SiteStar collection agency Prexar 4 year old closed account paid in full - now sending to collection agency!! Internet

I was a customer of Prexar, an ISP in New England. Service was not esp. good.  They apparently sold out to SiteStar, who, suddenly, out of nowhere, began billing me ($17.95/mo)

Things did not go esp. well with SiteStar.  They had problems with staying up, email, and esp. customer service -- it was NOT customer SERVICE.  It was 'leave-on-hold' service and never get back to the customer.  They clearly were good at it.

I switched to Verizon and notified SiteStar I was canceling.  They did not respond and kept billing (remember this is back in 2008).  So I began calling .. all to no avail. I tried the trick of getting technical support, but they were on to this and the tech geeks just insisted that I had to talk to the billing dept.  I could NEVER talk to billing, no matter how hard I tried.  It's on hold for a L-O-N-G time and finally a request to leave a voice mail msg.  Voice mail messages were never returned .... ever.  pathetic.

Months later, I finally received an email acknowledging my request for cancellation and requesting a payment of $17.95.  But by now they had billed me for two months whilst I was on Verizon and my bank paid automatically.  I requested a refund of 2 x $17.95.   Instead, after some time passed, I got a bill for lots of months of service and 3 entries of $75 each, called a BOUNCE FEE (I had, by now, of course, ordered my bank to refuse billing requests from them).  The bill at one point had increased to $161 or thereabouts.

So all goes quiet for 4 years and suddenly, out of nowhere, I get a collection notice from a "Collection Services of Windsor, Ontario" demanding $262. and a threat to my credit status.  Weird.

I have sent a letter to this collection agency explaining the problems of the past and assuring them they'll never see a penny from me.  But rather that SiteStar owes me!  And they'd best leave me alone. 

A few years back, I had the good fortune to have other business in Lynchburg, VA  and queried my business associates about "SiteStar".  They grimaced and said no one locally would use them and expressed sorrow as to my experience.   That speaks volumes about SiteStar -- web searches about "complaints SiteStar" says the rest. 

My story is clearly one of many.  And when you consider that most unhappy customers don't file a complaint on the web .... the numbers must be large.  If my experience is any indication -- keep your distance from SiteStar.   They have little interest in customers, excepting their money.