€4 per week for some ringtones? Argh. One has to wonder how the company could have made such a mistake – even when consumers ordered the service to be stopped, it still persisted.
Ms Foley said many mobile customers are unaware that when buying a ring tone, they are often agreeing to a long-term subscription costing a minimum of €4 per week.
In a related issue, Fianna Fail’s John McGuinness last night demanded a crackdown on ‘rogueâ€? companies operating premier rate phone charges for services, such as the offer of money and holiday prizes.
I heard a discussion about this a couple of days ago on “The Last Word” on Today FM. And it’s not just an Irish problem. A father and daugther are taking a Class Action Lawsuit against Jamster’s equivalent in the USA for similar tactics.
The problem is that a lot of kids are falling for this and racking up large bills, which the parents then have to sort out. Jamster advertises constantly on MTV, and other channels that are targetted at a younger audience.
Actually, a quick google comes up with:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120300,00.asp
and
http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/04/05/HNjamster_1.html
Dovetailing nicely with both single-issue web sites/blogs, and ringtone rip-offs, Grumbletext (http://www.grumbletext.co.uk/index.php) in the UK does the job.
Many have said so far, and I’d agree with them, that Jamster overcharging is not unlike placing a tax on the stupid. I have yet to encounter one person that did not opt into the service willingly and anyone that would willingly pay several euro for a ringtone/wallpaper/screensaver deserves to pay the stupid tax.