Telephone

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Text “LOVE”: Get Billed $30 a Month*

Text LOVE smallYoung people today “text” each other (send text messages from their cellphones) and use various premium text messaging services advertised on television.

One such service invites viewers to text the word LOVE to 66466 (that five digit phone number is known as a shortcode). After doing so, the caller will receive text messages back that will “spice up your love life”, help you “discover the secrets of love”, and “how to be a great kisser.” 

When the would-be casanova gets his or her phone bill, however, they probably will only have learned how to be a great sucker.

*MOUSE PRINT:  This is actually a subscription service that costs $1 per daily message or $30 a month, and you will continue to be billed until you text “stop.”

This disclaimer actually says, adding the missing punctuation: “www.glomobi.com charged to your wireless phone bill. Text messaging fees apply. Under 16: seek permission from the bill payer and/or parental approval. Unsubscribe: txt ‘stop’ to 66466. $1 (+tax) per daily msg. $30 per month; Cingular $30 per month.”

What the commercial does not do is disclose the price orally. As Mouse Print* has mentioned before, the federal rules governing “pay per call services” [900 numbers] pre-date the advent of these type of text-based calls, and thus those price disclosure rules do not apply.

The cost of these tips might even be equal to or higher than the monthly service fee for the cellphone itself charged by the cell carrier! 

So, if you still believe that love is free, that’s fine, but just don’t text it.

 

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Amp’d Mobile: Unlimited Minutes Forever, $99*

Amp'd TV adYoung viewers on VH1 and MTV have been bombarded with entertaining commercials for Amp’d Mobile, a cellphone service with entertainment features. What really catches the bargainhunter’s ear is the promise of “unlimited anytime minutes forever for only $99 a month when you sign up for Amp’d Overload.” [VH1 commercial, April 30, 2006]

It is not clear at all what Amp’d Overload is. For the uninitiated, one might conclude that it is the name of their unlimited calling plan.

*MOUSE PRINT: Amp’d Overload and Amp’d Overdose are actually the names of television streaming services offering 20 to 30 channels of programming, for an extra $15 and $20 per month. Subscription to these services is required to obtain the advertised $99 calling plan. So, the actual price of the service is $114 to $119 a month. This price information is not disclosed in the commercial.

Also unclear is the meaning of “forever” in their claim. Is the $99 rate guaranteed forever? Is their offering an unlimited minutes plan guaranteed forever? Their terms and conditions don’t say, except:

“UNLESS OTHERWISE PROHIBITED BY LAW, WE CAN ALSO CHANGE FEES AND ANY OTHER CONDITIONS IN THIS AGREEMENT AT ANY TIME BY SENDING YOU WRITTEN NOTICE PRIOR TO THE BILLING PERIOD IN WHICH THE CHANGES WOULD GO INTO EFFECT.” [Amp’d website, May 1, 2006]

To their credit, Amp’d says if any changes have a materially adverse affect on you, you can cancel your contract without termination penalties applying.

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Big Brother: Little Print*

big bro1 smallNothing is more popular these days with young people than “texting” — sending a text message via a cellphone. Capitalizing on this trend, most reality shows on television have built in this kind of interactivity into their programs. American Idol popularized “text voting” for your favorite singer,  and millions of people participated for free (except for whatever usual charge your cell company imposes for sending a text message — typically 10 cents).

Other reality shows have jumped on the bandwagon, but have turned texting into a money making machine for the networks and the program. Take CBS’ Big Brother, for example. The ad above has been running on each episode of the show over the past couple of months, inviting people to text the word “FAN” to 99888. Those who do are promised pictures of the cast, ringtones, and alerts about the show. Does being a “fan” cost anything?

*MOUSE PRINT: “$5.99 per month subscription fee billed through your wireless phone bill.”

There is no oral disclosure of the price during the commercial, and as you can see, even magnified, the mouse print price disclosure is almost unreadable. CBS does notify you when you make the call that there is a charge, but funny how clear disclosure is missing from the ad itself.

Had CBS been using a 900 number as the means of triggering this information service, federal law would have required oral price disclosure in the commercial. But, the 900 number rules were written before the advent of pay-per-call services triggered by text messaging, and thus CBS’ non-oral-disclosure falls through the cracks.

big bro2 smallIn addition to the “FAN” commercial, Big Brother also supers on the screen this other invitation to part with $5.99 a month, twice during each show. There is no price disclosure oral or written, but viewers are invited to go to the Internet “for terms.”

Though the net is widespread, not everyone has access to it, and while some people mulitask, most folks watching television are not sitting in front of their computers at the same time. Thus, disclosure of the price is again masked.

If the networks can’t make reasonable and clear disclosure of the price of text games and text services, the Federal Trade Commission needs to step in to update its pay per call rules to include this now pervasive form of advertising of pay services.

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