Control Chat - recharged prepaid airtime only to pay for content services

[cbrunsdonza]

Besides the competitions, what about all the real value added premium shortcodes we use to buy electricity (iBuy), query bank accounts (eg Capitec) and other valuable information services!

[chrisc4290]

Its all so incredibly complicated and to make it worse, the ruled governing useage are changing all the time. I wish there was a website where I could go and see what is chargeable and what is not. I had heard of Control Chat before this but had no idea what it meant! (crawls back under rock)

[Ekstasis]

Cell C what the hell are you trying to accomplish here? Is there something like "Negative marketing"? If not, you've just created a new strategy

[Cell_C]

I hope that's a mistake. If not, bad move Cell C!!

HI

On the control chat, you should still be able to buy the BIS from the airtime provided.
Will follow up on this , but have had no communication other wise.

Regards
±AM±

[cavedog]

I can confirm that they have completely stopped ALL chargable services from being deducted from the free airtime. I got one of these discounted airtime deals from edgars mobile which gives me R115 airtime and 100 SMS for R60 a month they debit to my edgars account. I did always buy league of legends riot points but looks like its no longer allowed. They stopped it.

I think this is BS cause they just changed it. Now edgars doesn't want to cancel the contract cause the 24 months are not yet finished. But its fine for cellc just to change that. Now I get R115 airtime THAT is TOTALLY USELESS CAUSE I CAN'T EVEN BE ON THE 99c 4 REAL PACKAGE........ I have a choice of Standard or All day tarrif plan. Wow so much for saving.

Atleast I can buy BIS and data bundles with that money.

[intel8080]

Are you sure you still can buy BIS? Make sure! You'll see, it won't be deducted from your available moneys, you'll be charged extra! ! ! WTF

[ajax]

I have just "subscribed" myself to 35050 (the one where the winners are fake) to see if this system works. So far sent two sms's, one with the pin code. There was then a 2nd sms requiring me to send YES. After that I received the welcom sms and my website login.

Each sms cost 50c but so far only R1 taken. Let's give it a day and see what happens to my airtime.

Sidenote: To get a breakdown of your balance, dial *147# and then 2 ("available balance") and then 1 ("balance"). I could see that R4.50 was recharged airtime and R101.27 was Control Chat airtime. So theoretically, I shouldn't be able to subscribe to this service.

EDIT: Seems to be working. Logged into the service online and when I tried to compete for a prize they stated:

Your airtime is low, billing was unsuccessful. Please ensure your Airtime is topped up in order to be eligible to play the game

[Bern]

I have sent a message to Cell C demanding no services are billed to my account without my express written confirmation and I also want them to get back to me on how they ensure I do not get billed for any "Services" in the future. I don't think FNB banking falls in the same class as all subscription anything.

[ajax]

I have just "subscribed" myself to 35050

Here then some observations:
No inclusive airtime was taken on the day I subscribed. The next day I recharged with R5 giving me R9.50 odd of "recharged airtime". Within the hour not sure R6 was deducted and appeared on MyAccount as BUON012.
No further airtime was taken. I unsubscribed the next day. The day after I recharged again so that I had more than R6 "recharged" airtime. None was taken. So at least this system is working in terms of preserving one's inclusive airtime.

However, I have some reservations. It is still possible to get fraudulently subscribed. Welcome and reminder sms's are often seen as spam and deleted. So fast forward a couple of months down the line. I want to use maybe a few gigs of data and load additional airtime accordingly. The airtime would then get deducted and a fight to get it back will still have to be fought.

The initial signup/subscription process must fail when there is no airtime. It shouldn't be allowed to "cache" airtime deductions.