Every parent’s nightmare as teen gets £4,800 phone bill (From The Northern Echo)

Every parent’s nightmare as teen gets £4,800 phone bill

8:02am Saturday 12th July 2008 in

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A TEENAGER has been landed with a £4,800 bill after being sent hundreds of premium rate text messages in just one month.

Jenna Rochester said she could not pay the bill on her wages and has demanded that Orange investigate The 19-year-old said that she had not subscribed to the services, but had started to receive the messages after replying to one from a mystery, but genuine-looking, mobile number.

Miss Rochester, from the Eastbourne area of Darlington, is an Orange mobile phone customer whose Dolphin 35 package enables her to send unlimited text messages every month.

But she received hundreds of messages during May and last month from the shortcode number.

They were for tarot readings, adult chat facilities and ringtones.

The first she knew about the size of the bill was when she was contacted by Orange customer services requesting a £380 payment because she owed more than £2,500.

On Thursday, she went to the Orange shop, in Darlington, where staff told her that the final bill for last month would be £4,814.62.

They have now blocked her phone, put her on a new pay-as-you-go arrangement and promised to examine her claims.

Her friend and work colleague, Sue Bunnett, who has helped her with her inquiries, said: "She is not herself at the moment. She is not eating, not sleeping.

There is no way she can pay it. It is disgusting.

"If my daughter got these messages and the same happened and I got the bill, I would be furious."

A spokesman for ftxt.com, one of the providers of the services, said Miss Rochester signed up after she texted a promotional code in May.

He said full details of the service are sent as the first message and the customer can stop them at any time.

Because Miss Rochester replied, the service continued, with each message costing £1.50 to receive, and replies costing 12p.

Orange had not commented by the time The Northern Echo went to press.

Phonepay Plus, an agency acting on behalf of Ofcom to regulate phone-paid services, has offered to help Miss Rochester.

It has set up a code of practice covering how services and content are promoted and delivered, and has the powers to fine or bar providers.

A spokesman said that Miss Rochester should contact Phonepay Plus for advice on resolving the issue.

He said: "We are aware there may be problems in this market. People should not be running up bills like this every month. We have launched a review and we will be coming back with our findings next week."