Unauthorized SIM billing by WASPs in the spotlight again

Networks are doing near nothing on their side to protect the consumer. I use to work in the WASP industry and can say that its not always the WASP at fault even though they get all the blame.

The networks (and I mean all 3 of them) are not as proactive as they claim and more needs to be done on their side.
 
Users themselves are not so innocent either. Yes there are rogue WASPs billing people willy nilly, but I have personally delt with a few cases where users deny ever requesting a subscription. The story changes when we provide the logs with messages and network SMSC messageid's to the user showing him/her when and what he / she requested. Funny enough it is mostly adult stuff on a Friday night, so I suspect the user may have been a bit p1$$ed when he sent the SMS.
 
High time the regulator imposed financial penalties on cellular providers for each instance of unauthorised billing. Suddenly the difficult to impossible will become very doable.
 
cbrunsdonza said:
Networks are doing near nothing on their side to protect the consumer. I use to work in the WASP industry and can say that its not always the WASP at fault even though they get all the blame.

The networks (and I mean all 3 of them) are not as proactive as they claim and more needs to be done on their side.
Click to expand...

False
It impacts the most on their prepaid base, they have fines for WASPs, opt in changes etc...
 
SMS Goggles

boerseun said:
Funny enough it is mostly adult stuff on a Friday night, so I suspect the user may have been a bit p1$$ed when he sent the SMS.
Click to expand...

Then maybe the WASP or the mobile networks need to implement the equivalent of Gmail's Mail Goggles - SMS Goggles :wtf:. It might stop that SMS to your ex, or embarrassing SMS subscriptions.

You could also use SMS Goggles to check if Little Tommy is using Daddy's phone. If he's never heard of Bo Derek or Cindy Crawford, then he is probably too young for adult content!

WireFree
 
Questions are still being raised by industry players as to why the cellular operators are not pro-actively stopping the unauthorized billing of SIM cards.
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Because they get their cut of the profits, obviously.
 
Its called revenue. Why stop the $$ coming in.
They will play up that they are trying to do something about but really aren't because the $$ is much better.
 
Basic summary of the article's excuse:
Sorry it's just too much effort for us to manage their billing,so we'll give them the keys to the vault and tell them to only take what they rightfully are owed
Click to expand...
 
I had one of the wasps billing me for a service I never intended to opt into, and when I phoned mtn they said they would cancel the subscription but that I would have to get in contact with the wasp to get a refund. Phoning the wasp didnt do all that much but get me assurance that I have been unsubscribed. I got in contact waspa to log a complaint, after which they confirmed 2weeks later that I have been removed from the wasps subsriber list. However, on my next mtn statement it came through again. I then told waspa I still wanted a refund, same week the wasp phones me for my banking details saying they would refund me the x amount they had billed, which was roughly double the amount I was aware of. These oakes are robbing us blind!
 
jes said:
It is high time that the cellular operators prevent unauthorized billing of SIMs, says an industry player
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Absolutely. The customer experience of this is the same as one has after being scammed - if not worse
 
Like taking candy from a baby

What I do not understand is that I sign a contract with the SP they should send me a second contract to allow third party billing. Some legal eagle should check if this is at all legal.

They robbed me blind and I never got a cent back, no way to stop these mother f^&*ers. You would spend more on phone calls than what they owe you, you just can't win.

I never subscribed as I delete all SMS's from unknown sources and everything these guys offer is free on the internet in any case.

The ultimate responsibility lies with the SP to protect their customer, just imagine banks allow this.

That's why I still maintain that we should only have pre-paid cos that puts you in power.
Bad service, unsolicited third party billing, just port your number to a new provider, then they will see how they lose customers.
 
Haldex said:
False
It impacts the most on their prepaid base, they have fines for WASPs, opt in changes etc...
Click to expand...

Don't believe everything you read on the internet - then again I have 5yrs experience in the WASP industry and worked a lot with billing queries. I just repeat my statement that the networks do not do enough on their side as it effects their revenue generating traffic.

Not all WASP billing requires an opt in BTW.

Also the main reason why prepaid users get nailed is the recycle times have been reduced so much that I've seen a sim recycled in 8 hours and no feedback given to the WASP.

Always three sides to the story.
 
Looking for a SP that is blocking all third party billing, no questions asked.
 
I hate to bring up the CPA again

Isn't the entire supply chain liable in this case, so the supplier the WASP and MTN according to the CPA. As I understand it with physical goods, if they cause harm or injury you can go after anyone in that supply chain, or the entire supply chain. So in this case could fraud be considered harm, and wouldn't it now be illegal for MTN to act like they have nothing to do with this because they are part of the supply chain?

I'm not a lawyer (clearly) but there are lawyers on the forum who could comment on this.
 
This is theft and these companies are raking in millions every month through ilegal billing. A colleague suddenly was signed up to several subscription services on his company cell phone without his consent. He only became aware of it when the company accountant came to deduct over R2,000 off his salary for the excess charges. After contact the ISP he was given numbers to phone to have these services stopped. He never recovered the money. Why are police not investigating these thefts?
 
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