MCI The Neighborhood big ripoff false promises Iowa City. Iowa

My former local phone service, (not cell phone service), was with Bell South. When all the tacked on charges were added up at the end of the month, my bill was $32 without any long distance calls.

I received a call from MCI stating they were going to begin giving local service with a new program called "The Neighborhood", and that if I changed over to them my service would only cost $19.99. I SPECIFICALLY asked if there would be lots of extra charges tacked on like Bell South does. I was told NO. Now I expect the taxes to be added, which would be in the three to four dollar range. I received my first bill last week. The total: $39.70 I had $2.31 of long distance charges, but even without that, the bill will still be several dollars MORE than what I was paying with Bell South. There is a mysterious charge on the bill called "Surcharges" totalling about ten dollars, and I also have to pay $5 a month to have long distance service, even if I do NOT use it. I called the customer service number, and after waiting 15 minutes, I finally got a representitive. I told him that I was VERY upset that I was mislead as to how much lower my bill would be with MCI as compared to Bell South. I asked him to explain the "surcharges", and got little for an answer.

I told him I was LIED to by the MCI salesman that wanted me to change to their service. All I could get in response was a completely insincere "I'm sorry". I told the customer service person that I was not an idiot, and did not change services in order to pay MORE money, and that I would soon be leaving their service and would contact everyone I knew about their deceptive practices. His response... "that's not a problem". Have you ever been so MAD that if it was possible to pull someone through a phone and beat the crap out of them you would do it? That was my feeling, and still is.

So if MCI calls you to switch to their local service, slam the phone down and walk away!

Steve
Jackson, Tennessee