Skinny Prepaid Text problem

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Skinny Prepaid Text problem

1 | 2

littlehead

214 posts

Master Geek

#2835995 20-Dec-2021 14:21

Go to https://www.skinny.co.nz/topup , top-up $5 via debit/credit card. No need to contact Skinny, Keep the existing direct debit going and don't change it. When the $5 runs out or a year passes, repeat top-up.

Be thankful you are not with Kogan where there is literally no way to sent a txt to a shortcode/premium/non-standard number. They have no account balance feature at all so no way to debit your account the charge, you are just fully out of luck.

rugrat

3107 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2835996 20-Dec-2021 14:23

If you have a credit or debit card can be done in Skinny Applic, one off payment.

There are also some internet banking options with some banks, Online EFTPOS (Skinny Applic) or top up mobile in mobile banking Applic.

Failing that see voucher code can also be entered into Applic, so probably can get a voucher at garage, supermarket, dairy etc.

Linux

11433 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2835997 20-Dec-2021 14:25

As mentioned this is not just Skinny charging for these types of SMS all carriers do!, The Short code services cost $$$ to run so the consumer pays for it

If you do not want to pay then do not reply to them and they are all not 20 cents

rugrat

3107 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2836001 20-Dec-2021 14:30

https://www.skinny.co.nz/assets/pdf/skinny-premium-SMS-prices-Sheet14.pdf

List of premium numbers and cost to reply. Probably pay to check each time as I don’t know how often data in list changes.

ronw

1222 posts

Uber Geek

#2836087 20-Dec-2021 18:35

Ok Thanks to everyone that helped me come to grips with the problem. I took the advice and paid Skinny $5 and waited till it acknowledged it.

I then tried answering the messages. Bit of a mixed bag here I had two the first was from garage repairing car (it was AA) that did not work. The second was from Greenpeace which insist on sending me text messages that I don't want/ I had tried earlier and it would not send the unsubscribe message. Once the $5 was at Skinny I tried Greenpeace again and it worked and unsubscribed me.

The AA one may be an oddity so will wait till I get some more of these texts that want payment but it is sort of looking positive

Linux: You need a Prepay balance nothing to do with the $36 addon you buy each month

As already advised most short codes are charged for each response 9 to 20 cents each

Nokia 7 Plus
Nexus 6P 32Gb
Nexus 6 Phone
Nexus 5 Phone
Nexus 7 2013 Tablet
Samsung TAB A 8"
Samsung TAB A 10"

& many Windows laptops, Desktops etc

allan

2044 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2836117 20-Dec-2021 20:08

You can have both an auto-top-up amount, and your regular prepaid amount being charged to a credit card with Skinny, for things like voicemail access, premium texts etc. The top-up system complains every now and again and asks if you really intended to do that - but it works.
I think the trick is to set up the auto top-up first and then your plan amount.

richms

28191 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2836121 20-Dec-2021 20:17

This expectation with shortcodes really is annoying. Places shouldn't be expecting a reply that will cost the user to confirm an appointment, that is just lazy.

Many other places manage to send from a really long number that is a normal looking one that reply works to just fine on Kogan, others send a link to open that is data so no cost. Expecting a reply to a shortcode is just lazy on the part of the sender.

I usually just call places back to confirm appointments if they send a SMS with a shortcode. The cost of them dealing with the call will far exceed their cheapness when choosing a SMS gateway.

Richard rich.ms

Quic Broadband

Move to New Zealand's best fibre broadband service (affiliate link). Free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE. Note that to use Quic Broadband you must be comfortable with configuring your own router.

allio

885 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2836719 22-Dec-2021 10:18

rugrat:

https://www.skinny.co.nz/assets/pdf/skinny-premium-SMS-prices-Sheet14.pdf

List of premium numbers and cost to reply. Probably pay to check each time as I don’t know how often data in list changes.

This is so handy! Thanks.

1 | 2