In recent days WindTre customers have been receiving an SMS announcing the automatic blocking of VAS services: what they are and what changes from March 21
In recent days WindTre customers have begun to receive an SMS announcing the automatic and free blocking of VAS services from March 21. An unexpected text message, so much so that some may have mistaken it for yet another phishing attempt, but instead it represents an important novelty.
The Authority for Communications Guarantees (Agcom) has issued a measure that provides for the blocking of value-added services (VAS), i.e. those that require a subscription and are provided via SMS, MMS or mobile data. Very often users find themselves subscribed without realizing it and for this reason the guarantor has provided that from March 21 the activation must be aware and documented. WindTre has aligned itself with Agcom's decision and has begun to inform its customers by sending a special SMS explaining the new features of this type of service.
You can evaluate a change of tariff plan here:
VAS services: what they are and how they work
Value added services, or VAS, are paid services in addition to those provided by your telephone operator and offered by third parties. Each of these services therefore involves the payment of a surcharge, which can be paid for content or access to premium services. For example, VAS services are those that offer the sending via SMS of the daily horoscope, games to play via mobile data, subscriptions to news, weather forecasts and even the download of ringtones.
Each of these services has therefore a variable cost, which depends on the type of subscription and the number of contents sent. The payment is made through the residual credit of the sim, which after the subscription will be scaled with frequency related to the single content, for example, every two weeks, or monthly. The main problem is that often VAS services do not make explicit that the activation involves a subscription payment and often users find themselves with a credit deduction without understanding the reason.
WindTre and Agcom: what changes with the measure
Agcom's resolution is a historic decision, since it requires telephone operators to block premium subscription services provided via SMS, MMS and data connection on mobile networks on their customers' SIM cards. A partire dal prossimo 21 marzo, l’attivazione dei servizi VAS dovrà essere sempre consapevole e documentabile, affinché gli utenti comprendano chiaramente quali sono i costi che dovranno sostenere in caso di abbonamento.
L’operatore telefonico WindTre aveva già impostato il blocco dei servizi VAS a partire dal 18 ottobre 2020, ma dopo la delibera del garante ha deciso di avvisare attraverso SMS tutti i propri clienti sulle nuove disposizioni a partire dal 21 marzo. Nell’sms inviato si legge: "Dal 21/03 sarà attivato gratis in automatico il blocco ai servizi VAS. Se non vuoi il blocco chiama il Servizio Clienti".
WindTre: come controllare i servizi VAS attivi
Per controllare i servizi VAS attivi, i clienti WindTre possono utilizzare diversi metodi a loro disposizione:
- chiamare il Servizio Informati e sicuri al numero verde gratuito 800900134
- accedere all’app WindTre e consultare il proprio profilo
- accedere all’Area Clienti e chattando con l’assistente virtuale Will
WindTre: servizi esclusi dal blocco automatico
Alcuni dei servizi in abbonamento sono comunque esclusi dal blocco automatico che è stato imposto dalla delibera dell’Agcom. Tra questi vi sono:
- servizi di mobile ticketing, come Trenitalia e acquisti Ticketing/Parking municipalizzate
- servizi bancari via sms, o infobanking
- pagamenti digitali "carrier billing", da partner come Google Play, Apple Music, Netflix e altri
- televoto
- donazioni su numerazione 455 e ai partiti politici
- servizi postali privati
- servizi elettronici di recapito certificato
- servizi di posta elettronica certificata.