3rd party subsctiption options that Telus should fix

[K_K]

3 weeks ago i've got text message from pbm.cx saying that i subscribed to gaming service ( i did not ). I assumed its spam but just in case i called Telus ( 80 min wait for someone to answer ! ). I was told that there is no charge on the account and it should all be good. Today I've got my bill with 13.99 charge for service I did not subscribe to and Telus even that nice on one phone( after 60 min wait )  tells me they cannot block it or even refund the fee.

I am really upset that Telus does not have option to block premium messages and subscriptions .

They are partnering with questionable service providers like paybymobile . Website that does not even have phone number, contact info or any customer service.

I am getting billed by pbm.cx on my phone bill.  Service that I did not subscribe to or ever used , yet as they partnered with Telus they can bill me.

You guys better figure out how to stop this from happening or this will be a big issue. It's not my job to be trying to get my money back or verify every bill . I am paying over 200$ for my phone bill and its is unacceptable to have to deal with things like this.

Also asking customers for their pin number on the phone ? there should be secured way to enter it 😛

[T-Speed · Accepted solution]

Hi @K_K 

We are sorry to hear that you feel this way.

TELUS only simplifies the billing process by allowing the purchases made by our customers with third-party vendors, to be charged on the TELUS bill.

Please check out this article for more information about third party billing: https://forum.telus.com/t5/Mobility/Managing-Third-Party-Application-Purchases/ta-p/124426

For your scenario, you can contact PM Connect (pbm.cx)

• over the phone: 1-844-336-1188
• by email: support.ca@paybymobile.info
• Website: paybymobile.info for account and subscription management

They should also be able to provide more details about the purchase. If they were unable to assist you, please reach out to our support teams for further assistance:

Phone/Live chat: telus.com/contactus

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TELUSsupport?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/telus/

[K_K]

Thank you for providing contact information's for that company. Its' not available on their partially finished website.

<quote>

We are sorry to hear that you feel this way.

TELUS only simplifies the billing process by allowing the purchases made by our customers with third-party vendors, to be charged on the TELUS bill.</quote>

I think as customer I should have choice to disable that option.

Getting subscribed to service that I do not want or use and then dealing with cancellations and hours on the phone is no fun just to find out that It can't be blocked and that Telus won't cover this unauthorized charge.

My phone number got subscribed to service without my authorization or phone number verification. 

I will email "pbm" and request ban on my phone number however If things like this will continue to happen I will be forced to change providers . It's just not worth the headache

[freddie966]

i had the same issue and called Telus customer service. i told me to contact pbm myself. why should i contact pbm while telus is the one make such "convenience" fraud go thru without my consent. so i had to turn up my voice so the cs ended up refunded the 3 payment amount to me but it's not the end of it cause the so call subscription was not cancelled per telus cs until i hv to go on pbm website to cancel by myself. i still hv few months of charges afterward that needs to get back to telus on this. i m sure i would change provider after the contract is ended. Why doesn't my roger's mobile and bell mobile have the issue? or maybe it's Telus so call simplifies billing process has the issue?

[DivineLemonade]

Hi T-Speed, This company is not a legitimate company in any state or form. They are a shell company that has pretended to create a service which actually doesn't exist. Please DO NOT refer any customers to go to their website and request a cancellation because they are requesting a Two-Factor Authentication for a service that was never authorized. Please revisit this relationship with this company and cancel all charges directed from this company towards your clients. 

[hellokyliep]

They don't provide details about the purchases. The purchases are not valid. You are enabling fraud. 

[Quint64]

You suck tells.
Same thing happened to me this month and I did not sign up for anything that would have caused this.
Tells should fix this and not pass the buck.
I have a 15 yr corporate acct thru work and this is unacceptable

[DavidT]

But it’s an opt out format, so you have to reply. And if you don’t then you’re charged. Then you have to spend 80 minutes on the phone to have Telus reverse it. Sorry, I having a difficult time understanding how this ‘simplifies’ things for customers.

[K_K]

Just an update, I've reached out to "pbm" and it all went to nowhere. In two emails to them I asked for refund and explanation of how is it possible that someone has registered for their service without access to my phone but In both cases I was ignored and sent bank to Telus. As far as I am concerned they are fraud company that have registered number of Telus phone numbers to get easy money. I will let it slide once but another charge like this and I am done with Telus. NOT a happy customer

[EZ1]

Hi, K_K, I had the same issue as you and charged by Telus for the service from pbm.cx that was never authorized. When trying to have this change disputed with Telus I found this message. Hopefully this charge is not a monthly billing, is it? Thanks.

[hellokyliep]

This is apparently a monthly billing and Telus is not being helpful at all in reversing it. Referring customers to a third party who we do not have a relationship with, in order to reverse charges for services we never ordered, is completely unacceptable. 

[hellokyliep]

Just adding my experience to the thread. Had the same issue with a 3rd party $13.99 PaybyMobile. Was on hold/the line with 4 people from Telus, including, finally the Escalations team and a nice gentleman by the name of Peter. They were unable to resolve the charge, recommending that I call PaybyMobile. I called them, had the subscription stopped, but still no insight into how it was started in the first place. Telus instructed me to request a reversal of charges. PaybyMobile refused, saying that they sent a text to cancel, which was ignored. It was ignored because 1) I didn't sign up for a subscription and 2) I did not wish to engage with a company that was either phishing or a scam. I now have to contact the Escalations team at Telus again to let them know that the PaybyMobile team refuses to reverse charges, and they'll see what they can do.

Telus apparenlty works with 3-5 other 3rd party relationships, get 40% of their calls to escalation dealing with issues with these vendors, and have asked their internal development teams to stop this from happening, to no avail. I have been a customer with Telus for 20+ years but I'm not sticking with them if they can't resolve this. Complete waste of my time and an abuse of the customer relationship for a known issue that they are not resolving. 

[K_K]

PBM refused to refund my money too. In US Telus actually was taken to court and had to refund millions of dollars in 3rd party charges.
I don't know if I would go that far as its alot of effort but i will definitely cancel my service if it happens again. PBM is a fraud that's why they refure refunds. They make millions on unauthorized subscriptions. If it was regular purchase charge I would just call my credit company and reverse the charge without getting in to arguments with scammers but looks like Telus does not value us as customers as much as credit companies do

[DavidT]

My mother in law received the PBM text too. It was an opt out situation and because English is her second language, she simply ignored the text and was automatically subscribed and charged. How is this ‘opt out’ legal? This practice should be made illegal!!! What does a 60 year old woman need cloud gaming? This company is clearly sending text to a bunch of people and hoping they don’t reply so subscriptions can be purchased. Telus needs to stop this relationship.

[K_K]

I Think even if you cancel right away service will still be active for 30 days and charge will be applied.
Because Pbm is a fraud company they subscribe people without authorization text that is required.
All of this is illegal

[JBL]

After 2 hours on the phone and having to threaten to cancel my 6 lines when my last 4 contracts come due next month.....they blocked third party billing on all my lines.

[K_K]

So it is possible. They told me it cannot be done .

[KimK]

This is really good to know.  I went through this last month.  I got a pop-up and tried to close it, and later found 3 weekly charged on my phone bill.  The customer service rep said Telus can't refund the charge but said he contacted the company himself to stop further charges.

In terms of preventing further charges, he said I could find the solution via Google;  I tried but don't see anything relevant.  I will change carriers if it happens again.

[K_K]

There is no solution via google. TELUS should protect customer from unauthorized transactions same as credit card company does.
They want to offer same service as other payment systems but do not offer same protection.
The way I see it there are only 2 solutions as of now.
1. Legal action against either company
2. Changing phone provider to the one that does not offer this service.

[K_K]

Also I suggest filing a complaint here
https://www.ontario.ca/page/filing-consumer-complaint
Strength is in numbers

[DavidT]

I agree. A class action lawsuit against both PBM and Telus