[youngcalihottie (Unverified) Posted Mar 4th 2008 12:44PM]

i think that is just a little bit of stereotyping. although i completely understand the arguement of people being held responsible for their own actions, i do agree that this happens to be an area that is plagued with misleading advertising.

if someone tells me to send TONE to 12345 for a free ringtone, then why should i be charged? the problem is that the ads focus on the free item but dont mention any charges. they should instead tell you about their service & charges, then position the value of the free item, i.e. send TONE to 12345 to sign up for our monthly 9.99 ringtone service and get a free bonus ringtone.

the problem with that is they know they wont make any money. all their profits are coming from tricking people. that is deceptive and therefore illegal. these people are entitled to their refunds. if the businesses can't be tracked, the carrier is responsible for allowing these businesses to make charges to their clients' bills. that is the position you put yourself in when you allow a third party to bill to your clients' accounts. if the charges were billed to a credit card or bank account, then there would be no one else involved except the third party companies.

i worked for a personal assistance company before that made charges on behalf of its clients. for example, a client could've called us and to say they wanted us to order flowers and have them sent to their mother for her birthday. many times our clients were not satisfied with the service the third parties provided. lets say the flowers were a day late so the client wanted a refund. well if the flower company didn't provide refunds and refused to give one, we ate the cost.

carriers have two choices. dont be involved in third party transactions. or, tighten control on charges because if they get involved then they are putting themselves in the middle.