[Asterisk-biz] LiveVOIP: Deceptive Billing Practices

[Nabeel Jafferali]

Hello.

I have been a LiveVOIP customer since November 2004 and have used them for
all of my US/Canada calling and some of my international calling. I have
been relatively happy with their call quality, but, as I explain below,
their billing practices are deceptive at best.

Since I became a customer, I have received a few invoices from time to time
that specified "domestic minutes" (that always matched for the number of "NA
& 800 minutes" in the online CDR multiplied by their per-minute rate of
$0.012) and a separate line entry for "international minutes".

Now, for the international minutes, I was never able to see the per-call
charges anywhere. On their online CDR, you can see the number called and the
duration (but *not* the per-minute rate nor the call charge). I, of course,
assumed that the rate I would be charged would be the rate advertised on
their website (http://www.livevoip.com/LiveVoipRatesNov.xls.pdf).

Noticing the invoiced amount to be a little higher that expected in May, I
pressed LiveVOIP to send me CDRs including the charges for the international
calls. They quickly sent me all the CDRs since I became a customer.
Surprisingly, every single international call was charged at a different
rate that what is advertised on their site. For example:

UAE - Dubai
+9714
Advertised: 0.2026
Billed: 0.31428

Tanzania - Dar es Salaam
+25522
Advertised: 0.134
Billed: 0.311952

Pakistan - Karachi
+9221
Advertised: 0.1616
Billed: 0.26772

As you can see, the differences are not small - they are greater than 100%
higher in some cases.

I wrote to LiveVOIP and was told their TOS specifically says that the rate
on the billing is correct and supersedes any advertised rate. Now, right
away, IMHO, this is deceptive and fraudulent.

However, in my book, I would have accepted it if they at least had a
real-time billing portal where I could see the charges of the calls I made
yesterday to be able to monitor if their rates have changed or not. On the
contrary, with their billing system, you would only ever know if the rates
have changed if you took the initiative to ask them for your detailed CDRs.

My repeated requests for a refund on the overcharged amount resulted in my
account being suspended, without a clarification on what the actual
international rates are.

Now, the amounts I have been overcharged are minor, since my usage is not
significant. However, I thought I should send this to the list to warn
anybody who is considering using LiveVOIP for international calling.

Although their rates for the US/Canada are somewhat fixed and billed
correctly, I will still advise my friends and associates to avoid using a
company that has such deceptive practices.

Nabeel