Mobile Premium Services
With mobile premium services you can chat, download ringtones or wallpapers, vote on TV shows, enter quizzes, check your horoscope and more.
Premium SMS and MMS are a suite of messaging services including competitions, voting, content subscriptions, chat and dating services that are charged at a premium rate to your Vodafone account. Premium SMS numbers are called shortcodes and they are either 6 digit numbers starting with 191, 193, 194 or 195, or 8 digit numbers starting with 196, 197 or 199.
Premium services are provided by third parties who have arrangements in place with Vodafone so that the charge can be taken directly from your Vodafone phone account. Charges for premium services will appear on your Vodafone bill as “Mobile Commerce” or “MC”.
Check the details and costs for any premium service number.
Premium Services Hints & Tips
Is it a single download or a subscription?
Before you buy any premium service content, make sure to check if it’s a single download or a subscription, where you could be charged a weekly fee, plus extra costs to send or receive messages.
For example, you might think you’re downloading a single game, picture or ringtone or sending an answer to a quiz, but you could actually be signing up to receive regular SMSs that you have to pay for. An advertisement for a free ringtone might mean the first or second one is free, but once you sign up you’re charged for a new ringtone every week.
The fine print – Terms and Conditions
Make sure sure to carefully check the terms and conditions of any mobile premium service to find out:
- If you’re getting a one-off download or an ongoing subscription
- How many SMS downloads you will have to pay for and how often you will get them
- How much each SMS you will send or receive will cost you
- If there is a joining fee
- How long the subscription lasts
- If your phone number will be passed on to other companies, or if you will receive marketing messages even after you have stopped the service
If the Terms and Conditions are not clear, don’t sign up!
Terms and Conditions of any premium service number, plus find out where to get help.
How do I stop a Premium SMS or MMS Subscription Service?
To opt-out of a specific Premium SMS or MMS service, reply with the word STOP to the service you want cancelled. Stopping a service will not affect any other Premium SMS or MMS services you may be using such as voting in your favourite TV show or entering competitions.
How do I bar all Premium SMS and MMS Services?
You can BAR all Premium SMS and MMS services for free. This means that your mobile account will be barred from sending and receiving Premium SMS and MMS messages and you will not be charged for any of these services. No other services will be affected. We will bar all premium SMS and MMS services from your account within 1 Business Day of receiving your request.
For more information about these services phone 1555 free from your Vodafone mobile to request to bar or unbar and follow the prompts.
Problems and Complaints
If you have concerns about specific Premium SMS or MMS services, including about charges that appear on your Vodafone bill, you should contact the premium rate service provider operating the service in the first instance. Their contact details can be found at: http://www.19sms.com.au/. You should be aware that sometimes the service provider is not the actual content provider with whom you have an agreement, and they may refer you to a content provider.
If you are unable to resolve your concern with the service provider or the content provider, please phone 1555 free from your Vodafone mobile. If we are unable to resolve your concerns you may wish to contact the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman on 1800 062 058 or http://www.tio.com.au/, or the ACMA http://www.acma.gov.au/.
If you have questions or concerns about Premium SMS or MMS services generally or about the barring of all Premium SMS or MMS services, you can contact us on 1555 free from your Vodafone mobile, or the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman or the ACMA using the contact details above.
