Miscellaneous Forum

INTERNATIONAL CREDIT CARD TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONS SCAM

website: http://infonaa.com/english.php#4

My wife and I stayed at the Parliament Hotel in Dublin for 3 days at the beginning of July. We booked this hotel via Expedia.ca as we have had great success in using Expedia for our yearly travels to Europe and the United Kingdom.

During our stay at the Parliament Hotel in Dublin Ireland, we placed 3 overseas calls to family in Canada. Our normal process for making overseas calls to Canada is to dial direct by keying in 0 001 area code and phone number. At the Parliament Hotel we came across a card next to the phone outlining their process for making overseas calls. Their process was to go directly to a credit card option which put us in touch with an operator who took our credit card information and put the call through.

After our stay in Dublin, we travelled to Belfast, Rome, Florence and London and in each location, we were able to follow our normal process of dialling direct. Upon our arrival back home, we were astounded to see the charges on our credit cards for the calls placed during our stay at the Parliament Hotel in Dublin. An example and comparison for you: 2 minute call to Canada using the process outlined at the Parliament Hotel cost US$39.91 and the same call for the same duration made in Belfast and in Italy cost US $4.50.

We have called our Credit Card Company to lodge a complaint and have been advised that this particular phone company being used by Hotels abroad is indeed atrocious and they are charging far too much money for a normal overseas call. Our credit card company advised us that they get dozens of calls daily about this company.

We have since done our own on line investigation about this company and the complaints and stories are very similar to ours.

We called the company directly to complain and was told they would be willing to knock off some of the charges PROVIDING we did not lodge an official complaint.

This must be happening thousands of times a day.

...and they've probably got shares in the company.

Terrible story. I hope you get some joy and thanks for letting us know.

Tell them you are going to lodge an official complaint unless they knock more off! ...They walked into that one eh?

What a rip- off!!
At least you are giving them the bad publicity, they deserve, on here!

Write a warning tip on your pages if you haven't already done so. That's the best place for this info.

we had a little card like that next to our phone in a London hotel. we nixed the idea and got in touch with family via internet. after reading your story, i'm glad we took that route!

The real problem is not the charges (as high as they may be), but that the little card next to the phone didn't clearly explain the charges, i.e. initial charge, cost per minute, etc.

I have seen hotels in the U.K. use services like this, because it leaves the hotel totally out of the loop when it comes to long distance, which is really simpler for them. It's also possibly (likely) that the hotel receives a kickback (quite legal) for each call.

There are two routes you can pursue: (1) contact the hotel and assure them that you do not appreciate being "taken" like this, and that you will hold the hotel responsible for these outrageous (and unpublished!) charges in public forums, and (2) contact the telephone authority in Ireland to file a complaint.

Yes, I would think that going to VT and tripadvisor and Rick Steves' various forums and all these other travel places and placing a comment smacking the hotel would serve them right...after all, the phone company is not subject to any pressure from you, but the hotel is...

Note that the Parliament Hotel is part of the Regency Hotel Group ( http://www.regencyhotels.com/ )...look at the website and see if you can find contact information for the corporate headquarters...

Bill

yep, another example of rif-off ireland, I don't know about this case, but in a similar (much worse case) I saw in scotland, i found out the hotel gets a 'percentage', so although they give sympathy, they are in fact two-faced bastards.

Golly, I mean, Dublin is expensive, but WOW!!!

Did you complain to the hotel as well? That is ridiculous.

Also, I would recommend that you write to the Irish Ombudsman for Consumer Affairs and spread the word about this through the following:

- http://www.ripoff.ie

- http://www.irishconsumer.ie/links.html

- If you really want to get the boot in, call Joe Duffy on RTE Radio 1's Liveline show. He talks about a lot of this kind of stuff - ordinary people getting screwed over & ripped off, a lot of people pay attention to this show. http://www.rte.ie/radio1/liveline

Hi again,

Yesterday I cancelled our credit card and filed complaints with the BBB in California, the California Attorney General's office, the Regency Hotel group, and the Federal Trade Commission as well as trying to warn as many people ablut this scam as possible. I would guess that most travellers would just see the charge as typical long distance charges. And yes Regency does have a contract with the SCAM phone company but so do others. We used a pay phone in Rome on our trip as well and the same company is linked here as we also received the same type of charges there. Think of the thousands of people getting ripped off daily. My advice, is of course now, DO NOT use your credit card to pay for a call anywhere.

BTW,

A thank you to some of the other lines for complaint that you've all provided. I will be following up on those as well.

Cheers.

More info that I found from anoter site that reports others with the similar scam.

http://schoenke.com/~tyler/callto_company_info.html

I've tried to get a hold of the webmaster but so far no reply.

Information about the company Call To International
Here is the information that I dug up on them:
Their current website: http://www.infonw.com/english.html#1

INTERNATIONAL CREDIT CARD TELEPHONE COMMUNICATIONS
How do you contact us?
* Please provide all your requests in English or Spanish
* Via Fax: +1-619-671-7871
* By Mail: 511 East San Ysidro Blvd. Suite 1770
San Ysidro, Ca 92173 – USA
* Via Email: Customer.Service@infonw.com
* Via Direct Call: +1-619-428-7909
From the U.S.: 1-800-576-2118
UK 00-800-994-61356

Network Solutions WHOIS information about them. Enter infonw.com and select domain name. The phone number doesn't look legitimate.
You can also enter 37340780O and choose NIC Handle to get additional information. That email address also looks bogus.

Their record with the San Diego Better Business Bureau. BBB lists them as unsatisfactory.

California Business Search
I had no luck finding them here. :(

Information from BBB

Additional Doing-Business-As Names:

BBG International
Call International
Call To International
International Calling Services
International Communications
International Satelite Communication
National Telephone Collection Services
Network Opr Services
NTCS
US Satellite Communications


Additional Addresses: 1658 Gailes Blvd #B, San Diego, CA 92154
PO Box 12068, San Diego, CA 92112-3068
482 W San Ysidro Blvd Box 1793, San Ysidro, CA 92173
PMB 1870 511 E. San Ysidro Blvd, San Ysidro, CA 92173


Additional Phone Numbers: 619-744-0888
619-710-1463 Fax
888-657-1959
800-382-2887
800-576-2118
619-661-6661
800-805-7771
888-509-0734
800-975-0762
800-603-5171
800-340-0959
800-617-7480


Additional TOB Classifications: Telecommunications Products / Long Distance
Other Telephone Solicitations
Communication
Telecommunications Dealers & Services

that looks pretty complicated for such a simple service!

Can you please post the number that connected you to a live person? I called a number in San Ysidro, California and got a automated voice,ai - in spanish!

I just got back from the Bahamas (stayed at the Raddisson Beach resort) and am experiencing the same scam. I used a debit card and my bank "investigating" but I have no faith. It appears BBG is based in Mexico and has been scammingt folks left and right.

Oh so very frustrating. Thanks for your time.

The current website is here:

http://infonaa.com/english.php#4

The phone number that appeared on my credit card and is listed on the website that i called is:
1-866-311-8509

BTW,

They are worldwide. Here is their main website:

http://www.bbgusa.com/altindex.html

Have a look at their client list... it's gobal. File your complaints. Too many people do not.

I made two calls from a public phone in the new BEIJIN international airport. Each call has been charged 38 USD by the SCAM phone company. Indeed, in one of the two calls, I met a technical trouble and I could not talk at all. I am going to lodge an official complaint via my credit card company and try to cancel the charge for the failed call. I strongly recommend not to use the public phones in the airport for international calls.

Good tip about the airport. Make sure you put it on your travel pages for everyone to see.

Thank you for posting this!

Last month I went to Iceland for a week and used my credit card to call my boyfriend back in Wisconsin to leave a message on his voice mail to let him know that I had arrived safely. A message that did not last for even thirty seconds ended up costing me over $34.00. How can a company get away with something like this?!? Charging $10 per second is nothing but ridiculous. I have just sent an email to: http://infonaa.com/english.php#4 and have told them that I will be reporting them to the BBB as well.

Alissa

I saw that this happened to you last year. I just came back from Italy and the same thing happened to me. I made 4 calls, 2 of the calls were to leave a message and when I got home my phone bill was over $150. I called and asked what the charges were and they said they charge $15-$20 just to connect you, each minute is $4.95 and there is a minimum 5 minute charge. I did not see this in the little sticker that advertised them. I am ready to call anyone who will listen. I feel so ripped off.

Did you ever get your credit card company to do anything on this scam? We've been hit with 5 calls to this company in Ireland and Italy for our just completed trip to Europe. We used it because it appeared to be the approved calling method from the phone, based on the offical looking sticker on each of the pay phones we used. We used this approach in desperation because none of the 800 calling #'s that we came prepared with worked on these phones. Even a calling card that we had bought specifically for the phones in question didn't work.

I'm getting ready to protest these charges to my credit card company as the scam it is, but not optimistic.

I appreciate your feedback.

Stan
owlman@cox.net

And the moral of the story is, JUST USE THE EIRCOM PUBLIC PHONES WHEN YOU ARE MAKING LONG-DISTANCE CALLS FROM IRELAND. You can get callcards from any newsagent or shops like Centra or Spar. The phone booths also take coins. You should also be able to use your mobile phone OK here just to send a brief text message back to your family and friends - just check with your mobile phone company first before you pack your phone.

Seeing as this has been a recurring topic in the boards, I will write up on this as a Warning tip in my Irish pages.

Same thing happend to me recently. I had made a phone call once in France Paris DeGaulle Aiport and the other 3 calls from Italy. They charged me total of Euro150 for only 20 minutes call. Another Euro160 (each time u provided the credit card number they will charge you USD10 regardless whether the phone get through or not) for many attempts connection without successfully calling to the corresponding party.

Can anyone advise that i could refuse to pay for such bogus charges?

I have fallen victim to this scam. My wife called from London Heathrow Airport, I accepted the call here in the US and we spoke for 10 minutes. I got the bill today: over $50! I called the 1 800 805 7771 number and I was told only of an address in San Ysidro California where I could send complaints, but that the operator was 'not authorized to give out any other company information' - well, San Ysidro matches all the complaints on this page and leads straight to BBG communications, also doing business as International Satellite Communications - have you ever heard of a more secretive or vague company in your life?! I would like to join your complaint or lodge an official complaint myself. How do I go about doing that? They will NOT get away with this. It is a pure and simple PREDATORY PRICING SCAM. I have also seen that BBG communications was ORDERED by the Swiss Federal Communications Office to disactivate a number it had operating through Swiss Telecom Solutions AG. Clearly a move by the Swiss (at least!) to shut them down.

In March 2006 our company received a bill from NTCS for $41.28 for a five minute collect call made in Mexico during October 2005. At first glance this bill looked legitimate, but I was wondering why my employer used collect call (he does not recall doing so)when he had a cell phone with him and why it took NTCS five months to bill for this call, I went ahead and wrote a check for the amount. But.... I have held on to the check to this day as I am still not convinced that it is legit. I have not had a reminder from NTCS regarding this bill and it is now July. Nine months so far since receiving this bill!!

A company with a large accounts dept. may well have passed such a little bill for payment and not given it a second thought

Out of curiosity, yesterday I typed NTCS San Ysidro into google and immediately was connected with Long Distance Call Scam.

Just wanted to let you know my experience.

The company you refer to (in the original post) also operates under the name "International Satellite Communications". Their website is www.internationalsatellitecom.com and naturally provides no contact info other than the same San Ysidro, CA address. My daughter's friend called her from Ireland using their "service" (advertised on-site as costing $0.25/minute) when in fact the charge was over $5.40/minute. (FYI, their cost per minute is less than a penny.) They are scam artists and crooks and belong in jail.

Hi All,
The same thing happened to me in Barcelona Airport. Iberia was taking industrial action. I used the phone to contact their head office but they were unable to connect the call. They also refused my first card (Which had access to sufficient funds) which prolonged the time I was on the phone for. At present I have requested the call information details. I was sent an Excel spreadsheet, but no adequate explanation. Beware of this scam.
Did anybody have any success with their credit card company or through an American watchdog type organisation.

Thank you to these people posting these experiences I have just been scammed by this company or surely it must be rouge traders company as the tv show, I hope http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/tv_and_radio/watchdog/ know of these rouge traders if not they will do soon.

I would think they have a license system in the states for this type of thing perhaps not? I have no idea. However to be charged $80 for a 10 minute call is robbery. I have spoken to the bank who have been very helpful and noted the reviews on the internet thank goodness for the internet. I have tried to ring the number and also the fax number and no dial tone or fax tone even the bank kindly forwarded the information. I thought I was quite safe with this type of thing as even if the bank ring I ask 20 questions.
I am not sure how this works I can only assumed the line is rented and what ever provided make charges for the call.

My son and daughter in law called me from Mexico. The phone cards they purchased wouldn't work so they had to call collect. We spoke for 9 minutes and were charged $76.25. I have no intention of paying the bill and will give the company more bad recommendations than they will be able to handle. International Satellite Communictions is a big rip off. And when you go to the web site they list, you are directed to this scam forum only. That is false advertising. I have no way to contact them - their loss - my gain. They advertise www.internationalcom.com as their WORLD WIDE WEBSITE. Travelers beware.

Did they buy the phone card in Mexico or your country? I'd make a warning tip about the country where it was purchased to save others going thru the same drama.

Just became a victim myself, trying to call Bank of America collect (they are set up to do so), from one of the few Amsterdam pay phones that allows collect calls. My call went through once but unfortunately, I had to call back, as I got disconnected. Not that Bank of America has the best record these days, but I do have faith in them, I've been with them since 2001, and I am a very small fish, not much money in my accounts. But strangely, my collect calls kept on being denied every time I called, my bank wouldn't accept the charges. I then decided to place a credit card call since I really needed to talk to someone. At no time was I told BGG was handling the call, nor was I told how expensive the charges would be. I was on the phone for a while, maybe 15 minutes or more. 3 charges have been posted to my credit card: $95.56 for "call from Netherlands" plus 2 $10 charges, coming from BGG. Since the charges haven't posted yet, there is no info regarding the merchant, I have to wait til they post. I called my bank and ended up getting transfered to many people who had no clue what I was on about, so by the time I got my bank's billing dispute dept. on the phone, I had already researched BGG online, read their San Diego Better Business Bureau report (very bad, 309 complaints within the last 36 months), found more info on some site called rip off report.com. By the time my bank got BGG on the phone, I talked to one lady who said we had the wrong department, that she couldn't handle credit card charges, got transfered to a gentleman who told me to wait 1 week because my charges haven't made it to his system yet (as if!), I told him I was no fool, he said "we can't force you to pay" (sounds good to me!) when I said I was filing a complaint w/ the Better Bus. Bureau. He tried some crap about how phone calls from Europe are expensive, how some banks can't accept collect calls from overseas. But he had nothing to say when i told him I'd been reading rather disturbing facts about his company, how the net's full of negative info about them and how I'm very familiar with European phones but that his company was just over the top. I'm no lawyer or rocket scientist, but how am I supposed to know what I'm being charged for? Where are their per minute rates? If they're legit, how come the internet's full of complaints about them? I've dealt with a shady Chicago collection agency and a Brooklyn online retailer that peddles counterfeit goods, within the last 36 months, I was very forceful with both, via certified mail & email respectively and got my way. They must have thought I was a rabid psycho off her meds, I just threatened them with everything I could think of, told them I would get the police involved, would dedicate my life to posting nasty feedback about them, and this is what I plan on doing to BGG if I get stuck paying these charges.