SendMe Mobile Ringtone Scam

Yesterday we got our cell phone bill. It was $25 more than usual, and in these times where every little bit counts, we had to look twice at why it was so much more.

Some of it was just because we changed our plans. G added on 300 text messages with picture mail to our accounts, which was $5.00 each. Okay, so where did the other added charges come into play?

There was a charge on our bill for "SendMe Mobile Ringers". $9.99. What?? I had never heard of it. But then I remembered something and went digging through my text messages just to check. Sure enough, there it was.

On facebook last month, I took an IQ test. It was advertised as a free test, so I thought it would be fun to take it and see what I got. They also, by the way, gave me some scores for a few of my friends that were on face book, so I thought it would be interesting to see how I scored in comparison.

At the end of the test, however, they didn't give me a free score. They asked me to enter my cell phone number so that I could receive a text from them with my score in it. I did that, thinking it was no big deal, and they sent the score. (122, btw, according to them. Not too shabby, but not as high as my score has been in the past, so who knows. I doubt it was a professional IQ test after all :P) I thought that was the end of it.

After I saw the charge, I went online and saw that there are all kinds of sites out there with people arguing that they got scammed into signing up for a monthly ten dollar charge and that the company refused to credit their money back or stop the charges. I just rolled my eyes. I have dealt with these kinds of companies before. They trick you into signing up and then they put their office hours at weird times so that you can never call to cancel. Or they make their cancellation policy something ridiculous like having to get a notarized letter in the mail giving permission to stop the charges, which is crazy seeing how it was so incredible easy to sign up that you did it without even knowing.

I found the number online and since it was like 11:30 at night, they were actually open. Ha! If I tried to call them now, at 9:00 AM, they probably are closed, and won't open until 8:00 tonight or something. The lady that answered gave me her written speech when I told her my issue. I'm sure it's what they get paid to say, and I know she's just another person like me, but these companies really piss me off. She said something like, "Yes, but when you put your phone number into the website to receive your score, you agreed on the monthly membership." I have dealt with companies like this before. They aren't going to stop giving you reasons why you should stay signed up or why they can't refund your money,etc. Everything you say, no matter how logical, is going to be refuted by their little script in front of them. I HATE companies like that. Their entire business plan is to make money by tricking people.

Well, I just cut to the chase and said, "Ma'am, I know what you're going to say and that you're going to try to say it over and over to convince me that you cannot reverse the charges, but let me tell you this, I have read all about your company online. I know that you are scamming people. I don't want to hear your little speech, I just want my money refunded and my account cancelled." Sure enough, she started with her speech anyway. "Yes, but when you agreed on the charges, you were locked into that membership..." I interrupted her, which is rude, yes... but come on. I shouldn't have to put up with that when I was very clear about what I wanted.

Basically, I just had to interrupt her a couple more times by saying, "I am not going to sit here and listen to this. You need to cancel my account and refund my money." After just a couple of times, she finally agreed. Now, we'll have to wait and see if the money actually does get refunded or if she was just using another one of their tactics to get you off the phone. Either way, I write this to tell you to be wary of any online quiz or fun test that makes you put in your cell phone number in order to get the results. You could be signing away more of your hard earned money than you intended.