Ais 1-2-call Melody Scam

[Trevor]

Just bought a B500 1-2-call card from 7/11 at Bkk airport to refill my empty phone after 7 months' absence. The ferckers immediately sent me a message saying I had B470 in my account and that I had been charged for a freakin' melody.

Went to Telewiz shop in MBK who stopped future monthly deductions for melodies but refused to give me a refund, or explanation as to why I had no choice but to pay.

What a scam! Providers would not get away with this in the West. Really no consumer protection in this land of wiles with a smile.

[uhuh]

Just bought a B500 1-2-call card from 7/11 at Bkk airport to refill my empty phone after 7 months' absence.  The ferckers immediately sent me a message saying I had B470 in my account and that I had been charged for a freakin' melody.

Went to Telewiz shop in MBK who stopped future monthly deductions for melodies but refused to give me a refund, or explanation as to why I had no choice but to pay. 

What a scam!  Providers would not get away with this in the West.  Really no consumer protection in this land of wiles with a smile.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

actually this i a very common scam in the west

what do you think where the Thais learned this scam?

Only difference: here it is 30 B, in the west more likely 3 or 30 Euro.

And: here you can stop these things by going to a Telewiz shop (my gf stopped something like this just by calling Orange). In the west you may need a registered letter (which costs 6 Euro )

[thai-lover]

Never heard of this scam in the UK. The difference in the West is that you are given the opportunity to opt-out, even if it is in the small print.

[RDN]

Strange - my g/f had to call a special number to get her melodies set up. Seems unlikely that you get this service without asking for it. Maybe as thai-lover said, you need to read the small print or get someone to read it to you.

[LivinLOS]

My brother just had the same thing on a new AIS 12Call card this week..

Also annoying as it is a biz type professional phone and its got some stupid thai sopng on it.. Anyone know how to remove without going to a AIS shop ??

[mike_l]

Try calling *789 , that's the AIS 'calling melody' service and you should be able to get rid of it (or add more songs!) from there.

[Yozzo]

Hi Trevor

Yes it is a scam done by AIS.

And no! - They havent learned it from the west since their are strict consumer protections in europe regarding calling melodies.

Just imaging the people who dont know because they dont call their own mobile phone or their business partners or friends just think you are weird to have a thai melody on your phone and dont tell you. But AIS are laughing all the way to the bank every month.

I am in the mobile business myself and we dont offer calling melodies for the exact same reason as mentioned above.

Now if you think about this....

With the new law regarding registration of simcard owners a lot of simcards will be returned to AIS - "refreshed" and delivered to the market again.

I bet you - there will be a lot of calling melodies on those.

Because AIS will/might forget to delete them or they might even set them up before selling them at the shops.

Major business 30 baht every month from a lot of simcards and even eating 50% everytime someone downloads anything to their mobile phone.

Using DTAC instead - nope! same same and not different!

DTAC will even block any attempts to download something from outside Thailand - if you wanted to use a free service from ex. the UK - like freenews on a java program via WAP or GRPS forget it with DTAC they will block the service unless your phone knows how to use a special proxy.

But you did the right thing demanding the return of your 30 baht - you didnt get them but at least you used their time - so if more people would do like you or start to send emails to AIS and setting up an auto reply to their auto reply they might learn something :-)

[lomatopo]

Today, I topped up my 1-2-Call pre-paid SIM with a 500 baht card. Balance before topping up: 265.78, balance after topping up: 765.78. No scam or melodies here.

I do have a general question though. Whenever I top up I can never extend my expiration date beyond 365 days, even though a 500b top up should have added 90 days beyond the current expiration date (which was 21 Oct 2006). Instead I ended up with a 23 Nov 2006 expiration date? Others have reported expiration dates out into 2007?

[Yozzo]

Hi lomatopo

300 baht valid for 30 days

500 baht valid for 50 days

800 baht valid for 100 days

* Validation start from the day of entry to the system

** AIS reserves the right to change without any notice

http://www.one-2-call.ais.co.th/One2Call/o...cts_otc_set.jsp

[redrus]

I'm currently in talks with an English company who unknown to me cos, foolishly I don't check my bills enough as I should, have sent me 57 messages which are charged at £1.50 each. £85.50 over the space of a few months. Mail says something about an auction now being at £10 or £75, whatever. For something I don't know what it is.

Last bill was just enough to make me talk to my network provider (Orange) and get some info. They claimed its nothing to do with them and passed me a number / e-mail address.

I've sent some mails exclaiming that they have no right to take this money from my account and to sort it asap. They must not usually get strong mails from people as they've jumped to action. Of-coarse I will be seeking compensation but, more people should be taking time out to do this as, these scammers are obviosly earning millions from this the world over.

redrus

[lomatopo]

Hi lomatopo

300 baht valid for 30 days

500 baht valid for 50 days

800 baht valid for 100 days

* Validation start from the day of entry to the system

** AIS reserves the right to change without any notice

http://www.one-2-call.ais.co.th/One2Call/o...cts_otc_set.jsp

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, not sure why I was under the mistaken impression that a 500 baht top-up card got 90 days? Anyway, as you can see from the dates I shared I only got ~ 33 days extension, taking it out exactly 365 days, when in fact I should have gotten an additional 50 days. It's not a big deal, and I can understand that there may be some sort of hard-coded 365 day limitation in the authentication system, but someone here on TV was very clear that they had a 1-2-Call expiration date out into 2007. Hence my inquiry.

[RDN]

...someone here on TV was very clear that they had a 1-2-Call expiration date out into 2007. Hence my inquiry.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Maybe they lied? My DTAC hits 365 days and doesn't get any longer.

[Yozzo]

I'm currently in talks with an English company who unknown to me cos, foolishly I don't check my bills enough as I should, have sent me 57 messages which are charged at £1.50 each. £85.50 over the space of a few months. Mail says something about an auction now being at £10 or £75, whatever. For something I don't know what it is.

Last bill was just enough to make me talk to my network provider (Orange) and get some info. They claimed its nothing to do with them and passed me a number / e-mail address.

I've sent some mails exclaiming that they have no right to take this money from my account and to sort it asap. They must not usually get strong mails from people as they've jumped to action. Of-coarse I will be seeking compensation but, more people should be taking time out to do this as, these scammers are obviosly earning millions from this the world over.

redrus

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"In the U.K. the sending of unsolicited SMS messages is covered under the same legislation as junk faxes, and therefore an offence. Under Government legislation introduced on 1 May 1999 it is unlawful to send an unsolicited sales and marketing fax or SMS to an individual (which includes consumers, sole traders and except in Scotland partnerships) without their prior consent, something which even the big telecoms companies seem blissfully unaware of".

Report suspected Premium Rate SMS scams to :

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

[redrus]

I'm currently in talks with an English company who unknown to me cos, foolishly I don't check my bills enough as I should, have sent me 57 messages which are charged at £1.50 each. £85.50 over the space of a few months. Mail says something about an auction now being at £10 or £75, whatever. For something I don't know what it is.

Last bill was just enough to make me talk to my network provider (Orange) and get some info. They claimed its nothing to do with them and passed me a number / e-mail address.

I've sent some mails exclaiming that they have no right to take this money from my account and to sort it asap. They must not usually get strong mails from people as they've jumped to action. Of-coarse I will be seeking compensation but, more people should be taking time out to do this as, these scammers are obviosly earning millions from this the world over.

redrus

"In the U.K. the sending of unsolicited SMS messages is covered under the same legislation as junk faxes, and therefore an offence. Under Government legislation introduced on 1 May 1999 it is unlawful to send an unsolicited sales and marketing fax or SMS to an individual (which includes consumers, sole traders and except in Scotland partnerships) without their prior consent, something which even the big telecoms companies seem blissfully unaware of".

Report suspected Premium Rate SMS scams to :

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/

Top man, cheers fella.

[KhunMarco]

Same scam here "thanks'for choosing melody blabla.." thanks my @ss!

Just dialed *789 and canceled subscription, press 1 for english