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8:27 pm
March 25, 2010
Offline
On dec 31 of last year, I bought a $100 voucher and activated it, bringing my account to around $160 or so.... I was taking advantage of the last day of the promotion and wanted a free second phone...
For the next month and a half I talk my normal amount, which isn't much at all...usually comes to about $10-$15 a month or so, I decide to check my account balance and i'm down to $108...this was very strange for me, considering I was on vacation without the phone for 10 of those days..even so, I did receive 2 quick long distant calls from within the country during that time, which totaled 15 min (I checked)...which shouldn't have drained anywhere near that amount, but I didn't give it too much extra thought, I just resolved never to use the phone for long distance calls again.
BUT, from that moment on I have been logging all my calls on paper...recording exactly how much time i speak, exactly how many text messages i send and receive etc....I scoured the official site, making sure what was free and what wasn't etc....I've added it all up and it comes to $14 so far, my phone logs agree, i went through each calls duration record and checked off 25 cents for every minute and portion thereof...I've checked my account balance and i'm $38 poorer....
the only thing I could think of is that I accepted a call from a 650 area code during that time and shouted hello into the receiver for exactly 21 seconds while abba music answered me back. one of those annoying telemarketer numbers I found out later...but theres nothing about that number i could discover that would have taken $25 off of me in 21 seconds.
I do not like talking on the phone...which is why I use speak out , because I do so little of it....most of my calls are less than a minute...."im on my way" etc...but in just under 4 months i've gone from $160 to $70....thats $90 gone when it should be just $40 or so.
only 4 people in the world know my number, 3 of them live within an hour of me.
has my phone number been cloned?
has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?
I've always thought my speak out minutes drain faster than they should, but i've never been too vigilant in accounting for them.
i've called customer service, they bumped me over to technical services who should call me back tomorrow....given the attitude I received I don't expect this to end well.
I might as well get a phone with a plan at those prices, then at least I could get an itemized bill .....
any thoughts, ideas?
7:20 am
March 10, 2010
Offline
Hmmm, have you tried calling a SO rep? Other than that, possibly you have activated unlimited data at $10 a month? If you caught two of those plus your Abba call, that would explain the $25 discrepancy.
Also, watch out for weird texts, like a joke of the day or something. Some shady company got hold of my number once and started firing me off these stupid texts. It was costing me $5 every time I opened one š®
9:43 am
April 21, 2010
Offline
"It was costing me $5 every time I opened one"
This sounds weird, I thought all incoming sms were free, outgoing sms you get charged .10 each, not doubting you were getting ripped but just curious about the mechanics of it for future reference.
12:51 pm
March 10, 2010
Offline
It was one of those "Joke of the day" type services. You are supposed to send a text to XXXX and they will send you a joke text every day at a set charge. Of course I would never subscribe to such a stupid service, and as I had no idea about such things I just figured I was being spammed. Until one day I went to use my phone that had been topped off the week prior, and there was no money in it. With Pay & Talk services you have no record of who you call or text, so you have no way to prove that you never subscribed. The carrier, in this case Virgin, doesn't care because they make a commission on every dollar these companies scam you for. Not sure what the policy is, but with Virgin I was not charged that fee unless I actually viewed the message, even though incoming texts were free. If I simply deleted without reading, I wasn't charged.
BTW, I believe the cause of this was an IQ test that my daughter sent me on facebook. After spending 10 mins answering the questions I was presented with a window asking for my cell number, so they could send my score. Within a short time both my daughters an my own balances were at zero.
2:44 pm
July 14, 2009
Offline
If you receive a call from someone you do not know and they play Abba music, I would call SO and ask to have that call removed from your cost. Might now work but it has worked with other carriers when someone phones you by mistake.
š
forest173 said:
On dec 31 of last year, I bought a $100 voucher and activated it, bringing my account to around $160 or so.... I was taking advantage of the last day of the promotion and wanted a free second phone...
For the next month and a half I talk my normal amount, which isn't much at all...usually comes to about $10-$15 a month or so, I decide to check my account balance and i'm down to $108...this was very strange for me, considering I was on vacation without the phone for 10 of those days..even so, I did receive 2 quick long distant calls from within the country during that time, which totaled 15 min (I checked)...which shouldn't have drained anywhere near that amount, but I didn't give it too much extra thought, I just resolved never to use the phone for long distance calls again.
BUT, from that moment on I have been logging all my calls on paper...recording exactly how much time i speak, exactly how many text messages i send and receive etc....I scoured the official site, making sure what was free and what wasn't etc....I've added it all up and it comes to $14 so far, my phone logs agree, i went through each calls duration record and checked off 25 cents for every minute and portion thereof...I've checked my account balance and i'm $38 poorer....
the only thing I could think of is that I accepted a call from a 650 area code during that time and shouted hello into the receiver for exactly 21 seconds while abba music answered me back. one of those annoying telemarketer numbers I found out later...but theres nothing about that number i could discover that would have taken $25 off of me in 21 seconds.
I do not like talking on the phone...which is why I use speak out , because I do so little of it....most of my calls are less than a minute...."im on my way" etc...but in just under 4 months i've gone from $160 to $70....thats $90 gone when it should be just $40 or so.
only 4 people in the world know my number, 3 of them live within an hour of me.
has my phone number been cloned?
has anyone else ever experienced anything like this?
I've always thought my speak out minutes drain faster than they should, but i've never been too vigilant in accounting for them.
i've called customer service, they bumped me over to technical services who should call me back tomorrow....given the attitude I received I don't expect this to end well.I might as well get a phone with a plan at those prices, then at least I could get an itemized bill .....
any thoughts, ideas?
11:07 pm
October 3, 2011
Offline
Yes, I have just recently started using my SO phone (basically as an emergency phone when my regular work phone is acting up) -On my first day of use the amount reduced from $25 to 12 with around a dozen short calls. -I contacted SO and the answer was -"that's about right, and NO we will NOT provide detailed billing" - Sounds like a rip off !
3:23 pm
May 2, 2009
Offline
>>>>>Yes, I have just recently started using my SO phone (basically as an emergency phone when my regular work phone is acting up) -On my first day of use the amount reduced from $25 to 12 with around a dozen short calls. <<<<
Just out of curiosity, how long ago did you add the $25 to your account? If it was many months ago, your balance is reduced by $1.25 (?) each month for the 911 fee. Could that be it?
12:45 pm
December 9, 2011
Offline
I suspected that I was overbilled by speakout as money in my account depleted very fast. So before I send out a text message, I checked my balance which was $24.35 and after I sent a local text message, the balance was down to $24.15, that was $0.20 deducted from my account instead of the advertised $0.10. I tried it another time, I checked my balance, which was $24.15 and then sent the text message, checked the balance again which was now $23.95, another $0.20 was taken from my account for one outgoing local text message instead of the advertised $0.10. I tried to call 611 and customer care 1-866-910-1023 both were unavailable. So emailed speakout@ztarmobile.com. The reply I got was that everything was correct that I was charged $0.20 for two messages ā but I got charged $0.20 for one message. . I donāt want to waste time over the little money but I want to make sure that the system is charging me correctly as small overcharges like that add up. On the email I was advised to call customer care as they ācannot fully trouble shoot the issue via emailā. So I called the customer care about being charged $0.20 for each outgoing local text message, she said no the system is showing that everything is correct, nothing wrong with the system and that I was charged $0.10 for the outgoing text messages. I told her that I checked my balance before and after sending the text messages, then she said that I got charge $0.20 for one outgoing local text message is because the text was more than 160 words. I donāt believe that my text was more than 160 words. I told her that and that nowhere on the 711 speakout official website mentioned anything about text message over 160 words will be charged more than $0.10. She kept saying that the system is correct and then hung up on me. I hate to waste time on things like this. I use the speakout phone because I donāt make too many calls and itās convenient to have a phone that you only pay what you use. However, I find that the way speakout charges me, itās more expensive than using a plan and it is also frustrating to have to follow up like that with no way to see my usage history and the rates I was charged. Like this time, I knew I was charged double the money for the text message but speakout said I got charged correctly and that is. Also, I find that the message that speakout sent regarding my balance (*777#) cannot be kept for record. I agreed that speakout is a rip off.
A family member of mine also suspected overbilling by speakout. This is what happened:
-On Oct 28 activated with $25 and signed up for $10 text message plan which should leave account with $15
-On Nov 25 got a message saying that $10 was left in the plan, assuming money was taken for the 911 fee (for Oct and Nov)
-By Nov 30, the account was out of money.
-this family member seldom makes phone calls and will not use up $10 within such short period.
Yes, speakout is dishonest and definitely a rip off!
