Broadvoice Charged me to reactivate an account that was closing Billerica Massachusetts

Early on, Broadvoice was a good VoIp option. Their costs were reasonable, and one could put up with the spotty service. Recently Broadvoice has been adding international fees to their service, etc. I had been a customer with them for nearly five years, going through some very bad service times early on, but staying with them. Unfortunately with the new fees, and looking at the competition's offering, I realized they were charging too much for service. I wrote them a few months back, they sent a canned response. So I did a search and switched to Skype Out and In, and saved a lot.

So I decided to close down my Broadvoice account. When I shut it down, they informed me, afterwards, that I would not be credited for unused time. So I asked if they could at least keep the service going until the time ran out. They did...but then CHARGED me a reactivation fee for an account that I was closing. And they charged my credit card when I had specifically told them they were not authorized to put any more changes on the account.

I have filed a complaint with the BBB. Even though I was in communication with their customer service people, they handily "forgot" to mention fees, costs, etc. in the dialogue before charging the fees. It felt like "Oh, we forget to mention this..." Their action was quite unscrupulous.

What ticks me off is the number of people I have referred to Broadvoice over the years. Many. Since this recent issue, I have gone back to those folks and told them my experience...and, "oh, by the way, Skype is so much cheaper." So ironically, in being so greedy and trying to charge more fees till then end, instead, they lost more customers.

Moral of the story for Broadvoice: A lost customer can be many more lost customers. If you end well with a customer, you can potentially gain him back. End poorly, and you will guarantee not to have him, and many many more that he talks to. It is an elementary concept, but one that Broadvoice has not yet learned.

Danya
Bellevue, Washington
U.S.A.