One of the issues Kenyans have with telcos in the country is the issue of premium SMS services. These are services that one subscribed to whether willingly or unwillingly and each SMS received by the subscriber comes at a cost in the form of airtime deduction.

Safaricom has devised ways to counter this thorn, which entails subscribers either using USSD, *100# and selecting My Subscriptions to block these premium SMS services or by cancelling through text message.

The problem with these methods is that they are quite tedious, long and it is quite easy to forget the process. However, we can make things easier through Safaricom Zuri, the telco’s customer care bot that is accessible through Telegram and Facebook Messenger.

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Zuri has a number of capabilities including; topping up airtime through a scratch card or M-PESA, data bundle purchase, M-Pesa reversals, airtime balance enquiry, bill manager and premium SMS management – which is the focus of this piece.

So, here’s how to quickly and easily manage your premium SMS services through Zuri bot:

• Launch Safaricom Zuri on your preferred platform
  
• On the menu options provided, select Chargeable SMS Services, then provide your phone number (or simply select it from the list if you have used Zuri before)
• You can choose to view the subscriptions and unsubscribe from the individual services or simply select to unsubscribe from all of them at once
  

Please note that this list includes premium SMS services – the third-party services that cost you money. However, if you want to unsubscribe from Safaricom promotional texts, you will have to do that through USSD *100#.