IPLA.TV / Polsat S.A. - POLAND ONLINE TV SCAM WARNING

UPDATE - see the message below. Polsat / IPLA did the right thing and promised to refund the money for the event.

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It has been reported that ipla.tv (owned by Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. - the major TV provider in Poland) has been scamming Polish and foreign customers by not providing the online streaming services for which they paid. The alleged scam may be intentional or not; however, it has affected a number of unsuspecting buyers. The following is a review of Ipla.TV and the Cyfrowy Polsat online (they cooperate with Redefine Sp. z o.o.).

Here is how the alleged fraudulent activity may work:

1. A potential buyer goes to ipla.tv to buy a PPV service. The service is supposed to be valid for 24hrs from the purchase time.

2. Since ipla.tv / Cyfrowy Polsat only accept specific Visa and Mastercard payments (in addition to bank transfers), most Poles living abroad ask their relatives to use their own bank or card to purchase the service.

3. After the payment is completed, ipla.tv sends an email to the account owner with the password / access code to view the show. Here is an example of such an email (the original is in Polish; it's translated into English):

IN ENGLISH:

Dear Client,

On 08.11.2014 you have purchased an access to Polsat Boxing Night. Transaction number: 213XXXXXX/ABYYYYY.

Transaction amount: 40.00 PLN
Your access code: XXXXXXXXXXXX

To active the code, enter it on boks.ipla.tv or within the IPLA application after the event has started or right now after logging into your IPLA account.

Notice: the show will only be available on the same device the code has been activated.

If you have any questions, write to us at: kontakt@ipla.pl and include the transaction number in the email.
The Terms and Conditions of the Polsat Show: ipla.tv/docs/Regulamin_PBN_IPLA_20141024.pdf

Thank you and we welcome you to IPLA.

IPLA team

Cyfrowy Polsat S.A / Ipla.TV. is located in Warsaw, ul. £ubinowa 4a, 03-878.

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IN POLISH:

Drogi Kliencie,

W dniu 08.11.2014 r. dokonałeś zakupu dostępu do Polsat Boxing Night:. Nr transakcji: 213XXXXXX/ABYYYYY.

Kwota transakcji: 40.00 zł.
Twój kod zakupu: XXXXXXXXXXXX

Aktywuj dostęp wpisując kod na stronie boks.ipla.tv lub w aplikacji IPLA po rozpoczęciu eventu lub już teraz po zalogowaniu się na konto w IPLI.

Uwaga: transmisję obejrzysz wyłącznie na urządzeniu, na którym aktywujesz kod.

Jeśli masz pytania, skontaktuj się z nami, pisząc na adres kontakt@ipla.pl, w treści emaila podając numer transakcji.
Regulamin dostępu do Usługi Polsat: ipla.tv/docs/Regulamin_PBN_IPLA_20141024.pdf

Dziękujemy i zapraszamy do IPLA.

Zespół IPLA
________

Cyfrowy Polsat S.A. z siedzibą w Warszawie, ul. £ubinowa 4a, 03-878 Warszawa, Sąd Rejonowy dla m.st. Warszawy, XIII Wydział Gospodarczy Krajowego Rejestru Sądowego, KRS 0000010078 NIP 796-18-10-732 REGON 670925160, kapitał zakładowy 25.581.840,64 zł w pełni wpłacony

5.Now the fraud reveals - the system recognizes that the payment was made, but doesn't provide a way to watch it! Attached is a screen-shot proving that - the text says: 'DOSTĘP AKTYWNY' (ACCESS ACTIVE) but it won't allow to view the show. The same happens after installing the Ipla.tv application which runs directly on your computer system.

PS. In the activation email they write: "Uwaga: transmisję obejrzysz wyłącznie na urządzeniu, na którym aktywujesz kod." (Warning: the stream will be available only on the device / computer you are activating the code.). They send the activation code by email to the account holder (who is not necessarily the payer), but their system intentionally ignores that (despite the fact the account holder, NOT the payer, activates the code). And the payer DID NOT use the activation code to watch the event; they logged out right after making the purchase without doing any other operation. It could be because they already have the money and don't have to spend extra resources to make the show available.

In the end, Polsat / Ipla have their money and the buyer is screwed with little or no recourse. Hopefully this warning will prevent them from defrauding other Polish people living abroad.

• 
  No Ipla / Polsat access
  

Boycott Polszmat and Ipla! What a sham. May they both go bankrupt.

You can watch it here albeit not the best quality: wiz1.net/channel12

They simply have no legal rights to broadcast tv out of Poland. I thinks its somewhere mentioned in the proces of payment.

It's not the case here; they write this: "Gala będzie dostępna dla użytkowników z całego świata." (The show will be available to the users around the world."

UPDATE:

1. Emails sent to the Ipla.TV / Polsat 'customer service' (messages were sent to: kontakt@ipla.pl and kontakt@cyfrowypolsat.pl) remain unanswered. The victims have also tried to call their support numbers, but the signal was either busy or not working. The numbers they tried:

Centrum Obsługi Klienta (Customer Service Center):

Stationary phone: 801 08 08 08
Cell phone: 699 00 2222

Redefine Sp. z o.o.: +48 (22) 516 21 00

It seems Polsat / Ipla / Redefine are counting the money of both 'legit' and scammed customers, as reported by gazeta.pl:

Polsat Boxing Night Gala, which featured the fight of the evening could be seen only on pay- per-view for 40 zł . This is an event of one of the largest audience in the history of PPV in Poland - says Olga Zomer, a spokeswoman for Digital Polsat / Ipla.TV. Unofficially, we learned that in the Digital Polsat access purchased more than 100 thousand subscribers.

Pay-per-view, which is a service that allows viewing of the event or program after paying for it in advance, is increasingly being introduced by television operators in Poland. Also Saturday gala Polsat Boxing Night was shown in this technology. Access to the event had not only subscribers Cyfra Polsat subscribers, but also Polish cable operators such as: as UPC , INEA and Multimedia Poland, who were able to sell access to their customers. - We are very pleased with the financial results.

wyborcza.biz/biznes/1,101558,16945620,Adamek___Szpilka__Polsat_sprzedal_ponad_100_tys__dostepow.html

100 thousand subscribers paid for the service, but how many have not been able to use it? With absolutely no explanation - once you pay them, you lost your money and have no recourse to get it back.

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BUT there is more. A number of scammed users have noticed a new trend in Polsat / IplaTV shady operations. Their long-term strategic goal is to spam the popular social media websites (especially Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter) using the bait-and-switch tactic (commonly used in air travel advertising: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch). It is obviously a dishonest way of luring unsuspected visitors into making a purchase, but why would they care. What they do is to have their sales persons interact with other visitors, reply to their questions, giving recommendations, and posting a 1-minute videos. It all sounds nice and fuzzy because it gives a (false) sense of legitimacy of the business. However, the same person is also on alert and all he does is to search Youtube to make sure their 'copyrighted' videos aren't being uploaded by third parties. So on one hand the sales person pretends to be a friend, while in fact he/she would search all tricks in the laws to report videos that allegedly infringe their copyrights and possibly put in jail the same ones they call their 'friends.'

No wonder they don't have time to reply to defrauded customers emails or phone calls. They are busy spamming the Internet with a false positive image. Sadly, if they continue their shady operations in the current way, their efforts will be fruitless and their reputation in Poland and abroad will always be poor.

The ironic thing is, the people who reported this scam have tried to do the right thing and pay for the 'legal' online streaming service instead of seeking free streams on 'copyright-violators' websites. They have learned their lesson and would not pay a dime to the Polsat / Ipla.TV operations again in the future.

PS. It may happen that Polsat / IPLA.tv may want to contact this site and ask to remove the review because they may claim it could cause an 'injury to their reputation.' However, since the site is hosted in the US, the US laws apply (not sure, but EU laws may be similar). In general, when a business has a poor reputation, it cannot claim an 'injury to their reputation.'

Source: abbottlaw.com/defamation.html

The reputation of Polsat / IPLA.TV is very poor. Here are some opinions posted on various websites about them (translated from Polish to English); several scammed customers use the word 'PolS/it' or 'PolTrash' as a play on words to describe Polsat and their services:

- "Polsat are thieves and piece of crap!!!"

- "I will post on every forum about Polsat and their fraudulent activities."

- "How to remove invalid charges unauthorized by me and made by Polsat?"

- "POLSAT is a bunch of greedy pigs and trash"

- "Writing about these criminals is a waste of time; they are nice only when they want you to extend your subscription."

- "FU*K THESE RAGPICKERS FROM POLSAT"

- "Polsat took 40zl from my account and now they are threatening me that they will block my card if I don't pay the fee."

- "All viewers should boycott Polsat"

- "I've been swindled by Polsat too"

- "I can confirm that Polsat TV are a bunch of CROOKS!!!! Nothing but problems; they are con artists, thieves, and they prey on people's bad luck!"

- "I will never become Polsat subscriber."

- "POLTRASH - this is their real name"

- "We need to start a class-action lawsuit so that they refund our money and learn how to respect their customers."

- "Polsat company have stolen from me by deception, too."

- "Polsat should get investigated for their crimes."

If that's not enough, ask Google! On Google.pl, when you enter the words: "Polsat to" ("Polsat are"), the SECOND suggestion is: Polsat is scam. Since Google's automatic search suggestions are based on the volume of all searches related to the keyword 'Polsat' then you can imagine how many users have been victimized by this terrible business.

Again, it's a pity that this company has originated from Poland and it still manages to find enough naïve subscribers to fund their miserable services.

UPDATE

After contacting Polsat customer service again, they finally started a procedure to refund the money. Below is their message. In the end, if the money is refunded, they save their face their reputation may only improve.

IN POLISH:

"Witamy,

Przykro nam za wszelkie problemy, które uniemożliwiły Państwu nieprzerwany dostęp do gali bokserskiej Polsat Boxing Night. Pragniemy zapewnić, że dołożyliśmy wszelkich starań, aby usługa była świadczona nieprzerwanie i na najwyższym poziomie.

Mając na uwadze Państwa satysfakcję, informujemy, że w ciągu 14 dni nastąpi zwrot środków na konto, z którego zakupiony został dostęp do usługi PPV."

IPLA / Polsat Group

IN ENGLISH:

Welcome,

We're sorry for any problems that prevented you uninterrupted access to the Polsat Boxing Night event. Please be assured that we have made every effort to ensure that the service was provided continuously and at the highest level.

Bearing in mind your satisfaction we announce that within 14 days we will be refunding the money to the account from which you have purchased access to the PPV.

IPLA / Polsat Group

UPDATE 2:

Ipla / Polsat refunded the money. Thank you.

• 
  Polsat / ipla.tv are fraudsters
  

Merged: How to watch ipla in Canada?

How to watch things from ipla in Canada?

Hola Better Internet app for Google Chrome, always works for me and BBC iPlayer.