@Julsbals wrote:
Should I be concerned that I haven’t received this text from O2 saying they’ll be in contact today to sort problem? I still have charges on my account which surely can just be removed rather than just offer a refund? Pretty simple surely?
I think it would be worth confirming with someone from O2 that you will be refunded. As far as we know O2 has sent texts to all the customers they intend to refund. We expect refunds to hit O2 accounts later today.
Of course, it is ridiculous that these charges can't simply be reversed.
This fiasco has served as a clear illustration of everything that is wrong with Phone-payment services.
We've been told that texts to the value of about £800,000 were sent to thousands of customers. Tap2Bill who sent the texts accept that they were unlawful and have undertaken to ensure that everyone is refunded.
However, they did not provide a timescale for this. As of today Vodafone, Virgin Mobile, Sky Mobile and Three customers have been refunded. It seems that O2 and GiffGaff cutomers will have to wait longer.
There is no simple system which allows networks to automatically reverse these charges, and that is part of the problem.
Phone-payment is an appalling system which would not pass FCA regulation if it were subject to it. If thousands of Paypal payments had been taken in error, Paypal themselves would be able to easily reverse them. There is no such simple facility with Phone-payment. The payments can't be simply reversed by a network. Instead, they are dependent on Tap2Bill processing and applying refunds.
This is the fundamental problem with the system overseen by PSA. The networks enter in to a contract with companies like Tap2Bill giving them direct access to their billing system. When your network tell you that the charges are "beyond their control" they are actually telling the truth. They make no attempt authenticate the charges made by Tap2Bill. No proof is required that the charges are lawful, and the networks provide no mechanism for you to dispute them.
To make matters worse, if you refuse to pay the disputed bill, it is your network that will enforce the debt, even they hold no evidence that the disputed charges were lawful!
In turn, Tap2Bill contract with companies like Moblix Media which allow them to use their "platform" to make charges directly to consumers' phone bills. This is how a company you have never heard of can make a charge to your phone bill which is almost impossible to recover.
Lasevia, Wapstar, Remote Games, Bodyin8, Nuyoo and ModoMobi are just a few of the scams previously facilitated by Tap2Bill. Yet O2, Vodafone and Three continue to allow them unfettered access to customers' accounts. It is significant that EE was unaffected by this fiasco. Why? Because EE had more sense than to do business with a company that generates large numbers of consumer fraud complaints. Tap2Bill tell me that EE do have some contracts with them, but not for "services" like these.
We believe that the system is in need of a major overhaul. Key to this is that the mobile networks take back control of their billing systems and, like other payment processors, insist on proof of consent before parting with their customers' money.
In the short term, it's time the networks carried out a proper risk assesment of their so called "partners" like Tap2Bill.
In our correspondence with PSA we have said that we believe that they need to take look at the Due Diligence, Risk Assessment and Control measures implemented by Tap2Bill. They have begun to look more closely at level 1 providers (as was evidenced by the Veoo case). We hope that today will see the return of the remaining unlawful charges to customers' accounts. If this doesn't happen please let us know.
We'd also like to hear from anyone who has suffered a consequential loss due to a higher than expected bill (overdraft charges for example). If this has happened to you, ask your network to compensate you, and let us know if they refuse to do so.
In the meantime out advice remains that all consumers should insist on a bar on all third party charges to their account until the networks sort this system out.
