Unauthorized Mobile Content: Consumers are Fighting Back

San Diego, CAIt's called 'cramming' and it's got nothing to do with studying for an exam. Cramming is the latest catch phrase for unauthorized mobile content that shows up on your cell phone bill that you didn't authorize. You didn't order it, didn't ask for it, and didn't subscribe to it—at least knowingly. And yet you continue to get billed by a third party for something you hardly even know exists, let alone use.

Thankfully, people are fighting back. The proof is in the number of class action lawsuits that have been filed by mobile phone users fed up with unauthorized third-party billing, and last week a major announcement by AT&T Mobility that it would settle a group of class action suits, and issue refunds to consumers who are out-of-pocket for services they never used and didn't want.

It's easy enough to do. According to the Utilities Consumers Action Network (UCAN), a not-for-profit advocacy group based in San Diego, a consumer can subscribe to everything from ring tones, to horoscopes to a joke-of-the-day and never know it. Perhaps you have filled out a form, or entered a contest that required the inclusion of your cell phone number.

This often happens with our kids, a popular target for these third-party hucksters. A constantly growing sector in cell phone usage, adolescents live on their cell phones and enter everything unless they are counseled not to.

Suddenly they, or you find that as a new subscriber for monthly ring tones, horoscopes, games or joke services you are suddenly paying a larger cell phone bill every month. This is because while you may have unwittingly subscribed to one of these third-party entities, it is your service provider who collects the money from you on their behalf.

Art Neill is an attorney with UCAN who has sued several cell phone providers with regard to incorrect billing, and unauthorized fees. He backs up the statement that signing up for such third-party services is so subtle, most have no idea they've done so. Now you're being billed for a $9.99 per month ring tone service you didn't ask for—and just try to get it cancelled.

Easier said than done, he says.

"People have to search and search to find out what the message code is to turn off a service. You should be able to call (to cancel), but I don't think it's as easy as that," Neill says. "What we find is, it often depends on who you get on the phone, how effective you are and how persistent you are, how persuasive you are."

Most third-party service providers hope that you won't notice an extra ten dollars on your cell bill. They're hoping that you won't be able to remember what is was for, but may assume that 'it must be necessary to my service if it is there,' and do nothing about it. Inaction could also be the result of sheer busy-ness, something that befalls most of us. You look at your phone bill and declare, "This doesn't look quite right." However you are far too busy to deal with it right now, and if you make a mental note to check into it later, justification of your cell phone bill may never happen at all.

If, and when you DO get around to looking into what appears to be an unauthorized billing for a service you do not use and did not want, they certainly don't make it any easier for you to cancel. That's the whole idea. Make it so difficult to cut the expense loose that you might just be inclined to say the hell with it.

However, those who have picked up the gauntlet and challenged the repugnant practice have helped to achieve the kinds of paybacks announced earlier this month when AT&T Mobility agreed to refund current, or former customers for unauthorized charges covering a period January 1st 2004 through May 30th of this year. Provided they have not received a refund from a third party, affected consumers can claim up to three of their monthly bills during the claims period.

Meantime cramming will continue, and Sue Macomber of UCAN advocates that consumers watch their cell phone bills like a hawk, and dispute any charge that you did not knowingly authorize. Even an amount as little as $3 should be disputed. Macomber says third party content providers should be contacted, and asked in no uncertain terms that the charges—and the unwanted service—be removed.

She says it's also best to send a letter by registered mail to your cell phone service provider, detailing the charges and the unwanted services. A written letter, for which you should arrange for proof of receipt, is a good way to officially log your complaint with your cell phone service provider.

And don't stop there. Give them a deadline, she says. Ask when you can expect to hear their reply, or to see the charges (and the service) removed. Be polite, but persistent. Take no prisoners, and don't take no for an answer.

It's a jungle out there…