Write from the Heart

Just over ten years ago we moved out to Spain. Like many people we had seen lots of TV programs extolling the the virtues of  a place to live in the sunshine.

Of course it can be very appealing when it is a cold December day and it is dark already half way through the afternoon. Many in Britain are said to suffer from SAD, and my husband was sure that he was one of them.

For those of you who don't know what SAD stands for it is Seasonal Affective Disorder. Now I don't think that he really had this disorder, it was just that the early dark nights depressed my husband. 

Let's face it most people can find the British winter somewhat depressing at times. Why? Because it is cold grey and dark outside in winter and it is depressing sometimes. However, those that suffer in reality with SAD are affected much more severely than just feeling a bit down.  

But, it was enough for us to know that he didn't like the long dark nights and and short dismal days of an average winter. We talked a lot about the places we saw on TV and the people who had sold up everything and moved to their place in the sun.

Seeing how they got on, and where they lived, made moving to a warmer climate very appealing. So, after watching lots of  TV shows which followed people finding a place in the sun, whetted our appetites.  We decided that if we were going to do this then now was the time in our lives to do it.

We came out to Spain looking for the sunshine and found so much more than we ever dreamed we would. Some of the things we thought we wanted would turn out to be not how we thought they would be,  but other things were unexpected bonuses.

We came out looking to pursue one dream but found another instead. I am not trying to tell people to move to Spain, what I am trying to tell you is that it is good to have a dream, and it is good to follow that dream. 

Even when life turns out not to be how you expected it to be, all is not lost. You will find many new things and experiences along the way, that will make the pursuit of that dream worthwhile.

You may think that I am writing this from a place that has been plain sailing, but nothing could be further from the truth. 

We encountered the perfect storm. In this storm three or four things, came together and adversely affected our business. One of these was the current economic crisis.

We lost our home and our business and for the first time in forty odd years we are living in rented accommodation.

Do I regret moving to Spain, not a bit of it, would I do it again if I could go back, yes I would in a heart beat. Would I do things differently, you bet I would.

Do I wish I had stayed back in the UK with a house that we had paid for, no I do not. I love my life out here, I love the way of life out here, and I am glad that we dared to follow our dream.

Are you a Vodafone user? Have you noticed that your credit is disappearing much faster than Usual? If so I might be able to shed some light on what is happening to your mobile phone account's credit.

If you are one of the many unsuspecting Vodafone.es users you might be a victim of what I can only call a scam. Many Vodafone.es users are receiving text messages and are unaware that they are paying for them. For each message that they receive they are paying a premium rate each time one of these messages arrives on your phone.

The company Mogevilxion telecom s.l are the company behind the premium rate texts that are eating up your phone credit. I believe that they get hold of your your mobile phone number after you download one of their many apps.

This company have buried somewhere in their small print, that they have your agreement. By downloading one of their apps you agree to receive up to 36 of these messages per month.

These are the premium rate telephone numbers that this company are using. As far as I know you will receive from only one of these premium rate numbers. The premium rate mobile telephone numbers are

795045 795103 795820 797049 797216 797410

These premium rate text messages are charged to your mobile phone account at the premium rate of € 1.45 including IVA per text. When you downloaded one of their many apps you agreed to receive up to a maximum 25 messages a month. There is a maximum total cost that you will pay as they have capped at €36.25 per month. This capping just shows how caring and considerate this company is, yes this is an attempt at sarcasm.

The company that is doing this is based in Madrid and they are doing nothing illegal. because they have your permission. It doesn't matter that they buried it in their fine print. Buried or not, it stipulates that by downloading the app you agree that they can do this.

It is important that you understand, that even if later you uninstall the app, you will still receive their text messages. If you have a contract phone the first you might know about this is when you get your bill and it is €36.25 more than you thought it would be.

If like me you are a pay as you go user, as soon as you put credit on your phone the text messages start to arrive on your mobile. You will get up to three of these text messages a day until it has eaten up your credit or reaches their self imposed limit of €36.25 for the month.

The text messages contain a link to wap.games2u.es and you cannot stop receiving them unless you do the following. Send the word BAJA to which ever of the numbers you receive the text messages from, or send as a reply to one of the text messages.

Once you have sent this message you should then immediately receive a reply from the company. I think that you will be pleased to know that at least this message is free. This message will say that you have successfully unsubscribe from their service.

Most other mobile phone companies will block thisompany's texts to your phone. These other mobile phone companies will also refund money taken from your mobile phone account by this company. It is only Vodafone.es who refuse to take any responsibility or action for the money taken from your account.

Try contacting Vodafone.es and they tell you that this is your problem. As far as Vodafone are concerned, you agreed and subscribed and if you want it to stop you have to sort it out yourself.

You will have to find all the above out by yourself. They offer no help at all, this cavalier attitude has angered many of their mobile phone users, but they seem not to care. Vodafone know that most of their affected users are unaware that they have subscribe to receive premium rate texts.

Vodafone know that this is sharp practice by this company, but they don't care. Well I care and so I wanted you to know what is happening and also to tell you how to stop it from continuing to happen.  

I have a comment below from Colin that I think will help those that have been ensnared by this sharp practice and because not everyone reads the comments I am placing his comment here in the blog so that readers of this blog don't miss out.

"Hi, A friend of mine had the exact same problem with Vodfone here in Spain and wrote a very stern letter to the CEO of Vodphone UK and guess what! She did get a reply and all the money refunded as a good gesture that was taken from her account via this horrible means. I think a lot more expats should be writing to the UK version of Vodafone ES and pointing their absolute disgust and how they are being treated. "