Opera telecom

[NickF]

Hi, I incurred a premium charge for receiving a happy Christmas message that seems to have been sent (completely unsolicited) by Opera Telecom - 79050. How do I report this, stop them doing it again and to others, and get money back from O2 who levied the charge?

[Grundster_2]

I got exactly the same on Christmas eve and am looking into this too. Most frustrating. Opera must make loads of money off this at £2.50 a pop.

[Cleoriff · Accepted solution]

Hi @NickF 

Have a look at this thread Guide: A Guide to Deal with Spam/Scam Calls and Text 

Also call O2 and ask for them to apply the following two bars on your account.

Bar All Premium numbers

Bar all Charge to Mobile (although this one will stop in app purchases as well, so thats up to you)

Hope that helps.

[madasaf1sh]

@NickF

You will need to request a refund from Oxygen8 who run the service

This service is provided by Oxygen8 Communications
Contact Details 03333137900 or customercare.uk@oxygen8.com

Full guide with help can be found here

https://community.o2.co.uk/t5/How-to-Guides/A-Guide-to-Deal-with-Spam-Scam-Calls-and-Text/ba-p/38636...

[Jey]

i got charged for exactly the same reason. I've never heard of this company until O2 gave their name.

what is O2 doing to protect Customers from this kind of fraud. The advise from O2 was to send a STOP SMS and then i get charged another £2.50. obviously, O2 is making some money off this as well. There should be a service in place for Customer to stop this from O2's end without barring all premium number. This is because the banks uses premium numbers as well and if all is barred, then you miss out on the fraud services offfered by the bank.

i'm going to raise this with OfCom. The telecoms comany need to do more to protect Customers.

[madasaf1sh]

@Jey

Banks don't use Premium texts, they use Short Code SMS which don't charge you (but don't give the banks ideas on how to charge customers more for their services 🙂 )

You should never be charged for sending a stop message.

This doesn't just affect o2 it affects most mobile networks globally.

OfCom won't do anything about this I'm afraid., haven't shown any inclination do so for the past 4 or 5 years.. (They also don't listen to individual complaints).

They even tell you as much....

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/complaints/complain-about-phones-or-internet-services/billing-and-charges

Their is a simple answer find a network that doesn't allow charge to bill such as Honest Mobile or the like.

[Cleoriff]

@Jey 

Follow the advice above. You can get your money back by contacting the number given by @madasaf1sh and contact O2 to put relevant bars on your account, (in my post) so this doesn't happen again.

Actually if you read the guide we both posted it would tell you exactly what to do.

[Jey]

Thanks but I called O2 n was told that I won’t get a refund because the charges was made by Opera Telecom.
The advice from O2 was given was to put a spend cap as a measure which doesn’t make sense in my opinion as it doesn’t stop the SMS from coming.

Checking on PSA service checker, the name of the company that sent the unsolicited Christmas greeting wasn’t Opera Telecom so information provided by O2 in the first place was incorrect.

I expect more from O2 to protect Customers and stopping these type of scams instead of leaving us to sort it out ourselves.

[Jey]

Thanks for clarifying the difference. I’ll ask for premium services to be stopped on my account. It’s a shame this is not offered in the app. I hate having to call for something I can do myself.

Shame on OfCom as it seems they are protecting the mobile network providers than the Consumers.

It might seem trivial but after 10years with O2, I deserve a refund even if it’s as a good will gesture but the service today was appalling and I’m definitely thinking of jumping ships. It won’t make a difference to O2 but I deserve value for money and better customer service.

[madasaf1sh]

@Jey

Unfortunately, you will get the same response from all the networks.

Oxygen8 is as I understand it the new name for Opera Telecom.