avoid Boltblue: mobile phone site drains all my PAYG credit

pigeonpie

I (unwisely as it turned out) merely entered my phone no on Boltblue's site as their name came up on a free ringtones search. They immediately deluged me with 6 texts including a password, user ID and general rubbish. I ignored them all, did not register nor attempt to even surf their site, let alone buy anything or subscribe.

I had £2 credit on my phone at the time, which disappeared....last night (hours later) I topped up my Tesco PAYG balance with £10. Today during the day that has all disappeared in £2 increments. I called Tesco CS who were very helpful and told me it's all Boltblue who have emptied my account.

I sent a STOP text to which they replied with an acknowledgement. Tesco gave me Boltblue's CS phone no (have they heard of them before I just wonder?!!!!). I rang their CS (on an 0870 of course) who initially claimed I was bound by their T&Cs and owed them £15 for merely entering my number. I told them that not only did they misleadingly advertise as 'free ringtones' but no contract had been entered into by merely entering my no on a website and then leaving and that taking my phone credit is fraudulent.

They told me to email their head office to get a refund. I'm not sure I'll ever get a reply! They also said not to top up my phone for another 24 hours in case they continue to drain its credit, despite sending an acknowledgement of my stop message.

Do not go near this company -they should be shut down! I think I should call Trading Standards unless anyone has any better ideas of who regulates and could take action against this company.

Helix

It is quite clear that you are signing up for a subscription service on the page. Its not like they have hidden it away like some sites:

Boltblue Club is a weekly subscription service with an introductory first download at no extra cost when you join for £4.50/week until you send STOP to 85233. As a member you will get up to 9 downloads and up to 90 PC to mobile SMS each week. You must be 16+ years of age or have bill payers permission, standard operator SMS (sent by the user) and WAP/GPRS/UMTS charges apply.

pigeonpie

I didn't "sign up". Nor did the many other people I've since found about on the web who have also been hit by £2 deductions in mobile credit every time they receive a message on their phone. This goes back to 2005.
Avoid this company.

RadoJo

From the Boltblue Website:
By registering with us, you agree to pay on time any fees, tariffs or other charges for purchases, subscriptions, pay-as-you-go or other types of services, products and transactions ("Charges") set out on the Site or any other Charges you agree with Boltblue. In order to make the most of our Services, you should have easy access to the Internet and a mobile phone. The Services are intended for reasonable use by members of the public acting in a private capacity; you may not use it for commercial purposes. Separate Boltblue services exist for business customers; please visit www.boltblue.net.

Have just had a look on the site - did you not even register? I can't see anywhere to put in a mobile number except on the registration page.

pigeonpie

No I didn't register or else I wouldn't be complaining. If I'd registered, I understand I'd be bound by T &Cs. All I did was I followed a link from google (first result on 'free ringtones' search) where it says 'BB100% free ringtones'. The page (which is a diff page from if you type in www.boltblue etc) has a big mobile phone image and you cannot enter their website even to have a look without entering your ph no*. So Muggins the Muppet did - just to have a look. That's all. then the texts arrive.....6 of them with passwords etc. In theory, you are supposed to enter the password (they send you 2 diff ones in separate texts so presumably you can be charged twice too!) to be a registered customer.
I called Phone Pay Plus on the advice of OFCOM. PPP are the premium line regulator. They called BB who said that I'd entered a password on their site so had subscribed. I promise you I did not. My word against their's. The girl at PPP says when I top up my phone (unless I change my no) they will take a further £3 as so far they only have £12 of their auto set up £15!!!! She says that she hasn't got any way to technically prove that I never entered the password so I am stuffed to the tune of £15 by these trashbags. I got the impression that they will only act on my complaint if they get others, so please if anyone else gets caught, give them a ring 0800 500 212.

* this way you could denude the credit of everyone you don't really like just by entering their phone number! Unbelievable! From Googling I see they first got reported to the Irish equivalent of Ofcom in 2005. Because it's 'only' £15, they are getting away with it.

RadoJo

Ahh - now I see what you mean, they have a specific landing page which you go to when you find the site through the Google Sponsored listings - this is what had confused me as the main site sign up is pretty self explanatory, and as you said you didn't think you had signed up, I was wondering where you had entered your phone number.

However, I think you may still be liable for the charges as the landing page from Google has this at the bottom:
Boltblue Club is a weekly subscription service with an introductory first download at no extra cost when you join for £4.50/week until you send STOP to 85233. As a member you will get up to 9 downloads and up to 90 PC to mobile SMS each week. You must be 16+ years of age or have bill payers permission, standard operator SMS (sent by the user) and WAP/GPRS/UMTS charges apply. Full terms

The fact that there is a link to the full terms and conditions suggests that they have given you the opportunity to check them before signing up, and it does say in the first line that it is a subscription service for £4.50 a week, although I agree that the site seems to be set up to look innocuous whereas actually it is just a briefer version of the main sign up page.

However, it doesn't seem to mention the £15 'auto setup' that you say they claim they are charging you for - that seems ridiculous!
Did you actually use any of the services? Have you had any free ringtones or anything that you were originally looking for? I agree with what you say about draining someone else's credit, which is presumably why they say they will send you a password, but if this system isn't working, then it's a potential minefield for those who are inclined to use others' details for mischief.

The only other thing I can think of from looking at the site is that on the main site they seem to call the password a TIN - did you enter either of the passwords from the texts anywhere on the site at all?

eyelinerprincess

Boltblue PayAsYouGo allows you to buy Boltblue services without the need for a subscription. On payment, you can select a no charge mobile video, wallpaper, ringtone or other item of content. Payment is non-refundable, notwithstanding your statutory rights. Afterwards credits may be used for ringtone, mobile video, wallpaper, logo and picture message downloads, PC to mobile text messages and mobile alerts. Choose from over 35,000 downloads. You may view your available credit balance by sending the text BAL to 81194 or login to the website. You must be 16 or over in age and have permission from the bill-payer. You will be charged a one-off non recurring fee of £15.00 (£3.00 x 5). Unconsumed credit will expire after 30 days. Standard operator WAP, GPRS and SMS costs apply. Please make sure that your phone is compatible. Pre-pay users ensure you have enough credit to receive texts. Orders usually take a few minutes to arrive but delays can be caused by network congestion so please allow up to 24hrs for delivery. Not all items are priced the same. Prices are subject to change without prior notice from Boltblue, so please check the website for accurate pricing information. We can withdraw the promotional offer at any time without prior notice of any kind. You may receive info/offers from Boltblue. You can contact us by calling Customer Services on 0870 020 9312 or sending an email to [EMAIL="help@boltblue.com"]help@boltblue.com[/EMAIL]. You can opt-out of marketing messages or cancel your prepaid balance (losing any unconsumed credit) by texting STOP to 81194 at any time. Boltblue terms and conditions apply.

eyelinerprincess

Last post from T&C, unfortunately I don't think you have a leg to stand on if you didn't read the full terms and conditions, they were there, and the £15 part stood out like a sore thumb!

pigeonpie

....and just where does it say that the mere act of entering your mobile phone no (which you have to do to even look at the website) is sufficient to enable them to consider you a paid up PAYG customer?! (or subscriber).

Their banner ad on Google's results ie "100% free ringtones" should be enough to bring problems down on their head as it's 100% misleading. Clicking on the google link leads you to a specific BB website page that you can't enter without entering your phone no......if you think this is ok, then that is why cos like this get away with this behaviour.
As far as I am concerned, I am not nor ever was either a PAYG customer or a subscriber. Just a sucker who entered my mobile no to see what poxy ringtones they had available before deciding whether to buy or not (as you can do on other ringtone websites). Now I'll have either to take another £3 hit (as the regulator told me their next text auto-deducting £3 had probably already been sent before Tesco blocked my phone from receiving premium rate texts) or change a long held and much liked phone no.

No, I didn't enter any passwords, pins, whatever and I haven't bought anything from them nor would I ever do so. To repeat: the way they 'work', you could just enter the phone nos of everyone that you didn't like and they would all lose £15 within 24 hours.

Commendation for Tescomobile CS though who have been very nice about this and tried to help.

Butlers1982

you could just enter the phone nos of everyone that you didn't like and they would all lose £15 within 24 hours

Now that sounds like a great idea!!!!

Anetares

I take the moral of this story to be that if you have to give over personal information (like a phone number) just to look at site content, it's probably not content you really need to be looking at... I hope you get the money back, though how I wouldn't know.. It's a real pain in the rear changing numbers, I've had the same one for the past 10 years and I'd hate changing it, even my friends know it by heart.. Let's hope I don't get on anyone's wrong side and they find this outfit then, or it's goodbye £15.00. Can't be morally right, can it?

Anet.