topic Re: Emoticons (smiley faces) Cost in Pay Monthly

Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:59:59 GMT

I have had a good look through the forum but can not see anything like this problem.

A friend of mine had a large bill come through this month and contacted 02 customer service.

Basically she was told her bill was so high because she had used above and beyond her MMS/picture message qouta which she refused to except but was told that a Emoticon (smiley face) counted as a MMS/picture message.

Has anybody encountered this or confirm or decline this??

Thanks in advance

Re: Emoticons (smiley faces) Cost

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 21:35:41 GMT

no one??

Re: Emoticons (smiley faces) Cost

jonsie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:02:29 GMT

My emoticons go as sms, however others have been having problems.

http://community.o2.co.uk/t5/Other-Products-Services/HTC-One-X-converting-SMS-to-multi-media-messages/m-p/322084/highlight/true#M4563

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

perksie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:04:21 GMT

Get her to call again and check her charges in MyO2 first, being armed with some evidence should help.

Re: Emoticons (smiley faces) Cost

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:16:50 GMT

Thanks for that but the phone is a new S3 first month of charges. I am on O2 with a galaxy s2 so not sure what the difference would be. Using the emoticons that are available via the text message screens not a 3rd party app either.

Strange one!!

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Liquid — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:28:54 GMT

Emoticons are sent as txt so I can't believe that would be the cause of the charges.

It's only once the txt lands on the phone that the emoticons become an actual picture.

Re: Emoticons (smiley faces) Cost

jonsie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:29:49 GMT

I'm using an S3 without problems so I'm not sure why some phones convert sms to mms with emoticons. There is an alert setting on the S3 to warn when a sms gets converted so perhaps the answer lies in the settings?

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:32:54 GMT

She is sitting next to me so just asked as well if the texts she sent were of a long nature over a certain amount that could be classed as a MMS but they were all short and sweet messages with smileys.

Having been pointed to the HTC link above it seems a few people have had the issue.

We are both in agreement that if we deserve the charges then we will pay for it but this doesn't seem right.

Thanks everybody so far for your responses

Re: Emoticons (smiley faces) Cost

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:34:05 GMT

That is interesting to know. thanks Jonsie

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Liquid — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:36:16 GMT

It is a bit of a piss take messages over the character limit are sent as mms rather than two SMS.

Annoyingly there's no way we can test real time to see what causing the charges(12hours before they hit the bill)

I'd advise arguing it. Picture/video/not native smilies(third party) should be mms.

A native emoticon is sent via plain txt so cannot be classed as mms.

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:38:21 GMT

@Liquid,
That is my thinking on it, Cheers.

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Liquid — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:41:19 GMT

Random concept ill throw out there. Are the majority of these txts to one person? And what phone are they on?

For example I have a iPhone, I message others with iPhones I can send what I want without inciting mms charges. However if I were to send a iPhone native Emoticon to a old nokia phone I could well be charges for mms as the receiving phone has no idea what I just sent it. Does that make sense?

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:45:44 GMT

Like your thinking but she is using a new S3 and random phones/networks.

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Liquid — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:49:52 GMT

Argh bang goes that theory:( haha.

(Sounded plausible right:))

To paraphrase jonsie you could try disabling mms on the s3 to stop it sending mms full stop.

But I'd still fight it with O2 CS it doesn't sound right.

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:54:57 GMT

Just tried that and sent a message, will see tomoz if that works. Did not come up or state any different.

Thank you my friend for you help. Fingers crossed I guess.

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

jonsie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 22:58:29 GMT

Hope you sort it steersy:smileyhappy: good luck!

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:17:31 GMT

Thanks for the smiley Jonsie lol

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

perksie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:19:49 GMT

Fortunately they're free here!

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

jonsie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:20:55 GMT

Are you sure?:smileywink:

and you're welcome steeersy:smileyhappy:

Re: Being charged for emoticons (smiley faces) as MMS/picture messages

perksie — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 23:22:48 GMT

Hmm better check my bill.:smileysad: