Comments on: SMS short codes and the evil that is M-cube

By: Kyle

Kyle — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 19:13:25 +0000

If you are an AT&T subscriber go to http://www.att.com/db/
That will show all recent purchases and you can cancel them from there.

By: Rick

Rick — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 14:00:19 +0000

I am FURIOUS with these jackasses. Here’s my story: I’m on Facebook one day, checking out this addictive little thing called “Farmville.” I see at the top of the screen, “click here and get 1 million coins for Farmville!” I figure, ok, click here, what can that hurt? So I “click here.” It says “take the following IQ test!” I’m all… ok, I can do that for 1 million video game coins, it’s not like it’s asking me to convert my hard-earned REAL money, right? So I take the test, and I think ok, cool, I get a high score, let’s get some coins now! I receive the text, enter my PIN, and sit there waiting for my coins.
It takes me to some “Playphone” website, and as soon as I realized that the jerks subscribed me WITHOUT telling me that I was subscribing by disguising it as an IQ test, and of course not telling me I’d be billed for this either? I sent the STOP texts.
Fast forward a few weeks later, and here I am this morning with a bill saying I’m being charged over $30!!! Because somehow, I subscribed to not ONE, but TWO different asshole websites!
Thank you very much for posting this, sir, you have saved me a lot of grief. I mean to call my provider right NOW and tell them the story and that I refuse to pay those charges to either of those two companies. It is absurd and extortion to not tell someone that they’re subscribing to a place that’s going to CHARGE them for that subscription they don’t even know they’re signing up for…
Ooooohhh, I’m pissed off and want to load a super soaker with scalding hot water and shoot some scammers…
Thank you again, so very much. You’ve taken a load off my shoulders.

By: Al

Al — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 21:13:58 +0000

I had the same problem and went to an AT&T retail store and they told me to text stop and that they couldn’t do anything about the charges. After reading this blog, I called the AT&T customer service line and they reversed the charges, stopped the service, and put a block on all four of the phones in my family plan. CALL THE CUSTOMER SERVICE OF YOUR CELL PHONE PROVIDER. It is the only way to get it resolved.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 22:36:41 +0000

What about those of us in Canada that are scammed on Facebook? Can we call AT&T too and get a refund? I am getting nowhere with Verisign or my cell phone company. Please let me know~!

By: Linda

Linda — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:07:42 +0000

Just wanted to thank you for your story. Both my husband and I are being charged over $44.oo/month incl taxes for four of these “Short codes” – We’ll contact AT&T today…..I sent “STOP” texts but decided to see if anyone else was having this problem, too. Now that I’ve read your story I know only AT&T can stop these thieves from taking anymore of our $. Thanks again.

By: aivon

aivon — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:17:58 +0000

I had the same problem. Luckily I found out the charges last months and I had been charged for 2 months subscription. I called ATT and the CS recommended to put a block. I got full 2 months refund. This past week, again I received text messages from those bastard. I checked my bill online today and there it is the charge for subscription reappeared. I need to call ATT again, apparently their block does not work. I want to sue this company!!!. This should be illegal!!!

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:26:52 +0000

Same issue with another short code. Interestingly though the CSR at AT&T did manage to refund me all four months worth of charges.

In this instance my wife had absolutely not subscribed to the service as it is accessible through 411 which she hasn’t used in a year or more.

As with you the ‘STOP’ message did nothing. These rules are in place for a reason but are being routinely abused. This is shaping up to be a class action lawsuit if someone doesn’t get their act together.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:42:49 +0000

Hello all I work for at&t and get these calls at least 4-5 times a day!!! OMG!!! As far as us being able to block this from happening isn’t exactly true we can only block subscriptions and one time charges from at&t. We can’t block m-cube as of yet. SIGH… As he was told we can only refund 2 months worth of charges. So please as soon as u see these charges CALL US and we will immed. stop the subscription and give you your money back NO QUESTIONS ASKED!!! It seems the only way to stop the charges is to have us stop them so don’t even attempt texting STOP to the short code. Also don’t give or type your number in online on any of those stupid iq quizes… ect.

By: stephen

stephen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:36:02 +0000

What a scam. I just found two subscriptions that totaled 70 bucks over four months. Fortunately AT&T is refunding 60. There is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE that I agreed to a subscription service. AT&T has a blocking feature now that prevents you from being able to inadvertently sign up for something. Kudos to AT&T. I’m out 10 bucks and can live with that.

By: weave

weave — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:37:14 +0000

While I appreciate the reply, it’s clear that you didn’t read the post or comments above and simply did a google search (according to my logs) for 800 416 6129 and then just punched out a canned reply. If you read the post you’d see that the issue was finally resolved.

How about just honoring STOP requests like you are supposed to? The first month charge, fine, I’m good with that. But after STOP was sent, four more months of charges were sent, and I only got two of them refunded from AT&T. So how about refunding me the other $19.98?