Charged for On Demand Movies I Never Watched

[OakBayGamer]

I've been charged for 3 movies I never ordered. I live alone and no one else has access to my TV. Thankfully Telus believed me and waived the $23 fee. They could see that each movie was watched for between 9-20 min. But it couldn't have been on my TV. So how does this happen? I have the Telus app on my phone but never even use it. Can someone else watch a movie on their TV and it shows as watched on mine? 

[Chicnstu]

If there was absolutely nobody else who had access to your TV boxes then it could have just been a billing error. It's is very rare for On Demand billing titles to be billed to the wrong customer because they are tied to the unique registration codes to each individual set top box but it can happen. Lots of times it is people with toddlers or babies playing around with the remote and they'll order a few events just by mashing random buttons.

[OakBayGamer]

Yes there is absolutely zero chance because no one else is ever in my place. It's very small and there are no toddlers or children in my life. So it's either a billing error (which is odd for it to happen with 3 movies over the course of 2 months) or someone hacked my account. Yet I don't understand how that could even happen if it's tied to my set top box. I have changed my password, which was already a very complicated one that I doubt anyone could figure out. 

[xray]

Consider changing your password on your account just in case. Can't hurt.

[OakBayGamer]

Thanks, I've done so and hopefully it won't happen again. I'm just glad they actually believed me! 

[xray]

You have the option to use your My TELUS account login or an Optik login to access Optik TV. If you haven't set up the Optik login then fine but if you did then make sure you change the password on that one too.

[OakBayGamer]

First off, I'm the only one in my home. No one else can order movies from my home. This is the 4th time a movie has been charged to my account that I never ordered! I have a PIN to order movies, yet somehow this keeps happening. I'm furious and close to cancelling my Telus account because I don't trust them. I'm very happy to pay for movies that I order, but I won't be scammed like this. The last time I got Telus to refund me the money, I could tell they barely believed me. They could somehow see the amount of time the movies had been watched, but I swear on all that is holy that I never bought them, or watched them (they were not even movies I'd be interested in). Has this happened to anyone else? My DVR sometimes records things I never set it to record. Could a DVR malfunction cause On Demand movies to be ordered?

[Sharon15]

Omg- this happened to my family at least 4 times. We had a PIN and strange stuff like $50.00 to watch wrestling paid TV when no one was home.  The last customer service person was so condensing to me — made me feel like a liar.  It got so bad; we took the ability to order movies off our service so I could no longer be charged.  They swore to me it has never ever happened to anyone else!

[OakBayGamer]

That's crazy! And I'm so glad you wrote, because at least I know I'm not the only one!

[Birdie3]

I am so relieved to find this thread!!!  

This has been an ongoing issue for me for several years.  On Demand Movies rented, changes to our Channel Subscription Package, PVR Recordings that are all not ours.  I have set up PINs for movie rentals and I am the only one in our household who knows the PIN and movies are still rented.  We have had our boxes changed and it still happens.  We tried cancelling the ability to rent On Demand movies but that became a nuisance when we wanted to watch something,  This has been the most frustrating thing I have ever dealt with... most of the charges have been reversed but it is the hours and hours of wasted time with Telus Customer Service explaining myself over and over.  Not to mention the fact that I am made to feel like I am lying about all the rentals, changes to our subscription package, etc as they tell me that it is impossible for this to happen.  It is driving me mad!  My husband says to just ignore it - suck up the charges - that my time is worth more than the On Demand rentals.  I am at a complete loss.  Besides leaving Telus I no longer know what to do.  

[OakBayGamer]

Birdie3 I hear you! Thankfully my issue has mostly been resolved, once I changed my PIN. So far no more charges of movies I haven't watched, but sometimes my DVR will record shows I didn't set up, or I'll see in my list of On Demand "watched movies", ones I haven't watched and have no interest in. It's very strange. It must be driving you crazy to figure out why this keeps happening to you! Crazy!

[Birdie3]

I'm glad your issues have been resolved with the change of your PIN.  Changing my PIN does not appear to make a difference.  I have also changed my Telus account password several times but that has not made a difference.  It is so strange!!

[xray]

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@Birdie3 wrote:

I am so relieved to find this thread!!!  

This has been an ongoing issue for me for several years.  On Demand Movies rented, changes to our Channel Subscription Package, PVR Recordings that are all not ours.  

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When the changes were made to you Optik package did you receive a confirmation email that looks like this? 

Hello, 

You recently made some changes to your TV subscription using Manage channels in your TELUS My Account. Here is a summary of your changes:

In any case, you should consider changing your TELUS account password and account confirmation PIN (separate from the on demand rental PIN).

[Birdie3]

@xray Yes - I would receive confirmation emails anytime a change was made to the subscription, thankfully!  That is how I knew.  Wish the same would happen when an On Demand Rental was made.  I have changed my Telus account password and confirmation pin several times but it has not seemed to make a difference.  

[xray]

Sounds like it's not an issue with unauthorized access to your account. It's possible something on the the TELUS backend is cross linked to someone else's account.

[Norbu]

The same thing is happening to me! On demand purchases I never made showing up suddenly, and shows being recorded on my PVR that I definitely did not set up to record constantly popping up.

I was also notified twice in the last 2 months of “changes to my account”, where more theme packages were added, and yet I never made those changes.

My question is, is Telus scamming people? And hoping they won’t notice the extra charges? Or is someone actually just hacking in (but how?)

[OakBayGamer]

It's sure a valid question about scamming! It seems impossible that someone can hack in. I think TELUS owes you an answer.

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@Norbu wrote:
The same thing is happening to me! On demand purchases I never made showing up suddenly, and shows being recorded on my PVR that I definitely did not set up to record constantly popping up.

I was also notified twice in the last 2 months of “changes to my account”, where more theme packages were added, and yet I never made those changes.

My question is, is Telus scamming people? And hoping they won’t notice the extra charges? Or is someone actually just hacking in (but how?)

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[mbp]

It could also be that some people just don't want to admit they actually rented certain titles, or they believe their kids/roommate/spouse when they claim to be innocent but actually did rent something, or they just want to lie to get out of paying for ones they actually did rent. The vast majority of the time the someone that is trying to scam someone else is the consumer.

Norbu - if things are being recorded on your PVR, someone in your house is scheduling them or someone is pushing too many buttons on the remote and not realizing they've scheduled things.

[Birdie3]

@mbp I do appreciate your comment that it may be rentals and changes from within our household and that was, indeed my first, instinct.  I grilled everyone in my household!!  However, when it continued to happen again and again after I had set up purchase pins (and I am the only one who knows the code), On Demand movies being ordered and watched over and over again when we were not home or out of town, changes to our channel subscription would be emailed to me as I was watching PVR'd shows and had not changed a thing... I am 100% confident that it is not anyone in our household.  The very first On Demand movie that started this whole thing was "Blair Witch Project"... and it was rented twice!  (Freaky, right??)

As @OakBayGamer has mentioned as well - I have no trouble paying for movies I rent or changes I make... it is the ongoing issue of On Demand movie after movie being purchased, PVR recordings that are not ours - I delete them and they show up again and changes to our channel subscriptions.  The money is one thing - but the hours (AND I MEAN TENS OF HOURS!!) I have spent on the phone dealing with this is ridiculous!  

I have been lucky to speak to some customer service agents who are very understanding and helpful and have no trouble reversing the charges... but no one can explain why it keeps happening.  

Another agent had the nerve to suggest that my children were hooking up a spare box that was in our house and may not have a purchase PIN on it so that they could rent a movie.  SERIOUSLY??  This agent suggested we change out all our boxes... we also changed to Optic TV at this time too - this has not solved the problem.  

There have to be wires crossed somewhere... that's the only explanation I have.  

[SirGeoff]

I too have had to call to cancel charges for movies neither my wife nor I have watched. Even to the point of being signed up for the Fight Channel which we both find so stupid we would never consider it. And now it appears that we are seeing all kinds of recordings on the PVR (or what ever its called) that neither of us have recorded - such as children's movies, and the grandchildren haven't been here since Christmas???!!

I asked if someone could be pirating my TV, but have been assured not!

I have now added a pin number to ensure that before inadvertently ordering a movie we have to key in the pin. 

But, still not comfortable that things will change  - I will let you know how this progresses

[CJ2]

Today I got to talk with Telus about 2 UFC charges, three movies and an added channel. I am not a fan of the movies rented and my cats are not into UFC, so I don't think they would've ordered. It was frustrating because they made it seems as if I accidentally rented all these. A very kind service person, but no, I did not rent these, nor did my cats. Now they have to investigate before they take the charges off! Can we please just bring back the dial tv and 90's X-Files. Technology has gotten out of hand. Why is it that is customer gets blamed for the tech companies unintentional errors?