How to Prevent Incoming SMS Charges

[Medea]

How can I stop $0.60 SMS charges being repeatedly charged to unused phone permanently? I have been a Pay-As-You Go customer for many years, and overall very satisfied with the service; the respect and responses I receive from representatives; and of course my package price. My frustrating peeve is the constant SMS charges I am steadily receiving. I have been told in the past (in this forum, by the way) to contact PayGo and the charges would be reversed-- to which they have been, ergo the above comment about the respect received. But my phone has only been a 'call home' phone -- no one, and I mean NO ONE has the phone number!! And with this pandemic, I don't recall using my phone at all during the past year. However, I am still receiving these SMS and though I have been reimbursed (just 8 days ago for the most recent rash of charges) I have just noticed yet another $0.60 charge from 3 days ago. I don't want to constantly monitor future SMS charges on my online account and then have to contact a representative to reverse them.  How can these SMS calls be permanently stopped?

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[OLDYELLR · Accepted solution]

Spam texts from random numbers can't be blocked or stopped. Texts from Rogers are free. I think texts sent to your phone expire and aren't delivered if your phone is off for a long time, but I don't know how long. All you can do is forward spam texts to 7726 (SPAM), hoping Rogers can block the number and save your Call/Transaction History each month. When it's time to renew, add up spams and ask for credid, which Rogers will give you.

[Medea]

Thank you, OLDYELLR, for your advice. I suppose having such a wonderful package price comes at a price lol. It wouldn't be so frustrating if the SMS charges were still $0.20 as they were a few years ago. Still, with the support and reactions I've received from the Rogers staff, if monitoring my account is what I must do, then so be it.

[Brianxxxx]

I have Rogers Pay As You Go  mobile.  I seem to be receiving much more junk/spam texts - Rogers charges me 0.60 for each of these receive junk texts.  Does anyone have this issue?  

I am thinking of switching to one of the other mobility  eg Chatr, Lucky, PC, Freedom, Fido, Public etc. because  none of these charge for incoming texts on their Prepaid plans.  I am happy to pay for outgoing talk and outgoing texts but I do not like paying for all these incoming spam texts which Rogers does not seem to have the ability to block.

Any suggestions or comments? Thanks.

[57]

@Brianxxxx : It looks like your post was moved to this existing thread.  If you wish to stay with Rogers (which many of us do for various reasons)

1. See post 2 of this thread.

2. I do the same as @OLDYELLR 

- forward any spam to SPAM (7726).

- keep track of the number of spam messages that I pay for and when I call Rogers PAYGo (which I need to do every once in a while) I ask for a credit for these spam messages. I haven't actually received many recently, perhaps 1 or 2 per month, so I often don't bother asking for credit unless I've received a bunch in the month before my call.

3. Here's the contact information for PAYGo.  Follow the instructions exactly and carefully.  I've always found them most helpful.

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/Can-t-purchase-data-pass/m-p/426891#M22822

[Brianxxxx]

Thanks.

Yes the Rogers agent did agree to credit me for the spam text charges.

Also, she suggested to change my phone number if this continues with a fair volume.

Rogers charges $35 to change one's number but she said exceptions could be made if the volumes are excessive.

[Martin-D]

Has anyone called Technical Support to report this. Perhaps if they got enough calls about people being charged for expired SMS that never reached the phone it would be fixed.  According to a friend who spent over 30 years at Nortel as a communication system engineer, most doing communication system software preparation and repair, it should be an easy fix.  Pay-As-You-Go phones would be off much of the time but I still found charges for recent SMS that did not reach my phone when I did use it. Also, an SMS message I was expecting (sent from an APP signup) did show when I turned on the phone some hours after the message was sent. Why did it work then??

[57]

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@Martin-D wrote:

...an SMS message I was expecting (sent from an APP signup) did show when I turned on the phone some hours after the message was sent. Why did it work then??

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Because messages are stored on the Rogers System for several days. After that time they are deleted. If a messages is sent to you within that time frame, you will see it if you turn on your phone "in time".

[Martin-D]

So they delete the SMS messages in less than 9 days. Wow! 

I still think if they don’t keep these but delete them then they should not charge for them.

My e-mail services keep the e-mails for many months, even years even if I don’t log in for more than a few months. How much more electronic space does a text message occupy over an e-mail? Based on advice from my friend, a former Nortel communications electrical engineer who worked on communication software and installations, SMS WOULD USE MUCH LESS BYTES THAN E-MAIL.

By the way does rogers charge for voice mail left in my box before I collect it or never collect it? NO.

Voice mail uses more storage Bytes than SMS text, so why am I charged if I do not collect my SMS message?

[57]

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@Martin-D wrote:

1. By the way does rogers charge for voice mail left in my box before I collect it or never collect it? NO.

2. why am I charged if I do not collect my SMS message?

3. I still think if they don’t keep these but delete them then they should not charge for them.

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1. Actually, they do depending on the plan. With a Grandfathered Anytime plan, there is a charge when the VM is "left" by the minute and there is a by the minute charge when VM is accessed.  For this reason I have disabled VM, although that is not an option for some people.

2. The charge occurs when the SMS arrives at your "inbox" whether you access it or not.

3. You are allowed to think what you want, however, those are the terms of the "contract".  You are free to negotiate a different contract - see below:

Of course all of this depends on the plan you are on. There are numerous plans/options. With some plans (where you typically pay more per month), there is no charge or a lower charge for individual VM or SMS.

[Pauly]

if you don't ever plan to check voice messages or don't think you will ever use it or need it, why not simply ask them to "exclude" it from your service? it will save you a ton of hassle.

[OLDYELLR]

I cancelled voice mail years ago because it used up more air time than calls or texts.