Privacy Digest

Ever since Virgin Mobile USA has started charging for incoming SMS messages I have been trying to make sure I don't have to pay for incoming SMS-SPAM. I had been repeatedly been told that you don't get charged for an SMS message until you open it. So if you think its SPAM just don't open it and you will not be charged. OK, not perfect but at least I won't have to pay for SPAM. Well it appears that this is not true. I got a bunch of SMS messages yesterday that I didn't open because I knew exactly what they were. So imagine my surprise when today I look at my account activity and see that I have been charged for each of the messages that I never opened.

I called up the customer service number, not to get a refund but just to clarify policy, and was told the same thing I had been before. If you don't open it you won't be charged. I directed the agent to my activity screen and asked him about why I was then being charged for those unopened SMS messages. He then checks with the supervisor and comes back and tells me that, oops you do get charged as soon as someone sends you a message even if you never open it. Not good, but not surprising.

I then ask why they haven't at least taken the simple step of having the e-mail to SMS gateway placed on the FCC's block list. I then get the standard story about how if I want to block tele-marketers from calling me I have to contact the FCC myself and request to be put on the 'block list' myself. Hmm when did I mention tele-marketers and phone calls? I hadn't, I was talking about e-mail gateways and SMS. But for what ever reason they can't seem to understand that. So I request a supervisor and get the same experience, except that she wasn't even polite about it. She refused to listen to what I had to say, after all she is the expert and I am just a dumb customer. And when I offer to point her to the official FCC website so that she can see what I am talking about she just flat out refused to even consider it.

The "Block list" I am talking about is maintained by the FCC and Cellular carriers can request that their e-mail to SMS gateway domain be placed on this list. This officially notifies SPAMing advertisers that they should stay away from this domain and not do the standard trick of just incrementing phone numbers and sending an e-mail>SMS SPAM to every possible user. After all it doesn't cost the SPAMer anything, but it does cost the recipient money(usually 5-10 cents a message) of which the carrier does make a profit.

Only the cellular carrier is allowed to update this list. The individual can't because it is for the whole domain which is controlled by the carrier and not a single subscriber. There are currently over 200 entries on the list and I think all the other major carriers are on it, but not Virgin Mobile USA.

I had tried calling and e-mailing them about this a while back but I got the same runaround. I just tried the standard e-mail comment form again. I don't expect anything useful to happen from it. But I wanted to follow procedure one last time. Next I will try tracking down management e-mail addresses that might have responsibility for this function and see if I can get any type of response from them. It would would be nice if the response actually has something to do with the question I'll be raising, but who knows.

If anyone knows of any specific people I should be trying to contact, please pass along their name and e-mail and I'll give them a try.

The fun of dealing with the corporate behemoth :-)

BTW if you are also a Virgin Mobile USA subscriber, feel free to use the information on the web pages below to guide your own inquires. Do remember to polite and not scream/curse at the agent on the phone. After all they can only do what the management procedures allow them to. If enough of us make inquires they can no longer claim ignorance to the question. And maybe they will spend the 10 minutes it takes to fill out the form and protect their subscribers instead of potentially making a profit from incoming SPAM

Sign-up page http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/policy/DomainNameInput.html

Blocked domain list http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/policy/DomainNameDownload.html