Okay, so I thought I would give VOIP another try. Had bad experience with Vonage, do a search and see my report there. First of all, bought the box at electronics store and spent 2 days trying to get it to work. One distinct advantage over Vonage is that there is less wait times on hold on the phone. Usually 5-15 minutes compared to 1 hour and 10 minutes with my last call to Vonage (at midnight).
So, the tech guys finally got it working because it was a problem on there end and sent me an email after actually following up on my technical requests for help. Now the bad part of Lingo: Multiple disconnects, often poor quality connection. Almost everytime I would talk to somebody for an hour or more, I would get disconnected. Finally after 20 days, it didn't work one morning and seemed to be doing the same thing it did when I first couldn't get it to work.
So, packed it up, took the box back to the store for a refund. Called Lingo, and told them to cancel service. They offer a no risk trial period of 30 days without a charge. I had only used it for 22 days at this point, so there wouldn't be a charge. The rep seemed nice enough and told me they don't send out email confirmation of cancellations. I said, I needed a record that I cancelled, so he gave me a Call ID number of the call. Well, what do you know? 3 weeks later a charge for April appeared on my bank account.
Called Lingo again, they said they never had me cancelled so I gave them the Call ID number from when I called originally. The rep tells me that I did cancel before the 30 days and that he didn't know why it hadn't been cancelled. So I ask if they will re-credit me for the erroneous charge. The rep said "yes". The rep seemed a little shady and I was getting the vibe he was just telling me what I wanted to hear. Sure enough, my insticts were correct.
Not only did they not refund me, they sent me a cancellation email stating I would owe them a 39.95 cancellation fee. Now one has to ask, why the rep when I originally cancelled told me they don't send out cancellation confirmation emails when you cancel within the free period?
Answer: they don't actually cancel you, so when the 30 day period is up and you haven't cancelled on their end they're able to charge you. I imagine there are a good number of people that don't realize after the fact they got charged and then give up trying to get their money back after futile efforts on the phone with their reps. The company continues to make cash and customers continue to get ripped off with the lure of a 30 day free trial. Anyway, I digress, I called the customer service back and talked to a rep.
She stated that my account did not have an explanation why my cancellation should have a refund and that I was due to have my card debited a disconnect fee. So, basically, the second rep I talked to just told me what I wanted to hear: that I would be refunded and then didn't follow through on doing anything about getting that done. The third rep I talked to told me that she would send this problem to finance to get refunded and I should expect a refund in a couple weeks.
Uh, yeah... Rrrright. So, basically, I had to cancel this visa card and get my money refunded, that is the only way to not get charged for the 30 day trial.in summary: As the other people on here say, you have to cancel your credit/debit card to get your money back from them. Poor quality connections or no connection at all. Wait times on the phone are better than Vonage, but without any better result.
My advice is to avoid these Broadband phone services at all costs. This was my last shot at this and have been ripped off twice now. These companies are way too shady and get away with fraud easier than a larger company like SBC or Bell. These more established companies can't get away with these business practices as easily as these small fly-by-night operations. Yes, the service is often cheaper, but it will cost you more in the long run. Beware!
Don
Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
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