My husband received an unsolicited text message with a message saying that if he accurately predicted who would win a grammy he could win a $25 gift card—so he responded. There was no indication anywhere in the text that there was a fee for responding or that by responding it would subscribe him to a $9.99 monthly 'service'.
When I realized we had been charged, I got the number of this 'company', Predicto, from my cell phone carrier and called Predicto's 'customer service' (1-800-360-0518). At first, the representative tried to say that someone who was authorized to use this cell phone number had gone through an 'extensive process' to sign up for this service, including receiving a pin number, and providing extensive information to 'prove' they were an authorized user of this cell phone. Therefore, she said, there was no way she could refund the fee.
I pushed back, and told her that we did not sign up for the service, and that unless she could provide me with documentation showing me what information was used to sign up for the service, I would be reporting this company to the FCC. She tried to say that she could send me the 'terms and agreements' of the service, but I argued that just because they have terms to their service doesn't 'prove' that anyone from this number actually authorized the charges or agreed to the terms!
She then said that we had replied to the text message (received from 654654) and that was how we subscribed. When I pointed out that 1) simply texting back is not an 'extensive' authorization process and 2) there was nothing in the text message that indicated a charge would be incurred, she quickly put me on hold.
Wow... It was a miracle... Somehow she was able to contact her supervisor, explain the situation and get authorization to 'go against their policy in order to make sure I was a satisfied customer' and provide me with a refund, all within 30 seconds after putting me on hold!
So, now, I'm waiting patiently for the check that is 'in the mail'. We'll see if it shows up.
BTW: I totally reported them to the FCC anyway.
Moral of the story: If you do get scammed by these crooks DO NOT TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!!! Don't listen to their line about their 'policies' or 'terms and conditions'... Make them operate under YOUR terms and conditions and hopefully you can be refunded.
REPORT THEM TO THE FCC so that things like this will become illegal!!
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