Report: AirG

Reported By: (Chapel Hill North Carolina)

AirG AirG places unauthorized charges on your cell phone bill Vancouver, British Columbia

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2Author 0Consumer 2Employee

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AirG

Suite 706, 1155 Robson Street
Vancouver British Columbia V6E 1B5
Canada
Phone: 866-689-3280
Web Address:

Category: Cellular Phone Companies

Submitted: Thursday, July 02, 2009

Last posting: Tuesday, October 27, 2009

AirG is just another company that participates in, what is known in their industry as, "cramming." They place unauthorized charges on your bill for services that you did not request and did not receive.

I recently noticed 6 or 7 charges on my phone bill that were listed under mobile purchases/downloads. The charges were from airG VAS and other than the phone number of the company, there is no explanation. I went back through my past bills and found that they have charged my last two bills. Total damages so far are about $35.

This is not the first time that I have been scammed like this and typically when you contact the offender and tell them the problem they will try to tell you how great the service is so that they can keep billing you. Once you clearly tell them no and explain that you want a full refund they usually agree and it is settled. Not in this case.

The customer service rep at airG told me that I signed up for a chat service. I explained that I have never used chat and I have no desire to. Then she said... well we might have sent you a text message to tell you that we were going to enroll you and you would have had to respond that you did not want the service. I went back through my text messages over that period and the only thing that I could find were repeated messages that contained nothing but garbled characters. meaningless stuff. not a single word that could be read. She said, oh, well I'll note that and I'll cancel your subscription. I said what about the refund? And she said that normally they don't give refunds and that I will have to call back next week to speak with someone about it.

This is wrong and I it is the 3rd time this has happened to my phone bill... each time with a different company. These companies are scamming a lot of money from unsuspecting phone customers who cannot find the time to read these long complicated bills. I will be filing complaints with the FTC & with my State's Attorney General's office and I urge anyone victimized by similar scams to do the same.

Cecampbell
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
U.S.A.

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2Author 0Consumer 2Employee

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UPDATE: charges were reversed by AT&T

Cecampbell - Chapel Hill (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Friday, July 17, 2009 POSTED: Friday, July 17, 2009

I am the person who filed this report on airG. After speaking with a number of people and getting nowhere with my request for a refund, it was finally explained how the charges occurred.

My 9-year old child, playing with my cell phone, entered a contest that said "Win a Mini Cooper" That's it. No mention of signing up for a paid chat service that we would never use. And why the periodic charges is I'm not using the paid service. There was no rhyme or reason... every couple of days, a charge for .49 cents or $4.99 would appear. It's not as if I was chatting at those times.

AirG never did issue a refund. However after diligently filing complaints (with the Better Business Bureau, the FTC, the FCC & the State of North Carolina Attorney General) against airG & AT&T, Joseph, a representative of AT&T's president's office contacted me and agreed to reverse all of the charges.

After a lengthy conversation I believe that AT&T does not willingly participate in the scam. However the ad to "Win a Mini Cooper" was on AT&T's main media net page.

Finally after receiving AT&T's cooperation a representative of airG called me. Before they could explain why they were calling I explained that AT&T reversed the charges so don't worry about it. He asked that I go to rip-off report and delete my report. I politely said that I would update the report to explain that AT&T reversed the charges.

Employee

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airG's Response to Mr. Campbell

Karen - Vancouver (Canada)

SUBMITTED: Monday, July 20, 2009 POSTED: Monday, July 20, 2009

On July 5, 2009, Mr. Campbell sent airG a letter regarding his concern. On July 14, 2009, airG sent Mr. Campbell a registered letter containing the following...

Dear Mr. Campbell,

We are in receipt of a billing concern you sent on July 5, 2009. We fully appreciate and understand the frustration that you feel with the situation. Our goal is provide the best service possible through our customer care and product offerings.

Our technical records indicate on March 26, 2009, the phone number 804-xxx-xxxx, independently sought and pursued one of our promotional offers. The offer was a promotional sales sweepstakes which offered one customer a chance to win a car – a Mini Cooper. The sweepstakes was fully registered and bonded by the relevant state authorities. To participate in the sweepstakes, customers could utilize our no-purchase necessary option and enter for free online. Another method of entry was to subscribe to some of products which are available through a mobile phone.

Effective July 2, 2009, our records show your phone number 804-xxx-xxxx was unsubscribed from our services and you will not be charged for the monthly subscription for any of our products or services. I also followed up with a phone call to you on July 13, 2009 regarding your concern and how we can further assist. You had stated that you've already received a refund on your phone bill and didn't have any further questions.

airG takes the satisfaction of our customers very seriously, and for the avoidance of doubt, we do not under any circumstances bill customers without their explicit consent or participate in ‘cramming' practices as you have mentioned in your letter.

We are sympathetic to your predicament, and as mentioned we want to ensure that you are satisfied. Please contact me immediately if you have any further questions. You can reach me directly at 1-866-689-3280.

Sincerely,
Karen
Senior Manager of Customer Service

Employee

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Response to post

airG - Vancouver (Canada)

SUBMITTED: Tuesday, October 27, 2009 POSTED: Tuesday, October 27, 2009

As a matter of record to the Ripoff Report community, Mr. Campbell acknowledged that his son used his mobile handset and incurred these charges by using the airG service.

Even though this had occurred, airG (through AT&T) refunded his account, to ensure a positive customer experience.

We feel it’s important to point out that this is a rare exception in our practices and we caution all of our customers to ensure that they do not share their mobile handsets with friends or family members. Increasingly, we find that customer billing inquiries stem from the person paying the bill not being aware of the usage generated by a friend or family member with access to the same phone.

Sincerely,

Karen Manager, airG Customer Service