American Voice Link: 1-866-921-9215,1-888-293-3724
Enhanced Services Billing: 1-888-293-3724
Company ID Number: 1825
Got a phone bill for a phone whose service was disconnected due to a move. I was SHOCKED to see a balance due of $160.28, AFTER the phone service was disconnected!
I called the number they had on the bill for American Voice Link Pay Per Call 900 Charges "questions or billing error claims" at 1-888-293-3724 but got a trouble on the line signal. Thankfully, there was a second phone number, for Enhanced Billing Services, at 1-888-293-3724.
I called this number, and a lady started off being VERY charming, and friendly, and explained to me that someone had used my computer to log onto a website and had agreed to "pay to view pages" of that site (suggests a PORN site). Well, I might have expected something like that from my ex-husband, but the problem is that I had already moved out of the house and had taken my computers with me - THERE WERE NO COMPUTERS IN THAT HOUSE DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME! Not to mention it was vacant, AND he was incarcerated! I knew then that this was a ripoff company.
She told me, very matter of factly, that they had a tracking signal "like 9-1-1" and had traced that call to my phone number. I then asked her what site address it was (to check the theory) and she said she didn't know, that my local internet service provider would be able to tell me. I said, "Wait a minute - You just told me you have a tracking signal like 9-1-1, but you can't tell me what WEBSITE sent that signal???" She then informed me that due to "Privacy Issues" of their clients that she couldn't disclose this information, but that my local provider could tell me. She wasn't so nice by now, and was stumbling over her words because she knew that I had caught them red-handed.
I told her at that point that I thought I was being ripped off. After a little more verbal wrangling, she said that she would issue a credit to me, in the amount of the phone "services" of $151.00, but not the Excise Fees and Taxes. She said they didn't pay them. I said, "No Kidding, they're on MY phone bill."
She then asked me if there was anything else that I needed, and I said, "Yes, can I have this in writing?". She gave me a confirmation number. I asked her, "WHO do I confirm this WITH?" and she said I had to call BellSouth, my local phone company and tell them that they were issuing a credit, and give them the confirmation number for the "claim". I then asked her, "Is there ANYTHING ELSE you haven't told me that I need to know to do to get this off my phone bill???" She said no, they were putting a block on my phone line, and that the credit would show up on my next statement.
"I told her fine, put a block on the line - it's disconnected."
Well, moral of the story is THIS: IF you can get ahold of somebody, make sure you ask the right questions, and make sure you get something, ANYTHING in writing! My next call was to BellSouth, whom I informed of this atrocity, and the man I talked to there said that they would file the "claim" and that the excise taxes and fees would go away also.
Lastly, the "Confirmation Number"? It wasn't any such thing. It was the "Company ID Number" for Enhanced Billing Services. When I gave this number to BellSouth he gave me THEIR name, and told me this. It's 1825.
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