I recieved a call from a Vietnamese telemarketer named Kevin at International Plus promising me a calling card that will allow me to talk long distance for 40 minutes per month for about 4$ per month. There was no contract, no hidden fees, no promotion that will cancel in the future he claimed. And so I agreed to the plan.
When I recieved the calling card, I didn't use the card at all, to make any calls because I didn't need to.
Later that month in June, I recieve a bill stating that I owe $4.27 for calls made to New York and Florida. The thing is, I did not call those numbers or even know whose numbers they are. I did not pay the billing statement and the next month, I recieved a large bill of $28.11. This month, July 18th, I was charged for a call to New York (again) and that totaled to be $2.54.
There was, I noticed a monthly service fee of 2.95 and not to mention a large fee called the Minimum Billing Amount of 17.46.
So this large bill cause me to be alarmed. I called the customer service line, and was put on hold for over 10 minutes. I finally was able to talk to a representative and she put me on hold again for another couple minutes. I'd thought that the number written on my calling card was supposed to match my home number. When I looked at it, it didn't match. So, I thought that somehow the calling cards got switched and I was being billed for someone else's calls.
I questioned the representative about my bill. She said that my account was cancelled on June 25th. She didn't make very much sense to me. The reason of why I was billed 17.46 was because I didn't call any long distance. That meant, no matter what, even if I did not call long distance, I would get charged about 20$ per month. I supposed, that the charged calls deduct a little from that 20$. I was very upset and told her that I never made any calls so why were they listed in my bill? She said that I could not be trusted and did not believe that I hadn't made the calls.
At that point, I asked to speak to her supervisor. She said she wouldn't allow me to speak to the supervisor and that I had to go on the Vietnamese Line and speak to the supervisor there. I got so frustrated and got her first name (she wouldn't give her last name) and told her to expect a call from her supervisor. I later thought, after I had hung up, why did she tell me to speak to the Vietnamese representative when I was already on the English line and able to speak English anyway?
And so, it seems to me that this long distance calling card is a rip-off. After the first month, you have to pay a minimum fee of around 20$ even if you don't make any calls. Furthermore, I was told that my account was cancelled on June 25th. Then why did I recieve a bill on July 18th? For charges thru July 15th???
Lynn
Fairfax, Virginia
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