Ringtone Ripoffs

If you own a cell phone, chances are at some time or another you've downloaded a ringtone or a game.  99.9% of the time these come from another company and not your cell phone carrier, which is why it's called "third party content".  When you download a game or ringtone the charges appear on your bill, and when you pay your carrier (Sprint, AT&T, Alltell, T-Mobile, etc) sends the money to the appropriate company.

With billions of cell phones in use, this is of course a very lucrative business.  The profit isn't in the initial sale of the ringtone or games - it's in the "renewal".  Most cell phone games nowadays aren't available for one time purchase, you have to pay for them by the month.  Once you buy a game - many companies will automatically bill you for it month after month until you cancel it.  Ringtones are even worse, enticing you to buy one at a discount or for "free", and then you get billed $9.99 (or more) per month for a ringtone service "subscription". 

Signing up for mobile and cell phone services is so easy, and so difficult (in many cases) to unsubscribe from - these third party content providers have often resorted to "cramming" (charging you after you unsubscribed, or even if you never signed up).  That's why you see more and more class action lawsuits like the Third Party Content Settlement.

Like it details in this Consumer Smarts article, carefully review your cell phone bill each and ever month and make sure that you don't have any unauthorized charges.  If you signup for any third part content or service, be sure to read all the terms and conditions - including "the fine print".  Last - if you need to, call your cell phone carrier and see if they will block text messages or third party content and downloads.