Saw my cell phone bill today and there was a $9.99 charge for "Premium Services" I didn't know what that was, so I clicked on it and it said "PredictoMobile" I still didn't know what it was, so I called my cell phone carrier, T-Mobile and asked. The agent said, "Oh I know what this is coz I got stuck for $20 myself with these people!" She then told me that if you respond to some website for a free laptop, or ringtones, or wallpaper, or something, and you enter your cell phone number, you get stuck with these bogus monthly charges. She told me to text the word, "STOP" to 654654.
Now, I don't enter things for free anything because I'm a firm believer that nothing is free, but I will, on occassion, answer surveys.in this case, I don't remember what website I was on but I do recall entering my cell phone number somewhere. Then I backed out of whatever the site was coz I started to think it was scam-y. On May 3, I got a text from 4655 giving me a confirmation code to enter on my computer. I did NOT do so. After that, I got a few texts from this same number, usually saying something about predicting results for this or that — I deleted them, never expecting I was being charged for this crap!
Anyway, I was resigned to having to pay this because it didn't appear to be T-Mobile's fault, but then I thought about it and called T-Mobile back and asked if I had to pay this charge or not since I was disputing the authorization. The rep checked my bill and told me that not only was there a charge for $9.99 this month, but also one for next month. She also told me she'd put in for a credit on both of the charges and they're always approved. So just pay it this month and my next bill will reflect the credit of $19.98.
I'm writing to suggest to anyone affected by this scam that they deal directly with their cell carrier and dispute that you authorized this charge. If the carrier won't help you, I suggest you tell them - and then do - report them to the FCC for permitting unauthorized 3rd party charges. If you're trying to deal with Predicto direct, I don't think you're gonna get anywhere. I also suggest filing a complaint with the FCC against Predicto — I will be doing so myself, but want to call them because the online forms don't seem to fit this particular problem. The phone number for the FCC is 1-888-225-5322
People, please do not let this sleazy company continue to rip consumers off! If we all insist on credits from our carriers, maybe they will have some impetus to stop this scam. If we all report to the FCC, maybe it will do something. If we tell the media - perhaps though our local newspapers' op-ed pages, we may be able to get the powers that be to investigate (and hopefully shut down) these losers, and others like them. But if we simply gripe among ourselves and/or pay the charges without putting up a huge battle with our carriers, this will just go on and on (much like this consumer complaints of mine!)
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