Ringtone scam costs consumers dear

16 May 2008 | 12:38 BST

By Tony Dennis

Tricked into £4.50 weekly sub

A SCAM that tricked consumers into a weekly £4.50 subscription has been exposed in its full glory by the INQ.

The fact that no full refund has yet been received by one complainant [the INQ] was described by industry enforcer, PhonePayPlus (PPP), as "an isolated incident."

Consumers had received a message that read, "Download your NO CHARGE Mark Ronson Valerie Ringtone now!'. However, when they followed the link (received by WAP Push) and downloaded the ringtone, they were deemed to have subscribed to a paid-for service.

In this case the content provider was 2 Comm and the service provider was Tanla Mobile. The PPP's official adjudication on the scam revealed that there have been six cases involving Tanla Mobile since May 2007 and two of them involve 2 Comm. The INQ drew the PPP's attention to two of them.

What makes matters worse was the revelation that the word 'STOP' had been sent to Tanla's systems on 458 occasions and nothing happened. Consumers kept being charged. The PPP simply accepted the lame excuse that this was down to a "system failure."

The PPP has informed the INQ previously that it does have the power to enforce refunds but in this instance it accepted Tanla's assurances that the monies would be returned.

Unfortunately, the PPP is displaying astounding naivety. Indeed, when the cheque arrived from Tanla with regard to this INQ hack's own complaint, it was for £1.50 not the £35 charged. It also seemed to relate to an entirely different incident involving a Kyle Minogue ringtone. And there was no company name on the cheque, which we found alarming.

A report way back in December 2004 called for service providers to possess " adequate customer service and redress processes." How much more inadequate does Tanla have to get?

The INQ asked a spokeswoman for the relevant industry body, AIME (Association for Interactive Media and Entertainment) what they might do about Tanla. Effectively she admitted the body was currently too busy trying to expel another member and fighting TV Quiz show negative publicity. µ

Premium rate text victim irate

Click here to print

Close the window