mBlox, the company that bills itself as “The World’s Largest Mobile Transaction Network”, has just issued a press release exclaiming “mBlox Publishes Record Off-Portal SMS Transactions in 2006.”
Of course, as Internet Patrol readers know, countless people have received phone spam from mBlox and their partners DadaMobile and Nevis. Phone spam which they’ve had to pay for, except where they were lucky enough to have their cell phone carrier reverse the charges.
In fact, there are more than 180 comments right here on the Internet Patrol here alone, complaining about the charges from DadaMobile and Nevis, with partner company mBlox, to which they never agreed!
And lest we forget, it was barely a year ago that mBlox was fined more than $70,000 for cell phone spamming in conjunction with partner Crazy Frog ringtone company Jamba.
I guess we know how mBlox managed that record number of SMS transactions in 2006, eh?
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Says the press release:
The world’s largest mobile transaction network grows 40% and delivers over 1.4 billion mobile content transactions worth $500m during 2006.
mBlox, the world’s largest mobile transaction network, has today announced a record number of off-portal transactions for 2006. With over 1.4 billion application-to-person transactions processed worldwide, mBlox is the global leader in off-portal SMS and premium SMS (PSMS) message delivery.
2006 was the fifth consecutive year of high growth for mBlox, with business up 40% over 2005. In the U.S., the number of premium SMS transactions mBlox processed increased 100% over 2005, and globally mBlox cleared and settled payments for mobile content transactions worth more than $500 million in street revenue.
“These numbers demonstrate the huge vitality of the direct-to-consumer market worldwide,� said mBlox executive chairman Andrew Bud. “They also position us as the worldwide leader in the transmission, clearing and settlement of off-portal content. The scale of our network enables us to serve the vast global community of brands and service providers who are discovering the real potential of the mobile medium. We are excited about growth in 2007, when more enterprises will start to fully embrace the mobile messaging medium.
We take it that when you say “more enterprises will start to fully embrace the mobile messaging medium,” you mean “more enterprises will start to spam innocent people’s cell phones and charge them for it.”
Interestingly, for a company that makes itself sound so big and important, its “world headquarters” at 485 E. Evelyn in Sunnyvale are a tiny, store front office in a half-empty office strip behind the train tracks in Sunnyvale:
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They are at it again. $19.99 charged to our AT&T cell phone bill. MBLOX is scum.
You’ll are a rip off and are charging innocent people like myself for something that I didn’t even know I was being charged for. My niece and I discovered the charges after the bill was paid. I want this removed from the phone and want to find out how to go about it. Thank you very much.
Joe, be a little more full of bull will you? You know Mblox is practicing scumbag “business” tactis, not only preying on those who do not understand the workings of text messaging (the elderly), children who don’t understand that the new cool ring tone they got will actually cost money, and others who routinely pay their cell phone bill without scrutinizing every single charge. This is unlawful on so many levels it’s not even funny. Is your company publicly traded? I would LOVE to sell short on a ton of your stock and cash in as soon as you guys get hit with that class action suit and are found out for what you really are. Do you guys really think that won’t happen? I guess you should just keeping drinking the kool-aid if it helps you sleep at night. Nice headquarters by the way.
mBlox’s Joe Smith is full of bull. They charged my prepaid phone which had not even been powered on for several months (I lost the charger). They billed me until there was no money left in the account. Criminal! I wrote the BBB, State Atty General, PUC and my congress rep.
Well said, Joe, though the alias, and with great empathy! I applaud MBlox in their effort to correct this dilemma.
For myself, I been a Cingular Customer Care Rep for the past 3 years and have dealt w/ numerous disputes over the issue, have conducted personal discussions with customers within and outside of Cingular, and have concluded this overall dilemma 2-Fold.
I’ve found elderly ladies in their late 70′ and 80’s charged for 3rd party subscriptions while having had their number to themselves for ions yet, even after I confirmed no other person has used their phone – not their granchildren, sons, daughters, or younger generation friends – and, that they don’t know what SMS, the wireless internet, or www is because they don’t use them. (Understood for their generations, in general, as their conditioned just to talk on the phone.
And in other cases, I’ve dealt with hollaring housewives about their sons or daughters, 6 years old on up, about these eroneous 3rd party subscription charges that supports your arguement, moreover, as kids will bill their parents for receiving the “cool” content w/o their parents knowing about it; altogether, causing to the overall call in, and the knee-jerk reaction to disable their media services hurting our reputation in the process.
So, with this 2-Fold dilemma, INSOPHISTOCATION is the problem overall between the 3rd party billing system (MBlox as one) and Cingular used from transacting these subs. From this, sporadically reacted by the nature of the this crazy, free, interactive world we live in, companies parasitically devoure on the consumer by a term called SPAM.
So, recognizing THE SYSTEM as the overall problem, 2 things are needed here to support your position besides the integrity claimed by your process:
1) As Cingular bills our customers, where then can view the items thru DirectBill, support the subcriptions referenced ‘with an origination date and point’ to how it started.
2) There’s a contengecy problem with the current system. 3rd party billing doesn’t react to those carrier’s service changes w/ the number as part of your function. This means that when a customer requests their media services – sms/mms/media net – removed a awhile ago after outragious 3rd party sub charges appeared on their bill that subscription should be cancelled immediately. Hence, lack of sophistocation.
So, take this to the chairman bragging about MBlox 2006 earnings. Invest upholding your integrity and ours of capital towards a better system.
In the meantime, to support your claim, only my test will tell. Leave a website for me to enter my wireless number and I’ll see if the process follows as you say. However, you obviously are going to give me THAT link to support it. This doesn’t speak for all links and the game of numbers played w/ SPAM on the www. Chances are, there are a multitude of advertising links from content providers working in unison with your company that bypass your claim, supporting by this comment argued:
“more enterprises will start to fully embrace the mobile messaging medium,â€? you mean “more enterprises will start to spam innocent people’s cell phones and charge them for it.â€?
Well, I work for mBlox, and I read with understanding your views.
I will also that what i write here is my personal opinion and does in no way reflect the views or opinions of mBlox in any way shape or form. I am writing here because I have googled the company i work for, and came across this page. I feel the comments and thought here are, to be frank, unjust. mBlox is not the ‘bad guy’ you are painting it to be here.
I will say that I would be, understandably, very upset if I were to receive some kind of strange charge on my cell phone bill, especially if i felt I had not authorized it.
However, I do know for a fact that charges will only be added to your cell phone bill, by mBlox, when your cell phone sends a messages saying “yes,” id like those charges, after having received a message, from mBlox, asking if you want those charges (those messages are are very clear in how much, the service you are asking for, will cost).
mBlox is a very large financial transaction and settlement network. The nearest comparison is like a “visa” for cellphones.
mBlox is involved dealing with a new area of consumer spending. Sometimes, as with any new market, customers may have a bad experience. In the ‘X’ billion messages or ‘X’ billing financial transactions mBlox processes per year, it is inevitable that a small percentage of customers will have a bad experience, enough to want to share that with anyone and everyone who will listen, hence this page existing. The best mBlox can do, is listen to those views, reasons, feelings and situations, then try its best to fix what the consumer believes to be wrong.
I think that is fair, do you not?
mBlox actually does care if you believe you have been billed incorrectly. mBlox have helplines and put consumers in contact with the service providers who asked for the charge/billing to be initiated to your cell phone. Inevitably, it is in mBlox’s best interest to make sure the consumers experience is a positive one, as then the consumer will continue to be a customer.
That is just common business sense.
Imagine for a second that a company opened up a merchant account with visa. You wanted to buy from that merchant and told them “i want XYZ.” They immediately take the fact that you initiated that transaction as your authorization to bill you. They then they take the funds from your account and pass it on to the merchant (or service provider).
mBlox is exactly the same, but mBlox adds an extra layer of verification, mBlox actually tells its “merchants” to ask the consumer twice that they (you) want that charge to appear on your cellular bill.
Not only does the consumer have to physically request the content/service, but mBlox (or its partners) will then send a another text message to your cellular handset asking you to confirm that you actually do want the charge/service/content. Only when you reply to mBlox’s partner with a text message, stating clearly, “yes,” will mBlox facilitate the content/service transfer and attempt to bill (your) the consumers cellular account. That is far more than visa or mastercard (or any bank for that matter) would do, would you not agree?
mBlox tries its best to make sure that consumers are not dis-satisfied with any services requested. If you have had a bad experience, call mBlox up. 408-617-3700 is the number. Ask to speak to the end user department or press number one on your phone.
If you have a charge on your cellphone bill which your cellphone did not authorize, then I personally apologize and hope that your negative experience will be taken care of and your confidence restored in purchasing items from your cellular handset.
I hope you all have a more positive view on your cellular experience in future. Im personally very sorry your experience has been negative enough to warrant finding this page, and I truly hope that you will allow mBlox to restore your confidence in this market once again
We just got hit with this 9.99 charge on our Nextel bill. The only thing we did was delete a text message that we received. Nextel won’t help us to delete the charge because apparently Nextel is involved with this company…probably getting paid for each account they charge the 9.99 monthly fee too. mBlox has a form you fill out on their website that once you hit send, it is spam blocked on by their email. So you can’t even cancel the subscription. Wonder what activist group they are supporting?
What’s “off portal” content? Love it how they not only spin it as a positive, but you can’t really be sure what they’re positive about.
Maybe next year they’ll be able to brag about getting fined more than any other mobile transaction network