Birch Communications Inc Unfair Credit Balance Refund Practices, Internet

I have been with Birch Communications for approx 6 years and have been a perfect client - always paying on time.  On January 19th 2012 I canceled my service.  Around February 20th I received my last billing statement (processed by them on 2/17/2012) which showed I had a sizable credit balance.  I waited several weeks, expecting that a check would be sent to me for this credit balance. 

Finally, today (3/9/2012) I called to find out if a check had been mailed.  The Birch representative said that their policy is they can take "up to" 90 days to send the refund.  And worse yet, the 90 days is from the date the credit balance was applied to my account - which was 2/17/2012 - which was already almost 30 days after I canceled the service. I told the customer service representative that 90 days wasn't acceptable to me, and she apologized, but said that nothing could be done. 

I asked to speak to a supervisor, and they told me the same thing.  I asked the supervisor if she thought this was a fair practice, and she would not answer, only saying it was their company policy.  I asked if it would be acceptable if their clients paid their bills 90 days late - and she said payments are different than refunds.  So the moral of the story is if you are a Birch customer and thinking about canceling the service do not pay the last bill that you receive. After canceling the service you will receive a final bill and you can only hope it's not a credit balance, because you will have to wait up to 4 months from cancellation till you get your money.