What is Premium Messaging?

I posted this on the general BB Board and someone said it should be here:

I just got my first BB in November and because I have a Verizon Plan that is over $80, I get the unlimited data plan for $29.99 a month. This past Verizon bill was higher than normal so I looked and they had charged me $9.99 (past month) and $9.99 current month for "Premium Messaging"...I called them and they said that wasn't included in the BB Data plane and it cost extra. They said I can block it for no charge so I did. I just received two messages today that said I received a premium message that was blocked. What exactly am I missing out on my not paying an additional $9.99 a month? I think she told me SMS messages. Any advice? Thanks.

You are unlikely to be missing anything important. Premium messages are usually a service of some kind that you have signed up for such as a ringtone firm & they are verrrry expensive.

The premium messages are downloaded games, ringtones, and Itesm like that you get off the internet.

It looked to me like it was charged from Ringtone.com, but all of my ringtones on my BB were either ones that were on it or ones I downloaded free from Crackberry. I never (to my knowledge) would pay for one when there are so many that are free. When I had my RAZR I had purchased a few from Verizon's Get It Now feature...3 for $7.99 or something like that, but I was told they couldn't be transferred to my BB, so I looked to this forum and received free ones. It really ticks me off.

But I can still send and receive emails and SMS and MMS messages? Thanks for everybody's help.

Make sure you contact ringtone.com and tell them to stop the service.
And you are most welcome.

I've never understood those 'services', for monthly ring tones.

Originally Posted by naviwilliams

I've never understood those 'services', for monthly ring tones.

Personally, I think they're a rip off. I'm not that stupid to even try a ringtone from those places, so how did I get signed up? If they got $9.99 from even an 1/8th of all people with cellphones they are making millions; and how do you prove it? Once they send the fee to Verizon you may as well give up!

Is your phone number a new one? If yes, it was probably recycled, and thus was signed up by the previous owner.

No, I've had it for over a year...but good thought! I just emailed them and told them I wanted to know exactly what I signed up for and when and if they can't produce something that I actually asked for I want a credit to my Verizon account; so we shall see what happens.

Good idea. Could have even been someone else who made an error when they put in their number and unfortunately for you it just happened to be yours!!

True, but the service should send a text message or something to force the person signing up to accept / enter a particular code...

I am happy to say that Verizon customer service emailed me and said they do not like giving credit for third party charges, but they would do a one-time credit to my account of the $19.98. I guess they were basing this on the fact that I had purchased a couple ringtones with Get It Now for my RAZR phone and since I could not transfer them to my BlackBerry, they were taking pity on me? I don't care what the reason was but at least I got the credit. :)

Premium messaging is the biggest trap ever...If you have a VZW account It is a good idea to call up and have these blocked on all of your lines. The reason they are called premium is because they are received from a third party business being billed through your cell account...If you've ever voted on American Idol, Deal or No Deal, or any of the television shows that allows you to text in a vote, the cost of each vote will be billed on your account as a premium sms...where most people get hung up though is carousing the internet search engines for free ringtones, or themes or wallpapers etc...If you happen upon one of their sites you will see written in the fine print that acceptance of this free ringtone also signs you up for their ($9.99 usually, sometimes $19.99) service that gives you the benefit of regularly receiving sms messages from that company with jokes, horoscopes, or other silly things. If you happen to get stuck with these, on your DETAILED verizon wireless bill, (If you don't receive detailed bills in the mail you can check online at VZW.com it's free.) After the call history section for each individual line is a section for data which will give you the name of the premium messaging company, and a short code which you would use to deactivate your subscription for these messages. Most of them will cancel you if you send an sms message back to that short code (from the phone with the charges) with only the word STOP in the message body. If there are autosignatures on your sms messages be sure to remove them. Just as a side note you will probably see another charge on your next bill for the month that your canceling in, because the third party companies will not prorate your charges.

Hope This information is helpful!!

Originally Posted by kmoreland

Hope This information is helpful!!

VERY helpful...thank you for all of the information. I honestly can't remember every going to ringtone.com and signing up for anything because I am so leary of those companies...especially for a ringtone because you can get so many free ones from the forums, like CrackBerry.

I did go and block any further "premium sms" messages and Verizon gave me credit for the two months they did charge me already. I also complained to Ringtone.com, but haven't heard from them yet (and probably never will). Thanks again for all of your help.

You can now get a premium message block for all the lines on your plan for free at my account or through a csr.