Crazy Frog rips people off
Discussion
HAHAHAHAAAAAAAA
Well if you deal with devil, you are gonna get burnt ;)
This will hopefully teach people not to buy stupid things!
'Crazy Frog doubled my phone bill'
By Hannah Bayman
BBC News
Crazy Frog's Axel F became the first ringtone to reach number one
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.
Darker side
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.
Watchdog inquiry
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.
Close examination
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."
Tinny tones
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.
Well if you deal with devil, you are gonna get burnt ;)
This will hopefully teach people not to buy stupid things!
'Crazy Frog doubled my phone bill'
By Hannah Bayman
BBC News
Crazy Frog's Axel F became the first ringtone to reach number one
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.
Darker side
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.
Watchdog inquiry
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.
Close examination
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."
Tinny tones
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.
gh0st said:
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.
unwittingly? why all this bleeding heart 'please feel sorry for me I was brutally scammed' nonsense?
I have little or no interest in the advertisements for ringtones but even I noticed the small print at the bottom of the ads saying "this is a subscription service"
morons
and as for downloading it in an attempt at irony...:don'tgetmestarted: :rant:
taking this in to account...
does anyone think this:
will make any difference?
emasculated regulators anyone?
>> Edited by minimax on Saturday 2nd July 11:05
gh0st said:
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.
does anyone think this:
gh0st 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.
will make any difference?
emasculated regulators anyone?
>> Edited by minimax on Saturday 2nd July 11:05
The original website about 6 weeks ago did not like talking about the service you were signing up to. It was on the second page of the signup form that it mentioned that they were going to send you a text each week for £3 a time - and then you had to look for it.
This subscription message has become ever more prominent in the last could of weeks.
Any kid signing up the service when I looked at it would of easily missed the small print.
This subscription message has become ever more prominent in the last could of weeks.
Any kid signing up the service when I looked at it would of easily missed the small print.
my sisters little girl had £40 quids worth on it because of jamster. my sister complained to orange who gave her an 0800 no. to call. she got £40 quid in cash back for jamster because her daughter is under 16.
answer for those robbing baskets is they do not know if the bill payer is under 16.so call em up and complain. better still do not get that load of twaddle that are ringtones...
answer for those robbing baskets is they do not know if the bill payer is under 16.so call em up and complain. better still do not get that load of twaddle that are ringtones...
i have got rid of my mobile. i have had one since the days of the transportable. if people need me they can write to me. it feels great. i do not do anything that important anymore. i am semi retired, txt message piss me off. so i gave my mobile away. it feels really liberating. trust me i know some people need them, i used to have 3 at a time. but now i dont and it feels fantastic
Well it wasn't crazy frog but the wife bought a ring tone a few weeks back - first I knew was today when she mentioned how quickly her 'units' seemed to be going down...and then how much spams she was getting. Alarm bells started ringing!
Appears she's paid around £30 so far. Mainly for spam at £3 a shot. This isn't mentioned in the T&C's. Finally got through to Jamster who refused to go any further until she gave her age! Hopefully she's now off the list - but they wouldn't send written confirmation so who knows?
You might just call people stupid, but its easier to get caught than you think...
(even more annoying is I could beamed thousands of midi's or MP3's to her phone if she only asked.)
Appears she's paid around £30 so far. Mainly for spam at £3 a shot. This isn't mentioned in the T&C's. Finally got through to Jamster who refused to go any further until she gave her age! Hopefully she's now off the list - but they wouldn't send written confirmation so who knows?
You might just call people stupid, but its easier to get caught than you think...
(even more annoying is I could beamed thousands of midi's or MP3's to her phone if she only asked.)
Julian64 said:
Did I understand this? Someone can send you a text message and even though you don't reply to it you can be billed for the pleasure of recieving it?
I went to Le Mans for a week last year and a certain mobile company tried to charge me over £100 for calls I never made or received. Apparently, they sent a signal saying I had a message, the french company then sent one too and they were bouncing off each other, repeating up to 5 times a minute, resulting in 'calls' on my bill, all less than 5 seconds long and a crazy bill. I had to go through hell (and countless repeats of Royksopp and PJ Harvey) to get them to back down at all, then they didn't back down enough, so I got out of the contract as soon as I could.
I thought it was criminal - they blamed me for not 'setting my phone up for going abroad' - how was I supposed to know I would be butt-r'ped by them unless I went into one of their scummy shops and tried to get some dis-interested half-wit to help?
Julian64 said:It appears so
Did I understand this? Someone can send you a text message and even though you don't reply to it you can be billed for the pleasure of recieving it?
Each spam cost her £3. She might have (unwittingly, stupidly, whatever) signed up to a subscription service chargeable by the week, but no-where does it say she'd get chargeable advertising. NOT happy but it appears there is nothing I can do.Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff