[Asterisk-biz] LiveVOIP: Deceptive Billing Practices

[C F]

Sending it to this list will just help for us readers to make a
decision of maybe not using LiveVoip, but it will not help us in
general for 2 reasons: 1. If we can't use LiveVoip then we have one
less provider to chose from. 2. LiveVoip will just continue to do
this. Since you live in Canada I'm not sure you can do much, but I
urge everybody that is a LiveVoip customer and lives in the US, to
complain to the FCC, for misbilling, to the FTC for false advertising,
and their state attorney general, specifically if you live in the
state of AZ. Also the more disputes the Credit Card companies get from
one specific vendor the more the vendor has to comply. So Nabeel,
please dispute the charges, I know that since you mention that it's
not significant the bank might not call livevoip and just give it to
you, but if it happens a lot with livevoip they might take it back to
them.

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
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Biz mailing list
> Asterisk-Biz at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz
>