I received my phone bill from Fairpoint Communications on November 26th. It had an added charge for $14.95 with the words "Billed on behalf of MYIPRODUCTSIMAIL of 24078 Greenway St. P.O. Box 744 Forest Lake, MN. 55025, phone 1-800-286-4455 on 10/10. I immediately called Fairpoint Communications and informed them that this was a false charge. Fairpoint stated that the FTC MANDATED that they act as collection agencies for other companies that did not have direct consumer billing. They did however give me a contact phone number for the ESBI (Enhanced Billing Services, Inc.) This is an LEC or cramming billing practice.
When I called ESBI at 1-800-686-2661 I was (after a 7 minute wait) connected to "John" who stated that they were just a billing agency for the company that claimed I had obtained services over the internet from them. They stated that they had no authority to reverse the charges. They did give me a phone number 1-800-286-4455 to call.
I called them and was initially connected with "Bob". He asked me for "verification of identity information" that included my address and phone number. He then stated that the information they had concurred with my personal information and thus proved that the charge was valid. He said they had a confirming form I had filled out with a Gmail email address for me. I explained that I did not use the Gmail e-mail account at all. I had signed up for it but did not like the format and thus never used it to communicate with any company.
Bob said they would (at my insistence) cancel this $14.95 MONTHLY charge for this supposed "Imail service" that they claim gave me an 800 phone number and voice mail. Up until then I had no idea that this was going to be a monthly charge. They refused however to delete and reverse the initial October 10th charge for $14.95 that had just today showed up on my phone bill. I then asked to speak with a supervisor.
I was (after another several minutes) connected to "Heather" was stated ashe was the evening supervisor. She reiterated that they were charging for a service for an 800 number and voice mail that I had signed up for on the internet. She refused to reverse the initial charge saying that it was clear from their information that I had signed up for this product. Nothing I could say would move her. I told her I was a senior citizen on a fixed income with significant physical impairments to my hearing and sight and physical health and that such a service for me would be a ludicrous purchase. I was only able to get Heather to give me the first name of the day supervisor (Don) and I stated I would try to take the billing question up with this day supervisor on Friday (as Thursday was Thanksgiving.)
I then went to the Gmail email website and looked through several months of emails and found NO e-mail from ESBI or from the MYIPRODUCTSIMAIL.
I looked at the website for and it states:
We are the premier provider of Internet-enabled Telecommunications products for residential and business consumers.
Customers are billed through LEC billing (charges appear on your telephone bill) making it easy for anyone to purchase our products...
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