The companies that want to cheat you out of your hard earned cash have come up with one i'd never heard of before, and neither had the representative of my phone carrier when i talked to someone there about it.
Sometimes i get spam texts. My method to deal with them has always been just to delete the conversation and move on.
Well, i got one, and it was the typical "reply to sign up for this service for $10 a month" and i deleted it and was about to go on my way when i almost immediately got another text from that company thanking me for signing up. This when i had not responded at all.
So i called my carrier and they had already charged my account, that fast. Apparently they are now signing you up automatically if you do not respond within about 2 minutes telling you not to.
This steams me, because i will not respond to these things. Even sending the word "stop" to them doesn't stop them; instead it tells them they have a live number and they then sell it to tons of other companies. They've turned most people's refusal to even respond into a tool to make them money. You don't respond, they assume you want the service.
Unconscionable, and no way to stop them, except by dealing with each one individually as they do this, getting your carrier to remove the charge as soon as they try to put it on there.
Really, i don't want to know what they are going to try to come up with next.
Today is:
American Diabetes Association Alert Day
Armed Forces Day -- Myanmar
Cherry Blossom (Sakura) Viewing and Celebrations begin -- Japan (the festivities get started around now, and vary by region depending on when the trees bloom in that area over the next 6 weeks)
National "Joe" Day -- no, it isn't official, but today you can make everyone call you "Joe" if you want, and call them the same; probably started by someone who had no memory for names
National Spanish Paella Day
Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day -- after all, they do need their own day
St. Rupert of Salzburg's Day (Patron of Salzburg)
World Theatre Day
Anniversaries Today:
Mary Pickford marries Douglas Fairbanks, 1920
Birthdays Today:
Brenda Song, 1988
Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, 1975
Mariah Carey, 1970
Quentin Tarantino, 1963
Xuxa, 1963
Michael York, 1942
David Janssen, 1931
Sarah Vaughan, 1924
Harold Nicholas, 1921
Gloria Swanson, 1899
Edward Steichen, 1879
Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, 1845
Nathaniel Currier, 1813
Today in History:
Ptolemy V ascends to the throne of Egypt, BC196
Pope Clement V excommunicates the entire population of Venice, 1309
Juan Ponce de Leon discovers Florida, 1513
The first English child born in Canada at Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland to Nicholas Guy, 1613
The dike at Hardinxveld breaks, causing the Alblasserwaard flood, 1709
Spain losses Menorca & Gibraltar, 1713
John Parker Paynard originates medicated adhesive plaster, precursor to the band-aid, 1848
First reported sighting of the Yosemite Valley by Europeans, 1851
M L Byrn patents "covered gimlet screw with a 'T' handle" (corkscrew), 1860
The first international rugby football match, England v. Scotland, is played in Edinburgh at Raeburn Place, 1871
Famous Apache warrior, Geronimo, surrenders to the U.S. Army, ending the main phase of the Apache Wars, 1886
The first Japanese cherry blossom trees planted in Washington, D.C., 1912
The first successful blood transfusion takes place in Brussels, 1914
Typhoid Mary, the first healthy carrier of disease ever identified in the United States, is put in quarantine, , 1916
Charlie Chaplin receives France's distinguished Legion of Honor, 1931
Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union, 1958
The Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history at a magnitude of 9.2 strikes South Central Alaska, killing 125 people and inflicting massive damage to the city of Anchorage, 1964
The Concorde makes its first supersonic flight. 1970
Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins, 1975
The Norwegian oil platform Alexander L. Kielland collapses in the North Sea, killing 123 of its crew of 212, 1980
The Solidarity movement in Poland stages a warning strike, in which at least 12 million Poles walk off their jobs for four hours, 1981
The US FDA approves Viagra, 1998
HMS Scylla (F71), a decommissioned Leander class frigate, is sunk as an artificial reef off Cornwall, the first of its kind in Europe, 2004
Friendly Fill-Ins Week 443
9 hours ago
I LOVE MY PHONE.
ReplyDeleteI adore texting.
and the above? the sudden spamming?
totally ruining that for me, too.
I really like how you list things associated with the day. It makes me scurry to read something there that I have forgottten. Today's topic will be Geronimo. And call everyone Joe today? Okay, Joe!
ReplyDeleteThat stinks. I'm wondering if you're referring to something like this..
ReplyDeletehttp://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/rogers-british-columbia-c451593.html
I'm new to cell phones (just since January) and am beginning to realize that I must never divulge the number to any company.. especially online.
I have no cellphone, but this tactic is similar to what hard-line phone companies do here. If you so much as ask for more info you will be switched.
ReplyDeleteI've never hear of such a thing. But once I had a telephone company tell me they switched me from my old provider at my request. They said I'd authorized the switch over the phone and they had a recording of it. I told them they'd better be able to produce it in court and they quickly changed me back.
ReplyDeleteCarla, we have to watch out, all of the time. It's hard to never let your guard down.
ReplyDeleteKay...uh, i mean, Joe, glad my meanderings provide you with some amusement.
Hilary, i don't give my phone number out for such things, but somehow it gets around. Even private landlines sometimes do.
Leah, again, you have to be careful, and it's a shame.
Stephen, good for you!
I'm guessing that if you report this tactic to your state attorney general it may get some attention. If not, then try a consumer advocate type of reporter at your local TV station or newspaper, and tell them you got NO response from the attorney general. That ought to wake them up!
ReplyDeleteSuldog, i filed with the FTC, but this sounds like a good idea, too.
ReplyDelete