From WCBS-TV [1] New York, April 13, 2006 by Kirstin Cole
Ringtones Often a Quick Way to Dial Up Trouble
Careful You Don't Get Lured Into Automatic service
(CBS)NEW YORK Downloading ringtones is a $2 billion business in the U.S., but consumer advocates are now saying when you sign on for some services, you may be dialing up more than you bargained for. It could cost you without you even realizing it.
With all the options out there nowadays, jazzing up a cell phone is easy. An online ad recently caught Alan Coughlin's eye.
"It told me to enter my phone number, and I'd receive a free ringtone. I did so, and my phone rang a minute later with the new ringtone on it," Coughlin said.
The new tune was music to Coughlin's ears until a mysterious fee appeared on his mobile bill.
"I never purchased anything in my mind," Coughlin said.
Alan unknowingly signed up for a ringtone service. Consumer advocate MichaelShames said new online ads, e-mails, and cell phone text messages areluring people in.
But once you accept that freebie ... "You're automatically charged and signed up for a subscripted service," Shames said.
Shames also said the information is all in the fine print.
For Coughlin, it was a double whammy. He's also angry the charge showed up on his cell bill, but that's a common industry practice. Content providers and carriers often partner, giving customers more options for downloads, and the cell company does the billing, Shames said.
"The phone company will then give a portion of that charge to that third party company and will keep a portion," he said.
Providers claim it's a matter of convenience, but advocates like Shames said it's ringing up headaches for consumers.
"We've seen a rather dramatic rise in the number of complaints about customers being unable to get these ringtone charges off their bills, " he said.
Domingo Garcia said he got the run around from his cell company when trying to get charges from a content provider removed.
"They said it was between us and a third party. So we wanted to know who's this third party that's charging us, and they couldn't tell us," Garcia said.
Shames said even if they do give you the company's name that may not be enough.
"You can't get through to the third party company, or you'll get through to them and say, 'stop this and take the charge off, reverse the charge',and they don't," Shames said.
But the Mobile Marketing Association's Laura Marriott said consumers are given clear subscription details at sign up in the site's "terms and conditions."
Or, if ordering by cell phone ... "they are sent the information in that text message about how to opt out, how much they're being charged, how to request help," she said.
Marriott said consumers can usually just text "stop," "cancel," "unsubscribe," or "quit" to the content provider.
Shames, though, said it might not be that easy. So to prevent costly surprises, ask your carrier to block third party charges.
"You have to authorize them in advance in order to have these things charged to your bill," he said.
That's just what Garcia did after Shames' organization helped him get the charges reversed. As for Coughlin, his fee was removed, but only after he filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.
CBS 2 contacted leading cell phone companies. When it comes to the third party charges and customer complaints:
T-Mobile said, "customer care has also been instructed to refund unwanted service charges immediately in event of customer dissatisfaction."
Sprint said it offers a 100 percent satisfaction guarantee regarding any premium content.
Cingular said it makes sure third party providers receive two positive responses from a customer before selling any ringtone or service. The company said its goal is "no surprises."