RESTON, Va.-Qmobile Inc. snared $5 million in a Series B round of financing, the content provider and mobile marketing company said Monday.
The Grosvenor Funds led the round, with previous investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Draper Atlantic also participating.
Qmobile, which offers downloadable content and operates a text message-based chat service, said it will use the capital to expand its operations and invest in marketing and business development activities.
9 comments:
Qmobile and companies like these (Dirty Hippo, Jamster, etc) appear to be slamming their services to unsuspecting wireless phone customers. Many complaints have been filed with various government agencies on both the state and federal level. Complaints have also been filed with state public utilities commmission against wireless phone carriers for unlawful activity and conduct with respect to non-communication charges.
This is a multi-million dollar business for companies like Qmobile and unfortunately, consumers have been railroaded, at times unknowingly, into agreements which are considered unenforceable by the courts. However, because of such large profits gained by both wireless carriers and their vendors, and the lack of action on the part of government, consumers will continue to be defrauded.
Once action is taken by government or the carriers, revenue will be substantially lower for companies like Qmobile.
It's funny there are investor groups actually putting money into these companies.
I'm sure there's either another scam being put on by the investment banking firms to bilk money from individual investors and get large fee's for structuring the agreement or they are aware (inside information) that action against them will not be forthcoming for quite some time. There's probably alot more reason's too illegal for even me to understand.
One has to wonder?
We surely live in a world of the "golden rule."
I've been slammed by Qmobile. An unauthorized $5.99 showed up on my provider's monthly billing. In each of 3 months, I have called to be removed from the 'service' and have the billing removed. Q-mobile itself is very difficult to contact and any communication by me seems to generate more unwanted 'service' on my cell phone.
'anonymous' allows me to publish but no wish so to be. Write geor6@soon.com if similarly plagued.
I think you will find an opt-out feature to ALL text services.
Most require you to send a text with the word "stop" or "remove" to the text.
Find any text on your phone and you should see specific instructions on how to opt-out
I feel the need to defend this company because ringtone companies have been really slammed recently. The anonymous user said he/she was slammed by Qmobile with unauthorized charges. The fact is, it is ILLEGAL for a company to send ANYTHING to your phone that has not been authorized. Again, ask yourself...would a company with millions of dollars invested in it be doing illegal activity like that? The investors wouldn't take that risk and allow it. If charges appeared on your phone bill, you or someone used your phone to request content.
I don't know who investwiz and the other anonymous defender of Qmobile is, but I just got slammed today by QMobile, AUTOMATICALLY subscribing me to one of their $9.99 services. God only knows how they got my cell number, but I assure the two of you sycophants that QMobile is slamming cell phone users through text messaging. I'm with T-Mobile, called up immediately and opted them out, i.e. blocked all messages from ID 40100. T-Mobile is sympathetic to the Jamster and QMobile scams being purpoted on unsuspecting cell phone users. The problem is, as stated, there's no government enforcement of these illegal method marketers. My advice: Watch your bill closely and call for credit immediately. What is so sad about this, is that you'll notice how the burden has fallen on the cell phone service user to protect themselves from the marketers, just like with the DO NOT CALL .gov list. There's still enough breakthrough by these amoral wanna be legitimate businesses that you have to remain on bill guard. The slamming used to happen frequently for long distance services in the US until regulatory agencies finally put an end to it as the bubble crumbled for the telecoms. The same will happen to these fly-by night companies unless they change policy to legitimate transactions, i.e. people seek their services, not be hoodwinked into them by just having a mobile service with a major provider.
U reap what you sow QMobile. Change your policies or stay in Greece! You've been warned.
MOLESTING POSSIBLE with this highjacking of textmessaging. My fourteen year old daughter just got slammed by Q.She just deleted it and the company still charged 9.99. I had grown men trying to chat to my daughter. What about the pictures that other downloads can send. This brings molestation dangers to a whole new level. Our whole family now has blocked all text and internet services so that my kids won't be in danger. Qmobile and companies like it (Dada mobile)are lowsy investments. AND I think even the phone services are responible because they never warned us of this danger. Extremely enraged parent.
I just found out last week that Qmobile slammed me starting 6/30/6. They in no way had my knowledge or consent, despite what they say in their response to my demand for a refund:
"This message is to inform you that you have been unsubscribed from our service as of 2006-09-27. Thank you for your valued business!
Our records show that you became a Qtones subscriber on 2006-06-30 when you downloaded a ringtone or wallpaper image to your mobile phone. The Qtones service is a monthly subscription service that is marketed within the guidelines of the Mobile Marketing Association. As such, we are careful to ensure that the price ($9.99 per month) and terms and conditions of our service are clearly visible on our website and in all of our advertising, and we require a "double opt-in" from our users and confirmation that the user is or has permission from someone 18 years of age or older before we allow them to become subscribers. You can view our terms and conditions on our website at http://www.qtones.com/Terms.asp
As a result of the above safeguards, we are not able to offer any refunds to subscribers (or related parties) who did not abide by our terms and conditions.
If you feel that we made an error in our billing, please respond to this email with details of when the charges appeared on you mobile bill, the amount of the charges, and any additional explanation that will allow us to research your particular situation. We will investigate and get back to you."
It took me days on the phone with Cingular and their partner in crime, m-Qube, who passed on Qmobile's fraudlent charges, to even learn who was screwing me over. I never received any 'service' except 6 bizzare text messages that came all at once last week, something about cancer. I didn't reply to them in any way. I discovered Qmobile had been charging my prepaid account 99 cents a DAY since the end of June. The only way I found out at all was that my account kept running out of money and I wasn't using it. I'm complaining to NYS Attorney General's office about this. Qmobile can plead innocence all they want but they did this on PURPOSE and I'm not letting them keep my money, the thieves!
Hi, I recently discovered I had been being charged by Qmobile, about a month ago. I am in the process of reviewing old bills, and I am certain they have charged me for at least the last six months. I don't know who would defend this company, but I hope they burn in hell. This isn't a matter of money, this is a matter of dignity, and principle. If you steal from me, I will stop at nothing to take you down. I am contemplating starting a class action lawsuit.
who started it: This asshole from Greece, Leon Yohai, started a company called InternetQ in Greece, and managed to ensnare 18% of the market there. It was only a matter of time before he preyed upon unwitting American consumers.
How the "Scam" works:
First and formost the only stipulation on the website for subscription, is a phone number. No identity or age verification. No contract. Nada.
In my situation, I called their customer service, and I was told "I'm sorry sir, someone must have had the same phone number as you, and signed up for the service several months prior to it even being your number." When I inquired about how they intended to reimburse me the $50 or so they had stolen, she simply reitterated that it was out of "their" control, and that if I would give her my e-mail, "they" might send me a reply.
It's been over a week, and still no reply. My guess is that they will send me a similar message to the aformentioned.
Anyway, they fucked with the wrong man. I'm taking them down. I've already compiled quite a bit of information, including the home addresses of several Qmobile executives, and I intend to publish them.
Want to help me take them out? write me@outintheocean@hotmail.com
Another scammed.
I don't even have online capability to download any ring tones or subscribe. Never have I lost my phone or used the text so there is no way I or someone could have subscribed to this service. It's an absolute scam and if anyone sees a Premium Charge on their phone they don't know about, then contact them. I didn't pay attention to it thinking it was part of T-Mobile but those scammers have been charging me $9.99 extra for almost a year.
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