Complain about a product or service

Flycell

Angie of Hillsborough, NC November 6, 2009

This company scams people out of money and illegaly solicits people's cell phones. My husband does not text and barely knows the feature exists on his phone. I recognized that our bill had been too high for two months and saw a charge from Flycell on the ATT wireless bill.

When I called the customer service lady told me that this company solicits and preys cell customers randomly by sending texts msgs informing people that they will be enrolled in a subscription with their company if they don't dispute or stop it. My husband doesn't check any texts as he doesn't care about them, so this new 19.99 charge was automatically added to our bill for ringtones/games from this Flycell company.

This should be illegal! You can't tell people that you're going to put them on a subscription and charge them without their consent. I want this company stopped, and so does ATT. They are taking the brunt of complaints and this company is stealing money from people that don't closely check their bill for hidden charges.

Luckily my phone carrier refunded the charges to me, but if I hadn't combed through my bill I may not have noticed the extra charges. I actually didn't for several months. I can't believe this scam is allowed to continue, these people should be in jail!

Rene of Rosamond, CA November 1, 2009

Flycell on ATT bill, I received my bill from ATT and noticed the 19.99 charge from Bango for a download called Flycell. My husband doesn't remember how that text message history went down but he does remember the text and knows he cancelled it.

I am on the phone with ATT right now and they are cancelling that service and are putting a block on all my cell phones that will stop 80% of these kind of scams. AND the good news is they creditted the charge on my bill. They set up on all our phones that we have to enter a pin number for any new downloads. One thing they did say was as soon as ATT figures out a way to stop a scam there are always people figring out ways to get one started. I agree!!!

So I guess all we can do is be careful and check out bills every month. AND when something looks like a good deal it probably is a trick. Sad!

Steve of Ankeny, IA October 27, 2009

We too have been scammed by Flycell. With the help from a CSR from our carrier Verizon, we were able to determine how it could have got started. It could have been from an anonymous text message or from a link in a Facebook account. In the case of the Facebook, if a teenager opens a link for a trivia quiz from Flycell such as an IQ quiz or any others, when they want their answer, they will be prompted to enter in their cell phone number. The answer is then sent to their phone and BINGO, you now get charged at least 9.99 per month. Let's say for example, one of your childs friends takes the quiz and then uses your childs cell phone number for the answer to be sent to, well then you get the monthly charge.

Here are the steps we have taken to avoid this issue, first, we were told to send a text message. In the body of the text, we typed in the word STOP and then sent the message. We then recieved a message back that the service is being cancelled. But what we also did, and suggest for everyone to do if they too have been scammed, is to call your carrier like we did and have a Premium Text Message Block put on all our lines. The CSR at Verizon said, by doing so, this issue should not happen again. I hope our suggestions are helpful to anyone else that has been duped by this mess.

Michelle of Menlo Park, CA October 27, 2009

My 12 year old son was also 'duped' by this ringtone and game provider. I contacted customer service and they agreed to cancel our 'subscription' but refused to refund the 19.99 that they charged on our cell phone bill.

Judah of Pico Rivera, CA October 21, 2009

On September the 14th 2009, I was on my Facebook page and an add came up for an IQ Test. I filled out the questions and was then told that I needed to give them my phone number so that they could send me the answer in a text message. Upon receiving the text message, I was told that I needed to subscribe to Flycell Downloads to receive the answer and to sign up for other downloadable material. So, I gave no response and just deleted the text message.

The next month, when I received my phone bill, I realized that I was being charged a 20.00 fee for a subscription to Flycell. I did not sign up for this service and was very upset about this charge. When I searched the company name in Google so that I could find a number to call and complain, I saw another link leading me to this website (consumeraffairs.com). I read most of the complaints and realized that this company was a professional scammer and that I was not alone in being scammed by this company.

So, right after I read the complaints on this website I called Flycell. I talked to a Rep named Ryan and explained to him what happened. I did give my cell phone number to receive a text with the answer, but never gave any permission to Flycell to sign me up for their service. I told him that I wanted my subscription to the company to be cancelled and that I want a refund of my money.

The Rep proceeded to tell me about how I did sign up for their service, how it was fair for them to be charging me, and how they would NOT refund me the money. After hearing this response, and knowing from the comments on this website about how bad this company is, I proceeded to rebuke the Rep for the Company's actions. I told him that it was a scam, that he's defending a scammer company whose ripping people off, and that I hope they bring a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against them. This all happened October 14th 2009, so I cannot confirm that my subscription was cancelled yet and that I did receive the refund check. I was told that the check would take 4 to 8 weeks for me to receive it.

May of Carbondale, IL October 18, 2009

First, I am a international student from Taiwan. I've been here for only 2 months and feel so frustrated about this experience. Like what others exprienced with Flycell, I entered my phone number when using facebook and received the txt msg described in the following:

"UR PIN IS: xxxx. Enter it now to download UNLIMITED ringtones from Flycell. Help?txt:help. Quit?txt:stop. Std msg charges apply. T&Cs:flycell.com. 19.99/mo"

This msg is not clear about the fee at all. The last sentence 19.99/mo seems unrelated to the above. What I understood was that I can enter the PIN and try FREE download in a period. And I would be charged for the message if I send HELP or STOP msg. The charge would happen only if I feel satisfied with the trial and decide to subscribe the service. The website that I entered the PIN code didn't even mention anything about the charge. I feel cheated to be charged. I contacted Flycell and they said that they won't issue a refund.

Theresa of Coeurd'alene, ID October 15, 2009

My cellular service is with AT&T. All of a sudden 19.95 started showing up on my bill. AT&T said they had nothing to do with it call Flycell. When I finally reached Flycell they said by responding to a text for a free ring tone was actually committing to 19.95 a month. How is that possible? Obviously this company is bad news. The question is why would a reputable company like AT&T agree to these practices. How much of a cut are they getting. Shame on AT&T!

Johanna of Durham, NC October 15, 2009

Like the many other complaints about Flycell, I opened my AT&T cell phone bill today and was struck by the payment amount. Upon further inspection, I realized that I had a "communication charge" for 19.99/month from Flycell for the content provider Bango. I have no idea what either of these are, nor do I recall ever signing up for a subscription in any way.

Terry of Tyler, TX October 15, 2009

I just noticed on my mobile phone bill in which I have 7 phones, has been being charged every month from Flycell, Striker, dada ringtones and Buongiomo. These charges are not authorized. This practice must stop. I would like to see about a class action lawsuit against this type of practice. I did not catch this for a long time and the financial cost is around 1000.00

Warren of paducah, KY October 14, 2009

i got this text message from flycell saying i purchased something from them and i didnt i use prepay so i dont purchase anything from my cell phone it took 19.99 from my account i only had 21.06 on my account i cant make a phone call with 1.06

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