FW: Total Call International - poor customer service

Please forward my complaint to: Email User

Sent: Tuesday, February 06, 2007 2:45 PM

Subject: Total Call International - poor customer service

To Whom It May Concern:

On November 6, 2006 we called our local phone service provider, Bell South, to set up our residential service at our new house. On November 19, I called Total Call International (TCI) to set up a long distance and international plan with them since I have been their customer for many years and they had given me great rates for my long distance and international calls before. During the set up procedure with a TCI customer service representative I went through a third party authorization and verification process during which I explicitly told the third part that I want TCI to be my long distance provider. I was given a toll-free number to dial for one week and was told to call back to verify my service. I did call back and been told that my account is active. On January 26, 2007 we received a bill from BellSouth with total amount of $301.06 which included long distance and international phone calls we made during the holidays. The company charged me even though they are not my long distance provider. Needless to say, I was very upset. I spent 1:30min on a three-way phone call with both companies (BellSouth and TCI) to try to resolve the problem but unfortunately not only they were not willing to work with me but also TCI purposely disconnected BellSouth representative and later hung up on me. Below are the details of the phone call:

1. Call TCI representative Vince. He said that account is active and in good standing. Said that they received my phone call on November 19 asking TCI to be my long distance provider, they have my third party authorization records and an order was placed with BellSouth.

2. TCI called BellSouth on a three-way phone call to discuss the situation. BellSouth said that they don’t’ have any records showing that the order was placed on November 19th; however, they switched my long distance on January 24 to Quest, a TCI subsidiary.

3. I got transferred to the long distance department at BellSouth. In the mean time, Vince from TCI gave the phone to Damian. He in turn hangs up on BellSouth and latter on me.

I believe, I did the best I could and what I’ve been told to do to set up a long distance service on my phone. In result, I have a bill that totals my long distance cost for a whole entire year. I don’t agree that this is my mistake because I violated any policy or procedures of setting an account. If they were any, I never been told. I am a customer in good standing. Never skipped or delayed a payment, in result, I been robed from my customer rights

Another disappointment is that Total Call International will not admit their fault. I spoke with so many people and all saying different things. At some point, Suzanne or Susan told me that their Nov. 19th request to BellSouth was rejected so they had to send another request on January 24th. Well, if this is the case, I would like to see proof. I would like an answer to my question on why TCI all of a sudden send the request on January 24th. I know that mistakes happen, but admitting to them is one human quality not thought at school. Treating customers with respect is something TCI doesn’t have also.

As a resolution to this problem, I would like to propose exactly what BellSouth representative proposed during or conference call. I would like to receive credit on my long distance charges and then pay every long distance phone call on our account prorated, based on TCI international rates from Nov 19th to current to TCI since I’ve requested their services.

Sincerely,

Anna Koltchagova