PSA - One NZ Phone Dollars

Forums › One NZ (including Farmside) › PSA - One NZ Phone Dollars - No opting out!

snnet

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#323516 10-Dec-2025 17:09

Just letting it be known if you send" Stop" to the One NZ promotional phone dollars number your telco will charge you 20c and also you will not be opted out. I didn't even ask for this promotion, though someone else obviously may have, I sent "Stop" back in October and got acknowledgement that my promotional messages would be stopped, but then in December I got another message to which I also replied STOP to. I was charged for 2 "premium messages" from Spark who say it is out of their control and to just block the shortcode number 7414. So, basically, don't even reply if you don't want any more messages because it makes no difference.

Yes, it's a total of 40c but why didn't they honour my opting out?

Spark encouraged me to contact One but I think I know where that will go. All of these "communication companies" seem to lack to ability to communicate properly and I'll likely end up in an endless AI loop being asked for a customer number or if I want to join.

(NB: I originally asked Spark about it because I had a section on my bill for text messaging services in addition to my ever increasing monthly account fee for all of my services and I was a bit brassed off that I was being charged even more when I have unlimited texts and don't knowingly engage with "premium" services, certainly didn't want them to be mounting up on my bill over time! At first I was told the charges were from RECEIVING the messages which of course just made me madder when they said they had no control over it, here I am imagining I'm going to get a massive bill for something I didn't even want!! There's a LOT left to be desired when it comes to billing from telcos too, do any of them list the date, time, shortcode/phone number being billed anymore? it seemed like whenever I asked what something was for hours would go by because they had to go deep in and check?)

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#3442460 10-Dec-2025 17:53

I replied STOP and haven’t received any since and also didn’t get charged as I’m on Kogan prepay. 🤪

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

snnet

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#3442461 10-Dec-2025 17:58

Lucky man! I wonder if your balance will drop 20c in a few months though haha as it took from Oct to get it on my bill at all. It's not sooooo much the 20c though that IS a bit irritating, it's more the fact that unsubscribing didn't unsubscribe me

alasta

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#3442600 11-Dec-2025 08:28

I have been trying to get DIA to deal with similarly egregious breaches of anti-spam laws from an NZ based travel agent, but I am getting the distinct impression that the Unsolicited Electronic Communications Act is no longer being actively enforced. That is probably why there seem to be an increasing number of anecdotes of this type of behaviour.

The easiest solution is to block the number on your handset, as your telco suggested. If you really want to fight back then maybe email Checkpoint and see if they are interested in running an article about it, as I'm sure One NZ won't enjoy the negative publicity.

TechGeekNZ

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#3452764 13-Jan-2026 22:17

I had the same thing with the OneNZ Wallet SMS service from 7414.

Under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 they have breached multiple conditions. One being that they must provide an unsubscribe service at no cost to the recipient, the other being that I have also unsubscribed and am still receiving messages. Raised with OneNZ complaints team and quoted the UEMA.

They confirmed that I should not have been charged for the unsubscribe facility and because they use a third-party service that they would contact them to ensure that systems were updated and it would take 2-12 weeks. This was at the end of November. They advised I would need to raise a billing dispute with Spark (my current provider), who have come back and basically fobbed it off saying that it's a premium SMS service and they won't reverse charges. Yesterday, they have published a new Premium TXT price list which now confirms that there is a $0 charge send messages received/sent for 7414. I will be going back to them to continue dispute charges before raising with TDR. I know it's only 20c, but how many people are out there that have been paying these charges unknowingly (along with other Premium TXT services where the UEMA states they can't).

I would be interested to hear from others who may have experienced the same to raise and see whether DIA, TCF and TDR are actually willing to look into these charges on a bulk level

Linux

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#3452768 13-Jan-2026 22:40

AndrewBoening:

I had the same thing with the OneNZ Wallet SMS service from 7414.

They confirmed that I should not have been charged for the unsubscribe facility and because they use a third-party service that they would contact them to ensure that systems were updated and it would take 2-12 weeks

@AndrewBoening This is 110% absolute bollocks they own the SMS Shortcode and own the billing and the setup of the billing for the shortcode

Edit: added screen shot from OneNZ site of who owns the Shortcode and the billing

TechGeekNZ

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#3452769 13-Jan-2026 22:50

Linux:

AndrewBoening:

I had the same thing with the OneNZ Wallet SMS service from 7414.

They confirmed that I should not have been charged for the unsubscribe facility and because they use a third-party service that they would contact them to ensure that systems were updated and it would take 2-12 weeks

@AndrewBoening This is 110% absolute bollocks they own the SMS Shortcode and own the billing and the setup of the billing for the shortcode

Edit: added screen shot from OneNZ site of who owns the Shortcode and the billing

Absolutely agree that they own the setup of the billing for the shortcode! Am giving them benefit of the doubt that they are using a 3rd party for the shortcode and from what they told me is that it is their responsibility to advise the 3rd party of the charges that need to be passed onto customers that go to other networks. I have asked TCF to confirm who the 3rd party is that 'provides' the shortcode service.

I've had extensive experience over the years with Telcos and am an advocate for customer transparency and fairness which is why I want to get as much info as I can and identify and make sure that other people are compensated for UEMA breach

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Linux

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#3452770 13-Jan-2026 22:50

@AndrewBoening .pdf on the OneNZ webpage

https://one.nz/mobile-services/premium-interactive-txt

150% they are not using a 3rd party for the Shortcode why would they when they are the carrier??

FYI I worked on VodafoneNZ SMS Gateway & SMS routers for 10+ years and many other of the Core applications that took care of this stuff

Linux

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#3452771 13-Jan-2026 23:03

@AndrewBoening The issue is the word ' stop ' they can't turn off billing for that single SMS across the carriers or even the carrier that owns the Shortcode

A SMS Shortcode is either billed or not unless something radical has changed in the last few years and more complex logic has been added

insane

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#3452774 14-Jan-2026 04:59

Linux:

@AndrewBoening .pdf on the OneNZ webpage

https://one.nz/mobile-services/premium-interactive-txt

150% they are not using a 3rd party for the Shortcode why would they when they are the carrier??

FYI I worked on VodafoneNZ SMS Gateway & SMS routers for 10+ years and many other of the Core applications that took care of this stuff

They used to resell Bulletin/Sinch to business customers, so is plausible if the prior system was from group.

If a marketing automation platform was used and offered it's own SMS gateway, would that have shown up differently on that list you earlier referenced?

Only other thought is could their opt out be case sensitive?

Behodar

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#3452787 14-Jan-2026 09:18

insane:

Only other thought is could their opt out be case sensitive?

I've seen that before, but if it was then it presumably wouldn't be generating a "You've been successfully unsubscribed" message.

gmball

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#3454918 21-Jan-2026 23:35

One wallet and phone dollars is a sham. I also received a email from Jason Paris saying how great it was that I could get up to half off a new phone (used to get a phone for free on contract). What they dont tell you is the credits they give you, iPhone boosts etc, phone dollars etc, all expire, all the while they have nil stock of phones to supply.

I had hoped to redeem an iPhone boost on a iPhone 17, yet for over 3 months my One NZ store has had nil stock. My iPhone boost expired and there was zero interest from the One NZ store to extend the expiry until such time as they had stock of phones.

I've regularly checked the OneNZ website for availability of stock, every single store in Auckland has nil stock, and has had nil stock since release (Silver iPhone 17 pro max 256gb).

It beggars belief that a major telco cant source stock of phones, yet I can head to Apples online store and order one for 3-5 day delivery.

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tstone

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#3455006 22-Jan-2026 10:21

gmball:

One wallet and phone dollars is a sham. I also received a email from Jason Paris saying how great it was that I could get up to half off a new phone (used to get a phone for free on contract). What they dont tell you is the credits they give you, iPhone boosts etc, phone dollars etc, all expire, all the while they have nil stock of phones to supply.

I had hoped to redeem an iPhone boost on a iPhone 17, yet for over 3 months my One NZ store has had nil stock. My iPhone boost expired and there was zero interest from the One NZ store to extend the expiry until such time as they had stock of phones.

I've regularly checked the OneNZ website for availability of stock, every single store in Auckland has nil stock, and has had nil stock since release (Silver iPhone 17 pro max 256gb).

It beggars belief that a major telco cant source stock of phones, yet I can head to Apples online store and order one for 3-5 day delivery.

It's a scam. Why would I want to get the phones they offer? They make it seem like a benefit but it just locks you in to their ecosystem. If they offer some benefits on proper (or all) phones or their services and I may be interested. Why don't I get benefits from being a customer since last century? Why don't they invest the costs of One wallet or phone dollars into providing a better service.

Don't get me started...😉

quickymart

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#3455011 22-Jan-2026 10:46

tstone:

It's a scam. Why would I want to get the phones they offer?

I guess they could point out that at least if you get the phone from them, all the features (VoLTE, VoWiFi, 5G, etc) are guaranteed to work.

alasta

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#3457264 30-Jan-2026 13:52

I have just received a spam email from One NZ with no unsubscribe link as required under the Unsolicited Digital Communications Act. I will report it via the DIA system, but it's astounding that a company of this size doesn't have sufficient governance to ensure that their communications comply with the law.

mattwnz

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#3457276 30-Jan-2026 15:13

alasta:

I have just received a spam email from One NZ with no unsubscribe link as required under the Unsolicited Digital Communications Act. I will report it via the DIA system, but it's astounding that a company of this size doesn't have sufficient governance to ensure that their communications comply with the law.

I get emails from another company with no unsubscribe link in it, and no way to reply to the email . To unsubscribe the email says you have to instead download their app to unsubscribe from emails from inside the app, but I don't want to download their app again. So I report it as spam in gmail and reported to the DIA some time ago, but just got 'crickets'.

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