Review: Bomb Celly Text Service

Have you used the Bomb Celly text service (short code 50329), or have you received notifications from them you didn’t want? We’ve had a few complaints about users who say they’ve been signed up without permission, so we decided to take a look at this service.

Bomb Celly is a subscription service for your smart phone. You are allotted 100 “credits” per month for $9.99, which you can use for text alerts, wallpapers, and ringtones. Wallpapers, for example, require 10 credits. These services have a bad reputation for sneaking onto phone bills with their automatically renewing subscriptions, often without users aware of it for months.

Further details on their website read:

Available to users over 18 for $9.99 per month for 100 credits charged on your wireless account or deducted from your prepaid balance on AT&T, T-Mobile, Cincinnati Bell and U.S. Cellular. Users on these carriers will receive 3 alerts per week for text alert services chosen. Unused credits will not be rolled over to the next month.

Their website title reads:

Bomb Celly Portal:: Hottest Ringtones, Wallpapers, Text Alerts, and more

If you feel you have been signed up for this service without your permission, text STOP to 50329. You can call 800-235-7105 for automated help or call 800-416-6129 for a live operator. You may also want to contact your cell provider to block these types of subscriptions.

One odd note is that the website bombcelly.com was created on 3/21/2011 according to whois data, but their terms and conditions are dated three months earlier, 1/5/2011. It’s unclear why their terms would pre-date the website by several months, but perhaps the site was created from a template and these terms existed in a prior incarnation.

Personally, this author finds these types of services to be a waste of money at best. The wallpaper listed on the website is a very small selection, none of which was very impressive. Most smart phone users can get ringtones and wallpapers for free or very inexpensive, without the need for a recurring charge on their phone bill.

So is Bomb Celly a scam? I’m not able to say at this point. I certainly feel that it’s unnecessary. I’ve had reports of users successfully opting out using the STOP command, while others have told me they’ve had more difficulties.

What is your opinion?

We want your input. Have you used Bomb Celly? Tells us about your experience with it, if you found it useful, or if you feel you were subscribed to it without your permission.