I'm another victim of Cingular/m-Qube - Beware!

About four months ago I started recieving a large number of $.30 text
message charges from a company called "m-qube". The "Merchant phone"
was listed as 1-866-CINGULAR.

I have no idea what this "service" is, but am certain I never signed up
for it. In fact I explictly had Cingular disable text messaging on my
phone last year...I use it only for business. I called Cingular, who
said it was a third party service that they had nothing to do with.
Funny- they were listed as the merchant contact.

The idea seems to be that cell phone bills contain so many charges
already that Cingular can add on a few more in hopes no one will
notice. They refused to remove any charges over two months old, even
though they were blatantly fraudulent.

I am filing a complaint with the California Public Utilites Commission,
and will take Cingular to small claims court if they don't reverse all
charges, regardless of age. Check your phone bill carefully. Beware!

Burt

---

› See More: I'm another victim of Cingular/m-Qube - Beware!

I used to work in a Cingular call center, and can confirm that m-Qube
is definitely a third-party vendor. The merchant contact number is
listed as Cingular's because Cingular is who bills you directly. m-Qube
sends a bill to Cingular for the service, and it gets passed on to you
through your wireless bill.

We had specific instructions on how to deal with calls regarding third
party vendors (Jamster, m-Qube, etc...) and any representative can give
you the information to contact m-Qube directly, should you want to
speak with them.

Unfortunately, call center representatives are NOT able to cancel the
subscription for you. It was not something that was initiated by
Cingular, and they do not have the power to automatically cancel it for
you. If you ask, a representative MIGHT take the time and effort to
fill out a cancellation form for you. Don't have your hopes up, though.

While I'm not familiar with any regulation stating that representatives
can't remove charges over two months old (I once had to go through
nearly a year of those charges, with multiple per week, in order to
refund a customer), I would be willing to bet it's just someone's way
of being lazy. It's not an easy task to remove those charges.

Don't waste the time filing complaints. They'll fall on deaf ears.
Cingular does not provide the service. You just need to get pushy with
a representative about the refunds and contact information to cancel
your subscription to m-Qube, regardless of how you got signed up.
Always remember you can escalate to a manager if you feel like the
person you're talking to is just being lazy.

Good luck!

I used to work in a Cingular call center, and can confirm that m-Qube
is definitely a third-party vendor. The merchant contact number is
listed as Cingular's because Cingular is who bills you directly.
m-Qube sends a bill to Cingular for the service, and it gets passed on
to you through your wireless bill.

We had specific instructions on how to deal with calls regarding third
party vendors (Jamster, m-Qube, etc...) and any representative can
give you the information to contact m-Qube directly, should you want
to speak with them.

Unfortunately, call center representatives are NOT able to cancel the
subscription for you. It was not something that was initiated by
Cingular, and they do not have the power to automatically cancel it
for you. If you ask, a representative MIGHT take the time and effort
to fill out a cancellation form for you. Don't have your hopes up,
though.

While I'm not familiar with any regulation stating that
representatives can't remove charges over two months old (I once had
to go through nearly a year of those charges, with multiple per week,
in order to refund a customer), I would be willing to bet it's just
someone's way of being lazy. It's not an easy task to remove those
charges.

Don't waste the time filing complaints. They'll fall on deaf ears.
Cingular does not provide the service. You just need to get pushy with
a representative about the refunds and contact information to cancel
your subscription to m-Qube, regardless of how you got signed up.
Always remember you can escalate to a manager if you feel like the
person you're talking to is just being lazy.

Good luck!

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I am a customer service Rep for Cingular and don't mind crediting a customer for those third party charges,I have spent more than an hour on one customer in particular just crediting back the M-Qube and Jamster charges.Remember,those charges would not have started unless you somehow accessed an M-Qube site,whether by computer or cellphone.They use many,many different names and services.(For example Flycell,daily horoscopes or jokes,even some kind of crap sent to you via Montel Williams' show)) Many consumers are unaware of these vendors signing you up for subscriptions just for downloading a cool ringtone or nice graphics one time. Like they say......."Read the small print."

Originally Posted by Burt

About four months ago I started recieving a large number of $.30 text
message charges from a company called "m-qube". The "Merchant phone"
was listed as 1-866-CINGULAR.

I have no idea what this "service" is, but am certain I never signed up
for it. In fact I explictly had Cingular disable text messaging on my
phone last year...I use it only for business. I called Cingular, who
said it was a third party service that they had nothing to do with.
Funny- they were listed as the merchant contact.

The idea seems to be that cell phone bills contain so many charges
already that Cingular can add on a few more in hopes no one will
notice. They refused to remove any charges over two months old, even
though they were blatantly fraudulent.

I am filing a complaint with the California Public Utilites Commission,
and will take Cingular to small claims court if they don't reverse all
charges, regardless of age. Check your phone bill carefully. Beware!

Burt

On Sun, 8 Jan 2006 03:58:23 -0600, whatcity225
<[email protected]> wrote:

>I am a customer service Rep for Cingular and don't mind crediting a
>customer for those third party charges,I have spent more than an hour
>on one customer in particular just crediting back the M-Qube and
>Jamster charges.Remember,those charges would not have started unless
>you somehow accessed an M-Qube site,whether by computer or
>cellphone.They use many,many different names and services.(For example
>Flycell,daily horoscopes or jokes,even some kind of crap sent to you
>via Montel Williams' show)) Many consumers are unaware of these vendors
>signing you up for subscriptions just for downloading a cool ringtone or
>nice graphics one time. Like they say......."Read the small print."

On top of that, they also like to use the 'free ringtone' scams that
you'll see spread around on the internet and TV. That ringtone may be
free, but the monthly subscription you unknowingly signed up for sure
isn't.

I hated it when customers would insist that they did not sign up for
anything of the sort, when those third party services do indeed have
to be initiated by the user.

I didn't mind crediting back the charges either. After doing it many
times it sure makes me realize how easy it is for some to make excuses
to not have to do it, however. It really was a pain.

I used to work in a Cingular call center, and can confirm that m-Qube
is definitely a third-party vendor. The merchant contact number is
listed as Cingular's because Cingular is who bills you directly. m-Qube
sends a bill to Cingular for the service, and it gets passed on to you
through your wireless bill.

We had specific instructions on how to deal with calls regarding third
party vendors (Jamster, m-Qube, etc...) and any representative can give
you the information to contact m-Qube directly, should you want to
speak with them.

Unfortunately, call center representatives are NOT able to cancel the
subscription for you. It was not something that was initiated by
Cingular, and they do not have the power to automatically cancel it for
you. If you ask, a representative MIGHT take the time and effort to
fill out a cancellation form for you. Don't have your hopes up, though.

While I'm not familiar with any regulation stating that representatives
can't remove charges over two months old (I once had to go through
nearly a year of those charges, with multiple per week, in order to
refund a customer), I would be willing to bet it's just someone's way
of being lazy. It's not an easy task to remove those charges.

Don't waste the time filing complaints. They'll fall on deaf ears.
Cingular does not provide the service. You just need to get pushy with
a representative about the refunds and contact information to cancel
your subscription to m-Qube, regardless of how you got signed up.
Always remember you can escalate to a manager if you feel like the
person you're talking to is just being lazy.

Good luck!

> My guess is you (or possibly yuor kid or wife or whomever borrowed
> your phone) downloaded some "free" rigntone or graphic and didn't read
> the fine print about a 'membership'...

Nonsense. I'm the only person who has ever touched this phone. I never
downloaded anything, wouldn't even know how to. In fact had Cingular
disable all text messaging on the phone.

Here's the conversation I had with Cingular:

Me: "Hi, I had a question about all these text messages I'm being
charged for"
Cingular: "I'm sorry sir, we'll take those off your bill"
Me: "Uh, I didn't ask you to take them off"

If these charges were legitimate, would Cingular rush to remove them
from my account, with no investigation, without me even asking?

Cingular had no idea what these charges were for. Imagine if all your
utilities started tacking on third party charges they couldn't explain.


Cingular is charging me for text messages it couldn't possibly have
delivered, since text messaging was disabled.

Fortunately the PUC is only a few blocks from me. This is outrageous.

Michael,

Many thanks for the info. You write:

>I used to work in a Cingular call center, and can confirm that m-Qube
>is definitely a third-party vendor

I guess that's the first problem. This is a utility bill, not a credit
card. There shouldn't be any third party charges!

>Unfortunately, call center representatives are NOT able to cancel the subscription for you.

Right, thanks, I'm not concerned with either reversing the charges or
cancelling the service. My only concern is how I got signed up for this
service, since I never did it. Cingular says they're only the biller.
m-Qube says "m-Qube is not the company selling content or billing you
for products" So we'll keep going down the chain until we find that
mysterious person who's actually charging me.

Thinking about my own business, if someone approached me and asked me
to tack on some charges to my client's invoices from some unknown third
or forth or fifth party, I'd tell them to shove it. I guess Cingular
has no such qualms.

>Don't waste the time filing complaints. They'll fall on deaf ears.

Yeah, I know the lower level folks and Cingular aren't to blame. The
two I've talked to have both told me how much they hate m-Qube. I'm
going to go to the Public Utilites Commission, and have alterted a
couple of journalists.

Burt

Michael Singletary wrote:
> I hated it when customers would insist that they did not sign up for
> anything of the sort, when those third party services do indeed have
> to be initiated by the user.

Yeah, right. There are no dishonest businessmen, just stupid consumers.

<http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/services/cramming.htm> for those who
know otherwise.

--
If John McCain gets the 2008 Republican Presidential nomination,
my vote for President will be a write-in for Jiang Zemin.

Originally Posted by whatcity225

I am a customer service Rep for Cingular and don't mind crediting a customer for those third party charges,I have spent more than an hour on one customer in particular just crediting back the M-Qube and Jamster charges.Remember,those charges would not have started unless you somehow accessed an M-Qube site,whether by computer or cellphone.They use many,many different names and services.(For example Flycell,daily horoscopes or jokes,even some kind of crap sent to you via Montel Williams' show)) Many consumers are unaware of these vendors signing you up for subscriptions just for downloading a cool ringtone or nice graphics one time. Like they say......."Read the small print."

I too work for Cingular and applaud your Take Ownership attitude. It is amazing to me that people who fall into this trap find everyone but themselves to lay the blame off on. Like many have said, refunding these charges is a VERY, VERY labor intensive effort and only impacts all our customers by taking up the time of one CSR for hours at a time researching this for one customer when they could be on the phones assisting 20 an hour.

People, beware, READ YOUR AGREEMENTS CAREFULLY ON EVERYTHING!!

>People, beware, READ YOUR AGREEMENTS CAREFULLY ON EVERYTHING!!

That's some advice for consumers. Let me add some for Cingular:

Cingular: DO NOT ADD NON-CINGULAR CHARGES TO MY BILL! You are not a
credit card. You are a utility. If I want to buy something else I'll
use a credit card, check or cash.

>refunding these charges is a VERY, VERY labor intensive effort

If Cingular stopped adding these charges, you wouldn't have spend time
taking them off, correct?

>People, beware, READ YOUR AGREEMENTS CAREFULLY ON EVERYTHING!!

That's some advice for consumers. Let me add some for Cingular:

Cingular: DO NOT ADD NON-CINGULAR CHARGES TO MY BILL! You are not a
credit card. You are a utility. If I want to buy something else I'll
use a credit card, check or cash.

>refunding these charges is a VERY, VERY labor intensive effort

If Cingular stopped adding these charges, you wouldn't have spend time
taking them off, correct?

>People, beware, READ YOUR AGREEMENTS CAREFULLY ON EVERYTHING!!

That's some advice for consumers. Let me add some for Cingular:

Cingular: DO NOT ADD NON-CINGULAR CHARGES TO MY BILL! You are not a
credit card. You are a utility. If I want to buy something else I'll
use a credit card, check or cash.

>refunding these charges is a VERY, VERY labor intensive effort

If Cingular stopped adding these charges, you wouldn't have spend time
taking them off, correct?

>People, beware, READ YOUR AGREEMENTS CAREFULLY ON EVERYTHING!!

That's some advice for consumers. Let me add some for Cingular:

Cingular: DO NOT ADD NON-CINGULAR CHARGES TO MY BILL! You are not a
credit card. You are a utility. If I want to buy something else I'll
use a credit card, check or cash. Very simple.

>refunding these charges is a VERY, VERY labor intensive effort

If Cingular stopped adding these charges, you wouldn't have spend time
taking them off, correct? Again, verrrrrrrrrrrry simple.

> It is amazing to me that people who fall into this trap find everyone but
themselves to lay the blame off on.

To quote the FTC (thanks for the link Michael):

"Cramming Schemes: Most of these scams occur through the use of an 800
number. Others are initiated by contests or sweepstakes. They are all
deceptive, and you should dispute the charges. Here are some common
ways crooks get your phone number and cram charges onto your bill."

So tell me again who's to blame?