MCI The Neighborhood big ripoff false promises Iowa City. Iowa

I understand the aggrevation of shopping for the best deal, and then when you get the service, there's the hidden costs such as fees, taxes, surcharges, etc, but, bottom line - they all do it! I don't have any complaints about MCI-The Neighborhood other than their website (trying to pay the bill). In my opinion, they were the first to try to help us as consumers by consolidating the services into one cost (not incl taxes/fees) instead of 50 different plans and different rates for each calling areas, etc. But, as Teresa from Dickson said, you need to do your homework". My advice to Steve would be to drop the land line (if possible) and use a cellular phone. Alot of people are doing that for this reason. I would do it if it weren't for 911 (they can't track you on a cell phone). Or, get just the basic service on your land line and use your cell.

I had tried for five weeks to get my telephone number changed, only to be given the same answer during their stall tactics.."we'll be able to give you an update in 24 to 48 hours."

I finally got fed up and decided to switch to AT&T Local and MCI attempted to prevent me from doing that by (1) Telling me that AT&T "entered the wrong number on the order" (in spite of AT&T CALLING me on the correct number to tell me)and (2)Rejected the change for "lack of third party verification", this in spite of TWO phone calls from third party verifiers and an email to MCI on their website.

It finally took a three-way call between myself, MCI customer service and a rep of the California Public Utilities Commission for MCI to "find the glitch."

A friend of mine confirmed that MCI cannot provide timely new service or make changes to existing services due to the bankruptcy. MCI leases lines from the local telephone company for "resale" and they are apparently extremely slow pay, so many of the local companies will not furnish them with lines.

Stay away from them. They are not worth the headache.

hello i am also a member of the mci neighborhood plan. i have had good results with the plan so far except for customer service which does leave alot to be desired.one thing i made sure to do was find another person who had the plan and ask them about their bill each month. this allowed me to see if they did what they said they did. also i read all fine print on the web site and talked to several reps at the company asking questions before i made my decision.so i guess that while i can empathize with you,(i too have been that mad at a company) my best advise is to never sign up for anything over the phone without first doing your homework. it may be a good deal for some but not for you. buyer beware.