How
to avoid unwanted cell phone costs
Heading
up customer inquiries in the Value-Added-Services industry has its
challenges. Not least of all is the influx of calls from disgruntled
subscribers whose cell phone statements have suddenly gone into orbit
with the addition of services they had not thought they had
subscribed to. Or had they?
Here’s
a typical scenario that is impacting households across the country
(even the world): Cindy has 101 things going on: Buy flowers. Fetch
laundry. Pick the girls up from hockey practice. Ring her hubby to
chat about the PTA this evening. Check in with Mum. But first there’s
Andrew, nagging for her undivided attention while she makes a
conference call to her colleagues. She hands over her smartphone and
just like that, he’s off. The credit card statement arrives at the
end of the month and her heart drops when she sees the balance owed:
R3 000 charged to her App Store ID in the space of a few of hours, or
a whopping R5 000 on her cell phone bill. While she managed to get
important work done in peace, she paid the price in game downloads.
There’s nothing novel about Cindy’s startling experience though.
There’s
a new credit facility in your handbag or your back pocket – and it
has buttons. Where buttons are involved, kids will be only too happy
to dive into the online spending action. Call centre managers like
Annelize Breedt, at Mira Networks, a busy VAS aggregator handling
premium services, are asking parents: “When last did you have a
chat with your teen, tween or even toddler about what goes on when
they’re hidden behind your or their own smart device, plugging away
on Angry Birds or Candy Crush?”
The
convergence of Internet and mobile media has transformed purchasing
possibilities. But lest it’s forgotten: a) kids are certainly not
as naïve as anyone thinks they are, and b) are accessing online
shops via mobile devices as naturally as getting homework done or
going to the movies with friends.
In
a time when most five-year-olds could show users how to navigate
smartphones, and their library of apps and online services, there’s
limited control over what they can and cannot access through these
internet-enabled gadgets, judging by the number of queries where
users admit that the new subscription service is running on their
child’s mobile. Gone are the days of password protected accounts
that only parents could control. Tots are now harnessing their own
spending power at the touch of a button every time they purchase
another mind-mushing game to babysit them while their parents are
occupied with work commitments and social lives.
Because
the engineering behind mobile app stores are geared towards getting
the contract holder (in this case, Mummy or Daddy) to furnish their
credit card details once, and then save their password, 'Voila!' once
is enough and all it takes to turn tiny Tim into a shopaholic. All
kids have to do is tap, tap and away they go with all measure of
charges linked directly to the enlisted credit card that is an
unwitting accomplice. It’s even simpler if the subscribed-to
service has a WASP billing mechanism as costs are charged directly to
the cell phone account or airtime balance.
Because
smartphones are becoming more affordable, a child’s first mobile
phone is likely to be a smart device. Alternatively, they are getting
Mum and Dad’s hand-me-downs. Either way, these phones bring with
their enhanced capabilities, a plethora of opportunities for their
mobile use to go very, very wrong.
Even
with double-opt-in pages for subscription premium services, it only
takes a few taps (even from a child barely old enough to read), to
agree to subscriptions they don’t fully understand, and certainly
cannot afford.
Breedt,
a mother herself, and who has been handling queries for six years,
says “While it seems common sense to an adult, it’s important
that we actively teach our children the primary purpose of their new
phone, which is to contact, or to be contactable by their parents,
caregivers and then friends, and that anything else will probably
involve an additional cost.”
The
cell phone, which has the potential to replace the television as a
babysitting alternative, comes with even more risks. We live in an
age of ‘all access,’ which makes it even more paramount for
parents to make their little ones aware of the precautions they must
take to protect their identity and spending habits while Internet
browsing.
Ultimately,
it is a parent’s responsibility to ensure their child knows the
rules. A child cannot easily walk into a bank and open a credit card
account, so why do we so easily entrust an open-ended credit facility
at their fingertips? Breedt concludes: “Responsible mobile use is
the key to managing unwanted mobile costs and nasty surprises.
Particularly as we head into the festive season and the school
holidays.”
About
Mira Networks
Mira
Networks is a pioneer in wireless application services (WASPs) and
one of South Africa’s oldest and most trusted mobile VAS
aggregators. Not to be confused with information gatherers and
disseminators, Mira Networks is a technologically advanced
infrastructure network, which acts as an information switch between
the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), Content Service Providers (CSPs)
and consumers (Subscribers). It offers a variety of messaging and
billing solutions to clients, allowing them to seamlessly connect
with subscribers who use either feature or smartphones. With its team
of in-house developers, Mira Networks leads the way in quickly
adapting to market conditions, providing professional and cost
effective services throughout the value chain. Visit
www.miranetworks.net.
Press release by Networx Public Relations.
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