Readers' PCs crippled by MBS porn billing

David said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

Is it right that people are trying to weasle their way out of this? The "I didn't realise" brigade need to learn. Your atricle states that there are "lines of text telling you that if you click the button you are confirming you wish to receive a free three-day trial subscription to the website, and that unless you cancel within the trial period you will be billed quarterly in advance on a recurring subscription basis". So that should tell everyone what they need to know. Should we have sympathy for people who go into these sites? No. They just need to take the time to read, then maybe they wouldn't get in such a mess and have to whine about it and claim they're blameless.

Batch said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

Whilst MBS's pop-ups are OTT, their model does address the issues of providing credit card details to potentially nefarious organisations and of users trying to access something (porn in this case) for nothing.

Having said that, I imagine that using something like Acronis True Image to create an image before installing the software and then rolling back to the image after the end of the trial period would eradicate all traces (albeit potentially in breach of contract).

What this article doesn't make clear is exactly how obvious it is to the user that they are downloading and installing software - surely the latest versions of Windows etc. give adequate warnings (unless the software is being installed using a security flaw, which I very mch doubt).

Trevor said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

One concern I have with this is that you're expected to "click anywhere on the text to read the full terms" - with internet users being bombarded with "Your PC is at risk, click here to get the latest security"-type windows (where if you click anywhere on the box, the chances are you'll download something nasty), it's not altogether surprising that users aren't willing to click through and read the terms for website usage.

Just a thought...

boghound said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

It always amuses me when people like "David" post a reply such as his. Is he so "upstanding" that he has never felt the "urge" to enter such sites...I think not!!
If this company wasn't "playing the angle" it would have more safe guards, for the unsuspecting, in place. It's operated on the same lines as the mobile phone ringing tunes were a few months ago. They depend on people (unless they are like the David's of this World) not to read the "small print" properly and even if they do, not to understand it. Even members of the legal profession have trouble deciphering it....but...at the end of the day...the best thing to do....is just to pay-up and put it down to experience.

Buckland said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

Why not put all these people out of business. The authorisation and acceptance of an "Adult" TV Channel to transmit from say Midnight for two hours would be the answer. This might be be a possibility for Channel 4 to consider or perhaps Channel 5 but its Regions for good reception are somewhat limited and one does not want to encourage the economic migration of viewers just to watch a late night Channel. I do believe that on the Continent such free viewing channels are available (without subscription) so perhaps the EU could legislate and to bring the British Government in line

anskyber said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

A really excellent article.

I have read with open mouthed interest the experiences of others with MBS and to be honest I found it difficult to accept all of their protests of innocence. Your article is very clear and I applaud your pragmatic suggestion concerning the homepage changes you mention, a suggestion which almost certainly will be ignored.

The legality of the MBS policy appears to be settled although perhaps questionable on the issue of contractual fairness.

Are you comfortable with the Helproom advice for the removal of MBS software still being displayed given the litigation which MBS threaten against those offering removal solutions?

I hope you will be, to my mind this is when magazines and web sites like this play a really useful role.

David Tamares said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

I think this practise is totally underhand.
Many years ago I subscribed to such a site. When I tried to cancel the subscription they ignored my emails even though I followed their instructions to cancel. In those days they took your credit card details and the only way I could stop them taking my money was to destroy the credit card and tell the bank it was lost.
I see this as just another scam to get your money. I wonder how many people have tried to cancel the subscription without success. Quite a few I bet.

Jimmy said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

A few years ago I signed up for a 3 day trial and gave my credit card number. I cancelled after the first day but it was not easy cancelling as the site made it almost impossible to work out how to do it. Even after cancelling my credit card was billed for a month's viewing but I contacted the credit card company telling them what had happened and the sum was returned and I was never troubled again. Is it the British mentality of feeling shame for visiting these sites which lets companies like this get away with murder. The problem is that most PC users are not savvy with what computers can do and have little idea what companies such as this can put in their machines. These companies tends to hide behind box numbers etc and are often impossible to contact. Publish their names and addresses and telephone numbers and also make freely available software tools for clearing their spyware out of computers. Let them scream if they dare.

Windowpane said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

Its time that crooked companies like this are brought to task, operating scams that deceive honest people, of their hard earned money, far too much of this is going on in this country to-day, jail the lot of them!

Jim said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

Legal - I doubt it. Unfair certainly - and the tactics used to attempt a recovery could be deemed a 'penalty' - also illegal as only the courts can dish out penalties.

Ben said on Thursday, 31 May 2007

I find David's comment pathetic - as well as hypocritical.
I take it that every time he downloads software he reads every last word of the agreement he has to click to accept. I have skimmed through a few, but some go and on, and I take the view that life is too short. I would be surprised if David is any different.
OK, on a sex site one should be more cautious, but MBS are playing a straightforward extortion racket (or are party to one)

John said on Friday, 01 June 2007

On their site they say that the owner of the computer is liable to pay the subscription even if someone else signed up. I would question the legality of that. That assumes that anyone signing up for anything through the Internet is acting as an agent for the owner of the pc.

In any event, if you Google for "remove MBS" it takes less than a minute to find out how to remove this rubbish from your pc.

Notsostupid said on Friday, 01 June 2007

Re: MBS
If you do a virus scan you will soon find that MBS have downloaded a trojan horse to your pc, I assumed this was how my pc was plagued with these pop up bills. l I did was to "quarantine"this trojan (I use AVG free edition)to see how this would affect my pc , then deleted it. as long as I didnt click on the icon that MBS "kindly" placed on my desktop.....voila, ......By the way . a not to all the supercilious, holier than thou brigade, I was not trying to "weasel "out of it, but im one of those that doesnt like paying for a "service" i didnt ask, for or want, this site was accessed by an inquisitive 14 year old, so much for security on these sites.

deeperpurple8488@aol.com said on Saturday, 02 June 2007

I am a Christian lady of 60 yrs & I have NEVER visited a porn site, however, I have had hackers that have used my screen name & AOL have cut me off several times.They have made my life a misery & now I have this MBS thing popping up now that I have at last returned home to UK after 2 yrs in Spain & have started using internet again. I am SICK of this, I am insulted & I am very upset that a hacker can cause so many problems for me. I go to church every Sunday, I do not drink or smoke & I most CERTAINLY am NOT interested in PORN. I object to it strongly! I have even lost my AOL this past 24 hrs with no reason so what do I do? I will NEVER pay them this money as I have never nor will ever visit a porn site, I have threatened them with solicitors 7 police, but they never answer. It is very unfair that they can do this to me as it is the only way I can keep in touch with my famly & friend abroad. Please can you help?

Meg

visiforyou said on Sunday, 03 June 2007

Thank you fhiufhyrefyer, so far you have helped us get rid of this pain in the neck pop up bill.
also had trojans which we think came in with it.
Thanks Again.

alison said on Wednesday, 06 June 2007

i have this silly very anoying bill on my pc ive never had a thing like it in my life! ive tried fhiufhirefyers instructions but im not a techie and keep getting stuck on disabling the radio help any one? surely these silly micro billing systems people cant get away with this!??

ruby said on Thursday, 07 June 2007

I foolishly logged onto a site and didint know what i was signing upto so i had no choice but to pay.But before i downloaded their software my computer was running fine and since its gone completely bonkers and keeps crashing .The other day it went completely and i could do nothing with it apart from having to restore it to factory settings and losing alot of unsaved data is this just a coiencidence.Idont think so.Just wanted to know would they be liable?

ruby said on Friday, 08 June 2007

in response to david your a moron

s.kelly said on Saturday, 09 June 2007

my fella has gone and used one of these sites and i've only found out now the bill has popped up. so its either my pcs gonna be full of pop ups and unusable or i pay £39.99 cos of PORN! this is pathetic. i dont care if its explanatory or not. when u look at porn sites and theres an agreement its usually asking how old u have to be, saying the site owners hold no responsibility for under age access or offensive material and so on.
NOT hi if you take our trial and dont cancel we will harass you with pop ups and interefere with equipment you have paid for which is nothing to do with mbs until you pay us money for seeing sex! for godsake why should any person pay to see something thats natural anyway?
this is outrageous and i will be alerting EVERY

s.kelly said on Saturday, 09 June 2007

my fella has gone and used one of these sites and i've only found out now the bill has popped up. so its either my pcs gonna be full of pop ups and unusable or i pay £39.99 cos of PORN! this is pathetic. i dont care if its explanatory or not. when u look at porn sites and theres an agreement its usually asking how old u have to be, saying the site owners hold no responsibility for under age access or offensive material and so on.
NOT hi if you take our trial and dont cancel we will harass you with pop ups and interefere with equipment you have paid for which is nothing to do with mbs until you pay us money for seeing sex! for godsake why should any person pay to see something thats natural anyway?
this is outrageous and i will be alerting EVERY person i know of it. suck on that mbs.