Everdial - Primus Telecommunications ripoff deceptive and vague advertising Internet

All I wanted was long distance service, but when it came time to choose the type of plan I wanted, there was no clear explanation of what each plan entailed. I couldn't discern which plan meant what kind of service, and there was no help buttons or any further explanations that I could see, so I chose the plan that looked like it was what I needed.

I pay my local provider (Supra Telecom) a flat fee every month to make calls from as far north as Sebastian to as far south as Key West. Every month I spend between $10 and $20 on out of state long distance calls, sometimes less.

However, when I got my first bill from Primus, it was over $140! It appears that they charged me for almost every call that I made from my house. I called customer service, waited on hold for a long time (over 15 minutes), and told the rep that there had been a mistake, and I explained to him that I already pay my local provider for all of these calls which I was being billed for at the rate of 10 a minute. Do you realize that a 30-minute call to Delray Beach would only cost me a quarter with BellSouth, but $3.00 with Primus? Who would be foolish enough to voluntarily sign up for such a plan? Regardless, the less than helpful rep told me that he would change my plan, and have the billing department contact me. They never did.

My next bill arrived, and it was almost $110. Again I called Primus, and, after waiting on hold again, got a rep that asked me to call them back because their computers were down. I asked them to please call me back; so that I wouldn't have to sit on hold again, and the response was that it would be better if I called them. Of course, they never called me, and I never found the time to sit on hold with them. I work full time, have two small children, and don't have time to sit on hold for 15-20 minutes at a time while I'm trying to make dinner.

Soon after, Primus forwarded my account to a collection agency. I disputed the bill in writing, and I explained the whole situation, but the only response that I received from Primus was a printout of my online session that I couldn't even make heads or tails of. The correspondence included with the transcript from Primus contained no good will, no effort to resolve the situation, and was to say the least, indifferent.

I complained to the FCC and got no resolution. Now they've turned my account over to a lawyer. Here we go again...

Kelley
Lake Worth, Florida
U.S.A.