BBG Communications Phone Scam

120 thoughts on “BBG Communications Phone Scam”

1. ditto to all the above. Military travelling through Frankfurt Airport and tried to use one of the phones to call home. Only got a voicemail and left a less than one minute message. Ended up costing $54. Only thing my bank statement said was call from Germany. It did not even show up on the bank statement until a week after the call. I urge all military personnel to let their leadership know and put out a warning about this. I am disapointed that I was not warned about this prior to PCSing. I can afford to eat it but a junior Soldier could put himself in real trouble by just making an innocent phone call home. I will ensure that I contact my fellow officers put this info out.

2. Same story here, I travelled back to UK for Christmas but after flight delays etc landed at London Heathrow when I should have been 300 miles away. Had to call Car rental co (UK call), my mother (2 UK calls as first went to answering machine) and wife in US. I used 2 different credit cards in a payphone (didn’t want to risk maxing one out as they’re pretty near the max already).
   I’m a Brit so I know what regular telephone charges are in the UK so was shocked when I saw the charges – almost $40 for the UK calls – regular UK charges (from a BT payphone using cash) would have been less than 2GBP (about $3) for those calls, charge for the US call was $81.95, using a BT payphone with cash this would have cost no more than 10GBP ($15 max), I know cos that’s how my wife and I communicated for almost a year UK-US before we were married.
   I challenged the charges with British Airports Authority and they must have passed my email address to BBG. Now I just received an email from someone called Noemi Olmos, she says (her exact words) she “is the person in charge of customer service for the company providing the telephone service at Heathrow Airport”. She gave her telephone number and asked me to call her or email her and give the first 6 and last 4 numbers of my credit card so she could investigate. I challenged her as her email didn’t look legit and she replied giving more info to ‘prove’ she is who she says she is. It looks like she thinks I am in the UK and is not counting on me actually calling her, as she gave her number in the format it would be used if I was dialling from the UK, I live in SC so will give her a call tomorrow and she what she has to say.
   I was pretty sure it’s illegal not to clearly post phone charges next to payphones in the UK so that’s something I need to check.
   Anyway, if any of you want to contact Ms Olmos, here’s her email address Noemi@bbgcomm.com and what she says is her direct line 619 498 9003. BBG Communications Office in San Diego CA is 619 661 6661
   If I get any more info I’ll post here.

3. OK, update on my LHR payphone ‘problem’.
   I had complained to the British Airport Authority and it appears they passed my email address to the company who runs the payphones at LHR (and just about every other major airport in the world) – BGG Communications.
   I also challenged the charge with my credit card co – Chase Mastercard – but they said they could do nothing without documentation (tried explaining that it’s not that common to actually get a receipt from a payphone…..but they didn’t understand my ‘humour’).
   I received an email from Noemi Olmos, ‘Customer Service Manager’ (not that they know anything about customer service!) at BGG Communications in San Diego CA and called her on her office number. At first she wanted my credit card number but I refused, she then asked for the number I had called in the USA and from that was able to bring up their record of the call, the next bit was pretty amazing. She told me that Mastercard had called BBG enquiring about the charge and then said that BBG were “working in conjunction with Mastercard and would be refunding the total charge…..in this case”
   I have a feeling that the cc companies are getting sick of BBG, after at least 7 years of customer complaints it sounds like they are putting some pressure on them to sort things out. It’s probably only 10% of people who get ripped off like this that actually follow through on a complaint, with the ridiculous profit margins BBG are making they can afford to appease complainants by refunding their charge (probably also prevents more ‘hits’ on the BBB).
   Anyway, here is the contact information needed for anyone who has been ripped off like this –
   For London Heathrow :
   Kam Dhaliwal
   Account Manager – Commercial Telecoms
   World Business Center 2
   Newall Rd
   Heathrow Airport
   TW6 2RG
   cellphone (+44) (0)7824 547399

   BBG Communications :
   Noemi Olmos
   Customer Service Manager
   BBG Communications
   email Noemi@bbgcomm.com
   Tel (direct) (+1) 619-498-9003

4. I guess I can count myself on the list for the expensive calls. I was thankful to be able to make a call in the Franfurt Airport last September when I missed my flight and my wallet was left in a taxi. I was screwed! However, I was able to call collect and sort things out. When I got home I was suprised with the bill and called the customer service the same day. I recieved a credit back for 50% the same week. I guess I am at fault to some extent as we all are. I would never purchase something in a store that did not have a price tag; i would ask for the price first. I should have done this first. Customer be aware of making purchases in a panic without knowing what you bought first.

5. I was staying in the Marriott Residence Inn in Mt. Tremblant, Quebec. I made a few calls from my hotel room to the States on Christmas Day. There were no notices of the cost of the calls, and I found out later my credit card was billed almost $300.00. I am disputing this with my credit card company and with the hotel chain.

   The name of this fraudulent phone company is: International Satellite Communications and it is located in Los Angeles, California, USA, with the phone number #1-800-608-0855. Call them and dispute the charges! Be firm about it and let them know you are going to contact your credit card company.

   Good luck.

6. I CALLED FROM GERMANY AIRPORT ( FRANKFURT) USING MY VISA CARD TO MILANO (ITALY ) FOR 2-3 MINUTES
   WAS CHARGED US $ 51.03 OR 65.05 CANADIAN.
   CALL WAS PLACED ON NOV. 14,2008.
   IT’S KILLER TO USE CREDIT CARD TO MAKE A CALL.
   CHECK THE CHARGES BEFORE YOU SHUB YOUR CARD IN THAT
   PAY PHONE. EMAILED THE PHONE COMPANY STILL WAITING.

   NEVER MAKE A CALL USING YOUR CREDIT CARD

7. I used my CC at a pay phone in Narita, Japan and the company’s name is BBG LONDON COMMUNICATIONS. I made one call and talked for 2 minutes and I am being charged $46. WTF. I called my CC company and they said nothing can be done until the charges go through since it is temporarily authorized at the moment. They didn’t even charge me for the day that I used my card. Hopefully, that is to my advantage. I will fight this to the end. motherf’s. Airports should not allow these scamming companies to operate. I will never use my CC at the airport again. cash only. unfortunately, many do not accept coins anymore. SCAMs. the airports probably take a piece of the profits too.

8. i called from london heathrow to new york city for about a minute or two just to let my parents know i arrived fine.. when i got back my card was charged about $46… WTF?

   i complained to my bank and made a dispute..and then i just found out that my bank cancelled the dispute.. i dont know what to do. i am going to call them up and see if i can get a refund now. this is ridiculous. i called them before they said you shouldve called the operator to get the rates. WTF is that?

9. also i think we should definitely start a class action lawsuit? any lawyers here that got screwed over by BBG?

10. update: I just called my bank and they said that because my call went through they are unable to credit me the charge because i used i agreed to their services once the call went through. They put me through to a representative at BBG and told me I had to speak to them. I know some people here said they only offer 50% of your money back but I spoke to a guy named Michael and he offered me a one time credit of the amount because I was unaware of the charges. I took it because I will NEVER use my CC at the airport again and forever i will tell everyone i know never to do the same. He said i should receive the credit in 15 business days. All CC companies are well aware of these scammers. It’s better to go through your cc then to BBG or else if you directly call BBG they’ll offer you shit. i also asked the BBG rep for a direct number instead of them funneling you through multiple times. best of luck to all in getting their money back.

    Next time, for those that call to notify their loved ones of a delay or whatnot. Give your family the flight number and tell them to check online. That way you don’t have to call.

11. Unfortunately i have to be added to this list. My husband and I do not have a cell phone, so we stopped at a local mall to call and check up on our hospitalized 7 month old and to call family to let them know how he was doing. We used the only change we could find (had no cash on us) but had to call back when the call wouldn’t go through and wouldn’t refund our change. Since we had no more cash, we used our credit card. The only charges posted on the payphone were 50 cents for local calls. We were charged over 50 dollars for 6 calls: 2 that were under 5 minutes, and 4 that were less than a minute (left voicemails). Now the credit card company is saying we can’t dispute it until it goes through, but they closed our card anyways “to prevent further charges”. What a crock! I will definitely be calling the numbers posted here.

12. I am in total schock!! And I feel raped!! I just took a look at my mastercard card bill after my Christmas trip return from the US to Poland through London Heathrow.
    $58.63, $8.82, $32.03, $79.04, $65.44, $31.42. Total=$275.38-were the charges for 6 calls, most of them less than 1 mins, to the US after missing my connecting flight to Poland (due to British airway delay from New York). British Airways left me in the lurch with 2 kids including an infant thus I had to call my husband in the US to make further flight arrangements for new.

    The payphones advertise 49p per call. I doubt it is legal for the payphone companies not to specify cash and credit card charges clearly on their equipment.

    I would appreciate any further advise from anyone on what else to do to recover some of the money.
    Anybody have the email to this Kam Dhaliwal guy? I am reluctant to incur any further phone bills for making international calls

13. I am yet another person who has experienced this same scam. I made two separate phone calls to the U.S. from a Frankfurt airport pay phone. Each call that I placed was roughly 5 minutes in length. So far I have been charged $75. There was no indication on the phone about the rates. Thank you for sharing your experiences & getting this info. out to the public. I have already contacted BBG and am planning to dispute these charges with my credit card company.

14. The same thing happened to me as well. I can’t believe this!!! $41.99 for a minute call from Rome airport to Cyprus. I have yet to file a complaint. Has anyone been successful in getting thier money back? Please let me know: zalina49@hotmail.com I would gladly join any group complaint against them.

15. Does anyone actually read the post? Half the people lately keep re-asking the same question of “Has anyone been successful in getting their money back”. And I’ve stated that it took me 2-3 weeks and the process is above. Come on people, read! 😛

16. same here hubby made a call from Germany on his way home from the “sand box” already working with the bank on this one. Everyone else that’s military remember to go to ACS ( consumer services) and let them know whats going on. As well as the FTC has a special unit that only deals with military complaints.

    Hopefully the bank will side with us.

17. I contacted their company rep and got a full refund $275.00 for calls I made at Heathrow on new years day. Her name is Neomi Olmos and she was very helpful.
    B’lala

18. I have just received my credit card bill and see over $225 for three phone calls made from an NH hotel in Netherlands. There are stickers/ cards next to the phone for “cheap calls to Canada-US” so of course not wanting to use the hotels’ phone fees….thought I was being smart. I just called my cc company and they advised me first to get in touch with the company and then if that was not successful to try them. The company has offered me $80 back. Cal lme crazy but I’m thinking that $145 for a half hour chatting with my boyfriend (in three attempts as it hung up on me twice) is still a bit excessive so I will keep on trying!!

19. Also very interesting that their website has NO information about their business/ services, just contact information and advice on how to submit your request/ question about their charges. http://internationalsatellitecom.com/

20. Hi everyone,
    one week ago I returned home from my trip to Paris. I had to use the BBG booth at the hotel’s hall (IBIS, Porte de Clichy) and called home to the Far East (Sakhalin island, near Japan) and talked about 10 minutes. There was no any clear information about the rates on the sticker, just something like “other – 1,80 €”. I thought it would be not that much for calling on such a distance. Later I called from CDG airport from the same BBG booth (approx. 5 min). I had a connection in Frankfourt and called from there using some Deutsche booth – actually I don’t know which company did it belong. $3 have been pended on my account and in 4-5 days there was no charging from my card. I found through google and yahoo all these complaints about BBG communications and really got nervous because there was no money on my account and I didn’t want to get into an overdraft. I called to my CC support centre and they told me that May 12 there had been 2 requests from BBG San Diego for $71 and $0.95 for the calls (as I understand) made in (attention!) LUXEMBOURG! The payment didn’t occur as there wasno money on my account. They advised me to block and the reissue my card. I’ve asked if they would fulfil the request of BBG as soon as I put some money on the account but they told me no, they wouldn’t.
    I highly recommend everybody who used BBG TO REISSUE THEIR CARDS!!! Here’s a link for an article written by their ex-employee, she says they steal data from your card in order to charge it whenever they like.

    I hope I’ve put an end to this story because it seems to me that BBG is making their money thanks to those who do not complain. Personally I’m going to write some complaints to ACCOR management and CDG customer service.

    http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/445/RipOff0445598.htm

    Thanks everyone who doesn’t keep silence! Be careful and never use your credit cards for international calls.

21. Seems that $41,91 is their usual amount. My card was debited for this amount for less-than-a-minute call from Fiumichino (Rome) to Moscow and after I immediately cancelled my card, there was an attempt to debit my card for the same amount. I filed a complaint to FCC and disputing the transaction with my bank.

22. We just got back from Mexico on Friday. We stayed at a horrible resort called the Catalonia Riviera Maya . . . and the bad vacation just won’t go away!!!! Like most people we work very hard for our money and look forward to our vacation. I am very annoyed that some jerk above wrote that people that go to the Caribbean must have money to pay these charges. That is just so ridiculous! I have the same story as most of you . . .when we got from Mexico, we realized that our cell phones did not work. They worked on previous trips, but for some reason not on this trip. At the resort the Catalonia Riviera Maya there was a hard gray plastic instruction stand-up podium thing by the telephone. It looks very official like it is from the resort. It tells you to dial 4 numbers and press the star to make an international call. It says that you can pay with a calling card or a credit card and it is $2.90 a minute. I tried to reach my mother on her cell to let her know that we made it to Mexico okay. I got her voicemail. I left a very brief message saying that we are here. I thought that $2.90 a minute was outrageous, so I just left a very quick message! Later in the week, I tried to call her two more times in the evening to check on our pets. Each time I got her voicemail, I just hung up. I didn’t even leave a message in hopes that I would be charged less then $2.90. For two of the phone calls I used our Chase Visa Card and another time I used our Target Visa card. When we got home from Mexico we had several messages from the Chase Fraud Department. I got on line and saw two charges that said “Mexico Phone”. Each charge was for a little over $41.00. I called Chase and they put me on the phone with the merchant. I chewed him out and asked him how he can work for such a disreputable company? He was a big time loser! I don’t think anything I said to him fazed him at all. I am a kindergarten teacher and I consider myself to be pretty calm and patient but I wanted to jump through the phone and kill him! I never even talked to anyone and they want me to pay over $120! I was on the phone for 5 seconds each call. We are disputing the charges with Chase and Target Visa. I spent all day reading all of yours and other complaints on the internet. The disreputable company that the Catalonia Riviera Maya and other resorts promotes for their international phone calls hides under lots of different names the ones that I have read the most about are the International Satellite Communications and BGG Communications supposedly located in Los Angeles, California, USA. I wonder if the Catalonia Riviera Maya receives money from this Telephone scam? I have no proof of that, but why would they have these instructions by the phone in their resort? One review said that the owner of the company was some Mexican dishonorable business man. I could see these resorts getting some kick-back for promoting the scam. Did you know that Better Business Bureau has given them an “F” rating and has 596 complaints filed against this company? Why has nothing been done? Some of the complaints that I have read go back to 2006? I am thinking about compiling all of the complaints I have read and sending it to 60 minutes or Dateline or something.

23. I had the same thing recently happen to my son during his deployment. He stopped over in Germany and called just to let us know he was ok. Being young, first deployment, and unware of this scam he fell for $150.97 phone bill. Well, I have written to everyone you suggested and I will not sit back and watch our servicemen fight for our country and receive this type of repayment for this services. More people need to step up and write their senators, etc. and let them put an end to this fradulent scam.

24. I made 4 calls from a Holiday in Express in Cancun Mexico … and was charged $240.70 for it.

    I called the 1-800-606-0486 and here is what I found ….

    – $15USD connection fee regardless of length of time connected.

    – 5 Min Minimum charge regardless of length of time connected. ( They can give you the rate they charged. Mine was $5.83USD/min (highway robbery in this day and age))

    – They can tell you length of time charged and rates applied, but not under the 5 min minimum.

    – First refund offer was 36% of the total charged.

    – Max refund supervisors are allowed to authorize is 50% of your total charged.

    – To get what I felt I was owed they have to launch an investigation into the charges. This would take 30 -60 days.

    – Stay on hold as long as it takes, be nice and keep waiting for their best “offer” to recoup at least some money. Ask to speak to the supervisor about your problem and have what you feel you are owed and why firmly in mind.

    So my story is … I used the phone in my Holiday Inn Express hotel room a total of 4 times. I was connected to my girlfriend for 20 mins during one of those times. That charge was $15 connection fee and $3.88/min. Way more than I think any company should be charging these days, but thats a different argument for me. The other 3 times I used the phone I got busy signals. For those I was charged $15 connection fee and paid $5.83/min for a minimum of 5 mins, totaling $41.90 per phone usage. This is what I have a serious problem with.

    I admit I did use a service that I didnt research. I simply assumed that the rates were competitive, and I paid a hefty price for that assumption. But $120+ in charges for services I didn’t use is theft in my eyes.

    I took the 50% refund, as the difference would have been an extra $16.45 that I feel I was owed and a 30 day wait with the possibility that I wouldn’t get anything back after the “investigation”. After reading the above comments and talking with this company, I truly beleive they would find a way to refuse what I feel is a reasonable refund request.

    I hope what little info I learned in dealing with this company so obviously devoid of any ethical business practices helps a few people navigate towards getting what was wrongfully and knowingly taken from them.

25. @Crazy Chester, you should have just followed the steps that I’ve outlined, not sure why people fall for the ‘we will investigate and only give you 50%’ bit, they will refund your money, I got all of mine back, and only got burnt on the US to CDN exchange…

26. BBG Communications are running all the phones for Protea Hotels in South Africa. Be careful — if you make a call from their hotels in 2010 during the World Cup Soccer you will be charged a $41 connection fee.

27. Another one bites the dust. Brussels Airport 3 calls about one minute each. Will follow Jakubs advice and complain to the company. Will also complain to Brussels Airport.

28. I too was ripped off by this company just a couple days ago. My husband and I were coming back from Italy and had a lay-over in Frankfurt International Airport where we called home. Six attempts to connect to my sister at home in Maryland were done on my CC. Three attempts to connect were done on my husband’s CC and a final call that got through was on his as well. I was charged $31.77 for EACH of the six calls that NEVER connected. I made SURE I hung up before the answering machine picked up. The three calls that didn’t connect on my husband’s CC were also charged $31.77. The one call that did go through and lasted for approximately 15 minutes only cost pennies under $17.00. I will NEVER again make an international call from a pay phone using my credit card… ever again. I am following the advice of the initial blogger and am attempting to get the charges removed. As it is New Year’s Day, I cannot get in touch with my bank, but will do so first thing tomorrow to dispute the charges and report them as fraud. I am amazed at how many people have been scammed by this particular company and that nothing is being done to prevent them from these fraudulent acts.

29. i have just been riipped of by these scamming b*****d’s. i made a phone call which lasted under 20seconds and have been charged $59 my phone call went like this, ” hello could you please come and pick me up from the shops my mobile battery is dead, thanks” then i hung up and disconnected the call.

30. mother f¿¿¿??=((&/%&$%·”·!·$”·%s i was on my online bank acount and saw a $49.95 charge o my debit card from a luxemburg crap company i just made a less than a minute phone call ,my husband and i never cary cash specially when we go to Baja so for my bad luck my mobile battery died so i used on of those public phones that claimed to just charge a dollar for international calls ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaa im so angry im guessing im gonna have to get a new debit card .

31. I just got back from the BVI’s to find $300 in charges on my card for six phone calls. Three were successful connections less then 3 min, and the other three just voicemail… and all the same $49.10 charge. There was no signage around the phone and nobody working in the area knew the fees… someone said “the operator” would tell me the charges before connecting but no such luck. It makes no sense and i no longer have the cushion i need back home until the next paycheck. I’m so frustrated.

32. File a complaint with the BBB of San Diego. Takes a few minutes but they will contact BBG for you a couple of times. They successfully got me a full refund of $85 for my two one minute phone calls!

33. made two international credit card calls at Kuala Lumpur Airport. One didn’t get through, the other last for less than 30 seconds. I was charged 65 Canadian dollars. My CC company said it was my fault not to ask how much it would cost. I called 1-800-608-0855 and they only agreed to give me back 26 credits.

34. A quick update for people looking to make calls from Frankfurt airport.

    I got scammed by BBG the first time I transited through. This last time, I realized a few things:

    1) DO NOT BUY the calling cards from the machines around the airport. They have calling card vending machines right next to the payphones. As absurd as it is, these calling cards DO NOT work on their own payphones. The 800 access number on the card is blocked from the payphones. So its a complete waste of your money.

    2) The rates for the payphones are clearly displayed on the LCD phone displays, and these are the cash rates. In theory, disputing the charges from BBG should be trivial if we can get a screen shot of the LCD displays. The display says that calls to the US are $1 or so per minute. Unfortunately I did not have a camera, so could not take a shot. Can someone who sees this please take a shot and post it?

    3) And for folks who actually need to make a call… USE COINS. I got a few Euro coins at the money changer, and called home for a couple minutes to the US for just 2 Euro. Best of all, total peace of mind that there are no hidden charges.

    Hope this helps someone out there.

35. I too was scammed at Frankfurt airport. I filed a complaint with Better Business Bureau (BBB) in San Diego and copied BBG Communications on all my correspondence with the BBB. BBG sent me a couple of vaguely threatening e-letters, one of which told me I had 7 days to reply with my credit card number, otherwise they’d consider the matter closed. I immediately forwarded this letter to the BBB. Voila! Within 3 days I had a conciliatory letter from BBG and a nearly full credit on my account (less about $4 for the original call). I don’t know what the BBB did or said, but it worked.
    Good luck!