# Mobile Messenging



## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

Has anyone here had this experience. I been charge for messages I rcv from mobile messenger, amount of CA$177. These are considered third party charges. I do not know anything about these messages and I never use them. I had a Fido prepaid account and was surprised at the charges since normally I do not pay more then CA$12 a month for usage. I have written to Fido that I disagree to pay and I have cancel the account since the charges are going up. What happens if I refuse to pay, can anyone advice me.


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

Normally those types of charges are for things that you registered for such as TSN score updates or Weather updates or Joke of the Day, etc. Anything that is sent directly to your phone as a text message from a third party. Many people register for this stuff however don't realize that they will be charged for these incoming messages.

If you don't pay they will send your account to a Collections Agency and they will hound you until you pay. Its not worth the aggravation in my opinion, just pay it a move on.
--
Paul


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for your advise. I did not register for any of those. Its a monthly prepaid account and I requested Fido to block text msgs and they disagree to do it.


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## AquaticPulse (Jun 19, 2011)

do you have it synced with facebook or msn? I don't know which one charges you but back when i had prepaid, msn or facebook was charged. i can't remember anymore.


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

No, the account is not linked to facebook or MSN. These are msgs from Mobile Messenging about gaming etc. They sent about 50msgs in Aug, it cost something like five dollars a msg. I was not aware about third party charges, Fido never informed me and never had this problem for so many years, the phone is only used for urgent calls only, my normal bill is never more then eleven plus a month inclusive HST.


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## ryno1974 (Dec 6, 2009)

Happened to a friend of mine at work too on Rogers. Had a trivia of the day text start arriving everyday, and ended up owing like $50 for something he never subscribed too. Google the company or phone number you see on your bill. Unfortunately you will probably find thousands of people with the same issue. The issue is with the unscrupulous third party that send out $5 text messages hoping no one will notice. The cell carrier is "an innocent third party" to the transaction, and pays the fee to the text originator on your behalf. now you owe Fido, as they are out the money. 

You are more than likely SOL, but you can try crying fraud - just make SURE you didnt sign up or some offer, etc at some point in time.


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks Ryno, for sure I did not sign any contract since its monthly prepaid.
From what I understand, all those under Rogers network(fido, telus etc) do encounter this kind of third party charges, its all about making money for the service provider. I will have to wait and see what happens, end of the day if they insist, then I will have to pay and accept the lost but never again with fido. I just sign up with Public, just for the basic service $15 a month and I am assured, its only for incoming, outgoing calls unlimited within Ontario but no text or voice mail, there will never be any additional charges.


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## phomaniac (Oct 10, 2010)

Cell phone companies call this Premium SMS. Most people do not realize that they have subscribed to "Premium SMS" and just ignore the random text they get every so often throughout the day/week. Subscription agreement can come in the form of imputing your number on to a website, or sending a code to get a free ring tone/game/quiz result/scores etc, or even using QR barcodes. When the bill comes and a surprises charge is on the account this is when fingers are pointed at the carrier for the messages.

Visit this site http://txt.ca/english/consumer/faq.html there is information as to stopping the message as well as obtaining the company behind the messages.

hope this helps


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

Thanks for the info, it might help with my case with Fido.


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