None of us wants to pay twice, and especially no one wants to pay for anything, and especially for a quietly imposed “for nothing.” When using his mobile phone, a person quite reasonably expects that the money spent on communication services will be spent only on what he himself has done:
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- to his calls
- his SMS,
- its Internet traffic.
Mobile subscription to number 0111
If it happened that money began to be debited from the account regularly, daily and in equal amounts, and the owner of the phone, it would seem, did nothing specifically for this, most likely a paid mobile subscription was issued to his number - read what this is below
Its essence is that the cellular user has somehow agreed to receive regular information for a fee, for example, you received an SMS on your phone from the above number with the text: “send SMS...”. At the same time, information such as: what kind of service, what kind of subscription, what kind of website, the cost of the subscription, how to delete a subscription or how to disable it is often not directly shown.
Someone, a partner of your operator, called a content provider in professional slang, supplies you with content for a fee:
- provides information
- provides a service by providing access to an online game, website, program, etc.
The operator finds himself on the sidelines, as he publicly warns on his website that yes, there is paid content, that it is provided by third-party organizations to which the operator itself has no connection.
No, except that he debits money from the subscriber’s account and he also provides the short number to the content provider.
In most cases, the short four-digit number 0111 is rented out by the mobile operator (Megafon, MTS, Beeline, Tele2), receiving a fee for it, and, as a rule, a percentage of the amounts paid by the owner of the phone in favor of the provider.
Mobile assistant MTS
MTS mobile assistant allows you to:
- check your balance, verify the amount and date of payment and top up your account
- make the “promised payment” (for tariff plans of the Maxi, Pro, VIP group, as well as corporate tariffs)
- block or remove voluntary blocking of your number
- change your password to log into your personal account
MTS Mobile Assistant number
Dial 111 and follow the voice prompts
Combinations for Quick Access
111-2 — check your personal account balance
111-3 — enter the promised payment
111-4 — find out your tariff plan
111-5 — set or change a password
111-6 — set a voluntary block
111-7 — information about tariffs, promotions and services
111-13 — check credited payments
111-121 — pay by bank card
111-122 — pay with MTS payment card
Who gets your money
So, it is clear that the user is the loser. In this case, where does the river of benefit flow, i.e. User money? – stated above in general terms. And this, of course, is a simplification that there are only two beneficiaries; in fact, the schemes are many times more complex.
They contain so-called aggregators - wholesale purchasers of short numbers and holders of mutual settlement schemes with telecom operators. The already mentioned content providers are grouped around the aggregators, who own sites where the sale of services is organized and partners who collect and provide the entire scheme with traffic. The setup of this entire cycle of withdrawing subscriber money is being adjusted in such a way that telecom operators, as the last link to the user and payer, remain not guilty from the point of view of the law in most cases when claims are made.
legislation
Is there any basis for such claims, strictly speaking? After all, at some point the user voluntarily performed some action that ensured his place as a victim in the chain (relative to the short number 0111). This is precisely the position that telecom operators adhere to when a subscriber, outraged by the loss of money, begins to search for the truth.
The answer is yes, there is
And this is called the federal law of July 23, 2013 N 229-FZ “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Communications”.
In it, Article 2 of the Basic Law is supplemented with subclause 34.1, which defines what “content services” are.
The legislator made this definition as general as possible, practically fitting into it everything that is not the actual connection. Those. if the user using the phone and through the telecom operator’s channels receives, quote,
...reference, entertainment and (or) other additionally paid information...", gets the opportunity "... to participate in voting, games, competitions and similar events...,
Then he, the user, receives a content service. And it, in turn, being provided with the participation of third parties, falls under the addition of paragraph 5 of Article 44 of the Federal Law “On Communications”, which prescribes a mechanism for protecting the consumer by:
- firstly, the possibility of creating, at his request, a separate account to pay only for content services;
- secondly, the requirement to obtain explicit consent to receive such services;
- thirdly, about comprehensive information, including prices and names of suppliers, about these services before obtaining consent.
Another addition, established by 229-FZ, to paragraph 5 of Article 54 of the Basic Law, states that services provided in violation of any of the above are not subject to payment. And finally, Article 68 of the main communications law is supplemented by paragraph 8, which directly indicates the operator’s responsibility for the implementation of Article 44 (see above).
Let’s summarize the legislative information, projecting the rights and responsibilities spelled out in it onto the practical side of life.
If the user consciously wants to become a consumer of content services, then you can secure your account for paying for communications by declaring your intention to open a separate content account to cover the costs of mobile subscriptions and SMS from short numbers. If it is exhausted, funds intended for regular conversations and SMS will not be affected.
For telecom operators Beeline and TELE2, this action is automated and is carried out by sending a USSD request, *110*5062# and *160#, respectively. Sets of commands are also provided for replenishment and checking the balance.
Megafon and MTS require a personal appearance at the office and presentation of a passport, and one must understand that regardless of the method of expression of will, the very fact of opening an account confirms voluntary consent to receive content services, and strictly speaking makes it unnecessary to inform about the details (in including price) of the same mobile subscription.
MTS phone numbers
- 0890 — the most important phone number to resolve all issues: MTS Support Service;
- +7-495-766-01-66 — MTS support number if you are roaming;
- 0887 — if you have forgotten your phone number, then call and the MTS robot will dictate it to you;
All calls to the above numbers are free for MTS subscribers.
SMS requests
- 2282 - number to check the cost of sending SMS to other short numbers. It's simple: to this free number 2282 you send an SMS with the number in the message to which you want to check the cost of sending. In the response SMS from MTS you will see the current cost.
- 6677 — if you send a message to this number with an MTS test, then in the response message you will receive the address of the nearest MTS office.
How to return money from number 0111
If it does happen that an inexplicable loss of money from a mobile account is discovered, you need to try to remember if you received any annoying SMS message from the number 0111, for example, with an offer to find out the most accurate weather forecast or check your watch with the London Observatory?
Wasn't the answer "yes" sent to him?
Or maybe, in the heat of Internet surfing, a phone number was entered to obtain a registration code on some little-known but attractive resource?
Services for checking the availability of paid services on the number 0111
In order not to speculate, you need to use the service (and every operator has one) to inform you about the availability of paid services tied to your number, including subscriptions to the number 0111
The most informative is access through the web interface of your personal account, and in the absence of the Internet or the desire to use it, the good old USSD request will help.
Megafon - *583#, Beeline - *110*09#, MTS will inform you about this by command *111*919#, TELE2 - *189#
If the acquired knowledge shows that there are subscriptions, and money is quickly debited from the account because of this, you should not hesitate. Using the same tools, you need to disable the subscription, and the debiting of money will stop.
This is done using your personal account and personal assistance services by calling the support service. The USSD commands indicated here will also allow you to select the desired command - “disable”.
Also, a quick cure for a paid subscription, when the user receives an SMS about activating this service, will be a response message consisting of the word stop (or STOP).
Refund of spent funds
Losing money on an unnecessary paid subscription, by accident, through negligence or ignorance, and even more so due to someone’s selfish intent, will certainly prompt the restoration of justice. I want to get back what I lost because of the 0111 number, but that’s the difficulty. As already mentioned, from the point of view of the operator, namely, we pay him, and it is to him we will go with a claim, the user himself, voluntarily, even if not consciously, but voluntarily committed actions that led to the activation of a paid subscription, and, as a result, to write off funds.
Therefore, they are unlikely to return the money voluntarily, without a fight. And in view of the fact that the burden of proving compliance or non-compliance with the same Federal Law No. 229 lies on the party making a claim for the loss incurred, you need to understand what can be stated as evidence. It’s unlikely that any of us keep print screens of every manipulation with the phone, and it’s unlikely that the warning about the paid service is difficult to read because it’s printed in gray font on an even grayer background will serve as a weighty argument.
What has been said, of course, does not mean that there is no need to try, it is absolutely necessary, and the Internet is replete with stories about successful disputes. Sometimes, in order to avoid image losses, in mass cases when the problem of paid subscriptions becomes public knowledge and is discussed on social networks, operators meet halfway and restore the status quo of the wallets of their subscribers who suffered from their ignorance and inattention.
Knowledge is never superfluous, this is an axiom, and this also applies to the security of your own money. Having an idea about the structure of paid subscriptions, including to the number 0111, about working short SMS numbers for someone else’s benefit, it is easier to navigate, it is easier to avoid mistakes, and there is a greater chance of not regretting lost money and time. We will be careful when pressing buttons, entering our data and phone numbers, and, for sure, there will be a few fewer disappointments in life associated with mobile communications.
What happens if you call 111
If you call the number, a USSD menu will open, which will prompt you to select the required item.
To make a call you need to dial a combination that starts with *111 # and then continue to work with other numbers.
There are a large number of different MTS combinations that can only be used by subscribers of a mobile operator. Thanks to these USSD codes, you can get information about your balance or find out your phone number, clarify the tariff that is connected to this number, and you can also top up your balance or change the number of services or subscriptions that are connected to your phone number, and you can also switch to another tariff , if you are not satisfied with the current one:
- *111*2# - This command will help you find out your expenses from your personal account.
- *111*2*5# - You can find out what tariff you are currently using or change the tariff plan.
- *111*7# - You can manage your account.
- *111*30# — Possibility to connect trust services.
- *111*0# — Disabling or connecting recreational services, namely funny videos, jokes, anecdotes, and so on.
- *111*4# — Connecting news, horoscopes and dating offers.
- *111*3# — Connection of daily weather forecast.
- *111*221# — Connecting a melody instead of a beep.
Interesting: have you ever called God himself? We have added an article on how to call God directly!
To connect services or use commands, you need to enter this code and press the call. You will then receive an SMS with information.
There is another use of the *111# command. This way you can call the USSD menu. In order to select the required item, you must act in any of three ways. First you need to call the number, and then select the item in any way:
- Enter the item number.
- Click the Ok or Yes button.
- We send a message.
Information appears immediately, rather than coming as a message.
