ZingoTel has given me nothing but trouble since I first signed up in early September and they still hadn't ported my phone numbers over as of October 8.
This was supposed to happen by 10/8. It didn't took 6 weeks. They billed me of course for the first month when I had no service.
To make matters much worse and what has caused me to initiate this complaint is that ZingoTel's main advertising thrust is that they offer: "Residential Unlimited comes with the works. Unlimited calling to the continental US and Canada and tons of great features all for a low monthly fee. Residential Unlimited Starting At:$19.95 / month". Plan Highlights Includes your own US or Canada phone number! Unlimited calls to the continental US and Canada! Never miss important messages with our free Voice Mail, Tons of great calling features like Call Waiting, Caller ID, and more... Low international rates when you call abroad."
Recently, they sent me an email contained herein: Email from ZingoTel received 01.03.2007
Dear Customer,
Your account has been identified for excessive call volume based on historic
residential call volume of current Zingotel users. Per our USER AGREEMENT
(www.ZINGOTEL.com), we believe you are not
qualified to continue our service under the current RESIDENTIAL plan assigned to your account. Unfortunately, we must ask of you to upgrade to
our BUSINESS Unlimited calling plan ($49.95 per month) effective immediately. Your next month's Invoice will reflect the mandatory account change. Your account shall be temporarily suspended until we receive confirmation of your acceptance to the plan change. If you would like for a customer service representative to review your account call history, please reply with the time and telephone number convenient for someone to contact
you. Thank you for your attention with these matters.
Regards,
Customer Service
Zingo Telecom
1-866-946-4648
When I contacted ZingoTel, they stated that in paragraph 1.2.1 (shown below), that they have the right to determine excessive use and automatically bump you up to their business program that costs $49.95/month (up from $19.95/month). Here is section 1.2.1:
1.2.1 Basic Plan, Premium Plan, Residential Plan Use of Service and Device
If you have subscribed to Zingo Telecom's Basic Plan, Premium Plan, Residential Plan services, the Service and Device are provided to you as a residential user, for your personal, residential, non-business and non-professional use.
This means that you are not using them for any commercial or governmental activities, profit-making or non-profit, including but not limited to home office, business, sales, tele-commuting, telemarketing (including without limitation charitable or political solicitation or polling), autodialing, continuous or extensive call forwarding, fax broadcast, fax blasting or any other activity that would be inconsistent with normal residential usage patterns.
This also means that you are not to resell or transfer the Service or the Device to any other person for any purpose, or make any charge for the use of the Service, without express written permission from Zingo Telecom in advance. You agree that your use of the Service and/or Device, or the use of the Service and/or Device provided to you by any other person for any commercial or governmental purpose will obligate you to pay Zingo Telecom's higher rates for commercial service on account of all periods, including past periods, in which you use, or used, the Service for commercial or governmental purposes. Zingo Telecom reserves the right to immediately terminate or modify the Service, if Zingo Telecom determines, in its sole discretion, that Customer's Service is being used for non-residential or commercial use.
When I asked how they determine excessive, I was told they calculate an average use by all their residential customers, and if you exceed that average, you are considered excessive. My phone number XXX-XXX-XXXX is a residential line used by my 5 family members, 3 of which are teenagers. The very reason I got the service was because of the 'unlimited calling in the US & Canada'. They could not tell me the 'magic number' where I crossed into excessive and stated that this number is constantly changing as it is derived from and aggregate composite taken at specific moments in time. They could not tell me my minutes used, or when I became excessive as we have had the service for almost 3 months now.
This is very fraudulent advertising and behavior and needs to be made right. I had them port my existing phone numbers over to them from AT&T and now it looks like I will have to go through the hassel again at a cost to me! I had to pay for the setup fees and go through a lot of trouble before the system functioned as advertised. I was never given a credit although I complained. Please ask them for your own calling records - none will ever be provided.
I feel I have been misled, given no warning about any provisions that negate their unlimited calling claims and now I am automatically being billed more as they automatically deducted their new fees from my checking account as payment is setup to be automatic as a requirement by ZingoTel. This is a scam! Please respond ASAP.
I then tried to go to another carrier beginning in January. It took me until March to get them to stop billing me and issue me a refund for 2 months of service. This with the help of 3 reports to the BBB of Southeast Fl.
Now it is July. I just got a notice and confirmed that my bank account has once again been charged by Zingotel! $99.95. I sent them emails containing my proof that my modems were returned and that they had closed my account and my emails are returned stating they may contain SPAM! I called and was put in a queue that starts at 2 minutes and grows to 30 minutes and then dumps you into a voice mail.
I did serious investigation and got the following numbers: 954-239-9725 or 9726 that gets you to a man named Mama Liana who is their customer service rep. (sounds a bit fishy). THis has resulted in me terminating my bank account and opening a new one so that this can never happen again. My bank is going after them, AND Mama is trying to get the charges reversed.
Stay clear as this is a house of cards ready to collapse.
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