I opened my Verizon bill and found two charges on two of my phones for $9.99. After calling Verizon, I found one was thumbplay.com. They provided a phone number, I called thumbplay and they cheerfully cancelled this mistake subscription and will send a check for $9.99 as a refund. The other charge, Verizon said, was also Thumbplay, but that company disavows any knowledge of my account.
I ran a search on the 866-616-6076 number and came up with Ringza. No contact except for email was available for this company. After two calls and being on hold for at least ten minutes each, I first talked to "Morris" who told me the charge was not refundable but that my "subscription" would be cancelled. On the second call, I asked the answerer what the name of the company was. He hung up on me! I find it very strange that no refunds were offered or allowed.
So, I did a bit more searching but came up empty so I called Verizon back as they would have a record of who they paid this $9.99 to (and then collected from me). They told me it was billed by Opera Ring... The plot thickens.
I explained my plight to the very nice and sweet person on the phone at Verizon and she must have been in a very good mood and felt sorry for my frustration as Verizon themselves refunded the ten bucks. I told her I'd accept the refund if I could be assured Verizon could collect their ten bucks from whomever billed them. She told me probably not but that it was okay... She'd arrange a refund for me. I offered to split it with her because in a way, part of this is my fault. She declined the split and insisted she refund the $9.99.
The point is, be very careful about signing up for ringtones and other goodies for your cellular phone. These companies are layered so deep you can't find out who to get in touch with. Know who you're dealing with. Make it easy on yourself. So what if Verizon doesn't have the ringtones your grandkid wants... That's what's available and you gotta live with it.
I get irritated when in a public place and someone's phone blasts a tune that sounds like music in a soupcan... But different strokes. I like the ring-ring-ring sound of a phone. I'll stick with what Verizon and Nokia offers.
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