Comment: 4
[Add Comment]
Pretty good! (by forestgum, Jul 24th, 2007) The sound is pretty good! I do like it. |
Interesting (by nautin, Jul 9th, 2007) It has a good chime. I believe that everyone will like it. |
Yellow heart (by billyoung, Jul 8th, 2007) It's very familiar. It's nice. |
I can't stand !!! (by kitty, Jul 8th, 2007) This grawin' sound makes me cry, really sweet :X :X. |
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Crazy Frog doubled my phone bill
By Hannah Bayman
When I ordered the Crazy Frog Axel
F ringtone, in an ironic mood, I expected a bit of derision from friends.
What I did not expect was to be hit with a hugely-inflated mobile bill after
being sent a slew of junk texts.
After texting a number on a television advert to get the tone, I was bombarded
with messages from Jamster inviting me to download more tones.
It wasn't until my next bill arrived from Orange that I discovered each junk
text from Jamster had cost me £3.
When I called Orange, the call centre operator told me I was one of hundreds of
people he had spoken to with the same complaint.
Instead of ordering Crazy Frog's Axel F as a one-off tone, we had unwittingly
subscribed to an expensive ringtone account, with Jamster sending premium rate
reverse-charge texts every few days.
Darker side
The new version of Axel F, the theme to the Beverly Hills Cop films, became the
first ringtone to make it into the UK singles charts - hanging on to the top
spot until last week.
It is the biggest success story so far in a booming ringtone market in the UK,
valued at £1.6bn in 2003 and predicted to rise to £2.5bn by 2008.
But there may be a darker side to the Crazy Frog phenomenon.
While ringtone-maker Jamster and its telephone service provider mBlox made an
estimated £10m from the craze by January alone, thousands of customers may have
lost out.
Watchdog inquiry
Icstis, the watchdog for premium rate services, is investigating mBlox after
receiving 110 complaints from the public about the Jamster Crazy Frog service.
London-based mBlox could have its lines closed down and be fined a maximum of
£100,000 if it is found to have breached regulations.
In April, mBlox was formally reprimanded and fined £2,000 for another promotion
involving unsolicited text messages.
Catherine Bell, Icstis spokeswoman, told the BBC News website: "We are
investigating the promotion and content of the Crazy Frog service, run by mBlox
for Jamster.
"We are looking at whether people are aware they are signing up for a chargeable
subscription service and if they know how much they will be paying and how
often."
Ms Bell said the watchdog was also investigating whether Crazy Frog products had
been inappropriately aimed at children, particularly because of their use of
dancing cartoon characters.
Tones from the Crazy Frog character have been heavily promoted in prime-time
television adverts, like the one to which I responded.
I did not spot the impossibly small print whizzing by on the bottom of the
screen while a larger-than-a life Crazy Frog gyrated to his latest tones.
Close examination
If I had, it would apparently have informed me that by ordering the ringtone I
had also signed up to a subscription.
The watchdog's 2004 code says pricing information must be spoken on television
adverts if maximum call costs can exceed £2.
The code also states that "textual pricing information must be easily legible,
prominent... presented in a way that does not require close examination".
When I visited the Jamster site to find out why I was receiving junk texts, I
found nothing in their terms and conditions that mentioned either charges or
subscription.
Similarly, an email to Jamster customer service to ask if I was being charged
got an automated response, again with no word of charges or subscription.
It wasn't until I called Orange, after receiving my mobile bill, that I found
out that I had a subscription and how to cancel it.
Andrew Bud, mBlox's executive chairman, said: "At mBlox, we look after the
transmission and settlement of messages for many well-known brands, and we
impress on all our clients the obligations and standards they must adhere to
under Icstis' and operators' codes of practice." |