Poetic Justice - Crazy Frog
Discussion
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4626517.stm
[quote=bbcwebsite]
When I ordered the Crazy Frog Axel F ringtone, in an ironic mood, I expected a bit of derision from friends.
What I did not expect was to be hit with a hugely-inflated mobile bill after being sent a slew of junk texts.
After texting a number on a television advert to get the tone, I was bombarded with messages from Jamster inviting me to download more tones.
It wasn't until my next bill arrived from Orange that I discovered each junk text from Jamster had cost me £3.
When I called Orange, the call centre operator told me I was one of hundreds of people he had spoken to with the same complaint.
Instead of ordering Crazy Frog's Axel F as a one-off tone, we had unwittingly subscribed to an expensive ringtone account, with Jamster sending premium rate reverse-charge texts every few days.
[b]Darker side [/b]
The new version of Axel F, the theme to the Beverly Hills Cop films, became the first ringtone to make it into the UK singles charts - hanging on to the top spot until last week.
It is the biggest success story so far in a booming ringtone market in the UK, valued at £1.6bn in 2003 and predicted to rise to £2.5bn by 2008.
But there may be a darker side to the Crazy Frog phenomenon.
While ringtone-maker Jamster and its telephone service provider mBlox made an estimated £10m from the craze by January alone, thousands of customers may have lost out.
[b]Watchdog inquiry [/b]
Icstis, the watchdog for premium rate services, is investigating mBlox after receiving 110 complaints from the public about the Jamster Crazy Frog service.
London-based mBlox could have its lines closed down and be fined a maximum of £100,000 if it is found to have breached regulations.
In April, mBlox was formally reprimanded and fined £2,000 for another promotion involving unsolicited text messages.
Catherine Bell, Icstis spokeswoman, told the BBC News website: "We are investigating the promotion and content of the Crazy Frog service, run by mBlox for Jamster.
"We are looking at whether people are aware they are signing up for a chargeable subscription service and if they know how much they will be paying and how often."
Operators can be fined up to £100,000 for breaching guidelines
Ms Bell said the watchdog was also investigating whether Crazy Frog products had been inappropriately aimed at children, particularly because of their use of dancing cartoon characters.
Tones from the Crazy Frog character have been heavily promoted in prime-time television adverts, like the one to which I responded.
I did not spot the impossibly small print whizzing by on the bottom of the screen while a larger-than-a life Crazy Frog gyrated to his latest tones.
[b]Close examination [/b]
If I had, it would apparently have informed me that by ordering the ringtone I had also signed up to a subscription.
The watchdog's 2004 code says pricing information must be spoken on television adverts if maximum call costs can exceed £2.
The code also states that "textual pricing information must be easily legible, prominent... presented in a way that does not require close examination".
When I visited the Jamster site to find out why I was receiving junk texts, I found nothing in their terms and conditions that mentioned either charges or subscription.
Similarly, an email to Jamster customer service to ask if I was being charged got an automated response, again with no word of charges or subscription.
It wasn't until I called Orange, after receiving my mobile bill, that I found out that I had a subscription and how to cancel it.
Andrew Bud, mBlox's executive chairman, said: "At mBlox, we look after the transmission and settlement of messages for many well-known brands, and we impress on all our clients the obligations and standards they must adhere to under Icstis' and operators' codes of practice."
[b]Tinny tones [/b]
Jamster were unavailable for comment.
A panel of members from the Icstis committee is to rule on the case next month.
Unfortunately it is too late for me and many other mobile users.
Maybe I was in a minority to enjoy the Crazy Frog's tinny tones. I certainly find them annoying now I've been made to pay more than £40 for the privilege.
[/quote]
Is it just me? Or there some sort of poetic justice going on here. So...you annoy the fuck out of everyone with your stupid fucking Crazy Frog ring tone - oh look! - you're getting reamed by the shysters who market it.
Nice.
[small]I do not condone ripping anyone off. Chavs or not. Kids or not. I hope they shut the evil shysters down a.s.a.p. But it [i][b]is[/b][/i] funny.[/small]
[quote=bbcwebsite]
When I ordered the Crazy Frog Axel F ringtone, in an ironic mood, I expected a bit of derision from friends.
What I did not expect was to be hit with a hugely-inflated mobile bill after being sent a slew of junk texts.
After texting a number on a television advert to get the tone, I was bombarded with messages from Jamster inviting me to download more tones.
It wasn't until my next bill arrived from Orange that I discovered each junk text from Jamster had cost me £3.
When I called Orange, the call centre operator told me I was one of hundreds of people he had spoken to with the same complaint.
Instead of ordering Crazy Frog's Axel F as a one-off tone, we had unwittingly subscribed to an expensive ringtone account, with Jamster sending premium rate reverse-charge texts every few days.
[b]Darker side [/b]
The new version of Axel F, the theme to the Beverly Hills Cop films, became the first ringtone to make it into the UK singles charts - hanging on to the top spot until last week.
It is the biggest success story so far in a booming ringtone market in the UK, valued at £1.6bn in 2003 and predicted to rise to £2.5bn by 2008.
But there may be a darker side to the Crazy Frog phenomenon.
While ringtone-maker Jamster and its telephone service provider mBlox made an estimated £10m from the craze by January alone, thousands of customers may have lost out.
[b]Watchdog inquiry [/b]
Icstis, the watchdog for premium rate services, is investigating mBlox after receiving 110 complaints from the public about the Jamster Crazy Frog service.
London-based mBlox could have its lines closed down and be fined a maximum of £100,000 if it is found to have breached regulations.
In April, mBlox was formally reprimanded and fined £2,000 for another promotion involving unsolicited text messages.
Catherine Bell, Icstis spokeswoman, told the BBC News website: "We are investigating the promotion and content of the Crazy Frog service, run by mBlox for Jamster.
"We are looking at whether people are aware they are signing up for a chargeable subscription service and if they know how much they will be paying and how often."
Operators can be fined up to £100,000 for breaching guidelines
Ms Bell said the watchdog was also investigating whether Crazy Frog products had been inappropriately aimed at children, particularly because of their use of dancing cartoon characters.
Tones from the Crazy Frog character have been heavily promoted in prime-time television adverts, like the one to which I responded.
I did not spot the impossibly small print whizzing by on the bottom of the screen while a larger-than-a life Crazy Frog gyrated to his latest tones.
[b]Close examination [/b]
If I had, it would apparently have informed me that by ordering the ringtone I had also signed up to a subscription.
The watchdog's 2004 code says pricing information must be spoken on television adverts if maximum call costs can exceed £2.
The code also states that "textual pricing information must be easily legible, prominent... presented in a way that does not require close examination".
When I visited the Jamster site to find out why I was receiving junk texts, I found nothing in their terms and conditions that mentioned either charges or subscription.
Similarly, an email to Jamster customer service to ask if I was being charged got an automated response, again with no word of charges or subscription.
It wasn't until I called Orange, after receiving my mobile bill, that I found out that I had a subscription and how to cancel it.
Andrew Bud, mBlox's executive chairman, said: "At mBlox, we look after the transmission and settlement of messages for many well-known brands, and we impress on all our clients the obligations and standards they must adhere to under Icstis' and operators' codes of practice."
[b]Tinny tones [/b]
Jamster were unavailable for comment.
A panel of members from the Icstis committee is to rule on the case next month.
Unfortunately it is too late for me and many other mobile users.
Maybe I was in a minority to enjoy the Crazy Frog's tinny tones. I certainly find them annoying now I've been made to pay more than £40 for the privilege.
[/quote]
Is it just me? Or there some sort of poetic justice going on here. So...you annoy the fuck out of everyone with your stupid fucking Crazy Frog ring tone - oh look! - you're getting reamed by the shysters who market it.
Nice.
[small]I do not condone ripping anyone off. Chavs or not. Kids or not. I hope they shut the evil shysters down a.s.a.p. But it [i][b]is[/b][/i] funny.[/small]
Don said:I seem to be the only person who actually has a phone ring as their mobile phone ring tone.
Is it just me? Or there some sort of poetic justice going on here. So...you annoy the out of everyone with your stupid
speedy_thrills said:
Is it just me? Or there some sort of poetic justice going on here. So...you annoy the out of everyone with your stupid
I seem to be the only person who actually has a phone ring as their mobile phone ring tone.
I've got the other phone with a normal ring! btw, it's actually quite hard to choose a normal tone. A friend just got a sony ericsson, and it has not a single normal ringing phone noise...
ABAAAMBADDADINGDINGBADDARINGRINGDINGDADINGADINGADINGRINGDINGDINGADDADINGDINGBADDARINGRINGDINGDADINGADINGADINGRINGDINGDINGADDADINGDINGBADDARINGRINGDINGDADINGADINGADINGRINGDINGDING..........
.........I though Chris Martin of Coldplay was midly amusing at Glastonbury when mid way through a song he shouted "where are you now Crazy Frog?"
.........I though Chris Martin of Coldplay was midly amusing at Glastonbury when mid way through a song he shouted "where are you now Crazy Frog?"
pablo said:
...I though Chris Martin of Coldplay was midly amusing at Glastonbury when mid way through a song he shouted "where are you now Crazy Frog?"
Strange? I always thought Coldplay were as depressing and dreary as possible. Surely the rest of the band will be most anamused by his random outbreak of humour?
bbc said:
While ringtone-maker Jamster and its telephone service provider mBlox made an estimated £10m from the craze by January alone
bbc said:
London-based mBlox could have its lines closed down and be fined a maximum of £100,000 if it is found to have breached regulations.
Well that'll put them off then
More fool the people who actually fell for this media created crap! I thought I heard on Watchdog some time ago that most of these ringtone companies were either very heavily regulated or banned in all the countries except good ol' Blighty?, seems our ever increasingly thick populous are easy picking for the scammers (in more ways than one!)
AlexH said:
C
Err, more like sharks playing on young children who haven't been around long enough to wise up to this sort of thing
However, any adult who wants the frog on their phone deserves everything they get
As far as the TV advertising goes, I believe it is up to scratch - there is a scrolling ticker at the bottom which explains that it is a subscription service and is charged at £3/wk.
Considering the price isn't mentioned *anywhere* else I do fail to see why people text away and then complain when they get charged.
Gareth
Considering the price isn't mentioned *anywhere* else I do fail to see why people text away and then complain when they get charged.
Gareth
There was a time, not so long ago, when you used a phone to make a call to someone and you got charged by the minute for doing it. Before 6pm was one rate, after 6pm it was cheaper.
Now I'm not advocating a return to old technology, but good grief, the amount of scamming and nuisance that all our new telephone technologies cause us is incredible.
We get calls from abroad that try to transfer us automatically to premium rate numbers.
We get charged stupid amounts for directory enquiries which are far less reliable than they were.
We get plagued by unsolicited sales calls and texts.
We are scammed by companies offering ringtones targeted at kids, whose pay as you go accounts they then clear out in a matter of days...
We get endless promises of prizes if we only call this number or respond to this text etc etc etc.....
It just goes on and on and on, and the telecoms companies don't seem to be doing anything to stop this customer abuse.
Whatever the worthless scum behind the crazy frog might profess, they scammed a lot of vulnerable people, including many kids and effectively stole their money.
>> Edited by alexkp on Tuesday 28th June 11:44
Now I'm not advocating a return to old technology, but good grief, the amount of scamming and nuisance that all our new telephone technologies cause us is incredible.
We get calls from abroad that try to transfer us automatically to premium rate numbers.
We get charged stupid amounts for directory enquiries which are far less reliable than they were.
We get plagued by unsolicited sales calls and texts.
We are scammed by companies offering ringtones targeted at kids, whose pay as you go accounts they then clear out in a matter of days...
We get endless promises of prizes if we only call this number or respond to this text etc etc etc.....
It just goes on and on and on, and the telecoms companies don't seem to be doing anything to stop this customer abuse.
Whatever the worthless scum behind the crazy frog might profess, they scammed a lot of vulnerable people, including many kids and effectively stole their money.
>> Edited by alexkp on Tuesday 28th June 11:44
g_attrill said:
As far as the TV advertising goes, I believe it is up to scratch - there is a scrolling ticker at the bottom which explains that it is a subscription service and is charged at £3/wk.
Technically I've no doubt you're right, but 99.9% of people will be looking at the frog animation. The ad may be legal, but it's obviously misleading people, especially children, and that's not good.
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