Alltel preys on kids by cramming my sons phone bill Internet
Alltel crammed $168 premium SMS access charges after we added my son to the family wireless. My son denied the premium purchases and there were no sign of any purchases on his phone, but monthly charges kept coming - long after I took his phone away! Alltel refused to tell me what he had purchased or from who he had purchased the premium. Alltel claimed they were "unable to determine the content that was ordered through the Premium SMS service. . . as these are third party services." I just wanted to know if my child purchased porn or was gambling online. Alltel refused to tell me what the rapidly accruing charges were for. They refused to tell me where they would send the money they collected from me. They gave me numbers to type into the phone to stop the premium but the charges kept coming. I asked the premium access be stopped, but I kept getting charged. I do not believe Alltel more than my son. If he actually made a purchase, I want to know what they told him he was buying. I never got fooled into buying premiums. My adult children never got fooled into buying any on their phones. Alltel is preying on my son to defraud me of money.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Crammingkidz
Missoula,Montana,
United States of America
Alltel preys, tricks, lies, and collects by calling my son a liar
#4Author of original report
Sun, June 13, 2010
To prey on our children and getting us to pay, the Alltel people expect us to believe the bill more than I believe my son. Why believe a predatory corporation over the child I love? The issue is the predatory practice not discerning the truth. I took his phone away and never again entered the phone number or 5-digit numbers and still the charges continued to accrue on my Alltel bill. I followed the directions to quit by entering 5-digit numbers, but still the charges continued to accrue. If I pay these I support the predatory practice. If I do not pay, I am threatened with Allel degrading my credit or turning off my service. I will pay for all SMS access charges I purchased. It is predatory to make me buy whatever charges my son inadvertantly purchased or was actually tricked into buying. Of course, I told him never to input his telephone number anywhere. And Alltel will never get me to pay when he does enter the number if they do not text or notify me when he does make a purchase. Alltel deceives. Before I pay for anything, I want to know what is bought and from whom it was bought. I do not pound money down a rathole. Alltel preys, collects payments for other predators, and most of them use trickery, hidden deals, oversight, and false promises of free products to ensnare the innocent and ordinary customers like me.
Ramjet
Somewhere,Michigan,
U.S.A.
Not just kids
#4Consumer Comment
Sat, June 12, 2010
The companies don't just prey on kids, they prey on everyone. You have to be very diligent when you use any on line device.
Early in my cell phone days I went to a web site to order some "free" ringtones. I did not notice a small check box that subscribed me to a stupid 'joke-of-the-day' service. I did not know how I got subscribed and had a heck of a time getting off. The phone company actually helped me figure it out. It was certainly not their fault and they were not really obligated to help me figure it out.
I am VERY careful now and nothing like that has happened again. It's easy to see how a kid could do something inadvertantly.
A good lesson indeed!
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
A good lesson..
#4Consumer Comment
Sat, June 12, 2010
This is a good lesson for both you and your son. Because your son DID order these premium services. I am not saying he did it intentionally, but he probably did do it. The problem lies more with these 3rd party companies than it does with Alltel(or any other provider).
Most likely at some point he answered some question on-line through an ad, and received a text message. During this process the site requires them to enter their cell number, and this is generally where all of the "terms" including the price are. He receives and then responded to the text message and that "activated" the service and the monthly charge. Now most of these end up relating to the sites he was on. Such as if he was going to more of the social networking sites he would get something like a daily horoscope, iq test, coupons or other discounts. But if he is getting gambling or porn services you may want to do a little more "research" as to what sites he is visiting.
And as I am sure you know it is very easy to delete a Text Message on a phone thus removing any "proof". So you may want to check the detail on the bill and try and match up the "short code"(the 5 digit number they had you text to stop the service). It may show when the text came in to his phone. I don't know if Altel gives that level of detail, but something to check into. You may also be able to search for that short code on the Internet and find out what the actual service is, if you have not found out.
So you need to talk to your son and have him understand that he should not be entering in his phone number on sites, or answer texts from people/companies he does not know. This can also be translated and used as a learning experience for other things. Such as he should not give out any personal information to people he does not know.