[Asterisk-biz] LiveVOIP: Deceptive Billing Practices

[geek at mnwifi.net]

That is all from the some company that changes their rates by the  week.



On Fri, 2005-06-03 at 10:36, Nabeel Jafferali 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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