Zone Telecom, Inc. Billing Ripoff! Cherry Hill New Jersey

I finally got a response from Zone Telecom (a.k.a. Zone Telescam) to my most recent request to close my late father's account. He died in September of 2008, and at this point in time OVER SIX MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE I FIRST WROTE TO ZONE TELECOM TO CANCEL HIS ACCOUNT!!!

The ZT customer dis-service rep who responded to my complaint said that ZT is an internet-based company, and it always promptly cancels service when people request cancellation over the internet. The funny thing is that my father never used a computer in his life, or a credit card, or a debit card. He always paid his bills with good, old-fashioned paper checks. So did I, in the case of what I hoped would be the the last ZT bill. I even paid a couple of additional bills AFTER my first attempt to cancel in writing--on paper--using pen and ink, hoping against hope that a little overpayment would make this parasitic company finally leave me alone.

ZT now claims that because I didn't cancel his account over the internet, I didn't really cancel it!!!!!

It will be interesting to see what the Public Utilities Commission and Attorney General of the state in which my father resided thinks of this.

My advice to anyone needing to cancel any type of financial account is to do so promptly in WRITING, via U.S. Certified Mail, postal receipt requested, AND by fax, AND by email. Keep all the paperwork, because corporations have become so crazy these days that if they think they can screw you, they will. When they continue to come after you, complain promptly to the appropriate state regulators.

My late father, who died in September 2008, was a customer of Zone Telecom. He did not use computers, and depended on paper bills, which he always paid promptly. After he died, the post office held his mail for almost a month until I received court papers appointing me as the Personal Representative of his estate. The very same day I retrieved his latest Zone Telecom statement from the PO, I paid it and informed this company in writing that my father had died, and I wished to cancel the account.

This is that subsquently happened:

Zone telecom ignored my request to cancel service, as well as a subsequent request in a telephone call a couple of weeks later. They continued to bill me monthly, and, although my father has been dead for over seven months,
THEY ARE STILL BILLING ME!!!! I not only paid my father's final bill, I also paid three subsequent bills I received AFTER I requested TWICE (in writing and on the phone) to close the account. THEY WILL NOT STOP BILLING ME!!!

This makes me wonder how much dough Zone Telecom rakes in after (in my case LONG AFTER) a customer made good faith effort to cancel their Zone Telecom account.

I will, of course be taking this matter up, albeit belatedly, with the Public Utilities Commission in the state where my father died.

My advice to anyone who has been appointed as the Personal Representative of an estate is simply this:

1. Cancel all commercial accounts promptly in writing via VIA U.S. Certified Mail, return receipt requested.

2. Do not assume good faith on the part of merchants, especially large, impersonal corporations. Corporations are running amok these days, and many of them are out to scam, cheat or screw every nickel and dime they can possibly extract out of their hapless customers. Report abuses on utility bills PROMPTLY to your state public utility commission.

3. When you first acquire the death certificate, make a bunch of copies, because in extreme cases, only a DC will actually engage the attention of some companies that continue to mindlessly send computer generated bills for goods and services that are no longer needed.

I have been a satisfied customer of Zone LD for 5 years & am completly satisfied with their LD service & customer service.

In the contract I agreed to, all billings were to be done on line in order to keep my low rate.

I have repeatedly verified that I am getting the lowest rates available & am satisfied that I am. Even if you were to insist on a paper billing you are still receiving your LD service for less than the vast majority on the companies I have invesigated.