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jamba on my phone bill

bmot
Rang

I just noticed on my last few phone bills, I've been charged a lot by a 3rd party called ME Digital GmbH e für something called handy content abo Jamba.de. The thing is, it was my son, also on my contract. He's 11, he has family link restrictions and can't buy anything without me approving on my phone. How could this happen?

I want to cancel of course, I've no idea how as he hasn't ever downloaded the Jamba app. Where on earth did he manage to activate a subscription service that's charged to my phone bill?

I hope you can help me to cancel. I checked his SMS history and there's a confirmation, and a follow up, but nothing else. No info on how to cancel or what exactly it is. What a scam, you should ban them. I've now switched off all 3rd party billing, but it's too late to stop this one. This setting  should be off by default but the way.  I'm pretty annoyed that Google and O2 allow this to happen so easily to children.  There is absolutely no excuse.

So,  how do I stop this and how can i get my money back?

Thanks

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Lösung von bs0 4 June 2021, 12:23

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6 Antworten

bmot
Rang

Short update: i managed to cancel the contract, there was a password given in the second SMS so i managed to login with his phone number and that password.

 

How can I claim the money back? I know it was a contract, but i can't believe it was valid. I don't believe a company is allowed to accept 11 year old children into a paid contract, and one that adds charges another person's phone contract without informing them or seeking their permission. If this was done in any other area of commerce it would be viewed as illegal exploitation of minors (not to mention me and my poor bank balance!). This must be illegal. Any advice appreciated.

Cheers

bs0
Rang
Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +7

It is your contract so if you allowed your son to use it it is still your responsibility and certainly no illegal exploitation of minors. It is very easy to activate a subscription like this so you should urgently block third party services (Drittanbietersperre) on the contract to prevent this happening again.

You will need to contact the third party provider directly. If the subscription was not used, i.e. nothing was downloaded, you might get a goodwill refund. The contact details should be in your invoice. It will be detrimental to your complaint, however, that you did not contact them the first time it appeared on the invoice.

In einem Diskussionforum werden Meinungen ausgetauscht. Meine Beiträge in diesem Kunden-helfen-Kunden-Forum stellen meine persönliche Meinung dar.
bmot
Rang

Thanks for the fast reply. Yes i have contacted them, and they offered a goodwill refund of around 20 euros from the total of 60. They said they would need to work with O2 to return the money. Is this easily done? I will accept the offer and if there's something i need to say about how they can return the money, how to do it, please let me know.

While i should have checked the phone bills more carefully, i do think it's shady business that this is allowed to happen. His number is linked to my account, as i am the contract owner and pay the bills. So as the bill later i expect to be informed before anything by is agreed and not via the monthly phone bill 

I have a suggestion. add 2FA for all payments to third party services, sent to the main account owner/bill payer too. Adding to the phone bill is too late, i need to know when the request is made. His number is separate to mine but it's like a sub contract under my main contract. He doesn't have any billing attached to his name (again, he's 11!). 2FA is usual these days, for example the companies below are all ones l  use and they all send me an SMS when there's a request to buy something: Google, Apple, Sony/PlayStation, Microsoft, Epic Games. 

If this isn't possible, then is there a way to convert his account to a child/supervised account? 

 

bs0
Rang
Benutzerebene 7
Abzeichen +7

Thanks for the fast reply. Yes i have contacted them, and they offered a goodwill refund of around 20 euros from the total of 60. They said they would need to work with O2 to return the money. Is this easily done? I will accept the offer and if there's something i need to say about how they can return the money, how to do it, please let me know.

o2 is just the payment processor so the money should be credited back to your o2 customer account and you should then see a credit on on eof the next invoices.I imagine itz will take a few weeks to process.

While i should have checked the phone bills more carefully, i do think it's shady business that this is allowed to happen. His number is linked to my account, as i am the contract owner and pay the bills. So as the bill later i expect to be informed before anything by is agreed and not via the monthly phone bill

That is not the way it works. It is your contract and your account, so the provider assumes that you are the user and cannot know that a minor is in possession of the phone (with or without the account holders permission). Confirmation will have been sent by text message to the phone that triggered the subscription.

I have a suggestion. add 2FA for all payments to third party services, sent to the main account owner/bill payer too. Adding to the phone bill is too late, i need to know when the request is made. His number is separate to mine but it's like a sub contract under my main contract. He doesn't have any billing attached to his name (again, he's 11!). 2FA is usual these days, for example the companies below are all ones l  use and they all send me an SMS when there's a request to buy something: Google, Apple, Sony/PlayStation, Microsoft, Epic Games.

It is not a sub-contract, but a second contract in your name which you are allowing your son to use. That is an internal family arrangement and the provider has no legal relationship with anybody but youreself.

There is (or should be) 2FA: A TAN is sent by text message to the phone to confirm the transaction (again, the assumption being that the account holder is also the user of the phone or that the user is entitled to make such purchases) and needs to be entered to confirm the transaction. Maybe have a word with your son about that? The recommended alternative is to block all third party transactions. You can do this easily in the customer portal.

If this isn't possible, then is there a way to convert his account to a child/supervised account?

You would not be able to convert an existing fixed-term contract, but o2 does offer a special plan that is suitable for children: https://www.o2online.de/tarife/fuer-kinder/

In einem Diskussionforum werden Meinungen ausgetauscht. Meine Beiträge in diesem Kunden-helfen-Kunden-Forum stellen meine persönliche Meinung dar.
bmot
Rang

Nice to have a detailed response, it's clearer now. Thank you.

I still stand by my suggestion: where there are 2 numbers on the account, there should always be a designated primary account holder who receives notifications and controls billing. I also don't see why Dritte Anbieter is turned on by default, it's likely not for the benefit of the customer but for the benefit of those making money from the services.

The service provider did not use 2fa, they just an SMS which confirmed activation of the subscription. It was opt out, not opt in at this point. There was also no email or anything else that needed to be confirmed. I looked at the site, it's designed for children very clearly and the ease of sign up(just add your phone number) is underhand. 

Rather comically, none of the downloads he tried actually worked either, a total waste of money.

 

Over and out, thanks for your time.

o2_Matze

Hi @bmot 

I am pleased that your request could be clarified thanks to our great expert @bs0 
If you have any more questions, feel free to contact us again.

Best Regards. Matze 

https://g.o2.de/wcr

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