When we see a spate of complaints in our online forum, all about the same company, and all posted in a fairly short space of time, I know that something isn’t right, and we need to investigate further. That’s exactly what has happened over the past few weeks, and the company concerned – Micro Bill Systems – has cropped up in several forum threads. The first MBS cry for 'help' dates from last autumn, while the most recent appeared two weeks ago.
It’s all to do with the way that MBS tries to recover money which it says is owed to its clients as a result of consumers accessing websites that work on a monthly subscription basis.
MBS is a UK-based company with offices in Leeds, Cambridge, and London, specialising in services to the internet industry. Among other things, the company provides subscription management services to clients who operate sites that traditionally have problems collecting money – online gambling and sex sites, for instance.
This is how the system works. Someone visits a site that operates on a subscription basis – a typical example is mysexworld.com. On the front page there are some images giving an indication of the site’s content, and a prominent ‘Get instant access now’ button, above which are some 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.
Click anywhere on those words and you’ll see a full list of the terms and conditions to which you’ll agree if you hit that instant access button, and they are worth a read, I assure you. Ignore the lot, and click the button, and you have a three-day trial membership of the site. Bear in mind that you haven’t been asked to provide any personal details, no credit card number, no billing address, nothing whatsoever. You’re into the site, and have access to the content. Cancel your ‘membership’ within those three days and according to MBS that will be that – your membership is terminated.
Fail to cancel however and you might regret ever making that single mouse click. Shortly after the three-day trial expires you’ll see a pop-up bill appear on your computer’s desktop, telling you that you owe MBS £39.99 for your first quarter’s membership. If you do nothing the bill will keep appearing at regular and ever-increasing intervals until eventually your computer will be virtually unusable. The bills are being generated by software which has downloaded to your computer, and there’s nothing you can do about it, except pay up and cancel your subscription via MBS. They identify your computer by its IP address, which was logged when you entered the website involved.
Comments
ruby said: in response to david your a moron
ruby said: I foolishly logged onto a site and didint know what i was signing upto so i had no choice but to payBut 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 coiencidenceIdont think soJust wanted to know would they be liable
alison said: 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
visiforyou said: Thank you fhiufhyrefyer so far you have helped us get rid of this pain in the neck pop up billalso had trojans which we think came in with itThanks Again
deeperpurple8488@aol.com said: I am a Christian lady of 60 yrs amp I have NEVER visited a porn site however I have had hackers that have used my screen name amp AOL have cut me off several timesThey have made my life a misery amp now I have this MBS thing popping up now that I have at last returned home to UK after 2 yrs in Spain amp have started using internet again I am SICK of this I am insulted amp 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 amp 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 amp friend abroad Please can you helpMeg
Notsostupid said: 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 quarantinethis trojan I use AVG free editionto 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 desktopvoila 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
John said: 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 pcIn 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
Ben said: I find Davids comment pathetic - as well as hypocriticalI 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 differentOK on a sex site one should be more cautious but MBS are playing a straightforward extortion racket or are party to one
Jim said: 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
Windowpane said: 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
Jimmy said: 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 months 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
David Tamares said: 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 lostI 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
anskyber said: 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 ignoredThe legality of the MBS policy appears to be settled although perhaps questionable on the issue of contractual fairnessAre 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 solutionsI hope you will be to my mind this is when magazines and web sites like this play a really useful role
Buckland said: 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
boghound said: 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 sitesI think notIf this company wasnt playing the angle it would have more safe guards for the unsuspecting in place Its 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 Davids 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 itbutat the end of the daythe best thing to dois just to pay-up and put it down to experience
Trevor said: One concern I have with this is that youre 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 youll download something nasty its not altogether surprising that users arent willing to click through and read the terms for website usage Just a thought
Batch said: Whilst MBSs 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 nothingHaving 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 contractWhat this article doesnt 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
David said: Is it right that people are trying to weasle their way out of this The I didnt 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 wouldnt get in such a mess and have to whine about it and claim theyre blameless