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10 Messages

Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 11:50 PM

PlayPhone Questions and Discussion

I just got a text that I was subscribed to the PlayPhone.  What is lovely is that when you call AT&T to remove it, they openly acknowledge that you did nothing to subscribe (no accidental user error). You have to reply STOP to the text message or are auto-subscribed.  Can you imagine advertisers being able to send you a snail mail letter and auto-subscribe you to a service unless you responded no?  That is similar to this.  I can't believe that this is actually sanctioned by AT&T.  What is different about this & the deceptive practices that Discover Card used to get people to sign up for a payment protection plan (& is now in trouble for with the CFPB?

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Expert

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12.2K Messages

11 years ago


@acompux wrote:

This happened to me too. I found out today that somehow I am subscribed to PlayPhone for 4 months and Motime for the last 5 months. Unfortunately AT&T will only refund me the last 60 days, so they managed to steal $50 from me (2 months for one and 3 for the other). Arghh! I added the blocker service so this won't happen again.

 

I can't believe they allow this to happen without the consent of the subscriber. Maybe the carrier is taking a cut so they don't have any incentive to address this.


call and place a purchase block on the number to prevent it. Not understanding how you missed it on the bill, the bill is fairly consistant and is a line by line breakdown of the charges.

Master

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7.1K Messages

11 years ago


@slinsd wrote:

I just got a text that I was subscribed to the PlayPhone.  What is lovely is that when you call AT&T to remove it, they openly acknowledge that you did nothing to subscribe (no accidental user error). You have to reply STOP to the text message or are auto-subscribed.  Can you imagine advertisers being able to send you a snail mail letter and auto-subscribe you to a service unless you responded no?  That is similar to this.  I can't believe that this is actually sanctioned by AT&T.  What is different about this & the deceptive practices that Discover Card used to get people to sign up for a payment protection plan (& is now in trouble for with the CFPB?


This is not ATT sancitoning it but all carriers have this issue.  You can request that ATT add a feature to your account that blocks these types of charges from getting on your account.  Check your next bill or two to make sure the charges are not on your account.

 

Make sure you do reply "Stop" to the message.

 

Good Luck!

Tutor

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10 Messages

11 years ago

The whole point is that you should not have to do anything to stop this. Of course, I added the block to my account, but a 3rd party that I have never contacted or clicked an ad for should not be able to auto-subscribe me to something w/o my permission.  It's clearly a mistake in the legal system.  When I looked this up, I read that it was banned only for landline numbers but not mobile... HUGE loophole.

 

Here's an article link showing that companies can get in trouble for deceptive auto-subscribe:

http://washingtoninformer.com/index.php/opinion/item/12002-discover-card-must-refund-$200-million-for-deceptive-marketing

 

I feel this is in the future for cell phone companies if they choose not to crack down. The only reason I can think they allow this is they must get some cut back b/c the only thing it does is really PO customers.

Expert

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13K Messages

11 years ago

You also have to take in to account that anyone with internet access can go to these sites and randomly enter phone numbers to gain access to these sites and have no consequences to them but the person that uses that phone number has to put up with these charges.

Contributor

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2 Messages

11 years ago

Slinsd wrote: "I just got a text that I was subscribed to the PlayPhone scammer-o-rama.  What is lovely is that when you call AT&T to remove it, they openly acknowledge that you did nothing to subscribe (no accidental user error)." In other words AT&T is well aware of this scam and should be proactive in blocking it from its devices otherwise people will presume that AT&T is also into this thing.

 

I am also a victim of this scam. Yesterday, June 22, I suddenly found out that I've been charged $9.98 supposedly for subscribing to a PlayPhonePlayCredits (PlayPhone 2) when God knows that I don't play any game online, be it on my computer or my Galaxy phone. I don't know if I have clicked any button to that effect but if I did, I'm sure I didn't do it intentionally. It's just that sometimes this new phone doesn't react soon enough when clicked and one gets frustrated. It would be silly to presume that you get subscribed immediately as a result of a single, mistaken click. Anyway, that scam company stated that it will renew my unauthorized subscription monthly. I already sent notification to AT&T about it but so far there has been no response.

Contributor

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3 Messages

11 years ago

This happened to me too. I found out today that somehow I am subscribed to PlayPhone for 4 months and Motime for the last 5 months. Unfortunately AT&T will only refund me the last 60 days, so they managed to steal $50 from me (2 months for one and 3 for the other). Arghh! I added the blocker service so this won't happen again.

 

I can't believe they allow this to happen without the consent of the subscriber. Maybe the carrier is taking a cut so they don't have any incentive to address this.

Contributor

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2 Messages

10 years ago

PlayPhone values its relationship with you and AT&T. Likewise, we appreciate our customer’s feedback and are constantly working to improve our services and bring gamers new experiences.

 

Our latest development, the PlayPhone Social Gaming Network (PSGN) lets people download mobile games, connect with friends and play phone games for free. Most games are free to play and contain the ability to enhance your gaming experience by purchasing items within these games. In some cases there is a monthly fee for Playcredits™ membership which includes a monthly bundle of prepaid virtual currency that can be used within these games and for your convenience it is billed through your carrier, AT&T, if you choose to subscribe.

 

To subscribe a member must first agree to the terms of service which includes a legalized step to verify the age of all subscribers in a double opt-in process. Voluntary subscribers are also held to the data messaging rates of their preferred carries.

 

We value your feedback and have improved our Customer Support team who are looking forward to assisting you. Please feel free to contact us at 1-800-365-4646 or via email at help@playphone.com.

Expert

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12.2K Messages

10 years ago


 

go with the purchase block, you will be a lot happier and won;t have billing shock at the end of the month

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