MIA Sphere Live

[FamilyMan]

Oh - and now that Optus livechat has (hopefully) blocked all premium services, do I still 'need' to phone MIA Sphere?  Or has what livechat done, stopped it all automatically?  (Considering Optus should have blocked these low-lifes years ago, I don't feel it should be my responsibility to slap their univited greedy hand out of my pocket.)

[Sevdanski]

I have the same thing.

I chatted to its yesterday and they said that they have turned off the premium and on my phone and organised for the company to call me to organise a refund.

The stupid thing is that I haven't paid the bill yet and aren't due to for another two weeks. They recommended that I pay the bill now, so that I can get a refund??.

So I have to pay these con artists in order in the hope that they will give it back?

I'm going to give them another call today. If they can't give me a better solution I will stay looking for another provider

[NedKelly]

I wouldn't pay it. Pay the bill less the scam charges and tell them you want a credit on your account for the scam charges. If they don't then contact the TIO. I did and this and the charges were credited  within two weeks. Don't get involved talking to any third party you don't know from Adam because if you do optus can legistamately say it is out of their hands and nothing to do with them.

[Sevdanski]

You have raised some interesting points. This whole thing seems like a cop out by Optus.

When I first got the bill I looked up the company and was drowned in complaints and news articles going back years. The fact that Optus is still working with this company reflects poorly on them.

My first step after getting the bill was to turn off premium SMS. That it itself was a chore as I had to log into some other portal with each of our phones to do it.

Then I contacted Optus via chat. The guy was very polite and helpful, but his solution was for MIA to call me back and offer a refund. I pointed out that I haven't paid the bill yet, so there is nothing to refund. His solution was for me to pay the bill now.

That just didn't seem right. I think I will call Optus today and actually talk to someone.

I've been a happy customer for years, but they start direct debiting my account on behalf of scammers then I will take my business elsewhere.

[FamilyMan]

That's what I don't get... The Optus livechat rep said the fraudulent charges would be credited to my next invoice. Well if they're going to be credited back, why do we have to pay them in the first place.  Obviously permission from MIA isn't required for them to do that.  So just cancel them before we pay them.

The obvious answer to that (I think), is that Optus livechat are manipulating words to give a different impression to what actually occurs. I suspect the 'credit' is actually a refund done not by Optus, but by MIA - and that Optus just makes it look like it's from themselves for positive spin purposes.  Because if the refund were from Optus, why then do they require our phone number so MIA Sphere can call us to 'arrange a refund'.

It's either that, or livechat is like most overseas call centres and doesn't understand what they're doing/able to do.

Going back a few pages I saw reps saying to PM them account details and what the problem is.  So I've done that now.  I expect more common sense from them than livechat.

[Sevdanski]

I've just spoken to someone about my account - they have told me that they have raised a complaint and that MIA should be issuing a credit to my account within 7 days, so it should be sorted out before my next bill is actually due.

I guess now I play the waiting game. 

[Sevdanski]

I've spoken to a rep on the phone and they said that a complaint has been raised and that MIA should be issuing a refund / credit to my account within 7 days, so it should be sorted out before my next bill is due.

I'm going to wait and see if that actually happens.  If not I will cancel my direct debit and start looking for another provider.

[FamilyMan]

I sent a PM to 3 or 4 reps but haven't heard back yet. Can you please relate what happens?  (If ALL the charges are credited?)  Because early in thread people paid, then spoke to MIA Sphere, only to be told they could only have partial refunds.

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It's completely wrong to force us to pay on a rep's word it will be 'credited' back later. i.e. MIA Sphere actually gets our money, but we get a future promise we'll get it back.  (I've received dozens of 'promises' from telco reps that never panned out the way they indicated.)

If Optus were truly looking for ways to solve this as they told reps in this thread... then any service that requires sending 'STOP', should be automatically blocked for mobile broadband customers.  Because it is impossible for people with a mobile broadband SIM to SMS: "STOP".  It's also impossible to phone these scammers on that same SIM, to get removed from their database.  (I cancelled my Telstra landline because I had no use for a phone.  Now I'm expected to pay AND run around looking for a working payphone, to solve something that should never have been inflicted on me in the first place!?)

[Angela29]

In my case I cancelled with MIA Sphere Live by sending a message Stop and then had a live chat with Optus. Subsequently, MIA Sphere Live rang and agreed to credit all the charges debited to my account. This was actually two weeks worth. Then today Optus rang and confirmed the credit and informed it might take about two billing cycles to be finalised. That is where my issue at.

[Sevdanski]

My update is that this afternoon my wife got a text on her phone saying that the ful amount would be refunded and that it may also take up to two billing cycles - I'm not sure if the text was from optus or not, and I also have no idea how long a billing cycle is.  If it is going to be 2 months then I will not be impressed.