMS messages each month. And, after shelling out $85 during their first month, curious participants might have read the terms and conditions to discover that no resident of Queensland, Victoria or the Australian Capital Territory was eligible to win the prize anyway.

The "Text and Win" Mac Air advertisement is one of three TV ads by TMG Asia Pacific that are subject to an ACCC lawsuit.

The ACCC alleges the ads failed to disclose the true cost of the competitions and is seeking injunctions against TMG, corrective advertisements and a declaration that TMG engaged in false, misleading and deceptive conduct.

The case is set for a directions hearing in the Federal Court on October 1. TMG declined to comment on the proceedings.

But this case is just one example of high-cost, premium SMS services in Australia; services that are becoming increasingly popular and an increasing target for complaints.

These services attracted almost 6000 complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman in the first three months of 2008 - more than any other facet of mobile phone use, including billing, contracts, faults and customer service.

Industry concerns

Even members of the mobile phone industry admit premium SMS services are a concern and are currently "toughening up" the industry code of conduct.

But ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel says the industry has taken too long to act, forcing the competition watchdog to take a hard line on these services.

Samuel says most premium SMS services, from games of skill to ringtone offers, are not illegal but their advertisements can be deceptive and do not make the full cost of services clear. Pricing is often hidden in small print at the bottom of a busy television advertisement, which Samuel says is "not difficult, but impossible" to read.

As these services often target young, inexperienced phone users, he says, it's not surprising many feel stung when they receive subsequent high phone bills.

"Many consumers have reported to the ACCC that they were not fully aware of the costs of the services until they received their first bill or found they had used up all their pre-paid credit," Samuel says.

Competition specialist Craig Seitam says it is a complaint he hears regularly, with many participants finding they have been charged $60 or more before they can stop it.

"If you think about your monthly mobile phone billing cycle, if you're being billed on the 20th of every month and you send a message on the 21st, it could be six weeks down the track that you find out about these charges," he says. "Also, if you're addicted to entering competitions you're not going to be entering just one of them."

Ban SMS quizzes call

Seitam, who runs http://www.shoppersbonus.com.au/, also says the profit margins on these competitions are so large, premium SMS companies have offered him a commission of $5 to $6 for every new member referred from his site.

"They need to be banned or at least much more heavily regulated," he says.

These mobile phone services are currently self-regulated with a code called the Mobile Premium Services Industry (MPSI) scheme that was approved by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in September 2006.

This code includes guidelines about the classification of content, the availability of a complaints procedure and the display of each service's nature and price in advertisements.

The code has seen compliant companies including Jamster set up 24-hour helplines and methods to block phone numbers from service subscriptions.

But Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association chief executive Chris Althaus admits the scheme has "shortcomings".

What to look for
* Find the service's fees in its terms and conditions
* Determine whether you are paying for a one-off service or an ongoing subscription
* Consider whether you will incur extra download charges
* SMS "stop" to the number in question to unsubscribe
* Complain to your phone carrier if you have been charged unfairly
* Complain to the ACCC, TIO or ACMA if unsatisfied with the response

and

http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Free-...-websites.html
ACCC sweep finds 140 potential scam websites
Wednesday, 24 September 2008

A sweep of Australian websites by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has netted 140 websites making dubious claims that will be the subject of in-depth reviews.

The sweep, conducted on Monday, was part of an global operation conducted by 20 agencies under the banner of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. The ACCC was the co-ordinator of this year’s sweep.

“Any online trader sending out what appears to be false and misleading messages will be asked to verify and substantiate their claims,” deputy ACCC chairman Peter Kell said before the sweep was launched.

"It's wrong to think the trading rules are different online. The law is the law,” he says. “When dealing with traders operating in Australia, the same basic rights apply online as they do offline."

An ACCC spokesman says the Canberra office, which led the sweep, examined around 750 websites and found 140 sites with potential problems.

Particular problem areas including ticketing sites, geneology and family history sites, lottery sites and premium mobile phone sites selling content such as ringtones.

The ACCC also looked closely at websites offering body enhancement products, complementary medicines, work-from-home schemes, communication services and environmentally safe products.

Results continue to roll in from the ACCC’s regional offices and there may also be some sites flagged by the other international agencies involved in the sweep.

[Hamlet]

What was the result of a similar investigation in New Zealand in 2007? Maybe you find it faster than me
http://www.comcom.govt.nz/MediaCentr...asiapacif.aspx

see
http://203.152.114.11/decisions/06/06287.rtf

by the way:
http://www.commsalliance.com.au/abou...municate_Apr08

[El Gringo]

"What was the result of a similar investigation in New Zealand in 2007"
they got a 'slap' on the hand

on 17 Mar 2008
http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/busin...eywords=&cmd=2

Netsize got fined £50000 for running the wixawin.com 'competition'
207 complaints

http://www.commsalliance.com.au/membership/Members
TMG and Netsize are in the same Communications Australian trade body
but why would Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu be in that trade body?

remember
http://www.ccslbvi.com/who.html
Caribbean Corporate Services Limited
PO Box 362 Road Town, Tortola
British Virgin Islands
Telephone: +1 (284) 494-6247
Facsimile: +1 (284) 494-2868

Our People

CCSL is managed by professionals with extensive international experience, who are very familiar with all aspects of doing business in the BVI.

Ralph Nabarro, Managing Director, is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, a member of ITPA, STEP and The Offshore Institute, with over 30 years professional experience in major international accounting firms in the UK and Caribbean. He founded CCSL in 1978 and was the founding partner of Deloitte & Touche in the BVI.

Under the management of Mrs Janice Skelton and Ms.Keren Frett, day-to-day operations are administered predominantly by British Virgin Islands personnel.

[glen6]

I too have been ripped off,was looking at an ad where is said win a laptop computer,to reg enter your mob no,did this and hey presto, Ihad subscribed to moby ring tones,opera telecom at $20 week, tried to cancel it but it would not let me back in,kept the failed msg to prove it,wrote to telecom australia to complain but they basicly said not their prob, take it up with op tele, never heard another word about the laptop com. glen australia

[glen6]

as a quick postscript to this, found opera telecoms number in australia 1300366702,called but surprise ,no one at home,only an answering service,left a msg but got no call back, rang the TIO telecom industry ombudsman in sydney1800001398,lodged a complaint re opera,given ref no for complaint,told by TIO to call back telstra but go higher up the food chain as it is a telstra problem as I get billed by telstra and pay my bill to telstra not opera,telstra 1800001398 were very good,lady I spoke to said she had a pile of complaints re opera,a block was placed on my mob no to bar pre sms and a refund was given to my account for the charges made by opera, so a good result,will be much more carefull next time