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Child Item

Boltblue.com, scumbags takin €2.50 off me every time they send me a message!Any help?

Dave!

Hey folks,

a few months ago I got a message saying that I had a new ringtone, so my phone being new and not knowing what happens when you receive a ringtone, I followed the number and ended up registered with boltblue.com (don't go to their website -- they are f*cking scum).

I realised my mistake but left it at that, then a few days later they started sending me text messages @ €2.50 a pop. One of the messages gave some instructions to unregister, which was something like text 'unreg' to xxxxx -- which I did (I figured it'd cost me loads, but if it makes it stop, f*ck it).

The messages stopped it seemed, but then about a week later they started again, and have continued since -- whenever I have more than a certain amount of credit, they send me a message and take the money (I've had to stop using my phone as much cos I can't get any more credit).

I forgot about the thing today, and sent myself €10 credit, only to have 2 messages sent to me and €5 taken off, within 5 minutes of receiving the credit.

So I rang up Meteor hoping they could sort it out -- I asked them if they could block the number or anything, but from what I understand the company will keep taking money off me if I do that, I just won't have the benefit of receiving their messages, and I have to unregister from them to stop it. So Meteor gave me the number to ring if I want to unregister, I asked them how much it'd cost -- €2.50 a minute of course!
(I had previously rang Meteor a few months ago and they gave me that number but I didn't ring then either)

Has anyone else been in this situation? What did you do to resolve it? Should I bite the bullet, give them more money, but unregister? At this stage they've taken at least €30 -- and I'm a student, I can't afford this!

My dad mentioned that there's a telecommunications regulator that you can get in contact with and they'll stop it and maybe get your money back, so I googled it and found http://www.odtr.ie

I'm going through it now trying to find any help, but I thought I'd post here too in case anyone has been here.

Thanks for any help

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Dave!

Right, I thought I was safe cos I had not much credit, but now Meteor's after sending me €20 free for registering online

Only a matter of time before these c*nts get the scent, so I'm gonna ring RegTel now.

Dave!

Anyone with Meteor know how to view your call report from say 5 months back, online? I can only see Dec and Jan, and I'm having trouble on the page too.

I want to get a summary of all the texts this company has sent me, so I know how much they've cost me, before I call the RegTel.

angelofdeath

well let it be a warning to you, anyone who insists on using bloody annoying custom ringtones is just asking to get shafted like this

Dave!

I didn't ask for one, but if someone sends me one (as I thought they had) I'll at least give it a listen!!!

My ringtone is the intro to 'Touch Me' by the Doors!

UnrealQueen

Fraggle Rocks wrote:

I got ringtones from Boltblue but i never downloaded any of them. They sent me about 3 over a couple of weeks, but i don't know if I was charged for them. What messages do people get from Boltblue?

They have annoying +'s instead of spaces between the words. I can't stop these f*ckers texting me about their dumb ringtones. I had Jamster at it as well, but when i texted STOP to them, they did actually stop. But boltblue won't.:(

Capt'n Midnight

Hope the UK regulator shuts them down, because ours won't. Based on one successful prosecution here ( fine was less than 1c per call) and UK regulator closing down multiple companies that preyed on UK + Ireland,

For all the good it will do -
Regtel - Regulator of Premium Rate Telecommunications Services Ireland http://www.regtel.ie

Telephone: 1850 741 741 Fax: 1850 741 747 Email: info@regtel.ie

http://www.regtel.ie/unsubscribe.php - how to unsubscribe but many of these services are ILLEGAL because they don't send you regular unsubscribe messages, and usually send the premium rate text from an untracable number instead of the 5xxxx one.

BTW: this is how much they are allowed to screw you for.

If you have subscribed to a SMS service you should receive:

* An opt-out information service at regular intervals
* On spending €20, you will receive a free reminder message containing details of the subscription service, charges and frequency of charges and how to exit the service by texting the word stop.
* If you have not responded to any messages sent to you after 40 days of the date you first subscribed, you should be automatically unsubscribed from the service and the database.

You should also know that:

* An Interactive Service must not exceed €10 in any one transaction per day.
* Unsubscribing must only cost a standard rate charge.
* If your child has entered a subscription service but does not think they did, were they aware that all advertisements carry an age warning. You should contact the Service Provider for the details. If your child did not interact with the service, you should raise the issue of a refund directly with the Service Provider.

Note: that when children are swindled it's up to the service provider to sort out the refund. Who do you think most ringtones are aimed at FFS ?

Until we get a regulator with teeth and a willingness to use them we will continue to fall fowl of carpet baggers from the UK. Once a scam is banned there they can continue here for a while.

Dave!

Got a reply from RegTel...

Dear Mr [X]

Thank you for your email.

The Regulator of Premium Rate Telecommunications Services is concerned only with the content and promotion of the 50XXX – 59XXX SMS shortcode numbers in Ireland. The Premium Rate short code 85233 is a UK number and is therefore, outside the remit of this Office.

ICSTIS, the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of the Telephone Information Services in the UK, is the regulatory body for all premium rate charged telecommunications services. The advice they provide on their website (www.icstis.org) is as follows: "If you are receiving chargeable text messages that you want to cancel, we would recommend that you get in touch with your mobile provider and ask them for details of the company operating this shortcode. When you have this information, contact that company and request to be unsubscribed from it. We are unable to do this on your behalf. Alternatively, you could text the word STOP to the number you queried; however, we cannot guarantee that this will work with every shortcode."

Unfortunately, on this occasion we are unable to help you further in your complaint. However, I do hope this information is of assistance to you.

Yours sincerely

Lorraine McCoy
Complaints Supervisor

[P.S., this email has a help value of 0]

Yeah I added that last bit in... Looks like I'm gonna have to do one more transaction with the company and unregister online, the scumbags.

They took a tenner off me today, by the way. But I'm after registering online with Meteor, and I'm getting an update with them too, so I've got a fair bit of credit coming my way, so I'm not too upset I guess.

Thanks for the help everyone!

GLaDOS

I say we get oureselves a mob, there has to be enouugh people here...and then we burn down their headquaters/office/house. People, violence is the answer

Capt'n Midnight

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

Hope the UK regulator shuts them down, because ours won't.

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

faceman

visit www.comreg.ie and pop them an email. If u unsubscribed then u need to make an official complaint. If they txt u without u givin them ur number, then thats also a data protection issue. In that case get onto the data protection office who will be very interested in your situation.

In case u think its not worth it, my friend made an official complaint against a similar service provider via data protection. The company was taken to court and fined. My mate didnt even have to go to court.

fletch

I'm with bolblue....never get any mad texts and they never take money off my credit....they do however give me 15 free international texts a month!

faceman

Oops just read the post about the service provider being in the uk. In that case u need to get onto Ofcom in the UK about it. www.ofcom.org.uk

Atlas_IRL

their all scum my 12 year old sister got caught by jamster and it kept stealing her credit

[Deleted User]

I fell for one of those stupid "text the answer to this question and you might win 10k" competition things - a random ad on tv. I think it was by mango.
They charged a lot before I could stop it. But I did.
Vodafone said they couldnt block, but they gave me the number of the place to ring to unreg. I did it once and it didnt seem to work, but the second time I did it, it did work. So try again.

I've never gotten any msgs from boltblue, thankfully.

buzzerxx

i have just realised (thanks to this thread) that ive been charged €5 every time they send the 2 messages.i checked online bill with vodafone and they are there alright .

i dont know how i never noticed them before and i dont know exactly how long its going on.i vaguely remember registering with boltblue probably 2 year ago :eek:

after checking the site again they say to unsubscribe text stop to 57782, i done so and received a confirmation text immediately.ahh well u snooze u lose,lesson learned

Dave!

Right, update...

I decided to try and unregister by method #2 (#1 being send "STOP" to a certain number) -- log in on the website and change the settings there. I don't have my login details, so I followed the instructions to get them sent out to me -- just send "PASSWORD" to a certain number. I did this, and got a report, "Message failed."

Nice one.

So just there I went onto the ICSTIS, the British telecoms regulator, site and lodged a complaint with them. I didn't have room to give the full details, but told them to give me an email address and I'll give a summary.

I really hate boltblue!

I'm gonna have to ring them up in the end, it appears.

But surely they're in the wrong here...! Their unsubscription didn't work, for f*ck sake!

Absolute c*nts.

[Deleted User]

The way I see it your MObile Provider should block this for you, but most just don't seem to care.

Capt'n Midnight

ciaranfo wrote:

The way I see it your MObile Provider should block this for you, but most just don't seem to care.

Hint - the mobile provider gets a cut , a kickback more or less.

Dave!

As I said earlier in the thread, I'm due an update with Meteor, so I should have €70 credit after I get the phone. So I was thinking that I should just bite the bullet, ring them up, and be done with it, and being able to keep my number.

What do ye think?

Sam Vimes

are you saying that getting a new phone will stop boltblue taking your money?

it wont. you'd have to change your number

Dave!

I didn't say that, no. I meant I'm getting a new phone with loads of credit, so if I ring up and waste a tenner on unsubscribing, then I've still got €60 coming anyway, so it's not a big deal.

Well I did it, I rang up off the house phone instead though, and got through to an automated message, pressed 3 to unsubscribe, entered my number, got confirmation, hung up -- took less than a minute

I'm pleased since I thought I'd be talking to a customer care person for an hour.

I guess it remains to be seen whether it actually worked :rolleyes:

BTW, I've had no credit for a month or so now (using another phone), and I've been getting messages saying that there isn't enough credit [for them] to deliver the message: is there any chance that there'll be a back-log of messages that they couldn't deliver, waiting for me whenever I get credit? Or is that it, once it didn't deliver, it's forgotten?

aphex™

DaveMcG wrote:

BTW, I've had no credit for a month or so now (using another phone), and I've been getting messages saying that there isn't enough credit [for them] to deliver the message: is there any chance that there'll be a back-log of messages that they couldn't deliver, waiting for me whenever I get credit? Or is that it, once it didn't deliver, it's forgotten?

I'd say there is a back log unfortunately

lodgepole

aphex&#8482 wrote:

I'd say there is a back log unfortunately

The messages are sent and then held by your provider for a month. That's as long as they are held for.

Dave!

What! :eek:

F*cking c*nts.

So what would be my best course of action, in that case? Should I just forget about the upgrade, buy and new phone, and get a new sim card?

Lodgepole wrote:

The messages are sent and then held by your provider for a month. That's as long as they are held for.

hmmm... interesting... That still amounts to alot of messages and credit taken off me, though

lodgepole

DaveMcG wrote:

What! :eek:

F*cking c*nts.

So what would be my best course of action, in that case? Should I just forget about the upgrade, buy and new phone, and get a new sim card?

hmmm... interesting... That still amounts to alot of messages and credit taken off me, though

Your best bet is to ring ring up customer service and tell them the phone belonged to a minor and you want a refund. Alternatively if you don't think you sound quite old enough, get your own dad to do it. Tell them the phone belonged to somebody aged 10 or 11. They aren't obliged to refund a minor but if the parent considers it serious enough they will. That's the policy the company I worked for had. There's nothing the company can do about the messages that have already been sent but not delivered, they're in the hands of your provider now. They do have a record of everything you've been sent though, so they can calculate exactly how much you've been charged.

I recomend the upgrade anyway.

nips147

hi dave im havin the same problem with them ****ers but i did a bit of pokin around and came up with an unsubscribe number just text STOP to 57782 and that should put an end to it let me no if it works

Thrill

nips147 wrote:

hi dave im havin the same problem with them ****ers but i did a bit of pokin around and came up with an unsubscribe number just text STOP to 57782 and that should put an end to it let me no if it works

This thread is over a year old so he's probably sorted his problem by now.

Welcome to boards nips147.

Dave!

Cheers nips

I've actually gotten a new sim card since I started this thread though

But thanks again!

Nephew

Foneclub sent my dad a service message with a subscription link via gprs, he didn't know wtf happened and tried to exit the message, a couple of seconds later he got a message welcoming him to FONECLUB - a monthly subscription of e35 and e2 per message received. In the the 2 days he was a member he received 8 messages all costing e2 each plus the e35 for the monthly subscription. The texts were a load of bollox, along the lines of 'Congratulations to John Joe from Tuam who won e800'. I wouldn't mind so much if he actually chose to sign up to it but they just sent him a random message tricking him to joining.

Karoma

nips147: Welcome. Head over to Mobiles/PDA for assistance:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=411

Closing this old thread.