Overcharged Bills, Poor Service, Poor Customer Service :(

[Moleeth]

Been having some problems with my Huawei E220 Modem and Vodafones 18month Buisness Broadband contract since i bought the device.

Ever since i have received this device i have been billed for "Text Info Services", Now i didnt even know this thing could send/receive text messages as i use a Mac and have no access to those feaures, it wasnt till i plugged the device into my old windows machine and saw that i had received a large amount of texts from "Dating services" and some in languages my phone cant display. this is adding nearly £25 onto my Bill each month.
I can hardly afford to pay £30 a month for the already shoddy service i receive let alone £55 this contract is a seriously dangerous drain on my money.

I have complained to Vodafone about this and i have been extremely dissapointed with their customer service. First of all they dont seem to acknowledge this is a Modem not a phone, and have said they will call me on the number(yet this device cant receive calls). They also didnt acknoledge the fact i never signed up for these "Text info Services" as i Cant due to using a Mac.

Also when i informed them that i have had enouh of this service and no longer wish to continue it as it is extremely poor and i dont wish to continue paying for something that barely works, let alone paying for texts i never signed up for, i was giving to options. Option 1 was to wait until the contract expires and keep paying it till 23/03/09 or be charged fo all the recurring months. I am not willing to do either.

Any idea what i should do?

Scott

[edwardpeter]

Hi Moleeth,

I'm sorry to hear about the text information service issue you have with your data card.

Sometimes the text information services can still be subscribed from the previous owner of the telephone number associated with your SIM card.

As there are only so many numbers available we have no choice but to re-issue cancelled ones; however we normally leave it between 6 and 9 months before the re-issue which means that text information subscriptions have normally expired. Unfortunately from time to time the subscriptions can still be active, as with your case.

The text information services can normally be cancelled by texting STOP to the number that they come from, although as you've rightly said you're unable to send SMS messages from a data card connected to a Mac laptop so this won't work for you.

If you get in contact with us directly we'll be able to find out who the messages are coming from and contact the customer service department of that company directly to stop the messages. Please complete the Vodafone Online Contact Form (https://online.vodafone.co.uk/dispatch/Portal/appmanager/vodafone/wrp?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Page_Help_ContactUs&pageID=CU_0002), including the code FIT135 in your message to ensure that your query comes directly to my team. Please also ensure you include as many of the requested details as possible so that we can pass the relevant security checks and access your account.

I hope this helps,

edwardpeter
Vodafone UK

[awoodvine]

Any idea what i should do?

Scott

I had this same problem. If your using a USB modem or datacard on a Mac the SMS will still be received even though you have no way of knowing until you check your bill and discover that you have been charged for them.

My quick solution was to put the SIM into my phone and bar incoming SMS with: *35*1919*16# SEND.

Andrew Woodvine