[Asterisk-biz] LiveVOIP: Deceptive Billing Practices

[Shariq Sajjad]

 I have experienced the same over billing situation with LiveVoip. I
have closed my account with them, I still have credit in my account
but they refused to refund my money back. Keep an eye on your credit
card statements because they charge your credit card without
authorization. They charged me twice for the service I never used and
if you ask for credit return they will call you by bad names.

My personal experience with LiveVoip was horrible and found them crook
and gutter organization.

Syed.


   

On 6/3/05, Nabeel Jafferali <asterisk-lists at x2n.ca> wrote:
> 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
> 
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