@cole-stevens wrote:
I am absolutely appalled by O2 and their service, I called to question additional unknown charges dating back over a year on my 12 year old daugthers phone. I set this line up with a zero spend cap I specifically asked that there was no chance of any ingame purchases or any unauthorise purchase on this bill.
"I ABSOLUTELY NO ADDITIONAL CHARGES"
13th March 2021 I spoke to an agent at O2 who confirmed that my account had a zero spend cap and that the charges dating back over a year would be refunded and I was assured that no further charges from RED27 would be applied to my account and no additional charges would be able to be applied to my daughters number in future.
Today (17th May 2021) I find that no charges have been refunded, that even more charges have been added the bill and O2's response is;
"We dont have any notes on file that you called about this issue before"
"They're direct to bill charges and that's down to you, we don't stop those or refund them"
Basically O2 are enabling this scam to continue, What about the recorded call from the previous O2 operative? I have not authorised RED27 to add these charges and nor has anyone else in my family, I am disgusted by O2 for a number of reasons and although I have been a customer since it's was Mercury One2One unless this matter is resolved immediately I shall be cancelling all 3 of my personal phone lines and all my business phones too!
My advice...
record your own calls, take notes, add dates and ask for the operatives name or reference for the call.
@cole-stevens You are , of course, correct that it is a disgrace that O2 are allowed to apply these charges to accounts without taking any responsibility for them. What makes it worse is that spending caps don't work against these scams. O2 staff often give uncorrect or incomplete advice on this issue.
As the law stands, the alleged contract is between you and the "service provider". I believe that in this case the "service provider" is Red27 Mobile. Under UK law it is for Red27Mobile to prove the existence of such a contract. If they can't do this, you are entitled to a full refund of the unlawful charges. Have you asked Red27 to provide this evidence?
Red27mobile are well known operators of these scams, although recent changes to the rules make it much more difficult for them. They seem to have shifted their focus to Ireland where the regulations remain very lax. Take a look at their Trustpilot reviews to see how many irate consumers have been trapped in to dubious "subscriptions" by Red27.
PSCG believes that it is wrong for networks to be passing on these charges without satisfying themselves that the transactions are lawful. We have been pressing the Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA) to force networks to take more responsibility. Although much has been done since November 2019 to make it more difficult to "autosubscribe" consumers to these "subscriptions", as it stands any dispute is between you and Red27Mobile.
We have had considerable success using the UK Small Claims procedure to recover unlawful charges like yours. Details of how to pursue your case are here:
https://psconsumers.org.uk/how-to-deal-with-scam-text-charges/
You can also contact us to get advice specific to your case:
https://psconsumers.org.uk/contact/
Our Facebook group supports victims and campaigns for regulatory change:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/psconsumers
The regulator has organised a consumer consultation for this Thursday where you can express your concern at the failure of the networks to provide adequate consumer protection from scam "services".
https://psauthority.org.uk/news/events/2021/april/code-15---consultation-webinars
Sadly, consumer interest in these regulations is currently minimal, mainly because the number of these scams has dramatically reduced. However, companies like Red27 are waiting in the wings, ready to exploit any "loopholes" in the regulations.
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