Charging you to unsubscribe?

Pythia

I'm amazed that a forum I visited charges its members if they wish to leave the forum.
Can they do this? And no, I don't have a membership!

Here's part of their T&Cs

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed above. ********.net emails its members once a week about forum topics from the previous week, if you wish not to receive these emails go your User CP when you register and untick the "Receive Email from Administrators" box in the Options section. We also from time to time email ALL members about special offers, competitions & other updates on the forum. Please note if you wish to be removed from the forum there will be a €1 charge

cormie

That sounds a bit dodge. It was probably in the T+C's on sign up?

Is it a reputable site, big user base, big company?

Pythia

cormie wrote:

That sounds a bit dodge. It was probably in the T+C's on sign up?

Is it a reputable site, big user base, big company?

Yes, seems to be in T&Cs at sign up.
It's that scammer's site, the one who keeps getting banned on boards, so not a reputable site really. That's why the link was starred.

Mark_T_147

Of course they cant charge you to leave for God's sake...

There's no contract because there was no consideration (i.e. somethin that changed hands to enforce the contract) and therefore the fee can't be imposed.

whizzbang

is there anything to stop you just abandoning the account? rather than officially unsubscribing? Or do they spam you as well and you have to pay to get off that?

JohnDigital

Sounds to me that the site is selling a permission email mailing service to third parties. The €1 is there to try to persuade people to stay subscribed, so that the site has a larger number of subscribers to its mailing list. The bigger the list of subscribers, the more money they get from the advertisers.

seamus

The Data Protection act prevents them from charging you to be removed from a mass-mailing list, which is essentially what this is.

egan007

Er...how would he charge you?
What's the site?

Pythia

http://phon(delete_this_part)expo.net/showthread.php?t=1367

Someone wants to leave and he seems to be asking them for 1e to his paypal a/c.

seamus

He's free to charge €1 for account deletion. But if someone asks him to stop using their email address to be mailed, then he is required to remove them.

Of course, most people don't know this, and if you attempted to post it on his forum, he'd just delete the topic. He's a scumbag.

I wonder would the Data protection commissioner be interested in this...

whizzbang

this fecker spammed my petrol pumps sites as well. the only person ever to do so!

Sponge Bob

Lest the thread be deleted . I take it that the admin has no real issues with it or he would have deleted it by now .

People always seem to forget to read the T&Cs in FULL and to change their email addresses im the user control panel . Aw well.

http://********.net/showthread.php?t=1367

Post 1 (little rude bits snipped)

1) I only registered on this crap site to download some drivers, only to find out you have to be registered for 30-days before you can download attachments..... Daaawwwww, wake up... what happened? Did you just steal this server from the back of a car in the square and decide to start a website?

2) I checked the option to not receive any mails, and I receive a mail from this site daily!!!! SPAMMERS!!!

3) I contacted them to remove me from their mailing list as I was still receiving messages after selecting the option not to. All I received was this!

Hi,

If you are having any forum issues please take them to the 'FEEDBACK' section.


Thank you,

Patrick Murphy

********
Tallaght
Dublin 24
Ireland

Office: 01 414 68 90
Mobile: 087 205 70 96

4) Again I sent a mail stating that I wanted to stop receiving mails from this site as I had originally requested and I got this message:


Hi,

It is €1 to have your account removed from the forum, you can make payment to XXX@XXX


Thank you,

Patrick Murphy

********
Tallaght
Dublin 24
Ireland

Office: 01 414 68 90
Mobile: 087 205 70 96

MY ADVICE TO ANYONE CONSIDERING REGISTERING ON THIS SITE IS NOT TO. THIS SITE IS MORE INTERESTED IN SPAM THAN OFFERING A SERVICE.

AVOID THIS SITE

Post 2

Hi sullivandm,

Welcome to the forum.

I see you manged to get to the feedback section. In the next few minutes your account will be banned for your threats via email & your spamming of my email account !

It clearly states in the register page (which you agreed too);


Quote:

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed above. ********.net emails its members once a week about forum topics from the previous week, if you wish not to receive these emails go your User CP when you register and untick the "Receive Email from Administrators" box in the Options section. We also from time to time email ALL members about special offers, competitions & other updates on the forum. Please note if you wish to be removed from the forum there will be a €1 charge. If you agree to these terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Register' button below. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.
Although the administrators and moderators of ********.net will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of ********.net, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.
By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violate of any laws.
The owners of ********.net - "Give your mobile a better life" reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

So as I've said already if you would like your account removed it will be €1.

Thread Closed !
__________________
********
Tallaght
Dublin 24
Ireland

Office: 01 414 68 90
Mobile: 087 205 70 96

Web: www.********.net
Web: www.***************.net
Forum: www.********.net/index.php
Email: [email]info@********.net[/email]

Registered in Ireland with CRO no. 270414

Cabaal

ahhh now I know what site your reffering to, the owner of it is a bloody muppet and is probably in his late teens I'd imagine, scum of the earth imho

If somebody's bored they could try taking this lad to small claims court? or something as he's breaking the law and his T&C's aren't worth ****

Sponge Bob

Its a data protection issue surely, the man (lad) has not registered his database with dataprivacy.ie has he ???? . They could even shut him down after raiding him

see

http://www.dataprivacy.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/register/default.asp?mypage=94&kw=

and

http://www.dataprivacy.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/register/default.asp?mypage=93&kw=

parsi

interestingly the forum on that site currently has a vbulletin message saying:

"getting rid of spammers brb"

seamus

I'm sure the Carphone Warehouse would also be interested in his tagline....

miju

the CRO registration number is for a company that dissolved in 1998 , shall we try and **** with this site from another way lads


.....cue evil laugh.......

skink

or you could wenzel him!

miju

skink wrote:

or you could wenzel him!

weenzeellll ??????????????????

miju

VERY VERY interesting

http://www.dataprivacy.ie/viewdoc.asp?m=e&fn=/documents/legal/4e.htm#ailing%20to%20give%20customers%20the%20possibility%20of%20objecting%20to%20future%20e-mail%20and%20SMS%20marketing%20messages%20with%20each%20message%20sent

seems it's €3,000 fine per offence (and it specifically says each email / incedence is a seperate offence)

cormie

that's a bit harsh I think.. that could ruin him and his family when I think he just needs a slap on the wrist.

miju

if your going to operate using a dissolved companyies registration number to appear legit your kinda asking for it in the first place


crime...time etc etc

cormie

yeah but he's probably just some punk kid as they call them.

Pythia

Nah, he's not a teenager.

jeem

miju wrote:

the CRO registration number is for a company that dissolved in 1998 , shall we try and **** with this site from another way lads

Not so, that is a limited company number you are looking at, which in fairness is what most people would assume it is.
The number he has listed is his Registered Business Name (RBN) number as supplied by the Companies Registration Office (CRO). He probably registered as a sole trader to carry out business under that name, as is required by law.

From www.cro.ie/search:
================
Type: Business Name
Number: 270414
Name: PHO***PO
Address: xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx
DUBLIN 24

Registered: 28/01/2005
================


jeem

rsynnott

cormie wrote:

that's a bit harsh I think.. that could ruin him and his family when I think he just needs a slap on the wrist.

He needs a hell of a lot more than a slap on the wrist. Are you aware of his history on this site?

Valehru

Nope...whats his history? Purely illegal by the way...

rsynnott

Spam, and lots of it! Shilling, and lots of that. Making crazy threats. And so forth.

parsi

Amusingly he has banned liamskater on his site for dodgy training - ironic really considering he Mr Skater appeared to be acting for him in FS Mobiles..

cormie

What's shilling again?

Pythia

cormie wrote:

What's shilling again?

Now come on, google is your friend
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shill

cormie

Now come on yourself, ah sure I knew I just didn't want to access that part of my brain at that moment in time. lol

rsynnott

Well, reported him to paypal, as it's hardly keen on such things. Don't hold out too much hope, though...

racer25

Guys,

Just introduced our compliance officer to this site, she read this and is calling her pal in the CRO :eek:

Issues may arise as to what country the site is hosted in, its worth noting that the domain registrar did not grant a .ie handle. If he is hosted in the USA then juridiction issues come into play.

rsynnott

racer25 wrote:

Issues may arise as to what country the site is hosted in, its worth noting that the domain registrar did not grant a .ie handle. If he is hosted in the USA then juridiction issues come into play.

It is indeed in the US. However, the operator is Irish and resident in Ireland. The upshot is that an Irish business is spamming people and refusing to stop until it's payed off. I can't imagine that the location of the equipment makes a huge difference.

racer25

rsynnott wrote:

It is indeed in the US. However, the operator is Irish and resident in Ireland. The upshot is that an Irish business is spamming people and refusing to stop until it's payed off. I can't imagine that the location of the equipment makes a huge difference.

I accept that but the data is not stored in Ireland.

Don't get me wrong I think the guy/child is a con merchant but getting justice could be difficult on a data protection issue.

racer25

I have tried the spamming laws in the past with Irish companies and won, but the fact that emails originate from the US would be the problem..., I believe

Kimbot

He is roughly 25+, Paddy, met him a few times before his site went public!! I hate the spam being sent and even worse is my account no longer has my set password on it!!!

rsynnott

jonny24ie wrote:

He is roughly 25+, Paddy, met him a few times before his site went public!! I hate the spam being sent and even worse is my account no longer has my set password on it!!!

Bounce mail to *@********.net?

rsynnott

Interestingly, all the feedback posts about this have vanished from his forum. I wonder was it being obvious hurting his sign-up figures? Oh, paypal say they're investigating, but it's not their policy to let the person who complains know of the outcome of such investigations.

RainyDay

racer25 wrote:

I accept that but the data is not stored in Ireland.

Don't get me wrong I think the guy/child is a con merchant but getting justice could be difficult on a data protection issue.

The fact that the data has been transferred abroad places further data protection obligations on the data controller - see http://www.dataprivacy.ie/ViewDoc.asp?fn=/documents/responsibilities/3ma.htm&CatID=56&m=y

Dave!

hehe, curious to see what happens here

Seanie M

DaveMcG wrote:

hehe, curious to see what happens here

So am I, just read all the posts with avid interest!