Beware of adds offering Free Ring Tones for your cell phones. Some of these adds are scams. (Of course a few may be legit.) The company will offer you a free ring tone if you just type in your cell phone number. Your phone will ring within a few minutes and it appears that you have received a free ring tone. But check your cell phone bill carefully. A mysterious charge may appear soon. This charge may not be easy to resolve.

What should your first step be? Call your cell phone company. Ask for the customer service department. Explain the situation. Some companies will tell you that this dispute is between you and the third party, the content provider. Many cell phone companies allow content providers to provide extra services for a fee so they don’t have to. They feel it gives their customers more options. Plus they may receive a small portion of the fee. It is not always in their best interest to intervene. So it is up to you. If they will give you the name of the third party it still may not be easy to resolve the situation.

Why? It may be extremely difficult to get through to the content provider. You may only receive voice mail options. And if you do get through, the company may not agree to reverse, or take away, the charges. If you are not getting satisfaction call the Better Business Bureau or Consumer Affairs. File a report. Ask these agencies for advice. There are organizations that may be able to help. But don’t give up. Then they win.

How can you keep this from happening to you? Always read the fine print. Also read the Terms and Conditions section on the website. Some companies request that you send them a text message. You won’t know that if you don’t read the terms. But the safest thing to do is prevention. Before you do anything, call your cell phone company and ask them to block all third party charges. This means you must personally authorize any charge in advance. This is always the safest way to go.

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