BBG Communications Phone Scam
I got scammed by calling home from Costa Rica (off my Resort) for $200 bucks for 3 calls!! They were all under 5-10 minutes long, don’t get scammed on your next vacation. Read up a little, trust me! Its such a pain now trying to fight this company to get a refund for this. Never EVER use a Credit Card to call home, even from a 5 star Resort!
[ digg story ]
I made 3 calls from my Resort – Occidental Grand Papagayo:
CALL FROM C RICA MAR27 8005765402 39.80 (answering machine < 1minute)
CALL FROM C RICA MAR30 8005765402 89.52 (called my gf < 10 minutes)
CALL FROM C RICA MAR27 8005765402 66.27 (called home < 8 minutes)
For those 3 calls I got a grand total of $ 195.59 in charges!
Moral of this story is? There are companies out there that are ready to scam you, NEVER use your credit card because it allows them to KEEP charging you, and you have no way to stop it!
I am now filing complaints with the BBB (California), FCC & FTC against this company. They don’t even return any emails or phone calls.
After a great trip this is the only problem that I run into, its always something on a trip ain’t it?
How I got my money back
I’ve had a bunch of you post here seeking help, I fought my charges and got almost all my money back. Basically I lost money in the end on the US -> Canadian exchange.
What I did, was call them up ( 8005765402 ) place a complaint, tried to talk to customer service (they seem very well trained to handle this type of call). Basically she offered me a $15 dollar credit (yeah right!? I obviously didn’t take it, as accepting anything here would nullify you from further refunds). After searching like many of you have, I found a couple sites with ‘some’ info. And using that info I emailed:
Noemi Olmos => noemi@bbgcomm.com OR phone: +619 671 0199 [might work]
submitted a BBB complaint in the local operating area of BBG Communications.
In my email, I explained my next steps, BBB complain / writing local senator in the area / etc.
It took roughly 2-3 weeks, but she replied, I explained my situation (like many of us) we were not told of the charges, and that I felt like I was being scammed, she offered me a FULL (one time) refund.
Hope this helps many of you that are trying to find what to do after being scammed by this company.
What we could all do for others
I’ve had some thoughts on what we could do collectively (short of some kind of multi-national lawsuit) to curtail BBG or at least warn others, and my best idea is that we contact a local TV station in the area that does that kind of ‘local scams” reporting, and have them corner someone from BBG seeking information. Anyone have any other ideas? I feel too many people are getting burned on this.
Submit complaints at these sites:
BBB history and filing complaints:
http://sandiego.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=26&bbb=1186&firm=1040993
FCC filing complaints page (form 2000B):
https://esupport.fcc.gov/sform2000/formB!input.action?form_page=2000B
FTC filing complaints assistant:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
They hide under the following company names:
BBG Communications
BBG International
Call International
Call To International
Farecall Corporation
International Calling Services
International Communications
International Satellite Communications
National Telephone Collection Services
Network Opr Services
NTCS
US Satellite Communications
Their address [thanks Google Maps!]
BBG Communications Address
Map & Contact Info
UPDATE [12/04/2010] ———-
Looks like BBG Communications just got sued in class action lawsuit, took awhile for it to happen, but I am glad that it has finally been brought up in court. More details are in the PDF filing & http://www.bbgcommunications.info/. Enjoy!