LebGeeks

mikasa

Member

Alfa dark patterns/scams

Hello ,

so i wanted to update a game on my laptop , i decided to subscribe to Alfa data booster "$5 for 2 hours , unlimited MB (which is not, there is a quota of 50GB and thats another dark pattern on its own )" and stream data to the laptop

i subscribed to the service on 9:07 pm

after 2hours and before it expires i went to the kitchen , i thought obviously it is gonna expire and thats it . But when i came back i found thats it still downloading  , immediately grabbed my phone and turned off the hot spot.

then like bunch of messages start coming in :

As you can see , it's because of this shitty service called "pay as u go" i wasted my precious fake dollars .

But the thing is i remember myself disabling a service that i have never heard off , so i dug deep in my messages :

and here it is , enough said.

Hybrid

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Call them, send them a tweet with this thread, comment on their FB posts, annoy the crap out of them

LifeEngineer

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Didn't the 1st message clearly say that "Afterwards, you will be consuming from your active data bundles if any"?
LOL they warned you...

But seriously yes it's annoying as hell and the rates are CRAZY! 0.15$ for 1MB! 1!!!

I paid twice like 100 to 200$ each time, for additional MBs.
I have a 10GB bundle.
I once wanted to upload a video so I did a huge mistake and gave hotspot to my PC from my phone and left it to upload during the night. The video uploaded was still within my 10GB. Unlucky/stupid as I am, there was a PUBG update... Ended up with like 3 additional GBs which translated roughly to around 180$...

YES, they make all of their efforts to milk money from anyone/anything!

vengeance666

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Didn't the 1st message clearly say that "Afterwards, you will be consuming from your active data bundles if any"?
LOL they warned you...

But seriously yes it's annoying as hell and the rates are CRAZY! 0.15$ for 1MB! 1!!!

I paid twice like 100 to 200$ each time, for additional MBs.
I have a 10GB bundle.
I once wanted to upload a video so I did a huge mistake and gave hotspot to my PC from my phone and left it to upload during the night. The video uploaded was still within my 10GB. Unlucky/stupid as I am, there was a PUBG update... Ended up with like 3 additional GBs which translated roughly to around 180$...

YES, they make all of their efforts to milk money from anyone/anything!

He clearly had his pay as you go service deactivated since april in the last picture in his post, while they still milked him out with pay as you go several months later. As far as I know, when you deactivate a service it should not under any circumstance reactivate without notice or knowledge of the customer.

Mayyad

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Hello ,

so i wanted to update a game on my laptop , i decided to subscribe to Alfa data booster "$5 for 2 hours , unlimited MB (which is not, there is a quota of 50GB and thats another dark pattern on its own )" and stream data to the laptop

i subscribed to the service on 9:07 pm
https://test-123.s3.fr-par.scw.cloud/Wh … 10-08.jpeg

after 2hours and before it expires i went to the kitchen , i thought obviously it is gonna expire and thats it . But when i came back i found thats it still downloading  , immediately grabbed my phone and turned off the hot spot.

then like bunch of messages start coming in :
https://test-123.s3.fr-par.scw.cloud/Wh … -08-1.jpeg

https://test-123.s3.fr-par.scw.cloud/Wh … -08-2.jpeg

As you can see , it's because of this shitty service called "pay as u go" i wasted my precious fake dollars .

But the thing is i remember myself disabling a service that i have never heard off , so i dug deep in my messages :
https://test-123.s3.fr-par.scw.cloud/Wh … -08-3.jpeg

and here it is , enough said.

How much did you achieve to download within 2 hours?

AVOlio

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

On the day of the explosion, it was my last day to recharge my touch card.
I usually recharge it online through their website / app and don't bother buying from stores.
My job is considered to be a first responder personnel for a local government institution.
We covered 16 hour shifts on the day of the explosion and the day after that.

In all the chaos, i kept trying to recharge my card online many times, but neither their website nor app was working (I'm guessing damages from the explosion) and I didn't have time to go and search in the local shops, plus the one or two shops that were open didn't have any.

So in the process, I lost 30$ worth of credit and 5Gb of mobile data.

mikasa

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Call them, send them a tweet with this thread, comment on their FB posts, annoy the crap out of them

they asked me to dm them , never heard back

Didn't the 1st message clearly say that "Afterwards, you will be consuming from your active data bundles if any,

YES, they make all of their efforts to milk money from anyone/anything!

i'm not subscribed to any data plan , yea this scam is a money printing machine

when you deactivate a service it should not under any circumstance reactivate without notice or knowledge of the customer

its making them a lot of easy money , why should they stop it ? even if they get exposed , they know there is no punishment . right ? they dont care

How much did you achieve to download within 2 hours?

since there is no 4g coverage in my area i managed to download 7 GB only , the speed was 1~1.5 MB

i kept trying to recharge my card online many times, but neither their website nor app was working I'm guessing damages from the explosion

and that's another big issue , that shows how fragile these companies are

potato

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

My opinion is that you are in the wrong since you knew about this service way before. The pay as you go service was activated long time ago. However you didnt care about it (u were always turning data off so it doesnt charge you extra) and now you knew this service will cause to pay alot more

user

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Noob question. By USD they mean an actual USD cash or lolar or do you still buy cards at 1500 LL?

mikasa

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

My opinion is that you are in the wrong since you knew about this service way before. The pay as you go service was activated long time ago. However you didnt care about it (u were always turning data off so it doesnt charge you extra) and now you knew this service will cause to pay alot more

No, i never knew what this service exactly do, i discovered it while exploring "*111*" , i found it in the active services section and i was like wtf never heard about it , what it do or if it is a paid subscription . so i disabled it .

mikasa

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

Noob question. By USD they mean an actual USD cash or lolar or do you still buy cards at 1500 LL?

Currently it is still at 1500 LL .

xterm

Moderator

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I've been through this before with them as well and I talked to everyone in the supports' chain of command and no dice. My charge went up to ~250$.

They will not eliminate that charge, at best they will tell you to pay it in installments.

rolf

Member

Re: Alfa dark patterns/scams

This is funny, considering that every time my monthly package would automatically renew, anything I was doing was being interrupted, and I would have no 4G until I restart the GSM radio (they will tell you to restart the phone but just cycling airplane mode would do).

Alfa is a shitty company, they have a gazillion confusing options on their site...

I took a UK number while I was there. They sent me a SIM by the post, I just had to activate it online it took a couple of minutes. They have just a few plans on their site. I could do everything online, never had to call no stupid support and answer stupid questions. I never had a pay a cent for "keeping my number". Actually it is wrong, I had to pay for keeping it,  I have to send an SMS or make a call once every 6 months otherwise I will lose it, so yeah it costs about 10 pence to keep the number for 6 months.

Alfa and MTC as well probably are not competitive the only reason they still exist is that they have a monopoly backed by the law.