Pink zone & 0800 number

[Thumper]

Hi, my screen has recently been blocked by a bill from MBS, It said I owed £19.99 for a pink zone subscription. This is apparently a pornography site. At first the bill sported an 0845 number, and whenever I rang I was simply kept on hold forever. Today however this changed to an 0800 number and I got through to a rather foreign sounding person, who informed me that at 23.01 on Friday 28th of December someone subscribed to a website which had a 3 day free subscription limit, and that when said subscription was not cancelled on the following Monday, charges applied. Now at this time and date, I was out, but unfortunately had allowed access to my P.C. to a friend, who had assured me he just wanted to play games on it, and would not go onto any site with charges. They said he had clicked on these terms and conditions, but he insists he saw no such disclaimer. I have been asked to send a cheque to a P.O.box in Leeds, what should I do? I am unemployed with little money and cannot afford this, but then again I certainly can't afford any other charges that may accrue from non-payment.

[Andy M]

My advice, but bear in mind that I've never encountered these bills first-hand.

1. Ensure that the alleged subscription is definitely cancelled now, as some I believe continue on a monthly basis and so you could end up being charged on 28th/31st January.

2. If you do come to the conclusion that your friend did knowingly click on the links, then technically he should really cough up the money for you, as though it's your computer, you gave him permission to use it in good faith.

HOWEVER

3. Given the devious nature of many of these sites, it's very plausible that he really didn't see the notices. That's what many people are contesting right now.

Did you give out any information that would personally identify you (name with address, for example?).

If you did, then it would be easier for MBS to pursue you, but you may still be able to argue with them (I don't hold out a huge amount of hope trying to reason with them, though)

If you didn't, then it will be almost impossible for them to do so, as all they have is the "address" of the computer on the Internet, which only your Internet provider can link to you, and who won't just give this information out to other companies.

While most of us don't advocate deliberately trying to get out of paying legitimate charges, if there is reasonable doubt that anyone agreed to these terms and conditions, then I believe you have the right to use whatever software tools you can to remove the "ransom notes" from your computer and bring it back to good working order.

Platte Media's lawyers told us that we had to remove any reference or link to information that might help you remove the Platte Media "software" from your PC. Of course, they've only requested specific instances on this particular forum, so all is not lost...

Hope this helps as a start. Feel free to ask any questions here, no question is too small or too simple. Let us know how you get on.

Good luck!

[Carlargh]

This is an IDENTICAL problem to what i've had the last few days.
I've literally only found this site in the last 5 minutes. Unfortunately I didn't google MBS before phoning them today and getting pissy with the man on the other end, explaining that I am the most frequent user of my computer and would not access porn.
I then paid the £19.99 charge over the phone, and I am now shitting myself that they will access my account in the future and steal my money.

I then decided to google MBS, and have spent all afternoon and evening (aside from the 4 and a half hours I went to work for, but was made late) trying to remove all malicious files that remain, even though the bullreminders have stopped - obviously cos i gave them what they wanted.

Are they actually able to get into my account?
I gave them my card number, security code and expiry date - these are the things I have to put in when shopping online so I thought it was all okay - until I found out about all this.

[Andy M]

If you have told them that you want to cancel the subscription (yes, I know that's irritating as you didn't knowingly subscribe in the first place) then they cannot legally charge more funds to your credit/debit card.

While many may be rolling eyes at MBS caring about legality, I'd still suggest there's a difference between justification of their software, and how they handle payment.

It might be worth contacting your card company/bank and explaining the situation, letting them know that you are worried about further funds being taken from your account, even though you've cancelled the "subscription". I don't know enough about the banking / CC system to know whether they could put a future block on specific transactions.

In any case, touch wood, you shouldn't be re-billed for this.

[MlmSM1]

Not sure how Pink Zone ended up as a site i visited but...

I removed the offending (MBS) software, am running a scan on the the other laptop, completely infested with who knows what

I mentioned this on another thread/site, If you are drunk or intoxicated then you are not capable of entering into a contract, and a judge will set the contract aside.
If you are a minor you cannot enter into a contract. If your child signed up to this site then that is all you have to say to the courts.

If you are taken to court as a result of non payment, assuming that they did find out your details etc via a court order if either of the above two conditions are met there is no contract under English law.
This also applies to state of mind to protect people who can not make those necessary decisions. The onus is on the plaintiff to prove otherwise.

You do not need to go to a solicitor to prove that your child is under age and that they visited the site. On the form from the court if it gets that far just state that your child a minor entered the site. Let the courts decide if they want to pursue it. Also question the legitimacy of the website for allowing minors to sign up and MBS to bill them. Should make interesting legal points

It won't get that far.

If the above doesn’t apply to you about minors, it will be very hard to prove that you weren't drunk or intoxicated at the time of going on the site.

Otherwise you should probably pay up if you can't prove that its nothing to do with spyware etc.