US Cellular - PrimeCo account taken over by US Cellular and roaming fees increased - charged $ .45 per minute to roam in Southern California by US Cellular - only given $ 500 credit on $ 1,200 bill

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on February 2, 2003:

From: mark hodges [Email User] RE: US Cellular - PrimeCo account taken over by US Cellular and roaming fees increased - charged $ .45 per minute to roam in Southern California by US Cellular - only given $ 500 credit on $ 1,200 bill

I had been a happy PrimeCo customer for 6 years until US Cellular took over.

I was told in writing that nothing would change on my account so I kept my service. I looked through my past bills and never saw any indication of a rate change for roaming or my regular service charges.

I make frequent business trips to Southern California and always take my phone with me to receive and to make calls.

For the past 6 years with PrimeCo I have been charged 15cents a minute for roaming which I think is a fair charge.

In October of this year I took a trip to California Knowing that a few days before PrimeCo had been changed to US Cellular, but not worried because I was led to believe my service had not changed.

Now I have received my bill, my 2000 minutes in California has been charged at 45cents per minute. My bill totalled $1200 when my average Primeco bill was around $100 (that is a years worth of service!).

I have found out subsequntly that US Cellular does offer a long distance roaming service as does T-Mobil with 2000 minutes for $100 per month but as I was an existing Primeco customer I was not offered this.

When I called to complain they did give me a $500 "lifetime" credit on my account but I am still at $700, not the $300 I expected. I have asked them to reduce my payment to 15 cents a minute for the trip to California but they have refused.

They have cut my phone off twice so I have hade to make a partial payment of $100 to keep my service going. I really hate to give up my phone number but I am not willing to pay 12 time the rate that is offered by any other company (like T-mobil) or even us cellular itself offers.

I would be willing to pay $200 more as I expected at .15 / minute. I am not willing to go to collection over this so at the least I expect time to pay off this severe over charging bill over 6-12 months.

If a price for a service is doubled, or tripled in this case, I expect some notice in writing so I can take some action.