Ringing Up Big Charges For "Free" Tones

(CBS)  Every kid wants a special ring tone.

"What's wrong with the ringtones that come with the phone?" CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson asked teenager Kelsi Dolan.

"They're Beethoven!" Kelsi said.

So imagine Kelsi Dolan's excitement when she got a text message on her brand new phone.

"It said, 'you've qualified for a free ringtone,' and they sent it to me three times," Kelsi said. "So I asked my Mom if I could get it and she said 'no.' So I texted 'no' back."

But saying "no" wasn't enough. A charge for $19.99 showed up on her phone bill. When her mom tried to get it removed, her phone company told her it was a monthly subscription and it couldn't be stopped.

"I didn't even want a refund for the first month because I figured, 'okay, ya got me.'" Debbie Dolan, Kelsi's mother, said. "Fine I'll take the $20 hit. But when you're gonna keep doing it and you won't do anything to stop it?!"

It's called "cramming," Attkisson reports: Charges for services you didn't order and don't want that can be next to impossible to stop.

And it's not just happening to kids. Last year, the FCC ordered millions of dollars returned to angry cell phone customers who said they were scammed.

Rebecca Anderson did nothing more than search the Web for free ringtones. Then she, too, got hit by monthly charges.

"I did not agree to any charges. I did not download anything," Anderson said.

An innocuous-looking website run by a company called Ringaza. Peel away the layers of Ringaza and you find a man named Scott Richter, better known to some as "the King of Spam."

A few years ago, Richter was one of the biggest e-mail spammers in the world. He even paid a $7 million settlement over it. And now he's in the ringtone business. He didn't respond to our repeated interview requests.

But carriers like Ringaza owe some of their success to carriers like Verizon Wireless ... which agree to add the charges to your regular phone bill.

"If you believe that you've been charged in error or that you didn't subscribe, we'll credit that charge," said Verizon Wireless spokesman John Johnson.

Johnson says if you suspect fraud, all you have to do is call. But it's not always that easy.

"Verizon said that this was an outside carrier and they were not responsible for these charges," Anderson said.

And in Dolan's case: "They told me they wouldn't take it off and they couldn't stop it."

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Couric & Co.: First-person accounts of cell-phone overcharge ordeals.

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It turns out the big carriers are making money off the deal.

"What is Verizon's share?" Attkisson asked Johnson. "What kind of cut do you get from these bills?"

"I don't have a percentage," Johnson said.

"Does 30 to 40 percent sound accurate?" she asked.

"It doesn't sound unreasonable, but again I don't know," Johnson said.

It looks to the customers like Verizon or other companies may not be very responsive because they're getting a cut of the action.

"Well, sometimes it looks that way and that really concerns us," Johnson said.

Since CBS News first began working on this story, Verizon decided to change its policy. Customers can now block those unwanted charges.

And Kelsi is still looking for the right ring tone ... one that's really free.

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If you think you've been a victim of a cell phone scam:

According to the FCC, Consumers may submit a general complaint to the FCC at: [e-mail]. If someone has questions or needs assistance filing a complaint, Consumer and Mediation Specialists are available Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. ET. Call Toll Free: 1-888-CALL-FCC (1-888-225-5322) voice, 1-888-TELL- FCC (1-888-835-5322) TTY.

Or check out the FCC's cell phone scam information page here.

[rowdytexan2]

lol, What happened to "Hello, this is your mother...when will you be home?"

[rheola-2009]

Well, I use bluetooth. Using different ringtones helps me identify who''''s calling without having to look at the caller-id. However, since you pay for ringtones, what happens when you change phones?



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Posted by Klingon69 at 02:26 PM : Feb 23

Big deal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I find when I answer a call, my caller generally identifies themselves, I do not need silly little noises to identify people.

You must be frantic when you receive a call from an unknown person.

[klingon69]

Good Gawd, what a spoiled bunch we''''ve become! What the hell does it matter what kinda noise a phone makes...one little squeak will let you know a call''''s coming in, fer pete''''s sakes!
Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 12:05 PM : Feb 23, 2008
Well, I use bluetooth. Using different ringtones helps me identify who''s calling without having to look at the caller-id. However, since you pay for ringtones, what happens when you change phones?

[klingon69]

I have never done business with AOL and suggest anyone who does so to reconsider his choice. AOL is one of the biggest thieves in the ISP business.
Posted by tuckerndfw at 11:21 AM : Feb 23, 2008
I worked in telemarketing (for about 3 months). One of our clients was AOL. We were supposed to call AOL customers and offer a 39.99 software package (special deal). Turns out, that everything in the package, Windows already gave you in 98.

[missingamerica]

See?

Companies like Verizon are so honest, so concerned about being responsible corporate citizens, that OF COURSE they deserve retroactive legal immunity for their roles in handing over consumer voice and data information wholesale to the NSA without a court order...right?

I mean, with their sterling reputations, how could anyone believe that they''d EVER do anything that wasn''t on the "up and up"?

[zeb_carter]

The phone manufacturers should include a data cable that connects to your computer and the software needed to synch your contacts and download ringtones from your computer YOU create from whatever source you have. But most providers don''t sell the cable/software and one has to go to a thrid-party solution. But it still beats the cost of ringtones from the provider or anyone else.

[bookwerm314]

Call Verizon and any phone company that won''t remove these bogus charges, and if they won''t remove it, contact the Better Business Bureau, post to epinions, write in the papers, send letters to the editor, and generally try to destroy the business of the company that is hosing you over. This is just another example about the pathetic state of our federal and state agencies, they are industries bit c h and suck at the teat of bribes and payoffs. Your elected officials allowed this to happen.. they are not doing there job protecting consumers from abuse.. they are sold off by Bush and other local losers "running" things, but just *** up. God this sucks. CBS, thanks for bringing this to the light of day.. why not do a story about WHY they are getting away with it?

[bookwerm314]

Call Verizon and any phone company that won''t remove these bogus charges, and if they won''t remove it, contact the Better Business Bureau, post to epinions, write in the papers, send letters to the editor, and generally try to destroy the business of the company that is hosing you over. This is just another example about the pathetic state of our federal and state agencies, they are industries bit c h and suck at the teat of bribes and payoffs. Your elected officials allowed this to happen.. they are not doing there job protecting consumers from abuse.. they are sold off by Bush and other local losers "running" things, but just *** up. God this sucks. CBS, thanks for bringing this to the light of day.. why not do a story about WHY they are getting away with it?

[rowdytexan2]

Good Gawd, what a spoiled bunch we''ve become! What the hell does it matter what kinda noise a phone makes...one little squeak will let you know a call''s coming in, fer pete''s sakes!

[psk123-2009]

I had a similar problem with AOL. They kept high-jacking my phone service after I used one of those "free" month of internet service. My phone bill sky-rocketed. I had to lock them out in writing with the phone company of my choice. But that was not enough, I also had to lock them out of my bank account as I was dumb enough to authorize a ONE TIME payment over the phone to end the relationship.

Many of these companies are not only unethical but out right theives.