Unauthorised charges

[Witti]

A couple of days ago, having bought tickets for a concert, I received a text from the ticket suppier, TicketSource, with a link through which I could access the tickets. As the tickets were actually for other members of my family I forwarded the text to them so that they could access the tickets. Without my agreement these texts were converted to MMS messages. I now see that I have been charged 54p for each of these three messages. The position was compounded by the fact that the links didn't work so the MMS messages were useless. Having complained about this via an O2 online service I now see that I have been charged an extra 13p for use of a premium messaging service! 

How do I go about getting these charges refunded? Is it true that O2 can convert messages intended to be in SMS format to MMS format and charge for them without express agreement from the bill payer? 

[pgn · Accepted solution]

MMS can be disabled as here Guide: Accidental MMS Sending and How to Avoid it - it is not included in your tariff (usually) and most phones will take an SMS with a URL, or several emojis, or that is sent to several recipients, and convert it to an MMS on the fly.

Contact O2 on any of the Social Media links below this post if you want to try to make a case to get the charges refunded, @Witti.

[ICU_Coma]

It happened to me too

[pgn]

It happens automatically in an Android phone unless you disable the MMS functionality, as described in this Community Guide, @ICU_Coma - Guide: Accidental MMS Sending and How to Avoid it 

As to why this happens, well, take a look at this (longish} article: https://mobilepains.com/phone-sends-mms-instead-of-sms/

If you want to send long, or emoji-filled, or multimedia (pictures, GIFs, audio, URLs) messages or anything to several contacts sumultaneously, then get all concerned to use an app like Google Chat/Hangouts, or WhatsApp, or similar - but everyone who you wish to communicate with needs to download and install the app.

I hope this helps you avoid costly MMS messages, @ICU_Coma and @Witti. There is an MMS bolt-on that you can BUY from O2, but it is only valid for a certain number of MMS messages, after which you are back to 55p-odd per message again - so keep SMS short, sweet, emoji- and URL- and graphic-free, and you'll be OK. Good luck!

[ICU_Coma]

Thank you pgn

But at the moment I have more serious problems to worry about 

Regards

[pgn]

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@ICU_Coma wrote:

Thank you pgn

But at the moment I have more serious problems to worry about 

Regards

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Understood, @ICU_Coma - I thought you were also asking for help on the topic, forgive me.

[ICU_Coma]

No problemo pgn

Do you want to want to have a blog on Click Romania about the history of photography? 

[pgn]

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@ICU_Coma wrote:

No problemo pgn

Do you want to want to have a blog on Click Romania about the history of photography? 

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Thanks, but no thanks, @ICU_Coma 🙃