BBG Communications
Reviews and Complaints

I had made a 4 mins call from germany to germany yesterday from the Munich international airport for which almost 80 dollars ( roughtly 4800 INR) have been deducted from my account !

Why was so much money deducted for a local german call, it was not even a international call !

Why weren't the charges as written on the phone booth applied ? which were much much cheaper then deducted.

Why was money deducted thrice? Once on 17th June (when i made the call) and twice today when I haven't even made any calls. I had to finally block my card to avoid any transactions.

Please understand, I come from India and my money is very hard earned ! I await your response and my refund for the same at the earliest !

Hi I had to make a emergency phone call and the only phone box nearby belonged to BBG LUXEMBOURG and it did not accept cash so I had to use my credit card I dialled the number etc but the mobile I was calling was switched of an therefor went onto answering machine so I took my card bk from the machine and when I eventually got home I checked my account and I had been charged £5.50 for the 2 second call, I never even left a message.now today I've noticed a charge for £1 .60 on my account and I don't know why? As I've not used a BBG LONDON phone? I'm very angry as this phone box did not tell me any information about call charges from the phone it's disgusting!

I was backed into a corner a few days ago- I had a big problem back at home, my cell phone wouldn't work, the wireless internet wasn't working correctly for any of the five other people staying here with me, and I absolutely needed to get hold of someone back at my house. I saw this little card advertising international calling, and thought "it's my only choice, guess it will have to do." I called, entered my information, and was able to get everything resolved in about 8 minutes. I now have a THREE separate charges pending on my account, for a total of $140usd! Are you freaking kidding me? Talk about one heck of a surprise when the wireless working and checked my bank balance! There were no call rates posted anywhere in the place I'm staying, and when I called my bank (using Google voice calling, which I would have done in the first place if the wireless had been working, ) was told that I couldn't do anything about them until the charges posted to my account. I was exceedingly uncomfortable about giving my credit card into out over the phone, especially when they asked for my CVV, but I didn't have any other choice. This is apparently far from the first time something like this has happened, and it needs to stop. I will be disputing the charges when I get home, but it's doubtful that anything will actually get resolved. On a separate note, I would highly recommend google's voice calling feature. Anywhere you have access, you can sign up for the gmail account for free, download the call feature for free, and the call rate is only one CENT a minute to the US from anywhere in the world, and their rates are all put up in black and white just by clicking on the hyperlink in the call window. They even give you ten minutes free just for downloading the feature. Heck of a difference, I could have payed only eight cents for my call, instead of $140.

I was trying to make quick phone call from Frankfurt Int. Airport to Prague, Czech Republic. I used the pay phone at the airport, since I did not have a cell phone for Europe and I needed to make arrangements to be picked up. I used my master card, there was a quick display on German, so I quickly made a call, unable to get the rates and I was shocked to receive a bill today for S41.93. When Iooked the company up on the internet, I realized I am not the first one duped. Is there anything anybody can do?

I tried calling India from Bangkok International Airport. I tried couple of times but my call never went through. When I reached India I get to know that that I have been charged $49.10 on Nov 5, 2012. Adding to that I have been charged again for $.95 on Nov 7, 2012 by BGG.
But I was in India and not even using any service. Complete fraud.

BBG Communications
1658 Gailes Boulevard
San Diego, CA, 92154

RUDE, SCAM, RIP OFF, FRAUD.

This company is ripping people off everyday, letting deported ex-cons work with sensitive credit card information. If anybody reading this has used these services in the last year beware.

A few months ago an employee from this company was caught stealing private credit card information from people using this company's services. But he was allowed to work for days before he was fired. ABSOLUTLY NOTHING WAS DONE TO ALERT PEOPLE THAT THEIR CREDIT INFORMATION HAD BEEN AT RISK.

A canadian company called CANOPCO outsouces to this company. In example: A person in Calgary makes a call to Vancouver, using a credit card, thinking that it's a local service, like Bell. The operator is actually in Tijuana, Mexico. The customer will be charged over nine dollars just for connecting the call, and a dollar a minute after that.

And not only that. Chances are that you will be speaking to a deported ex-convict. This company hires this kind of people only because they speak english, and they never care if the ex-con is a thief, killer or rapist.

Also, there is this service for cell phones, called #TAXI (pound taxi). If you live in Canada, and have ever used this service, now you know why the #TAXI operators never seem to know what city is close another city, and you often have to repeat the name of the city.

Supposedly, this service helps you get a taxi where ever you are in Canada, faster than if you called a taxi service yourself. This is a lie. If you need a taxi in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver or Toronto, you will be transfered to yet another call center, to a recording, and it will be at least fifteen minutes before you speak with a live person. And this is supposed to get you a taxi quicker?

In short, this company is taking over telephone services even in Canada.

For international calls, this company's charges are outrageous. Up to $65dll US for the first five minutes, no matter if you speak for five minutes, or if you leave a thirty-second message on an answering machine, or even if all you get is a recording saying that the number you are trying to reach is not in service.

The payphones that this company places around the world are mislabeled on purpose. They all say that the cost of a call is $0.50 US. It also says that you can use your credit card. What it doesn't say, is that if you use the card, you will be charged over thirty dollars for a phonecall. The fifty cent rate applies only for a local call, no matter what country you're in. The fifty cent rate has nothing to do with using a credit card.

Before I quit from this company(two years ago), Visa was threatening to end all deals with the company, if better security was not implemented. In the last few months, security doors have been installed on the outside of the place, but they are still hiring US deportees, all ex-cons. What does it matter if the place is more secure on the outside, if client information is still at risk in the hands of people working on the inside?

Master Card demanded that the rates be lowered for its customers, and now, if you use a MasterCard, the charge will be of $21 US for the first five minutes. What a joke!

These people are scaming and ripping people off all over the world and they have the gall to call their discounts a "one-time courtesy credit adjustment".

Please, people, if you are going to travel abroad and need to make a phocall, make sure you know what phone company you are dealing with, and always ask for the rates of the calls.

Get informed on how to make international phone calls directly, so you don't have to use this company's services. The majority of the people get tricked into making calls through this company because of their-forgive me-ignorance on making direct calls. Don't use a payphone just because it's labeled in english. Instead, before you leave your country to travel, find out how to dial from another country to your home. Use local payphones, use local currency.

Much of time ignorance is the problem. Most people don't know the international code for a phone call, or even their own country code. So they misdial, they get transfered to an operator and because it is easier and faster, they just give out their private credit card information without knowing that they are about to get a very unpleasant surprise, in the form of exorbitant charges for phone calls that sometimes don't even get connected.

Complain to you credit card company, phone company. Tell everyone that this company is not even an american company. Don't let companies like International Satellite Communications get away with stealing your money. They have been doing it for years and will contunue to do it unless people wise up and put an end to this.

Get wise, get informed, and most importantly, don't get ripped off!

BBG Communications, Inc. is an industry leader in Operator Assisted Services and offers the most comprehensive billing and collection services available.

The company operates in over 100, 000 hotel guest rooms through out the United States, Mexico and Canada. BBG has interconnect and billing arrangements that enable it to directly carry and deliver telecommunications traffic and bill customers in Canada, Germany, Japan, UK and US and in every other country with credit card transactions.

I made a call from Australia and talked for 2 minutes. They charged me $200 for this. Don't use them or you will lose your money!

Judge Rules in Favor of Master Scammers and Scorns Honest American Citizens

Without regard to evidence, common sense, or the gross injustice inflicted upon hundreds of thousands of US citizens scammed by a company that exists to run a single costly but simple scam, federal judge Anthony J. Battaglia has dismissed a class action lawsuit against a family of international pickpockets whose only real business is in San Diego. The Galicot brothers Gregorio and Rafael run the worldwide payphone scam business BBG Communications, also known by up to one hundred fictitious names, most nefariously the Swiss sham and shell they call “BBG Global AG.”

I was one of the plaintiffs for this lawsuit. The implications of Judge Battaglia's ruling are immense. The message Battaglia sends is that an attorney can make grand larceny safe as well as profitable for his clients just by filling in all of the boxes correctly. Battaglia signals that justice and common sense have no place in consumer law. I know the evidence in this case extremely well. It shows beyond reasonable doubt that “the Swiss corporation BBG Global AG” is a total fraud designed to protect the Galicots from being brought to justice in the only place they can be brought to justice – the United States.

When evidence rests entirely with the plaintiffs but a ruling is handed entirely to the defense, something is very, very wrong. BBG Global is a shadow of a shadow of a shadow. It is a scam matched only by the BBG payphone scam itself. Battaglia wanted no part of the mountain of evidence that shows that the worldwide business known as BBG is simply the misdoings of the Galicot family that lives in its La Jolla mansions and scams from its large office at 1658 Gailes Blvd, San Diego.

Instead, his January 10, 2011 ruling took every word of Gregorio Galicot’s, quite possibly the world’s most successful con artist, at face value. Because Galicot says his businesses BBG Communications in San Diego and “BBG Global” in Switzerland are independent businesses, then they are independent businesses, or so says Battaglia. Reader, please Google “bbg communications” and “fraud.” Has a judge ever treated American consumers with greater disdain?

I have been charged the amount of 37 pods for a service I didn't use.
I do remember I used the card trying to make a phone call, that I never actually made, as the card was not valid.
I don't see why I should be charged all this money for litteraly nothing at all. That's call stealing.
Please refund me my money.
Thank you.

I have used BBG phone at Brusseles airport to call domestic in Belgium only, call was not connected and I have been charged 12.62 EURO for failed call

I'm in the US Army and was in port in Germany, on my way home to the US. I needed to call home to update my loved ones about our arrival time. The pay phone would not take my calling card and only accepted credit card. The charges were not explained or displayed whatsoever. BBG showed up in my account once on the day I made the phone call and again a few days later. I was grossly overcharged $75 in each of these account listings. I heard that some people were able to get their money back by going directly to their bank. I am going to try. $150 bucks! And why was I charged again days later?! A LOT of US Soldiers needed to call home in that airport. This company is BANKING off of people like us! Don't let them get you! Call your bank immediately!

I took a international phone call to Srilanka from Malaysia Kualalampur air port for a few miniutes using my credit card and the debit in my credit card shows $71.19 and another few days later i did not take a call and there is a nother $.95cents debited to my account this a total ripoff just for a few minute phone call.

23/04/2011 PENDING - BBG COMMUNICATIONS LUXEMBOURG LUX $0.95
20/04/2011 PENDING - BBG COMMUNICATIONS LUXEMBOURG LUX $71.19

I tried to make a phone call with my Credit Card on a telephone booth at Zurich International Airport.
I couldn't get connected and I cancelled the call, yet I was charged 20.70 euros for a call I did not make

I had to make a call from Brussels airport to France in order to warn my family of a flight delay.

I used my credit card on one of the public phones because I didn't have any euros on me.

I made 3 calls, which only 2 did actually went to the recipient... These latter ones were less than 2 minutes each.

The calls were charged respectively 15.96, 15.99 and 27.92 € on my mastercard ! Even the unreached recipient has been charged !

It's a total shame and a big lack of serious of the Brussels Airport to let such pirate companies (phones owned by the american company : BBG communications) rip off their passengers like that !

The communication fees are not even written on the telephones which clearly shows that these guys use a strategy of crooks !

Brussels Airport must kick these thieves out or we're gonna do so by our own !

BBG SCAM IS REAL! DO NOT USE ANY CREDIT CARD TO USE A PUBLIC PHONE! THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF ! SPREAD THE WORD. I WAS RIPPED OFF 30.00 FOR A 15 SECOND CALL . I COULDNT GET THE NAME OR ADDRESS OF THE COMPANY THEY WOULDNT GIVE ME A NAME OF SOMEONE I COULD TALK TO ABOUT THIS CHARGES. THE PHONE WAS IN WALMART! BECAREFUL OUT THERE PEOPLE! DONT USE A PAY PHONE UNLESS YOU HAVE CASH. SPREAD THE WORD EVERYONE.BBG IS A BIG SCAM COMPANY TO STEAL MONEY FROM INNOCENT PEOPLE!

I was stuck at the airport in Guangzhou, and placed four calls trying to reach my family alerting them to my change in flight. When i arrived and checked my banking account, I discovered that each one of these calls(less than 2 minutes each), cost $49.10. In total, i paid $200 for 8 minutes of phone time! I am currently having ym bank cancel these charges(which they hopefully will do).

It is even worse that this is the primary international calling company available on all phones in the airport

I used a thrid party (BBG) collect calling service in France. When I placed the call I asked the BBG operator the rates of the destination call. He told me there would be a $5 conection fee then 1$ american per min. I made 11 calls for total of 91 mins. Today Dec 8th 2010 i recived my phone bill. The collect calls using BBG totaled 750.00!
When calculating the cost at rates I was told that would equal $282.00. Far as I am concered Ihave been a victim of fraud by this company!

Class Action Against BBG Communications. Payphone Credit Card Scam
If you feel that you have been scammed and have a complaint against this company then continue to this website: www.bbgcommunications.info
and join the CLASS ACTION

BBG Communications overcharges thousands of consumers a day at payphones around the world .The scam is simple, their payphones which are in international airports and hotels list the price for coin calls, but there is no mention of the outrageous charges for credit card calls.
Unsuspecting travelers who use a credit card to make a call only learn when they get their credit card bill that the minimum call could cost over $25.Consumers tell us they also get huge bills for calls that don’t even go through
The company goes by a number of names, BBG Londoon, BBG Luxembourg, International Satellite Communications, BBG Holand, Faircall, NTCS etc. For consumers whatever the name, the outcome is the same, being stuck with huge credit card bills.

One of the reasons BBG COMMUNICATIONS are getting away with their activities is because the amounts involved per individual are insignificant enough not to warrant victims taking individual legal action. But a CLASS ACTION can be instituted on behalf of a large group of people collectively bringing a claim to court

Add your claim to the CLASS ACTION.
www.bbgcommunications.info

BBG COMMUNICATIONS are overcharging credit cards for telephone services and HEATHROW AIRPORT is receiving commission for allowing them to continue.
There are endless complaints on GOOGLE, BBG COMMUNICATIONS and nothing seems to be stopping them.

In my case, on the 3rd November 2010 I was charged 60 pounds for three local phone calls. The advertising signs on the phone booths are saying 60p for ten minuets but there is nothing to suggest that Credit Card use involves extra charges and certainly nothing to suggest that I was going to be charged 60 pounds for what I assumed would be a 1.80 GBP charge.
As a pensioner, 60 pounds is an extremely large amount to be robbed of. I contacted Heathrow police who informed me that it was a civil matter and there was nothing they could do.

From BBG COMMUNICATIONS website it would appear that Heathrow Airport are receiving commission for allowing this scam to continue and are therefore in league with these thieves.
From a little web reserch I find that BBG COMMUNICATIONS is owned by a mexican drug lord in Tijuan, Making Heathrow Airport in business with a drug barron.

It is a disgusting Credit Card Scam on unwary travelers and in my case a poor pensioner and must be stopped.

To All BBG COMMUNICATIONS Victims.

These people are preffesional SCAM artist. LET EVERYONE KNOW.

JOSE GALICOT from Tijuana is the Orchestrator. LET EVERYONE KNOW.

His new SCAM, Organizing a multi-million dollar convention "Tijuana Innovadora" in Tijuana. He and his partners will reap millions!

LET EVERYONE KNOW.

Let local Television TELEVISA Tijuana, 8, 9 10 in San Diego, and local government know who this group really are.

LET'S STOP JOSE GALICOT AND HIS PARTNERS MAKE $$$ BY SCREWING EVERYONE

Go to Tijuana Innovadora web page and post complaints.

Go to Tijuana Innovadora Facebook and post complaints.

Go to San Diego Tribune and post complaints.

And more. LET EVERYONE KNOW THIS PEOPLE!