Bogus MMS charges

[xxlindaxx1]

The exact same thing happened to me today. I got charged bogus 17 dollars extra for photos I supposedly took. I got a record of where they said I sent the photos to and found that they were regular text messages that were this short: "will be home soon" but that were sent to two people at the same time. For some reason, they started showing up as picture text messages on their fido system. 

So now I'm getting charged 17 dollars for 34 "photo" messages I have never sent. I have never been charged for sending text messages to two people at the same time before either, but the timestamps and the receiver phone numbers that fido says I sent out the pictures to match exactly to when I sent out these regular text messages. 

Get your act together fido. I've been a loyal customer for 6 years, but not anymore. I can't believe I've stayed with this crooked company for so long. Other companies like zoomer offer much better services/add-ons/plans and customer service than you do. You used to be a great company. What happened over the past year?

[xxlindaxx1]

I have not changed my phone settings at all for the last three years. I have been sending out a message to more than one person for the last three years with fido, using the same plan, same settings, same phone and I have never been charged before for so many "photos," nor for a MMS message. I don't have data either on my plan, so I don't see how I could've been charged for mms either.

I am using an iphone 6.

I have never used subject lines in my messages. I have offered to your staff to check my phone messages and you'll see the exact timing of when the text messages that were sent to two people at the same time will match to the time that your company tells me I sent out photos to. You'll also see that these text messages are short ex "I'm home now" and they do not have subject lines. Your staff has not been welcoming in me offering evidence/helping with their 1 minute investigation. Also, I have never changed settings for whether there's a subject line or not, and I've been sending text messages the same way, so I don't see how I could have used a subject line (blank or not).

Again, my messages were short - under 50 characters. 

As mentioned already, my device settings were not changed, so I don't understand how they could've been sent as MMS automatically all of a sudden when I've been doing the same thing for the last three years without being charged. 

They did not show up under fido as an MMS charge, they showed up as a photo charge. Only did I do some investigation with time stamps did I find out about the message being sent to two receivers. Your staff claimed I was taking photos without trying to help me in any way towards figuring out the true cause of these surcharges. They claimed I was taking photos and that's the end of that. 

Fido should have take the time to investigate the true cause, explain to me what had happened and how I could prevent getting charged unnecessarily for the following month. They should also have take off this charge completely for this month because 

1) I took no photos

2) I changed no settings on my phone

3) I had no subject headers (blank or not), but even if I did, they should have this written somewhere in the contract so that customers would be able to know before having to go through this entire fiasco. 

Thank you both for taking the time to help. I really appreciate it. Unfortunately none of these apply to my situation since Fido told me they were photo charges, not MMS charges (and pretty much lied to my face). 

 **Edited message to remove content from previous posts**

[FidoMegan]

Hey @xxlindaxx1

You don't need data to send an MMS. You just need to have the data setting turned on. The reason that you're billed is because you're sending the same message to more than one recipient. These are considered MMS. 

A photo charge is another term for MMS. MMS stands for multi media media service. Many things can fall under this category such as photos, videos, sending emojis, texts larger than 120-140 characters, subject lines on the message and sending group messages. For privacy reasons, we don't see the content of your message. 

We can add a block on the line to prevent you from being able to send any MMS if you'd like. Let me know.

[xxlindaxx1]

Hi Megan,

If I was charged for MMS, then fido should have told me as such after investigating. They shouldn't have lied and told me that I took photos. When I even brought up MMS to them, they totally rejected the fact and straight out told me I took photos when I in fact did not.

Also, this still doesn't explain why I wasn't charged for MMS in the last three years when I have consistently sent out text messages to two people at the same time.  

No, I'm okay thanks. I'm switching soon. I'd just like to leave this here as an explanation for anyone else under Fido who has questions about their surcharges (as none of this MMS or other surcharges was ever explained to customers). 

[FidoMegan]

We'd hate to see you go.  

 I'll send you a PM and we can look at your account together. 

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Xxlindaxx1,

  Welcome to the community!

  What phone are you using?

  Firstly, it's important to note that multimedia message services (MMS) are not limited to just photo or video messages. Some phones allow users to add Subject lines to their messages -- similar to the subject lines found in emails. Adding a Subject line automatically converts a SMS to MMS. **edit** Depending on the phone and its settings, a blank subject line may also still be considered a MMS. There should be a setting to remove the subject line**

  Additionally, some phones will also convert long-SMS (messages exceeding the 160 character limit) to MMS automatically. This is in contrast with some other phones which will send multiple SMS when the character limit has been exceeded (see here).

  Also, as mentioned already, some devices will automatically switch SMS sent to multiple recipients to MMS.

  There may be a way to prevent your phone from converting SMS to MMS. If your MMS settings have MMS creation mode, the restricted setting should prevent the conversion.

  The messages are showing up on the Fido system as MMS because your phone is sending them as MMS. Each device handles SMS/MMS differently. Your best option is to go through the settings on your phone. Chances are, any newer texting features will be sent as MMS.

Hope this helps

Cheers

[FidoTerry]

Welcome to the community @xxlindaxx1. It's possible that your phone settings are set so whenever you send a message to more then one person, it will be converted to a MMS. Unfortunately we don't have control over that.