Julie's Web Journal

Earlier this spring we started to get charges on our cell phone bill for premium ringers. Some of these ringers cost as much as $9.95. These were billed to Chris' phone and he swears that the only way he knows of to get ringers into his phone was via the USB cable and special software he downloaded from the phone's manufacturer. I actually believe him on this one because he's not into the stuff they use for commercial ringers. He doesn't remember ever giving his phone number away execpt to friends and family. He does tell me that he's had text messages advertising ringers, which he has deleted.

Well, this is nasty. It turns out that some of these companies do opt-out advertising. They send you a message saying you're signed up and if you don't text STOP back to them, they start to charge your phone.

We have two charges from Spicymint for $9.95 that Sprint will not remove because they are third party charges. We've been round and round with both companies and get a different story every time. They both say that Chris had to have opted into the service. He didn't. One e-mail from Spicymint says that the requirement for the service is an Interet-enabled phone, which he doesn't have. I poked around their web site, and that's not true. His phone is compatible with the service. Sprint told me twice that the ringers he's ordered will be in his Content Manager online. Guess what? His phone has no Content Manager associated with it. Paul and I each have one associated with our phones, and his shows a game that he ordered a while back. No problem there.

I decided to check around (Google is my friend) and see how easy it is to get on these services. Dang! First, check out the Jamster Scam site. There are plenty of complaints to sift through. Several complaints simply say that they put their number into a pop-up (naughty thing to do in the first place) and got sent the ringer. There was no legalese. Here's my big concern: What's to stop you from putting someone else's phone number into the web site? See the news links. There's a video with the man who started this site. All he did was type his number in and he got the ringer. He had to nothing further - not even (apparently) confirm his subscription.

Why back in my day (she says, shaking her cane) kids used to have pizza delivered to others. Now they deliver ringtones. Either way, mom and dad end up paying.

Here's a story from theinternetpatrol.com about another scammer. Note the text message that scammer sends. How in the hell do you know what it means? Have you been charged for content? Do you HAVE to opt-out? A discussion board this page links to points out that the entire contents of that message will not fit on the screen of most cell phones, so what would happen is that someone would see the first bit and delete the message as useless spam. I suspect that this is what happened to Chris. I don't blame him; I would have done the same thing.

I asked Sprint what to do about it. The first customer service person told us the charge was from a company called Buongiorno and to text STOP to 42222. He got a message back saying that he has been unsubscribed to Spicymint. I visited their web site and found pictures of scantily-clad stars and discussion about who had hot nipples. I kid you not. I finally found their customer service form and requested a refund. After going back and forth they decided to investigate. I didn't hear back, so I told them I'd be contacting the state Attorney General's office. In return I got a jargon-filled message about redeeming credits on an Internet-enabled phone. The phone is not Internet-enabled. This just gets better and better, doesn't it? I wrote them back giving them a week to refund my money or I'd contact the AG's office.

Our Sprint bill arrived yesterday with a second $9.95 charge for these services. A call to Sprint shows that the second charge was made right before I called to have premium SMS services blocked.

Today I had a message from Blinko, part of the same group. They've offered me $9.95 and can't (they say) offer more because of content licensing" and "transport charges" incurred in delivering the content. What content was delivered other than a bill to my phone? Perhaps the "transport charges" are Sprint's cut of the charge? I wrote them back this morning asking how a phone that did not receieve a text message or PIN code from them get charged and again demanding a full refund.

Perhaps I should take the money and run, but I'm really upset over this. In addition, if Chris even agreed to this (which I'm convinced that he didn't), he's a minor and therefore not legally able to enter into a contract. The argument from the other side is that I gave him the phone and I agreed to pay his charges. This is true to the extent that I agree to pay charges that HE has approved. I may not like it, but if he buys something on his cell phone, then as a parent I have to pay and then deal with him on the issue. The fact remains that he didn't buy the services.

So there ya go. I am Not Amused. My new cell phone has SMS messaging and I'm just waiting for the first spam to come through. I should just go ahead and block Premim SMS and hope that will keep me from getting hit.

Anyone else had a similar problem? I'd be interested to hear how (or if) it was resolved.

Tags: Technology, Blinko