TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Lingo (Primus Telecommunications) Horror Story

Lingo (Primus Telecommunications) Horror Story

Here's my VOIP phone story:

I signed up for Lingo on August 13, 2004. They've never sent me
equipment and they've never let me quit.

Here's what has happened. I've kept very careful records.

No equipment had been received by September 9, 2004. So I called to
cancel. I was put on hold by the "cancellation team."

Called numerous times to get through to the cancellation team.
Finally got through to someone named Michelle after days and days of
calling. This was on September 17.

She put me on three way hold to see if she as an employee could get
through to the cancellation team. She was not able to do so.

Michelle put a note in her file saying I had been trying to cancel for
weeks after she personally tried to get through to the cancellation
team 3 times.

By the time I spoke with Michelle, I had spoken to 7 different people
all with one objective in mind, to cancel.

Keep in mind that I never received equipment so I could not possibly
make VOIP phone calls.

On September 24, 2004, an employee called John tried to get me through
to the cancellation team. He failed.

I finally got a phone call from the cancellation team on September 28,
2004. Presumably this employee successfully cancelled me but this is
when the horror really started.

In early September, I wrote to my credit card company, MBNA, and
disputed the charge on my card.

The charge was 39.90 from August 14 and MBNA reversed it since I had
never received equipment, had since canceled, and could not possibly
make phone calls.

In total, Primus Telecommunications has charged my card a total of 4
times successfully. In addition, it has made other unsuccessful
attempts as well.

Each time the charge on my card has been reversed by MBNA. So far,
Primus Telecommunications has received zero dollars from me and has in
turn given me zero telephone service.

Today, I received a letter saying I've got 10 days to pay Primus
Telecommunications 61.99 or they turn me over to a collection agency.

Here's an excerpt from the letter:

********** Start of Excerpt **********

Our records indicate that some of your invoices with our company have
still not been paid. We want to give you a final opportunity to pay
your outstanding bills before we forward them to a collection agency.
If we do not hear from you in 10 business days, we will have no
alternative but to send your account to a collection service, which
may influence your credit rating or result in legal action.

************** End of Excerpt ***********

Any suggestions? Do I call a lawyer or the local television station
to be interviewed?

What would you do if you were in my situation?

Ed

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: This is just my opinion, but I would
say don't worry about the collection agency unless you feel like
giving them a hard time as well. Remember, an agressive debtor is the
best kind of debtor, and you are the 'debtor' in this situation. They
(collection agency) are hoping to make at least _some profit_ from
this account which was placed with them by the VOIP company. Let them
see how unrealistic that idea is. Yeah, I would say call an attorney --
but don't file suit; let Lingo file the suit, which is doubtful, then
you _counter sue_ which is always better. That action alone will blow
them out of the water, if they are typical of most collection agencies,
which frankly expect their bluster alone will convince you to cooperate.
And if Lingo induced you to provide them with a credit card number but
then had no intention of supplying you with an adapter, which it
sounds like to me, that amounts to fraud.

Do you have any tracking numbers from the shipment Lingo was supposed
to send you? Insist that Lingo prove someone signed for the adapter,
and how many times did you say they have attempted to charge your
account? Three or four times? That's how many instances of attempted
fraud they have committed if they cannot ever prove where they sent
you the adapter. PAT]

Path: telecom-digest.org!ptownson
Date: Fri, 22 Apr 2005 16:57:10 -0400
From: WV Cable Guy <pc_guru_eric@yahoo.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: For Sale: CATV Meters for Sale
Message-ID: <telecom24.180.3@telecom-digest.org>
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 24, Issue 180, Message 3 of 11
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For sale:

1x Sadelco MiniMax 800 forward path meter, excellent condition.
$600 negotiable including domestic shipping.

1x Trilithic RSVP2 reverse path meter, also in excellent shape.
$300 negotiable including domestic shipping.

Contact Eric at eric@eccd.net .

No phone calls please. This ad will not be monitored, so please do not
reply to it. Thank you.

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