Incorrect messaging charges?

On my last T-Mobile bill (dated 12/23/2004), I was double-billed 5 times and
triple-billed twice for sending an international SMS. The bill shows the
messages being sent at the same time on same date to the same number. I know
I wasn't hitting the send button repeatedly, and I haven't had such an issue
sending SMS in the last 2+ years i've been with t-mobile. I called up
customer care and they did an "Advanced Billing Research" - a truly fancy
name, as they came back 48 hours later and said that charges were still
valid as messages were sent, refusing to give me an "advanced billing"
answer, and wouldn't transfer me to higher level support. I asked them to
check if the 2 or 3 multiple message instances contained the same
information or it was different. They refused to go into this... and
credited me only 2 international SMS, citing that in future i should be
"very careful" and hit the send button only once. At some point I felt like
telling the muppets at the other end of the line that I know more than they
do about their handsets and network than what the company tells them, but
who am I to argue, just the paying customer. Go Figure!
I send 30 international SMS every month and this is the first time it comes
up on my bill. All T-Mobile say is check your next bill, and if it happens
again, call us. (and i'll have to go through the same thing again).
Any one had similar issues? Or do I have faulty handsets (SE T300 - trouble
free for 1.5 years, Moto V60G trouble free for 2.5 years)?

---

› See More: Incorrect messaging charges?

Perhaps you inadvertently sent a long message that was broken up automatically
into more than one standard SMS message -- that's happened to me a few times.

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 06 Jan 2005
02:33:33 GMT, "Andy M - Tampa Bay" <[email protected]> wrote:

>On my last T-Mobile bill (dated 12/23/2004), I was double-billed 5 times and
>triple-billed twice for sending an international SMS. The bill shows the
>messages being sent at the same time on same date to the same number. I know
>I wasn't hitting the send button repeatedly, and I haven't had such an issue
>sending SMS in the last 2+ years i've been with t-mobile. I called up
>customer care and they did an "Advanced Billing Research" - a truly fancy
>name, as they came back 48 hours later and said that charges were still
>valid as messages were sent, refusing to give me an "advanced billing"
>answer, and wouldn't transfer me to higher level support. I asked them to
>check if the 2 or 3 multiple message instances contained the same
>information or it was different. They refused to go into this... and
>credited me only 2 international SMS, citing that in future i should be
>"very careful" and hit the send button only once. At some point I felt like
>telling the muppets at the other end of the line that I know more than they
>do about their handsets and network than what the company tells them, but
>who am I to argue, just the paying customer. Go Figure!
>I send 30 international SMS every month and this is the first time it comes
>up on my bill. All T-Mobile say is check your next bill, and if it happens
>again, call us. (and i'll have to go through the same thing again).
>Any one had similar issues? Or do I have faulty handsets (SE T300 - trouble
>free for 1.5 years, Moto V60G trouble free for 2.5 years)?
>

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

John Navas wrote:
> Perhaps you inadvertently sent a long message that was broken up automatically
> into more than one standard SMS message -- that's happened to me a few times.
>

That's a good point, if your message exceeded 160 characters then the
message is actually broken up into up 3 messages. You won't notice this
as the originating phone just does it and most new phones will
automatically join them back into one message when the receive them.

I've noticed incoming messages on my phone and the phone says updating
message once or twice when it receives the 2nd or 3rd SMS. When I read
the message it is only the one message.


--
73 de Simon, VK3XEM.
http://www.aca.gov.au/pls/radcom/cli...IENT_NO=157452
The views stated by me are my own and have nothing to do with any
organisation I belong to,
so the prick that tried to slander me can get ****ED because it didn't work!

> I've noticed incoming messages on my phone and the phone says updating message once or twice when it receives the 2nd or 3rd
> SMS. When I read the message it is only the one message.

Yeah but usually that happens transparently and immediately doesn't it?

I very frequently send messages 3, 4, or even 6 times the 160-character
limit per SMS.

I kinda assumed reconstitution is normally transparent and immediate, but
maybe my friends just always send me short messages and I hadn't noticed!


Martin
--
M.A.Poyser Tel.: 07967 110890
Manchester, U.K. http://www.fleetie.demon.co.uk

Hi,

Don't be so sure that there hasn't been an error. I was recently on holiday
in Egypt and used my phone on the final day only, whilst waiting in the
airport, to recieve my e-mails. On checking my bill when it arrived shortly
after my return it was excessively high. To cut a long story short Orange
had tried to overcharge me by some £320 for GPRS usage supposedly from
Egypt - it was used in the UK prior to departure. When I initially called
Orange they insisted that the bill was correct 'cos it says so on the
computer!' Needless to say I wasn't happy with this and wrote to them
outlining the errors and complaining that I had been effectively accussed of
lying.

It turned out that Orange had made errors since I started my contract with
them some 8 months ago. I received a letter from someone who obviously had
a brain cell rather than the muppet I spoke with on the phone and I was
reimbursed.

All these comapnies are thieving b******s. It's funny how these 'errors'
are always in their favour.

Regards

AC

[POSTED TO alt.cellular.gsm - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Thu, 6 Jan 2005 21:22:34 -0000, "AC"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>All these comapnies are thieving b******s.

That's not my experience.

>It's funny how these 'errors'
>are always in their favour.

I've also seen errors in the favor of subscribers.

--
Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>

"AC" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> All these comapnies are thieving b******s. It's funny how these 'errors'
> are always in their favour.

Not always. But don't ask me for details. ;-)

--
Donald Newcomb
DRNewcomb (at) attglobal (dot) net

"John Navas" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Perhaps you inadvertently sent a long message that was broken up
> automatically
> into more than one standard SMS message -- that's happened to me a few
> times.

John,

I checked my SE T300 settings, long SMS messages option was turned off. So
it isn't my handset, and my Moto V60G doesn't have a long SMS option, only
limited to 160 characters. I'm pretty sure T-mobile have had a billing
error.

>
> In <[email protected]> on Thu, 06 Jan 2005
> 02:33:33 GMT, "Andy M - Tampa Bay" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>On my last T-Mobile bill (dated 12/23/2004), I was double-billed 5 times
>>and
>>triple-billed twice for sending an international SMS. The bill shows the
>>messages being sent at the same time on same date to the same number. I
>>know
>>I wasn't hitting the send button repeatedly, and I haven't had such an
>>issue
>>sending SMS in the last 2+ years i've been with t-mobile. I called up
>>customer care and they did an "Advanced Billing Research" - a truly fancy
>>name, as they came back 48 hours later and said that charges were still
>>valid as messages were sent, refusing to give me an "advanced billing"
>>answer, and wouldn't transfer me to higher level support. I asked them to
>>check if the 2 or 3 multiple message instances contained the same
>>information or it was different. They refused to go into this... and
>>credited me only 2 international SMS, citing that in future i should be
>>"very careful" and hit the send button only once. At some point I felt
>>like
>>telling the muppets at the other end of the line that I know more than
>>they
>>do about their handsets and network than what the company tells them, but
>>who am I to argue, just the paying customer. Go Figure!
>>I send 30 international SMS every month and this is the first time it
>>comes
>>up on my bill. All T-Mobile say is check your next bill, and if it happens
>>again, call us. (and i'll have to go through the same thing again).
>>Any one had similar issues? Or do I have faulty handsets (SE T300 -
>>trouble
>>free for 1.5 years, Moto V60G trouble free for 2.5 years)?
>>
>
> --
> Best regards, HELP FOR CINGULAR GSM & SONY ERICSSON PHONES:
> John Navas <http://navasgrp.home.att.net/#Cingular>