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kiwipearls

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#77149 11-Feb-2011 09:24
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I have just had the most awful experience with YouTube.  I thought I was entering a competition for their 6th Birthday, but I was unaware I was signing up for Fun Mobile.  http://nz.funmobile.com/

I have lost all my credit now due to YouTube.  I have sent them a email with my disgust.  But this is absolutely appalling. I never ever willingly would sign up for these types of things.

 And now I don't know what to do.  I just topped up my phone on the 19th January and the credit should last me at least 3 months.  Now I have 0.10cents credit.  I can't even text my husband this afternoon to let him know when I have left the doctors to pick him up.

I can see a lot more people being suckered into this.  Especially children with mobile numbers. And you think a legitimate site like YouTube should be better than this.

Here is a copy of what I emailed to Youtube at press@youtube.com - I could not find any other email address to contact them on.

 

Quote: I am a regular YouTube user and never before have I been appalled in YouTube’s behaviour.

I opened up YouTube today to with a pop up box announcing it was YouTube’s 6th Birthday.

It then loaded a page with the following info.

Dear Visitor,

Today is our 6th Birthday and you’ve been selected to take part in the celebration! All you have to do is choose one of the amazing gifts on the right! Prizes are available today only: February 11, 2011

So I selected a prize and went through what I thought was the process of entering the competition. 

But much to my dismay, I received text after text, which used up all my credit on my Vodafone New Zealand prepay phone.  Unawares, I had signed up for FunMobile  http://nz.funmobile.com/

 This is disgusting YouTube!  I never ever in my life would sign up to a crappy service like FunMobile and waste my precious credit.

I manage my credit on my Vodafone New Zealand prepay phone effectively as I only use it for emergency’s, I now have 0.10 credit.  And I only topped up on 19th January 2011.  This credit should last me 3 months.

I thought YouTube was a trustworthy internet site, but I am beginning to re-think that.

I want reimbursement and an apology.

Kind Regards

 

I don't know what can be done about this as this as never ever happened to me before. I thought it was a simple competition.  I sign up for competitions quite a lot online and have never had this happen to me before.

 

I tried emailing Vodafone, but had an error in the submission form.  Hopefully a Vodafone reperesentive can help me out here.  I don't have time to sit on the phone.  Plus, I'd probably end up crying over this if I acutally spoke to someone.

I also submitted my concerns and story to the New Zealand Herald.

Makes me think twice about using YouTube now.
 

 






"In the real world as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems" - The Book of Counted Sorrows





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kiwipearls

431 posts

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  #438161 11-Feb-2011 09:32
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I also cannot unsubscribe from this service as I have no credit.

I keep getting texts now that I have no credit.  I am utterly disgusted in YouTube.




"In the real world as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems" - The Book of Counted Sorrows





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gehenna
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  #438162 11-Feb-2011 09:33
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How is it YouTube's fault that you were conned by a popup?

geekiegeek
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  #438163 11-Feb-2011 09:34
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gehenna: How is it YouTube's fault that you were conned by a popup?
+1



freitasm
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  #438164 11-Feb-2011 09:37
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Could you please explain how did it happen?

YouTube doesn't run popups. Was it an ad on a YouTube page? Or was there any other page open in the background that might have spawned a popup?




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kiwipearls

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  #438165 11-Feb-2011 09:38
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Youtube should take some responsibility as the pop up originated on their site from typing in www.youtbue.com - there was no way to know that it was anything other than YouTube.

I use FF with popup blockers, noscript and have youtube as a trusted website.




"In the real world as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems" - The Book of Counted Sorrows





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johnr
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  #438166 11-Feb-2011 09:39
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Hi kiwipearls

Did you not get an SMS opt in message or reply to a SMS before credit was taken?

Can you please send me a PM with your mobile number / date /time you signed up to this service (scam)

Thanks John

freitasm
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  #438169 11-Feb-2011 09:45
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YouTube has nothing to do with you entering the wrong URL. You typed the wrong URL and then didn't look at the bar to see IT WAS NOT YOUTUBE at all. Following the link you gave this is the page I saw:



The URL clearly tells me it's not YouTube. It also tells me it's probably a scammer with an affiliate link to this SMS scam company.

As usual you are out of luck. Vodafone will say you subscribed to this scam service on your own.

In my view they are wrong. It's clear it was a false website to make you sign up for a subscription service, designed to get people to spend money on this.

You should reply "STOP" to these messages.

And Vodafone New Zealand should be ashamed they still allow Premium SMS services that can be so easily used to scam their customers.






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johnr
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  #438170 11-Feb-2011 09:47
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I am passing this over to the premium SMS owner in Vodafone NZ now this will also impact other carriers in NZ

John

SteveON
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  #438171 11-Feb-2011 09:47

I visited the same page about a month ago, very quickly realized it was a scam. How is youtube to blame? Should they sue the scam company for you?

kiwitrc
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  #438173 11-Feb-2011 09:49
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kiwipearls: Youtube should take some responsibility as the pop up originated on their site from typing in www.youtbue.com - there was no way to know that it was anything other than YouTube.

I use FF with popup blockers, noscript and have youtube as a trusted website.


Look at the address you typed in, its not You Tube its youtbue. Its one of those typo sites that feeds of mistypes. Sorry but its your fault not You Tube.

Looks like we were replying at the same time .

kiwipearls

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  #438175 11-Feb-2011 09:50
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Oh it is good to see nice people reply with constructive answers.

Hi freitasm,

I typed www.youtube.com into FF.

A pop up box then said "It is You Tubes 6th Birthday"

Meanwhile Youtube's site is blank.

Only way for anything to happen is click OK in the popup box.

Then you get the select your prize and go step by step from there.

It is not replicating the problem for me anymore.  But I got the same page 3 times earlier this morning.  I didn't think, that being on Youtube's site, anything malicious would be there. 

My machine is protected, virus free etc etc I use FF noscripts.  YouTube is one of my trusted sites.

I have just removed all my trusted sites now from NoScripts and re-trusting as I go again.

I tried replicating the probelm on my children's machine - 2 hours later and no popup.  So I am unsure if Youtube is aware of this and resolved it now.




"In the real world as in dreams, nothing is quite what it seems" - The Book of Counted Sorrows





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johnr
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  #438177 11-Feb-2011 09:53
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This is not related to a virus so your antivirus is not going to pop up and say this is a SMS scam!

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  #438178 11-Feb-2011 09:53
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kiwipearls: I typed www.youtube.com into FF.

A pop up box then said "It is You Tubes 6th Birthday"



Sorry, you didn't type YouTube back then. You typed it wrong in this discussion again, just look your reply above: www.youtbue.com. If you visit that page you will see it again.

It doesn't  say "It is You Tubes 6th Birthday", it says "Today is our 6th Birthday". Nowhere in the page it says YouTube. 

Sorry, but you entered a wrong address, and hoped it was an actual competition. Too good to be true, so it was.







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richms
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  #438182 11-Feb-2011 09:56
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You made a typo, nothing to do with youtube.

If you were charged on your mobile without subscribing then they do have something to answer. I am not about to go wasting money putting my number in to see what arrives, but johnr will be onto it and get it sorted, he is good like that.

complaining to youtube about this is like those people that complain to apple when their knockoff MP3 player they got at the markets doesnt work. Youtube have nothing to do with the site. They may be able to get it pulled using trademarks and passing off etc, but another one will spring up to replace it.





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  #438183 11-Feb-2011 09:56
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You should make a bookmark to youtube to avoid making the typo to youtbue.
Once you have entered the false address your browser will recall it and will try to auto complete it.

http://www.youtube.com is not www.youtbue.com

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