57777 Scam? (re: Frog advert)

Hobbes

I thought I'd post this as a seperate tread. It's about the frog ad people but not the advert.

Was talking to my niece over the chrissy, she got a new phone from santy. But she was telling me she had to dump her previous phone number over 57777.

Basically she a few months back she wanted a ringtone from them. So she entered in the number. Cost her 1 euro and didn't send the ringtone, I believe she tried a second time and then gave up because of the cost (shes only a teenager).

What she didn't realise is when you go for one of these ringtones they put you on autobilling each month of a few euros (I forget how much she said, think it is 3 euros).

So after the first bill, she tried to cancel. It cost her 2 euro to cancel by replying to messages it said she needed to cancel. Then she got billed the following month, tried to cancel again. Third month.. again.

She only eventually gave up on her number after cancelling a few times and getting no where. She even tried to ring them to cancel it. They took over 20 euros from her and at no time did she ever get a ring tone.

I told her+her mother to ring COMREG. Not sure if they will or not.

Not sure if anyone else has tried the advert and had much success but I'd thought I'd relay this story on.

Mac daddy

I have heard this on the radio before - same problem could not cancell it - personally i think they should remove those bloody ads from mtv - can't stand them specially the one with the frog :mad: :mad:

stagolee

stuff like this annoys the crap out of me :mad: , its because they know that their target market is young kids that they rip them off with no fear of legal retribution. they should be shut down and the directors should be charged with obtaining money by deception

Lump

Yea, I stupidly signed up to something similar... I think it was a quiz... Answered one question, then they decided to sign me up every month, so I'd have to answer 4 questions a month, each received message cost me €1 and each one I sent them was €1.50.... Luckily for me, I live in england now and once the credit ran off my phone they cancelled it....


John

Flukey

The whole ringtones and wallpaper things are scams. The idea of a ringtone is to alert you to the fact that someone is trying to contact you. So what do you do? You answer the phone. You don't sit there listening to the ringtone. If you want to listen to music, turn on your radio. Equally you don't sit there for ages gazing in admiration at the wallpaper on your phone.

Wertz

Flukey wrote:

The whole ringtones and wallpaper things are scams. The idea of a ringtone is to alert you to the fact that someone is trying to contact you. So what do you do? You answer the phone. You don't sit there listening to the ringtone. If you want to listen to music, turn on your radio. Equally you don't sit there for ages gazing in admiration at the wallpaper on your phone.

Personal tones and screens aren't for you, or your phone; they're a means of showing off your taste in "music" or what imagery you aspire to (scantily clad women, football teams, sportscars, etc) to other people.
Teenagers are the ideal market for them but by no means the only one.
Why anyone pays for them when they can be d/led free is beyond me, and the likes of a scam like this makes me sick.
Premium rate phone/txt lines should be outlawed or at least made so that only persons over 18 can reach them (yes I know this is prolly unworkable...)

otron

Sounds like you've been subject to some fairly underhand tactics.

The people to contact with your complaint are Regtel, who are related to (or a part of) Comreg. If you take note of the shortcode used, and the originating number on all messages sent from them it helps in tracking down the culprits. They will actually follow up on any complaints, so do report this!

The short code number search on the comreg site (http://www.odtr.ie/numbering/num_sms_search.asp) shows that the 57777 code is owned by iTouch, who happen to be related to Independant News and Media.. It may be that they are simply providing the service for some other company however.

Im told that sometimes people are opted in for these regular messages because the billing message sent by the service provider contains unsubscription information down the bottom of the SMS where people dont see it. Very sly if you ask me.

Heineken

Haha brilliant! I hope this happens to everyone who downloads crazy frog and the like!

This is surefire proof that there IS a god!

smemon

Heineken wrote:

Haha brilliant! I hope this happens to everyone who downloads crazy frog and the like!

EXACTLY. people should be fined €20 for getting any ringtone that they see on tele and bombarded with spam text messages that cost like €1 to receive, forcing them to change numbers. that'l teach em.

dahamsta

otron wrote:

The people to contact with your complaint are Regtel, who are related to (or a part of) Comreg.

They're just another regulatory agency, no relation; but yes, they're the right crowd to talk to.

Amazed this iTouch crowd are getting away with this, seems like a complete scam, and one perpetrated primarily on children too. What kind of a regulatory agency lets this kind of thing go on? No doubt they'll come out with the usual "we need a complaint" garbage, which is absolutely ridiculous in circumstances like this.

As someone has suggested, these guys should be charged with fraud.

adam

Joseph

S**t im after downloading just 1 song for my phone and Jamster thats what the companys called is after taking 10 euro at 2 euros intervils every min and this all should have only cost 89 cent!!!!

S**T is there anything i can do?


AND I DIDNT EVEN GET THE SONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
__________________

Joseph

stagolee wrote:

stuff like this annoys the crap out of me :mad: , its because they know that their target market is young kids that they rip them off with no fear of legal retribution. they should be shut down and the directors should be charged with obtaining money by deception

Here Here!

Capt'n Midnight

Wertz wrote:

Premium rate phone/txt lines should be outlawed or at least made so that only persons over 18 can reach them (yes I know this is prolly unworkable...)

simply make them unavailable from a mobile unless the purchaser / guarantor if under 18, signs a release - this means the mobile companies can't complain since they will get money from guarantor.

Draupnir

exactl;y the same thing happened to my younger sister, only 12 years old, I reported it to o2 and got the number of the company who were running it, cant recall the name off hand.

anyway, I rang the company and had a go at the girl on the phone, she just said that its the way it works which just made me even madder.

eventually got a supervisor on the phone and after much shouting by me, he agreed to cancel it himself on their system but my calls for a refund were unheard sadly.

by the way, anyone who gets that Frog yolk should be shot and have their ears cut off so they can never ever ever get a phone again.

Blisterman

Is it even legal to charge people to recieve text messages?

Mossy Monk

Draupnir wrote:

anyone who gets that Frog yolk should be shot and have their ears cut off so they can never ever ever get a phone again.

there is a video version too apparently

de5p0i1er

I hate this ringtone crap, they should all be shot for selling this crap.

Piste

Same thing happened to me too during the summer. I sent a message to get a ringtone and it said it wasn't compatible with my phone but they charged me anyway and kept sending me messages every month. I tried to cancel but it didn't work but it stopped after I cancelled the second or third month. I can't believe they're getting away with this.

otron

Did any of you who have posted about being ripped off actually complain to Regtel? This is the only way they can (legally) investigate any of these issues. They can (and I'm sure, would) revoke the premium SMS licence of any service providers that take the p*ss.

Regtel take a percentage of all of the premium SMS revenue. So let them earn thier keep, and maybe even prevent this from happening to other users!

The place to start looks to be http://www.regtel.ie/consumeradvice.htm

Some food for thought from the Regtel guidelines (http://www.regtel.ie/guidelines.htm):

SMS SERVICES

* All Premium SMS/MMS Services must have prior approval from Regtel (11.1.1).
* Service Providers, or any person or company acting on their behalf, must not send ‘unsolicited’ (Spam) text messages (11.1.4).
* Consumers must have the right to ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’ of any Service (11.1.5). They must also be given information on how to unsubscribe free of charge (11.3.2) and, under an EU Directive, Consumers must be ‘unsubscribed’ free of charge.
* Service Providers, dependent on the type of ‘opt-in’ Service, must issue a regular ‘opt-out’ message (11.3.3).
* Premium SMS/MMS must carry the Service Provider’s mobile number, i.e. Inbox > Sender # (11.1.7).
* SMS/MMS costs must be in accordance with Section 7 and where a Service contains more than one message to complete the transaction, the total costs must be given (11.2.2). Where multiple messages are required to complete a Service, the Service Provider must give the consumer the cost details in the following format, e.g. ‘€ 2 x 3’ or ‘eur 2 x 3’ where the euro sign is not embedded in your software.
* Promotional material for Premium SMS/MMS must only relate to the authorised Service (11.4.4).
* Text “Chat”, “Flirt”, “Contact” & “Dating” Services must adhere to the relevant components of Sections 8.5, 8.6 & 8.7 (11.7)
* Premium SMS/MMS of a sexual nature (Adult Services) must only use the 59xxx Short Code (11.8) and the appropriate regulations apply as stated in Section 8.4.

nade

Hi Guys,
Im new here- and also think the Crazy Frog is ANNNOOYYYINGG !!

Just out of interest, did any of ye who dowloaded it and went through the bad expereince complain to your Phone Company I.E. Meteor/O2 or Vodafone???

Also - did you honestly disconnect your SIM and go to a new Mobile Company because you couldnt get away from the scam?

I think its UNREAL they allow such C*RAP for Kids and the like to download. I wonder who ever invented that one....

d22ontour

go to jamster apply to cancel, they send you a password, enter password, cancelled