Receiving Unrequested OTP's from Sainsbury Supermarket

[HashtagShitShop]

I'm wondering if anyone is or has been in the same situation and has received these messages in the same way from Sainsburys or any other company and if they have any answers as for what it is or if I can report it to any organisation that might be able to pull them up on it or download an app or something that will stop them cos I'm really fed up of it!

At four times a day, for 3 weeks, every single day, I've been receiving an OTP (One Time Passcode) text message from Sainsbury's. This is approx the 5th time this has happened to me since about 2021. These are roughly at 2.45am, 8.45am, 2.50pm and 11.45pm. It goes on for a period of time whilst I report it and it's 'looked into' and then stops until the next time it starts up again. This time is the longest that it's been going for - before it was about 8-10 days in the past. You cannot reply to the number or send 'STOP' etc to it because it says 'replying is not supported by this sender'.

It's is not scam, phishing or someone pretending to be Sainsburys - Sainsburys have acknowledged the messages are genuinley being sent from themselves each time. The problem is that they cannot be blocked. Infact my phone has 'blocked' them but because there is no standard number(ie - 07777777blahblah - in fact there's no number at all, they just come through as 'Sainsburys' - they still come through.

This means that they sound through the Do Not Disturb setting on my phone that activates at night. There's no way of attaching a silent ringtone to it because there's no number at all so it cannot be 'saved' to the phone book and assigned a silent tone. The only way to avoid being woken by the messages arrival is to turn my phone off or put it on silent. I cannot do this because I'm a carer and need to be accessible during the night incase of emergencies or if I'm needed by the person I care for (or my grandparents care home) so I'm being woken by these almost every night and have been since the 9th September this time.

I keep asking Sainsburys every time it happens every few months what it is that causes it so that I can report it with a 'this is happening again, please deactivate blah blah blah to stop it' and get it to stop quicker the next time it happens but they ignore my messages and do not reply after it has been stopped.

This time however they've been saying 'it's because someone else has your number on their account'. They've also told me that they're 'removed my number from my account' which 'should stop it' (which doesn't make any sense if they're saying it s because someone else has it on their account! I've pointed this out and they side stepped it and ignored it.) Also the sheer fact that they come at 4 times a day at roughly the same time each day (including the middle of the night) makes that seem unlikely to me too as surely noone is setting alarms to request OTP's four times a day for weeks on end at the same time each day and magically being aware that I've reported it in the past and stop doing it for a few months before starting again?

The latest is that they've asked me to wait 72 hours after they have 'removed my number from my account' before getting in touch again. The last time this happened approx 4/5 months ago the agent said then that they'd removed the number from my account so I didn't hold my breath. This was up yesterday and... yes it's still happening.

If I'm honest the customer service team have been a bit snotty about it this time and keep insisting that it's someone with my number on their account but GDPR means they can't remove it from the other persons account.

My next and seemingly only remaining step is to contact the CEO if it doesn't stop by the end of business Monday. (I replied a few hours ago that it's still continuing). I'm so tired after 3 weeks of broken sleep. I'm either anticipating being woken by it so not resting properly or the adrenaline kicks in at the phone ringing in the middle of the night even now that makes me think it's an emergency so I often can't just fall straight back asleep.

It appears the only way to stop it completely is to change my number but as mentioned I'm a carer (we don't have a landline) and my number is the main number for both myself and the person I care for and all assorted care related products so I'm loathe to do that so welcome any other ideas. Thank you!

At least it sounds like they're attempting to properly investigate now.

Thank you all, just a quick update. It's been a week this afternoon (so 5 working days out of the 10) and as yet they are still continuing. There's been 2 so far today, just gone midnight and just gone 6. Which means there'll be another 2 if it carries on in the usual pattern at just gone 12 and just gone 6pm. They appear to come every 5 and half to 6 and half hours.

Honestly, write back to their head office and tell them you will be charging £100 for every OTP reset code received. And follow through on that.

I'd also report it to the police under harassment laws: get a crime reference number and send that to Sainsburys, see if that gets the wind up them.

I'm trying to - at least at the moment - keep it civil with them, despite feeling exhausted as I want to get it sorted sooner rather than later. I have received a response from them today saying:

Thank you for your email. I am still investigating this with the relevant teams within Sainsburys, however I am sorry we are struggling to be able to locate the online account that has your mobile number incorrectly added by another customer. We are still looking into this but this could take longer than 10days. I appreciate this may not be the response you anticipated and for that I am truly sorry

I have replied and pointed out that it was THEIR customer service who said it was a number on someone elses account and that, as I mentioned in my first email, I do not think that it is. I explained again that I think it's an IT error due to them arriving every 6 hours, the patterns to the timing, that they keep happening every few months etc and that customer service were able to stop them previously before they'd kick off again say 5/6 months down the line. I pointd out that anyone who repeatedly keeps looking for an OTP like that is not going to set alarms to request it every 6 hours, for weeks on end, every few months and not do a thing about it every time they don't arrive.

A friend has pointed out that it looks as though the only way to get an end to this is to physically change my number when it comes down to it as even if it does get sorted now the likelyhood is that, in a few months, it'll kick off again as it has multiple times before

The problem with that is that it's been my number for 15 years plus, it was actively purchased from ebay all that time ago as it was not only an easy to remember number knowing how many times i'd have to give it out as a carer even back then for a grandparent and now mum.

It is a number along the lines of 02 111 020 200 (this is not my number obviously but it is an example of how easy it is with the flow of numbers.) It cost £20 from the ebay seller for the simcard, then I had to register it on the o2 network by topping it up, use it for 28 days and then I could have the PAC code to move it to my network so it was convoluted and took time and expense to do so but it has been so much easier in the long run to have a number that was remembered from the start but also contained a sentimental birthdate within it.

Friends and family are easily sorted with a text saying 'new number' obviously, but my problem is that it's registered with with all parts of the NHS for both my care and mums. The GP has it, hospital records, assorted consultants/clinics at the hospital, district nurse, falls clinic, podiatrist, opticians, dentist, carers support people and so on and so forth. I know it should be as simple as updating a telephone number on records but lets face it - things are overlooked and missed and not everyone does update it - we have experience with this when I took a cousin to the day surgery ward a few months ago and they had her old details where she moved from 5 years ago despite everyone else having up to date details and contacting her on them! This was a new clinic who she hadn't had contact with before then so it's obviously somewhere in the system.

They have advised that I make a claim when they return with their final answer/conclusion for the cost of updating with a similarly easy to flow number and for sending signed-for-letters to every department that mum and I use in the NHS to get the information updated as well as telephone calls to back up that it has been changed - particularly as we are waiting for 2 urgent referrals, one being an operation that has already been delayed and is meant to be being arranged sooner rather than later.

My friend also suggests that I include a sum for the harassment of the calls and also the inconvininence of having to do it all on top of caring for mum with interupted sleep that is in its 5th week.

Does anyone know if this is correct, if it would be allowed, and what the suggestion of costs should be to them?

Absolutely add a fee for the stress, inconvenience and time it's going to take to write and send all those letters.

It's not about what would be allowed - you're not taking it to court (at present) - you're coming to a private agreement with an organisation that makes £££s profit every year - whatever you charge them will be small fry and worth it to them to make you go away. Any amount is allowed as long as both parties agree to it.

I'd break it down and show them your workings. say £25 for each text received in night time hours that disturbed your sleep. £10 for each received in the day time after they said it was sorted. Plus out of pocket expenses - the postage obviously, the new number, a reem of paper, envelopes, 45p a mile if you drive to the post office etc. Plus importantly set a fee for the average £ per hour of what carers earn (what it would cost you to pay for carers for your mum while you are doing this) and track or best guess every hour for the time you spend dealing with absolutely all of this, from now and historically.

I'd put money on the outcome that they will agree to pay it. They have a budget for "goodwill" which this will come from. They have already allocated money to placating people like you who are very p*** off with them. In the grand scheme of their income and expenses what you are asking for is absolutely small fry, and worth it to them to keep you from going to a national newspaper and/or taking them to court, both of which will cost them far more for for them to deal with.

@HashtagShitShop I don’t know re: compensation but I feel your dread at having to change phone numbers.

It’s little comfort but at least that reply sounds like it’s come from someone who’s actually looking into it and not a generic response

I have an idea that might help you to keep your existing number. You will have to still get a new number but keep the old number too - yes you will have to pay for a second sim but honestly that is quite cheaply done these days

I have two numbers and my old phone is set on call divert to my new number and lives in the kitchen permanently plugged in and it receives texts for my deliveries and whoever I give the old number to, but any calls get forwarded to my new number. It happened because I needed more data and a second sim on a deal was very reasonable, so I just ended up with two phones and actually I'm glad to have a phone always available for use by the family - but like a house phone used to be.

Anyway, the new phone could be by your bed and the one being pestered by texts could be far out of earshot somewhere but forwarding your calls, so you can stop being disturbed but still be connected to you important people's calls.

HTH and makes sense

Thank you all, I really appreciate your help 🙂

A quick update that it has finally been sorted this week (tues) I left it 24 hours incase it was just a hiccup and it has definitely stopped. It turns out that they hadn't removed my number from the system that generates the otps but had from the account so they were being sent. They assume someone was trying to get into my account hence then being sent but it doesn't describe why it was happening every four hours for almost 2 months.

On top of that they've made an offer of a 25 pound gift card for use at sainsburys in apology in their explanation email. I didn't make the complaint for compensation or for anything to be sent, I didn't even think of it that way. I just wanted it to make it stop waking me during the night especially after their twitter team came back and said that I'd have to put up with it for good.

They have interrupted my sleep for a week shy of 2 months every night (admittedly down the circumstances that I couldn't put my phone on silent due to caring responsibilities and their messages got around the do not disturb that I did set) but "here is 25 pounds you can spend with us to make it better!" feels a bit like a middle finger.

Congratulations on getting them to sort it out! A well deserved victory – agree about the £25 being really miserable given the length of time this dragged on and how badly they managed it. But it wouldn't stop me from spending it!

I'm pleased to hear it is sorted with a sensible sounding reason. And I will say well done to the Executive team - their involvement with your persistence has led to a good outcome. But I would want to know (as a risk & process person) what controls & procedures they had put in place to ensure numbers are appropriately added AND deleted from all their systems.

And yes £25 doesnt seem very appropriate. Their staff have been very casual about sorting this out.