SCAM gets thru block

[Mi-Amigo]

After falling victim to one of the scam message, I took the advise from members of the Community and contacted 02 Customer Services, who put a bar on all direct to Bill debits and bar Premium Rates....

However, today, purely by chance I checked my message in-box and found:

65065 -  Freemsg: Lorena Medienagen fur - free trial ends [date] then £4.50 per week, unless STOP to 65065.

Given the date of message and when I saw it, there is a chance that I could be billed for one week.

I sent STOP to 65065 and got an instant retur msg:

STOP Payforit Freemsg subscription to Metro Games ended. Help: 0207 369915.

I have never subscribed [or linked] to Metro Games and/or Lorena Medienagen.

How did this get through the supposed blocks which is meant to be in place on my 02 account?

This is worrying and highlights the need for 02 to drop their "trusted partners" and the scams.

[Cleoriff]

Thank you for the clarification @Marjo  and @Mi-Amigo  for your explanation of your personal experience.  It has certainly helped me and others to gain a wider perspective of how the Bar all to Direct Bill Debits works. 

Secondly, the explanation will now allow me to finish my guide.

For that alone, I will be forever grateful

[Cleoriff]

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@MI5 wrote:
and we hope the advice is correct this time too.

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In @Mi-Amigo's case it was correct. He has never been charged. The bar stopped that happening.

It also means we can continue to advise people to have the bars placed on their accounts.

[MI5]

Which is why I said "this time".
In the post I previously linked to, customer relations said that ALL Payforit subscriptions required a 2 step verification.

[Mi-Amigo]

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@Cleoriff wrote:

In @Mi-Amigo's case it was correct. He has never been charged. The bar stopped that happening.

It also means we can continue to advise people to have the bars placed on their accounts.

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@Cleoriff  The reason for me creating this thread was to confirm this, and I am pleased that, as previously, members can continue to advise people to have the bars placed on their accounts.

@MI5 

With respect, on ‎**Personal info**19 14:09, you posted:

"Neither charge to mobile or premium rate bars will stop these scams. There needs to be a specific bar for Payforit which O2 don't offer like EE and Vodafone do. Hence our petition which has so far been ignored by O2."

This not only added to my own personal worries because it implied the bar does not stop the scams, but also, as it was contrary to the opinion of others, that such comment added to the confusion, and I was concerned that other members might believe also your comment and not ask for a bar to be placed on their account to prevent third-parties and fall victim.

Thankfully, we now know the facts.

[Mi-Amigo]

"Neither charge to mobile or premium rate bars will stop these scams. There needs to be a specific bar for Payforit which O2 don't offer like EE and Vodafone do. Hence our petition which has so far been ignored by O2."

[Mi-Amigo]

This not only added to my own personal worries because it implied the bar does not stop the scams, but also, as it was contrary to the opinion of others, that such comment added to the confusion, and I was concerned that other members might believe also your comment and not ask for a bar to be placed on their account to prevent third-parties and fall victim.

[TallTrees]

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@Marjo wrote:

Hi guys, so as per @Mi-Amigo 's query about the 'bar on all direct-to-bill debits', our Gurus have confirmed that the bar stops charges being billed by 3rd party companies. If you get a text notifying that a company is going to charge you, and you have the bar in place already at this point, it will only kick in when the actual charge is attempting to go through and prevent it.

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Thank you @Marjo for the confirmation that is good to hear.

[TallTrees]

I am very pleased that all is well and no money has been taken from your account @Mi-Amigo 

The confirmation of the bar too is very helpful.

@Cleoriff  can add that to her draft which is fantastic which can be used to help others.

[MI5]

As pointed out @Mi-Amigo, that was the info given by customer relations previously which just proves the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing and hence my comment that I hope the info is correct this time.
As I have accounts with both Voda and EE I know they specifically block "Payforit" which O2 doesn't, but rather relies on a more blanket charge to mobile block which prevents customers legitimately charging services to their accounts too.

[gmarkj]

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@Payforit_Sucks wrote:

Do be aware though, that if you subsequetly ask for the bar to be removed, outstanding subscription charges are likely to be taken. This currently happens for PAYG customers who top up their accounts while there are outstanding Payforit charges.

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Just to check then, what happens is that any charges get held so that if you turn charge to mobile back on they are passed through to the customer?

What a daft way to do it. This could be months or even years in the future and a customer would have no idea why they would be hit with a charge!

Similarly what would happen if the number is ported out? Do the charges get added to a final bill or get passed on?

I think this has added more questions than it has answered @Martin-O2; @Marjo ; @EmilieT !

[Payforit_Sucks]

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@gmarkj wrote:

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@Payforit_Sucks wrote:

Do be aware though, that if you subsequetly ask for the bar to be removed, outstanding subscription charges are likely to be taken. This currently happens for PAYG customers who top up their accounts while there are outstanding Payforit charges.

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Just to check then, what happens is that any charges get held so that if you turn charge to mobile back on they are passed through to the customer?

What a daft way to do it. This could be months or even years in the future and a customer would have no idea why they would be hit with a charge!

Similarly what would happen if the number is ported out? Do the charges get added to a final bill or get passed on?

I think this has added more questions than it has answered @Martin-O2; @Marjo ; @EmilieT !

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To clarify, what I believe happens is that the companies make multiple attempts to take the money. I have had a number of cases on the PAYG GiffGaff network, where charges have been take immediately after the customer has topped up.

It would be far simpler if O2 provided an opt out to having our numbers exposed by the Payforit API. As has been pointed out, the "charge to bill" bar is a blunt instrument and prevents the customer from using services other than Payforit which they may wish to have access to. Vodafone, in particular, offer a much more extensive selection of bars, allowing users to choose which facilities to block.

Incidentally, still no answer to my other two questions:

• is the "charge to bill" bar available for business accounts?
• do O2 accept their obligations for dispute resolution under the Payforit rules?