SCAMMED: Third party charges on my bill

[madi86]

Recently, I have discovered I have been charged since last year by BounceGame and TheAppFone service provider on me and my wife account. I contacted EE to get a help on this and found a standard reply "Contact third party" that i have seen on this forum which was not helpful at all by such a reputable company even after escalating the issue. In the end they offer my wife £25 refund which she refused to accept it.

Then i contacted the third party after not getting any help from EE and they explained me their browser pop up story and blame me that i have subscibed to it. In the end after all this rant they offered my a GOODWILL refund of £20. They took 100's of pound from me and my wife account without our consent and EE helped them to do this. I refused to take that amount becasue they mugged me in the brought daylight and in return they are saying goodwill refund! SERIOUSLY?

By looking at posts on this and other forums I am so shocked how may people up till now has been scammed by this company and EE hasn't take any measures to close this loop hole. I can't even imagine how these companies are still operating in UK.

Definately after going through this forum and very much convined EE doesn't care about its customers. May be they are getting some percentage on every charge applied from third party.

Shame on EE allowing your customers to be scammed by these scammers.

[Cornelia63]

You would think that's the first you do. But as it's a rip off or scam yiu can not get hold off them. Hence I contacted EE to stop it
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Sent from myMail for Android

[James_B]

Hi @Cornelia63,

What happened when you tried to contact the company? 

James

[Cornelia63]

Well not picking up the phone. You can unsubsribe by leaving your tel number but that didn't work. I thought yiu would guess that. Don't think a real person would pick up.
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Sent from myMail for Android

[James_B]

Hi @Cornelia63,

If it's a text service you have been signed up to, you can cancel by replying with STOP.

Have you tried contacting the company by email?

James

[Cornelia63]

Yes did that. No email adress
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Sent from myMail for Android

[James_B]

Hi @Cornelia63,

You've done the right thing in texting STOP. You shouldn't see any further charges on your bill.

James

[bjb2]

Just as a reminder:

1. If you have been charged without your consent, you are entitled to a 100% refund. Do not accept anything less.

2. You should complain about the service via the PSA: https://psauthority.org.uk/for-consumers/ive-been-charged-what-next though they will almost certainly tell you they can't investigate individual cases.

3. If you do not get a 100% refund, take it back to EE. Despite what everyone will want to tell you, EE are liable for the charge. They are the company that actually took the money from your account using your credit card/direct debit authorisation, and in the eyes of law this all that matters. They can no more say "a third party company asked us to so it's not our fault" than a kid in a playground can say, "But he told me to punch you so it's not my fault." EE will almost certainly try to fob you off but stick to your guns because you do have rights here, and the shocking way these mobile phone payment services are allowed to be presented to you do not trump your statutory rights under consumer law.

Good luck!

[muggles708]

@Cornelia63 

Quite shocking that EE are continuing to participate and profit from these premium rate text scams. After months without any problems, we thought they had cleaned up their act!

Advice on how to deal with these scams is here: https://psconsumers.org.uk/how-to-deal-with-scam-text-charges/ 

We have successfully helped numerous consumers get their money back, including help with using the Small Claims process if necessary.

If you need more help please contact us here:  https://psconsumers.org.uk/contact/ 

or join our Facebook group  https://www.facebook.com/groups/psconsumers to discuss your case with others who have had a similar experience.

We'll do our best to help you recover any money taken fraudulently.