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| “Primus Telecommunications: We’ve got your money, what are you going to do?" by raelface@hotmail.com 09/30/2006, 1:04pm PDT | ||||
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| “Primus Telecommunications: We’ve got your money, what are you going to do about it?”
Today I got a statement from my credit card company. This was unexpected, since I hadn’t used the card in a few months. I opened the statement and on it was a single charge from Primus Communications, even more unexpected since I had a hard time remembering what Primus did or why I should owe them money. I called my credit card company. They pleasantly informed me that the charge from Primus wasn’t itemized but it was a pre-authorized withdrawal. They couldn’t reverse the withdrawal because I had paid it last year… and the year before that... and the year before that. I yelled a bit and they told me they’d suspend the charge and open an investigation. I next called Primus. It must be noted that this is the first time I had ever done so. I’ve never even visited their website. I know they do long distance plans because my Mother had one for a few years. That’s the extent of my dealings with Primus. Anyway I end up talking to a CSR who, after 15 minutes of checking this that and the other thing, made a discovery: “Does the name XXXXXXX@passport.net mean anything to you?” It did. It was the email address I used when I worked as a consultant for Passport – an ISP (among other things) that was active in, uh, 1997 “Passport, they went bankrupt…” “Bought”, she corrected, “By us” I had bought a one year dial-up subscription from passport – I remembered now – wow, in 1997. So Primus, in getting their paws on my credit card information, via purchasing passport, decided it was OK to enroll me in their annual pre-paid dial-up plan, and had been billing me for $213.47 every year since at least 2003. Me, in my idiocy, had been paying it. I simply had never noticed. I admit, I should have read my credit card statements more carefully. I often do, but not, it would seem during September. In my defense, that credit card was frequently used for most of those years and would often have 4 or 5 page-long invoices. $200 Can get lost in there. So once we had figured this out, it seemed natural to me that Primus would figure out how much they’d taken and write me a check for the full amount along with an apology note and perhaps a few “$5 off” coupons. I mean, if I accidentally took money from someone and had been doing it for years and then got caught – I’d at least feel a little sheepish. Not so was the supervisor once I got to speaking with him. Dennis XXXXXX casually informed me that because I hadn’t acted sooner, the money was simply not going to be given back. “Take it to court”, he ended with helpfully. He sounded smug. Dennis stated that Primus’ policies are written clearly in their terms and conditions page. I politely told Dennis that I had never seen such a page and asked him to produce one with my signature, electronic or otherwise. He laughed. They don’t have any financial information going back a year. None. That’s what he told me. I called him a liar. The first time I’ve called someone that in a very long time. As a publicly traded company Primus has a legal mandate to maintain financial records for at least 7 years. And here’s Mr. XXXXXX’s bold-faced declaration that not he nor anyone else at Primus (I asked this specifically) could retrieve my internet usage records from last year. Well Dennis, I’m not quite sure what kind of ethical training a Customer Service Manager at Primus undergoes, but you are about to get a freebie. I’m sick of being treated like this by companies like yours. I am taking it to court. I am also making sure that absolutely everyone I know and everyone they know understands how much value Primus places on its Customer Service. Apparently, it’s less than $213.47 We’ve got your money, what are you going to do about it? If anyone would like to call Dennis and tell him, he is available at 1-800-370-0015 Get to a Customer Service Rep and ask to speak to extension 5047 |
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“Primus Telecommunications: We’ve got your money, what are you going to do?" by 09/30/2006, 1:04pm PDT  Free legal advice from Mischief Maker! by 09/30/2006, 6:01pm PDT He kinda looks like me. Only more black. NT by 09/30/2006, 9:44pm PDT Enter the COURTROOM BIOS to enable gavel shadowing. NT by 09/30/2006, 9:51pm PDT |
