Bloatware charging me money!!

[psychicdroid]

I recently got 2 Droid X's. On the X is an app called CityID. You can't remove this app because it's preinstalled, yet if you ACCIDENTALLY hit it when scrolling through your app drawer it charges you $1.99!!! I have 2 charges on one of the lines with the X, and all that was done, was it started up because of an accidental click when scrolling through the drawer. It was immediately exited out of, so maybe it was open for 5 seconds and it charges $1.99!!!

 

[itzkr0me]

It's a recurring fee, and it ties into Verizon. I'd call 611 from the phone and have them reverse it if possible.

 

[mwhartman]

Moved to the X general discussion section

 

[scf]

best thing to do is to root and get rid of it.

 

[psychicdroid]

It's a recurring fee, and it ties into Verizon. I'd call 611 from the phone and have them reverse it if possible.

Recurring fee? I didn't sign up for cityid. It came on the phone. If it's a recurring fee shouldn't I have to DO something to be charged this fee?? Seems to me like buying the phone shouldn't automatically start charging you for something like this. Plus why is it just ONE of the X's, why not both?

 

[scf]

Welcome to the new world. Be on your guard.

 

[hookbill]

I'm not certain but I think Verizon handles City ID. Give them a call.

 

[turdbogls]

I would Root and get rid of the app and other apps that you dont use. or if you are using Launcher Pro, go into menu, prefrences, general settings, hidden apps, and hide that app and any other app you dont want to see. this will stop you from accidentally hitting it in teh future. this method is free and wont possibly mess your phone up (even tho rooting is fairly safe)

 

[NeoandGeo]

It's only doing it on one X, because at some point you agreed to the $1.99 charge. It is very easy to do, I pulled my phone out of my pocket today, and it was on the screen where I had to click " buy for $1.99 a month" or "continue free trial". After that crap I got rid of the app. It's very shady how they have it set up, and probably on the thin line of legality.

 

[itzkr0me]

Very shady indeed. If argued, they'll definately refund, and if you put up a stink, they'll probably give you a discount on your next bill...

 

[psychicdroid]

I called them and they are doing a one time refund. Here's the kicker, CityID is supposed to have a 15 day free trial. If I count the day they got the phones, the free trial ended yesterday. So why did I get charged for Nov when they had the phone for only 3 days AND it was during the free trial?

It was clicked on twice by accident. Neither time did the app fully launch, as soon as it started the back key was hit to get out of it. I'm still curious why we were charged because at no time did we accept the usage of this app, and it never worked. At no time did the city and state where the call was coming from show up. So not only were we charged to USE it, it didn't even work.

 

[hookbill]

I would Root and get rid of the app and other apps that you dont use. or if you are using Launcher Pro, go into menu, prefrences, general settings, hidden apps, and hide that app and any other app you dont want to see. this will stop you from accidentally hitting it in teh future. this method is free and wont possibly mess your phone up (even tho rooting is fairly safe)

City ID is an app that you have to have in order to accept an update. So probably changing the extension if you root is the best idea.

City ID apk does not install like all the other necessary apps do. I do however have a programs that's suppose to work with Clockwork to do the install so if anyone is interested I'd be happy to send that to them.

 

[turdbogls]

I would Root and get rid of the app and other apps that you dont use. or if you are using Launcher Pro, go into menu, prefrences, general settings, hidden apps, and hide that app and any other app you dont want to see. this will stop you from accidentally hitting it in teh future. this method is free and wont possibly mess your phone up (even tho rooting is fairly safe)

City ID is an app that you have to have in order to accept an update. So probably changing the extension if you root is the best idea.

City ID apk does not install like all the other necessary apps do. I do however have a programs that's suppose to work with Clockwork to do the install so if anyone is interested I'd be happy to send that to them.

you are correct...changing the extension or using titanium backup (paid version) to freeze the app is the best thing to do.

 

[hookbill]

I called them and they are doing a one time refund. Here's the kicker, CityID is supposed to have a 15 day free trial. If I count the day they got the phones, the free trial ended yesterday. So why did I get charged for Nov when they had the phone for only 3 days AND it was during the free trial?

It was clicked on twice by accident. Neither time did the app fully launch, as soon as it started the back key was hit to get out of it. I'm still curious why we were charged because at no time did we accept the usage of this app, and it never worked. At no time did the city and state where the call was coming from show up. So not only were we charged to USE it, it didn't even work.

Yeah, I saw that "free 15 day trial has expired" thing. But you admit you accidentally hit it twice so whether it launched or not you got charged. I wonder about the 15 day thing too, when did it start?

 

[psychicdroid]

Neither X has gotten the free trial over thing yet. Yes I admit it was opened while scrolling through the app drawer twice. However, I did not agree to anything. I did not subscribe to this service.