avoid Boltblue: mobile phone site drains all my PAYG credit

shykins

well just been fleeced by boltblue and found this old thread on them

they tell me my 11yr old son was accessing them throught the internet at 10.30pm on a thurs and then received and replied to a text... funny that cos he is asleep by half nine and has no internet in his room and his phone is downstairs... i gave them hell and said it was NOT possible he did this without us knowing let alone did it at all

anyways end of is that as a 'gesture of goodwill cos he is underage' they will be refunding us.... watch this space to see if it arrives

why the hell cant u set PAYG phones to block premium rate calls like u can pay monthly?!!?!!

tincat

The only way that the ringtone companies could ensure that the proper mobile phone owner signed up to any service would be if there was a number on the website that you had to text - then they send you a password by reply text, and you have to enter the password on the website to continue.

Very simple way to go about it and there could be no fraud.

Obviously these rip-off companies would fight tooth and nail against this system, but maybe if enough people lobbied govt, or ofcom or whatever, they may make the existing type of subscription illegal.

chapina

My son was cought too. I complained to PhonepayPlus and this was the outcome:
http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/business/adjudications/search.asp?cmd=3&id=770
I asked for a refund on the grounds that their website was misleading, not because my son was underage (as I needed to email some sort of ID which I didn't feel confortable doing over the internet).
I got the 'gesture of goodwill' number too (which I found quite ironic after the fine imposed on them) back in September!!!! That's two and a half months ago.
Needless to say that I have written and called them several times and although they always reply to me I am still waiting for their 'gesture' to materialise.
I won't rest until I get my full refund. I got myself well stocked on paracetamol for this long and painful wait.

shykins

well shock horror i actually got a cheque from boltblue yesterday for £9!!

mind u i havent paid it in yet but hopefully it will clear.. persistence pays off it seems

andyrules

Don't know if they are the same company - but I had a landline message from 'Bolt' a couple of years ago - had to ring a number and of course turned out to be a ruse to hold me onto an expensive call listening to an irrelevant message. DS was also caught out with one of these sign-up-and-lose-your-credit outfits - the ad he responded to was blatantly marketed towards young teens, with the small print buried somewhere.

I do think that many of these kind of sign-up companies are on the edge of legality - there have been several threads on here about this.

I see this quite simply - if it is a fair offer, with fair T&Cs, then the important point (ie you are signing up to a regular payment) should be in as large bold print as the offer!