An imminent change in the way that Vodacom customers sign up for third-party mobile subscription services is good news for consumers, as it paves the way towards building increased confidence in mobile payments.
So says Dr Pieter Streicher, MD of BulkSMS, who points out that payments for mobile subscription services are receiving much news of late, due to negative consumer sentiment over unsolicited billing.
In that vein, he urges customers to also be careful about what they click on or sign up for.
Mobile phone users should actively complain to the Wireless Application Service Providers' Association (Waspa) if they have been misled by mobile advertising.
Streicher says another important development is the recent law that states that mobile network operators should put in place the ability to block a handset from requesting any subscription services.
“But with no official launch date yet from Vodacom, and no sign of the other mobile network operators following suit, it's worth customers taking a look at how subscription services work and which pitfalls to be aware of,” he says.
According to Streicher, mobile subscription services involve an ongoing charge on a cellphone account for a variety of third-party mobile services.
“Consumers sign up for these services by responding to an advert, and sending a message to a 'shortcode', such as 31020. Alternatively, a consumer could be browsing the Internet from their mobile phone, and then click on an advert for a service.”
Surging terminations
Of the several million South African mobile subscription service users, as many as 150 000 request to terminate one or more subscriptions every month, he explains.
“Of these, 77% cannot recall that they subscribed in the first place. Instances of alleged fraudulent billing have been reported by the media.
“Some content providers have direct access to your money via your cellphone account, and also receive the cellphone numbers of visitors to their Web sites.”
This, he says, means the network operators are unaware of whether a service provider complies with the regulations until a customer complaint alerts them to questionable billing activity.
He adds that network operators have no audit trail on the subscription process for mobile browser-initiated subscriptions. “This is unacceptable, given the customer has an ongoing relationship with the mobile operator rather than the content provider.
Irresponsible networks
According to Steven Ambrose, MD of World Wide Worx Strategy, networks are not doing enough to protect consumers.
“They take no responsibility and they just provide the system on which all this happens, and are not responsible for what happens,” he notes.
Waspa is doing a credible job of trying to police the industry, Ambrose says. However, this form of 'rouge revenue making' is increasing.
Ambrose says the networks should have a duty to reverse the charges straight away, and the content providers should then provide proof that the person they are charging has, in fact, signed up.
“Networks love to own the customer when it suits them, but take no responsibility when it doesn't.”
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