Dear all,

I've checked the forums and fund some messages regarding this topic, however nothing quite close to this particular issue.

The fact is that today my underage daughter received a Mahnung of 100 euros from Premiun Content GMBH for a supposed year subscriptio to my-downloads.de (from 11.09.09 to 11.09 2010). They claim this to be the second bill they're sending asnd thus charge 5 euros of Mahngeburen.

My daughter swears that she hasn't been subscribed to that service, however when we go to their page we realized that they offer download of free software and in the small letters they say that by clicking on the DOWNLOAD you accept to pay the year abonement of 96 euros. Then it's just a matter of filling out your name, address, email and age. And that's what get fishy, how in Earth an underage child can subscribe to the service? Well I have to say what my daughter just admitted...she gave an older age (the subscription only accepts dates older than 1990).

I'm really disappointed of my daughter falling into this trap as we spent hours and hours explaining the dangers and risks of internet and why she should never, ever, give personal information nor downloading anything without our permission. Nevertheless, I think that something can be done in order to avoid paying that subscription as it was a carried out by a minor (on top of everything: the contract "Laufzeit" is for 2 years!!!).

I thought about consulting a lawyer but we'll probably end up paying more than the 100 euros, but I don't want to give up w/o trying something against.

Has anyone on this forum had a similar experience? What would you suggest us to do?

Thanks a lot for your comments/advices.

Best to you all
Ari

Hi,

Some days back as far as i remember it was reported on SAT1 in AKTE09. This company is already black listed. Please contact verbraucherzentrale before going to the lawyer.

Best Regards

Hi
This is a well known SCAM in germany and I heard the following solution from a friend (though i am not sure its the right solution or not).

You have to reply to such letters/email in one single line that, you don't agree with their statements (i mean subscriptions etc..).

Just one line no explanations needed.

Once its done, you are safe. They will never go to a court. Even if they go, they never win....

thanks

Just forgot to mention never ever pay even if they send another Mahnung.. They just test your patience...

You are not the only person trapped. There are millions in Germany

@arianna

i was in similar situation, went to verbraucherzentrale and met the lawyer, explained everything to him and he gave me a letter format and asked me to send it to this xyz company (offcourse with einschrieben i.e. registered post with delivery confirmation receipt) and thats it, they never bothered me again. As according to German laws, until and unless someone personally signs a contract and give his/her details, this contract is not legitimate.

Here is the letter format, just add your name and that company's details and post them,...Good luck!!
------------------


Absender:
PLS ADD YOUR NAME HERE

Anbieter:
PLS ADD XYZ GMBH's namd and address here

Ihre unberechtigte Forderung
Rechnungs-Nr. PLS ADD invoice number here


Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,

mit Schreiben vom XX.12.2009 machen Sie einen Betrag in Höhe von XXX,- Euro für die angebliche Inanspruchnahme einer Internet-Serviceleistung gegen mich geltend.

Ich bin jedoch davon überzeugt, dass ich keinen - zumindest jedoch keinen kostenpflichtigen - Vertrag mit Ihnen abgeschlossen habe.
Sollten Sie andere Meinung sein, so weisen Sie mir bitte nach, wann und wie es zu einem Vertragsschluss gekommen sein soll, wie Sie mich gemäß den gesetzlichen Bestimmungen zum Fernabsatz belehrt und informiert haben.

Nach Inaugenscheinnahme Ihrer Homepage habe ich festgestellt, dass der Preishinweis versteckt ist, offenbar in der Absicht, unentdeckt zu bleiben. Es hat den Anschein, als werde die Leistung kostenlos angeboten. Weiter fehlt es an einer ausreichenden Widerrufsbelehrung.

Den angeblich abgeschlossenen Vertrag fechte ich vorsorglich wegen arglistiger Täuschung an. Zudem widerruf ich diesen Vertrag hilfsweise nach den Vorschriften über Fernabsatzverträge. Höchst vorsorglich erkläre ich die Anfechtung wegen eines Irrtums über den Inhalt der abgegebenen Willenserklärungen, hilfsweise kündige ich fristlos.

Von Drohungen mit einer unberechtigten Strafanzeige oder einer unzulässigen Eintragung dieser bestrittenen Forderung bei der Schufa sollten Sie Abstand nehmen, da ich mir ansonsten rechtliche Schritte gegen Sie vorbehalte.

Eine Zahlung werde ich nicht vornehmen.

Mit freundlichen Grüßen,

PLS SIGN HERE, and add date as well
----------------

@ Ari

No worry!! We had the same problem 2 years before and we just went to VBZ and they gave us a template , we filled that with our address details and faxed it to the company.

We then never got any thing back from that 'Scam company'

Do not panic!!

Regards
Rajesh

Dear all,

Thanks a lot for sharing your views and experience.
After reading them, the Panic has fade away.
Thousand thanks to Raj2009 for pasting the text of the letter. It's just unbelievable these thieves are all around and no concrete action has been taken to stop them. I did just a short research and found out that this "firma" has been put several times on a "warnung" and blacklist from VBZ. Nevertheless, there's an estimated of about 22000 citizens loosing their money every year to these people.

The best to you all
Ari