BBG Communications Phone Scam

120 thoughts on “BBG Communications Phone Scam”

1. I found this link trying to find info on this company! I have 2 charges pf $41 each for answering machines under 1 minute! Both of the charges are billed on days I was not even at the resort so maybe I will win my credit dispute I am going to file.
   How do I get a hold of this company? I do not even know their name beside Call from C Rica. If you have any information for me please contact me: berrybunches@cinci.rr.com

   Let me know if you have had any success also!
   Thanks so much

2. On 16 Sept this year I tried to phone from Bangkok International airport to my sick mother in Warsaw Poland.
   Three times I couldn’t get connection and three times I was charged 11.93 Australian Dollars for not connected calls.
   Finally I was connected and after few minutes talk I paid 41.99 Australian dollars – super expensive phone call.

3. I had a similar experience when i called my girlfriend in India from a phone from Brussels Airport.

   Call From Blgium Sep17 8005765402 $35.95

   This is complete swindling. I hope some one bring these companies to account for this.

4. I have been trying to get ahold of this company for 2 weeks now and they will not give me any infomation. They chatged me double what they said they were going to.

5. I just got back from Mexico and made three calls, two of them were under 2 minutes and the third call was to a voicemail, which I just hung up on. I was charged $41 for each call. I immediately contacted my bank and they got a hold of a BBG customer service person, who explained to me that I was charged $16 for connection and $5.99/min for min 5 min (regardless of call length) for each call. He then offered by a $56.85 credit, which I stupidly took. I found out after that I could have gotten all of my money back because I wasn’t informed of the cost for calling before I made the call. Since I accepted the $57 credit, I can’t dispute anything else.

   The moral of the story is, if you get a live operator, ask how much you will be charged. Never, Ever use your credit card to make an international call, and always remember, that you can dispute the charges and will more than likely get most of it back.

   The worst part is that this is an American company and it’s ridiculous that they get away with this obvious misuse of a monopoly market. I too am complaining to the FCC, the BBB, and the FTC. If I had the money, I would sue their pants off.

6. I recently got ripped off as well, looking for a class action suit to join.

7. I experienced BBG communication at London Heathrow last December. I have been charged 80 USD for 10 min of phone call in Germany !!!
   I sent a complaint to the airport and they directed me to BBG comm. I have been in contact with Noemi Olmos.
   She replied that before to make a phone call I should check the rates but this person accepted to refund 65 USD in the next 2 weeks…I am still waiting for the refund. Noemi Olmos does not reply to my emails neither to my phone calls…..I wonder if I will really receive this money back.

8. I have also been cheated. Two calls from Frankfurt Airport – one to Israel and one to the US. Each call was for less than 5 minutes. I was charged for 9 min on each call to give a total of $156. I lodged a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in San Diego. I also complained directly to Frankfurt airport and was put in touch with a Mr Ferdinand von Klocke (Ferdinand.Klocke@bbgcomm.com) who apparently is in charge of BBG in Germany. I have complained and asked for a refund. After reading a little more, I have learned that probably the best way to deal with excessive charges such as these is to contact your credit card company and dispute the charges. The CC company will remove the charges while they investigate. They then send you a form with which to explain the reasons you believe you have been cheated. In general CC companies tend to side with the customer and the onus is on the merchant to prove the charges are valid. In addition, each time a CC charge is removed the merchant is billed between $20 to $50 – this is called chargeback in the industry (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chargeback). Companies definitely want to avoid chargeback, as even if in the end they argue successfully, they may not recoup the chargeback. When communicating with BBG it is worthwhile mentioning that you are prepared to dispute the charges with your credit card. It might make them deal with your complaint a little faster.
   Good luck to all in getting your money back from these crooks

9. I recently went on a cruise which stopped in Cozumel, Mexico. At the port there are pay phones which only accept credit/debit cards spaced very close together, making it appear that there are few other options. The cheapest phone card that was available for purchase was $10 US. I only needed to make a one minute call back to the US so even this, I thought, was more than I needed. First I tried to use a prepaid gift card which had $9.00 US on it, to which an operator responded that a billing zip code was needed and gift cards do not have this. I finally gave in and used my debit card, got through and left a voicemail. I am now facing charges of $41.91 as well. This is outrageous – I have contacted my bank and they will be offering me a provisional credit while they investigate the situation – it does appear that the best thing to do is to contact your CC company or your bank’s disputed charge department.

10. Hi friends,

    Yes, it is happening every day it seems. I was waiting for my next flight at Brussels Airport and got scammed.Two short calls to Sweden SEK 400 total,about EUR 45.Brussels Airport is not acting very actively. just sending out an e-mail to the company. Will put pressure on my creditcard company and also go to the Police here in Sweden. I’m not accepting this!!!

    Bjorn Svensson
    Stockholm

11. I too had a problem with BBG. I called from Germany to Austria at the Frankfurt airport. I ended up being charged almost $300 for 5 calls (only one of which was actually answered). It came out to about $56 per phone call. Well, I placed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and recently had a phone conversation with BBG (I think; it could have been the BBB, but I don’t think so) and was told that all of my money would be refunded.

    I have to wait one to two billing cycles (1-2 months) to find out if that will happen, but it sound good so far.

    Note that all said and done, this has taken about 4 months, from when I made the calls to when I got my money back (I placed the complaint a month after the calls as I had been in Europe).

    Good luck!

12. I too had a problem with BBG.
    I tried to call from London Heathrow to St.Petersburg, Russia several times. It didn’t connect at all.
    I contacted the operator – he said my credit card was rejected (worked perfectly all the time).
    My credit card was eventually charged over $92 for NOTHING plus I have $60 in temporary authorizations.

    Then I used my debit card to call and they charged me near $30 for approximately one minute (well, maybe two)!

13. Cant believe it! A similar thing has just happened to me! I am disputing the charges via my cc company so fingers crossed somthing good comes out of it!

14. Me too. I was in Uk at a Hotel called The Herons nest in Birmingham. I made 4 calls some of which did not go through, and two that were disconnected halfway through the call ???? Of course I called back.

    So far I have been billed $ 375. Like everyone else I am complaining to various agencies.

    Better yet, I plan to start a website that will have email groups of the various agencies, pre written letters, Media letters, Hotel review web sites, class action attorneys, and much much more. This will help folks like us to fight back. It is only a matter of time that these guys are forced to shut down, and hopefully pay damages.

    The Hotels that do business with this company (many of the major chains)are just as responsible, and should suffer from lost business. The obviously make money from this as well. The Hotel review sites are very important to them, and often the first stop for travelers. I would urge everyone to call the hotel, and write as many bad reviews explaining the scam to their potential customers.

    A search for BBG will bring up my ad in Yahoo and Google adwords. Keep you eyes open for it. This isn’t about getting my money back anymore.

    Relentless

15. Yes i was interested in your BBG Communications scam at Heathrow,i had to call a hire car company after just getting off flight from Austalia i was charged 15.50 Aust Dollars for a 30 second call,as of course you have no change for a call which was a free call anyway??
    I am outraged by this company,even being very careful with using credit cards,i even thought about not using the card because of such companies but had no other way of getting my car at the time.
    Be careful out there.

16. Yep… BBG Communications charged me $14AUD for a 1-2 minute call to Australia from Heathrow. RIPOFF!!!

17. I too have been scammed by this company. I found their service is on offer in France Telecom call boxes throughout the country – dial *808 or something. Their how to call information is on display along with other legitimate information so I thought I would face a reasonable fee for the service. I placed three calls to Australia, in one of which the person on the other end could not hear me and I made the call again. The two successful calls were no longer than 10 minutes each. I have been charged a total of $A227.13, equivalent to about $US215.00 for these calls. I intend to dispute this at every possible level and expose this company as a thief from unsuspecting travellers.

18. Have been a victim of this same scam. I travelled through Frankfurt airport back in Oct 2007. Called home (Seattle USA)from a pay phone in the United Airlines Red Carpet lounge using my Amex credit card. The charge for a 4 or 5 minute call was about USD $6. Very reasonable.

    Travelled through Frankfurt again this month on June 12th, 2008. Based on past experience did not hesitate at all to go to the nearest pay phone in the terminal (unfortunately this time wasn’t travelling Business Class – so used a pay phone in the general area of the terminal). I returned back to Seattle yesterday (June 24th, 2008) afternoon and when I checked my online statement noticed that I was charged USD $71.00 for the call – couldn’t believe it. Called the telephone # for the merchant (BBG) and talked to a person who tried to convince me that there is nothing wrong with the charge. Immediately called Amex. Was told that they would begin a disputed charge investigation and in the meantime give me a credit for USD $60 temporarily.

    I made two more calls (second call because the first one got disconnected prematurely) on my return journey on June 24, 2008. The charges for these have not yet appeared on my credit card yet.

    Seems like this scam has been going on for a long time and innocent victims like us will tend to read this information only after the fact. We need to do something more so that the general public is aware of this and some proactive action taken to avoid the pain that each one has to go through.

19. Get used to it.
    This company is an international company so it doesnt run or follow the FCC rules neither the BBB rules on the US neither on any country, so theres nothing we can do about it.
    So dont waste your time disputing or making complaints to the FCC or the BBB or FCT cause it will not work trust me.

    By the way, and if everyone posting here has money to travel to parts like cancun, the caribbean or europe you have money to pay these charges.

20. Us having money to pay isn’t the point. BBG doing this is daylight robbery. I fully intend to dispute the charges and get a refund.

21. Charly or what ever your name is, do you happen to work at BBG?

22. fellow rip-offees!! i have just checked my credit card account to find an astonishing charge of 45 australia dollars for a 4 minute phone call from heathrow!! at first i thought it must have been incorrect but have since discovered that yes this is their true (extortionist) charges. I find this disgusting and hold both the company and BAA (operator of heathrow) to be b oth equally culpable. i have now set the wheels in motion with a lengthy complaint process to both BAA and BGG ,incidentally , BAA find this a little embarassing as well. Hopefully with a little help from my lawyer colleagues we can get this company punished or at least reviewed and in addition with a little pressure we can get airport operators to remove them as a providor for all telecommunication services within their operations.

23. I can add myself to the list of victims. Although I didn’t verify rates, the front desk at the resort I stayed in in Rocky Point Mex assured me that it was about $1.50-$2.00 per Min. I made Two calls, one was 4 min, the other a voice mail and my bill is just under $80.00. I probably will not fight it (4 months of aggravation is just not worth it). It is just a shame that company’s like this are allowed to operate in the U.S. with no repurcussions.

24. Not using my my real name, as I currently have a dispute with this company, as well. Charly, you apparently have a vested interest in this company, if you don’t actually work for them, and I resent your statement that we can obviously afford getting ripped off in a major way, if we can afford to travel to Europe. Many of us work a long time to scrape together the funds for a trip overseas, and are using every method possible to make it affordable (staying at youth hostels, couch surfing, scouring the web for deals that make travel possible), so to be taken by such an obvious predator is ridiculous. I saw this company’s stickers on all the pay phones I ran across in Austria and Switzerland, and I’m going to do whatever I can to get those taken off because they’re posing as an extension of the federal phone company and refusing to make connections with any reasonably priced method of connection. I argued with them when they wouldn’t connect with my bank’s collect number or any of my int’l calling cards. I thought I was using an federal company and wasn’t told of the full extent of the per-minute charge and certainly wasn’t told of the connection fee. I had a SIM card sold by a major mobile carrier that I was told would work in Austria but wasn’t told the card couldn’t be recharged there. Had I known that a short call to convey rendezvous information with a friend was going to cost the amount it would for 2 nights at a hostile, I would’ve left my friend wondering.

    This company is clearly a wolf in sheep’s clothing that deserves to be put down, consoling itself in the belief that it’s simply taking advantage of foolish Americans on holiday, who have plenty of cash to burn. Plenty of us live on fixed incomes, are backpacking and living like hobos (literally slept in the train station twice during a nine-day trip when I couldn’t find affordable housing) when confronted with the amounts required to make it through the Swiss economy, as things there literally cost 2-300% more than they do here. A phone call that costs 800-1000% of what it should and occupies 5-10% of your total trip expenses, especially when levied by a company posing as anything other than a boutique carrier posing to provide basic communication services at beyond-luxury rates.

25. I was in Frankfurt Airport after being separated from my friend on our way to our hotel, alone in a foreign country, I found a telephone booth, of course I had no change so I called using my debit card, I called my mom who didn’t answer and then I called my sister which lasted 1 minute (promise!) I have been charged 119.55 american dollars for about 2 minutes of use. I have just contacted my bank and will hopefully have the charges cleared up in 2-3 weeks!

26. Well why don’t you just add my name to this list… I was in Costa Rica from June 25th through July 2nd 2008. I used my debit card one time, oblivious to these ridiculous charges, and I settled for the one charge of $41.94 USD. That came through to my account on 7/7/2008. Fine with me… One crazy high charge for a very short phone call to the parents to tell them I was sick. (Whole different story) I wake up this morning, July 15th, to three new charges…41.89, 41.91, and 42.13… All USD. I almost threw a brick through the window. All three of these charges caused 3 overdraft charges on my account…each $36 USD to equal $108 USD. Wow… Now I’m almost $200 in the hole. I called my bank and thought it was fraud. They told me the company that the charges belonged to was, of course, BBG. I just did research and found this site. I find it completely ridiculous that no rates were presented to me. I am marching into my bank tomorrow, and I WILL figure this out!! NEVER USE CREDIT/ DEBIT CARDS INTERNATIONALLY!!!!

27. In Australia, called Japan twice. Neither call went through. Two charges for 40 USD each and a third random charge for 1 USD. Total scam. I studied the phone from which I called and did not see a reference to 40 dollar charges for calls that didn’t go through. It’s a scam – am hoping to successfully dispute the charges through my cc company.

28. Its a shocker!! I made one phonecall of two minutes from Oslo to Italy, and was charged $33AUD. The phone didnt even accept change, so I had no other option except to use credit card. Thanks for the information regarding complaints – Ill definitely follow this up. If only 10% of people don’t complain and get refunded, the company would still make a lot of money…

29. I found a charge on my bank statement from BBG Communications and could not think what it could be for, so I naturally searched. Now, I feel that I got off lightly compared to the experiences of others. Be warned that the international arrivals terminal at Melbourne Airport also uses BBG for credit/debit card phone calls. From Melbourne to New York State, a call of 2 minutes to notify family of my safe arrival – AUD$13. From my home phone, using my usual service, it would have been less than AUD$3.

30. I had the same experience while traveling through Frankfurt Airport recently. Got hit with a $60 charge for a 2 minute phonecall from Germany to the Czech Republic. Under NO circumstances should one use this company BBG. I have complained to the credit card company and will try other venues.

    Does anyone know if this company makes other fraudulent charges once the first one is placed ? I will try and keep alert to this.

31. I too used this company for two calls, because the phones would not take coins and for one call per country (one from Stockholm and one from Glasgow) it wasn’t worth (or so I thought) buying a phone card. Total cost of $160 for those two calls.

    Both were from hostels, who displayed these calling options. Such rip-offs shouldn’t be promoted.

32. I too got ripped off by one of those *808 numbers that appear on France Telecom booths everywhere. And I’d like to make it clear that I got to France under my professor’s funding for a conference. I definitely could not have paid for the trip on my own so neither can I afford those ridiculous fees.

    I arrived in Paris and the hostel’s (expensive) internet was either down or would not work function with my laptop, try as they might to make it. It was around 11:30pm and I really needed to let concerned persons in Canada know that I was alright. The receptionist pointed me to a Tabac across the street which turned out to be closed. As it was pitch-black everywhere I finally settled for calling to Canada using a nearby phone booth. France Telecom booths allows for the use of credit cards to make calls and I already expected to be slammed with something like $15 for a 6-8 minute call. That would have been fine for an urgent call like this for me. Unfortunately my credit card would not work with that machine (French cards have chips now). When I saw that official-looking sticker on the phone to Dial *808 for calls to USA, Canada etc, I thought it was the option that France Telecom has for people in my same predicament. I know I should have thought it over more but that doesn’t mean a company that takes advantage of people like that should be allowed to keep on making money. They charged me $85.19 for that call. And they didn’t post the charges until a long time later. By then I had the stupid idea to make a two more 1-minute urgent phone calls through them costing $39.80 each.

    The company involved here is called International Satellite Communications. Add the words “phone call” or “rip-off” to find a lot of other complaints regarding them. This is their phone number

    1-800-606-0486

    I have called them and they offered me some credit that would not constitute even half of the total cost of my phone call. When I didn’t accept this and asked to talk to someone else the man on the phone gave me his well-practiced

    “I know it is expensive, it is an expensive service. But you made the calls. Whoever you speak to here will give you the same answer.”

    I want to get my money back but more than that, I want this company exposed. I am writing a full article-style complaint against this company that I will send to them, magazines and newspapers. I’m also sending it to France Telecom and the locations where I found the *808 stickets: CDG airport and Centre Commercial Montparnasse. I’ll even send it to my credit card company because they advised me to just accept the credit since apparently “that company wins complaints like this all the time.” They certainly will if we keep letting them.

    If you have any ideas to help or have anything to add to my research please email me at:

    complaints.against.isc@gmail.com

33. I have exactly the same experience. I also called my family in Sydney on 3 Aug from Changi Airport, Singapore. I did not buy the phone card thinking that that might be expensive as I might not have used up all the credits in the phone card. So preferred to use my Gold Visa Card. Just checked the account and to my surprise the total bill charged to my account is about A$140. Talk time would have been hardly 15-20 minutes. These telephone companies donot display the calling rate, so you will never be able to know how much they are going to charge. Airport authorities should make it mandatory for the telecom companies to display their calling rates otherwise many more passengers will be ripped off in future like us.

34. Dear All

    I too have been a recent victim of BBG Communications. It is (nearly) impossible to find their website, which is suspicious. Can anyone give me their URL?

    I made a very short call, off peak charges, from a public phone in Ireland to Australia last month and have been charged more than AUD$64 – a thorough rip-off! A reasonable fee would have been about AUD$10.

    I have reported them to my card card company VISA International and also regulatory authorities.

    More than that, someone, some organistion, needs to expose BBG – whoever they are.

    D J Gleeson
    Sydney, Australia

35. I just returned from Ireland and found myself in the same situation!
    I tried making a phone call from a hotel I was staying at by pressing *22 or something like that. They didn’t connect me! It was dead air. So imagine my suprise when I got a call from BOA today saying that I had three charges for $41.90 on my account. I filed a dispute but I don’t think I’ll ever get my money back : ( which stinks, because that’s gas money to me at this point!

    Does anyone know if banks in general give refunds for this kind of thing?