As many other complaints mine just echoes the others, however, with a twist, a 199.99 charge appeared on my phone bill for two alleged 900 phone calls under the billing name off USBI and and additional bill the next month for 75.00 dollars from INTEGRETEL.
As others have done I disputed the charges with QWEST, and they agreed to remove them, however, for me to contact the billing company and address the dispute, USBI would never answer my phone calls, so I did some research and sent them an email, which was answered a week later advising me that they would remove the charges, which the did.
Integretel insisted that I knowingly made the call via the dialer, I explained to them that it was an illegal take over of my modem with a dialer software that was installed on my PC... The girl on the other end insisted that ther was no such software that she was aware of and asked me to pay half of the amount, I refused and then she acted as if she was doing me a favor, and stated "I will remove the charges this time only, as a onetime customer satisfaction move."
I told her that I was not liable for the charges and that I did not make the call, during this time I was using DSL services, and there was no need for me to used dial up, however, I found out later that as long as the PC is attached to a phone line this software can make the call any you will never be aware of it.
To make a long story short, since all of the credit were on my QWEST phone bill, I assumed all was take care of... Well that was not the case. Four months later I get a phone call from a Mr. Sargent that identified himself as working for a Law Firm in Ontario, Canada. I did not return the call, assuming it was some scam...
A week later another call on my voice mail only this time he states that it is imperative that I call ref an investigation on my phone line, and that not to do so would initiate legal action... This alarmed me so I called (expensive international call rate) he advised that an lawsuit had been filed by his client (integretel) to recover the charges that had already been cleared, I told him that I would not pay because I did not make the calls.
His response "whatever", if I did not pay the 1100.00 I he would see me in court, it is now 1100.00. Later he called and advised if I settled out of court it would be only 274.62... He further added that my phone line was investigated and that they had dated and times of my online activities, which show that I have been on adult web sites and would be used before the judge.
He had no knoledge of software that downloads with active-x and dial out... Of course he did not want to hear it... He is unwilling to provide me with a mailing address of his company... At his point I am not sure if I should give in and be scammed or take my chances in court. I did not make the calls, but I do not know what so called evidence he has the my may damage my reputation and credit history (he threatened to turn me over to a collection agency).
If anyone has had a similar experience please email or post to compare notes that will help with a decision and possibly help me resolve this with out giving in letting them scam me.
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