BWI*BOINGO WIRELESS

Learn about the "Bwi*Boingo Wireless" charge and why it appears on your credit card statement.

First seen on April 13, 2012, Last updated on February 1, 2016

What is it?

BOINGO WIRELESS is a Wi-Fi provider, giving their customers access to Wi-Fi Internet connections almost anywhere. Customers can purchase one of their monthly plans, a free trial that automatically turns into a PAID monthly plan after the trial period expires, or select one of their Pay-As-You-Go options for Wi-Fi access. Most people use Boingo's services while traveling.

I fell into the same trap, thinking I was on a month free trial but didn't realise that it converted to paid after the first month - now cancelled with a small refund (2 months)

My Boingo account was created when I purchased a temporary wifi package at Gatwick airport in London. Nowhere on the information I saw did it say that it would roll over into a monthly recurring charge. Fast forward 8 months later I see a $10.98 Canadian currency charge on my monthly bill listed as BWI*BOINGO WIRELESS, phone my credit card company to investigate and they tell me about the monthly charges dating back to the previous year. While I do strongly disagree with this type of baited service hookup... when I spoke to Boingo customer service they were actually very helpful. My account was switched ovwer from a monthly charge to a 'pay-as-you-go' one time charge if I ever need to log into boingo again from a similar location. I also asked, since they could see on their end that I had only ever logged into my boingo account that first time 8 months previous, if they could refund the rest of the charges and within 5 minutes they issued the refund to my card.

Just posting this to explain to people how they may have been signed up without realizing it, and that the customer service department there actually can help you. Just be sure to ask for a refund for all months of service you never logged in for.

Can you help? What is this charge?

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