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<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff size=4>I tried using them
(LiveVoip) but my credit card company would NOT authorize them! </FONT><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff size=4>I have always been grateful of
their authorization policy.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Times New Roman" color=#0000ff size=4>Although I won't "plug"
their name, they've been my first (and best) plastic funds provider
(member since 1981).</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=asterisk-lists@x2n.ca href="mailto:asterisk-lists@x2n.ca">Nabeel
Jafferali</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com
href="mailto:asterisk-biz@lists.digium.com">'Commercial and Business-Oriented
Asterisk Discussion'</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, June 03, 2005 18:36</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Asterisk-biz] LiveVOIP:
Deceptive Billing Practices</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Hello.<BR><BR>I have been a LiveVOIP customer since November
2004 and have used them for<BR>all of my US/Canada calling and some of my
international calling. I have<BR>been relatively happy with their call
quality, but, as I explain below,<BR>their billing practices are deceptive at
best.<BR><BR>Since I became a customer, I have received a few invoices from
time to time<BR>that specified "domestic minutes" (that always matched for the
number of "NA<BR>& 800 minutes" in the online CDR multiplied by their
per-minute rate of<BR>$0.012) and a separate line entry for "international
minutes".<BR><BR>Now, for the international minutes, I was never able to see
the per-call<BR>charges anywhere. On their online CDR, you can see the number
called and the<BR>duration (but *not* the per-minute rate nor the call
charge). I, of course,<BR>assumed that the rate I would be charged would be
the rate advertised on<BR>their website (<A
href="http://www.livevoip.com/LiveVoipRatesNov.xls.pdf">http://www.livevoip.com/LiveVoipRatesNov.xls.pdf</A>).<BR><BR>Noticing
the invoiced amount to be a little higher that expected in May, I<BR>pressed
LiveVOIP to send me CDRs including the charges for the international<BR>calls.
They quickly sent me all the CDRs since I became a customer.<BR>Surprisingly,
every single international call was charged at a different<BR>rate that what
is advertised on their site. For example:<BR><BR>UAE -
Dubai<BR>+9714<BR>Advertised: 0.2026<BR>Billed: 0.31428<BR><BR>Tanzania - Dar
es Salaam<BR>+25522<BR>Advertised: 0.134<BR>Billed: 0.311952<BR><BR>Pakistan -
Karachi<BR>+9221<BR>Advertised: 0.1616<BR>Billed: 0.26772<BR><BR>As you can
see, the differences are not small - they are greater than 100%<BR>higher in
some cases.<BR><BR>I wrote to LiveVOIP and was told their TOS specifically
says that the rate<BR>on the billing is correct and supersedes any advertised
rate. Now, right<BR>away, IMHO, this is deceptive and
fraudulent.<BR><BR>However, in my book, I would have accepted it if they at
least had a<BR>real-time billing portal where I could see the charges of the
calls I made<BR>yesterday to be able to monitor if their rates have changed or
not. On the<BR>contrary, with their billing system, you would only ever know
if the rates<BR>have changed if you took the initiative to ask them for your
detailed CDRs.<BR><BR>My repeated requests for a refund on the overcharged
amount resulted in my<BR>account being suspended, without a clarification on
what the actual<BR>international rates are.<BR><BR>Now, the amounts I have
been overcharged are minor, since my usage is not<BR>significant. However, I
thought I should send this to the list to warn<BR>anybody who is considering
using LiveVOIP for international calling.<BR><BR>Although their rates for the
US/Canada are somewhat fixed and billed<BR>correctly, I will still advise my
friends and associates to avoid using a<BR>company that has such deceptive
practices.<BR><BR>Nabeel<BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>Asterisk-Biz
mailing list<BR><A
href="mailto:Asterisk-Biz@lists.digium.com">Asterisk-Biz@lists.digium.com</A><BR><A
href="http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz">http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-biz</A></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>