Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › Qwest Billing… Look closely
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June 2, 2009 at 2:28 pm #591085
flowerpetalMemberMy most recent Qwest phone bill was more than $16 higher than previous bills. It was easy to see the discrepancy as we only use cell phones for long distance calls and our monthly Qwest bill is consistent until this month.
Tacked onto our bill on behalf of another company; (wasn’t that nice of Qwest!!?)
ILD Teleservices simply started billing us, for April and May for enhanced free long distance voice mail. Hmmm, never heard of it. This morning ILD removed us from the service. I kept grilling the phone rep. about why it was that this was added on without my permission; and she simply kept repeating that I shouldn’t worry about it, as she has taken it off and we don’t have to pay.
Naturally, I am still “worried” about it. And pi**ed about it. Its easy for me to believe that ILD is scamming thousands of customers who are not checking their phone bills.
I will be calling Qwest next; when their office opens. This is so unethical, that it seems to me that Qwest must take some responsibility. I will report back with their response too.
But check your Qwest bill. The questioned amount was on the last page of the bill.
June 2, 2009 at 3:20 pm #668575
lighthouseParticipantIt appears you’re not the first to see an “ILD” charge on their bill:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cell_phones/ild.html
It probably woundn’t hurt to contact the AG office about this:
http://www.atg.wa.gov/fileacomplaint.aspx
Or the BBB:
June 2, 2009 at 3:25 pm #668576
SueParticipantThanks for alerting us to this – it’s easy to forget to check bills sometimes, especially when signed up for autopay. Here’s another article I found about it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078500/
June 2, 2009 at 8:30 pm #668577
flowerpetalMemberThanks Lighthouse and Sue for further information. I’m usually pretty easy going and often let things like this go. But today I am feeling like a bulldog with a meaty bone. I just can’t let go.
Qwest tells me this afternoon that there is nothing that they can do but bill the customer. If ILD, or other companies tell them to bill a particular customer, they must comply according to FCC regulations. That’s a bad practice that can be changed legislatively.
I am going to start with a complaint to the Washington Attorney General’s office.
My next step will be to contact Senator’s Cantwell and Murray, as well as US Rep. McDermott.
June 2, 2009 at 8:52 pm #668578
KBearParticipantOne thing that hasn’t changed since the USWest days is the crappy customer service. You can continue to count on Qwest whenever you need to be overbilled and then jerked around. I think the AG’s office must have an entire division dedicated to Qwest complaints.
June 2, 2009 at 11:31 pm #668579
flowerpetalMemberThat may be true, I haven’t had trouble with Qwest before. And now, its the FCC regulations that have Qwest doing what they are told to do with regards to this billing snafu.
June 6, 2009 at 12:35 am #668580
alki_2008ParticipantI don’t really think it’s fair, KBear, to knock Qwest for the issue in this thread. There are a lot of long-distance companies out there, and if cusumers want to use them instead of their local phone company…then the long-distance company (ILD) tells the local phone company (Qwest) and the local phone company is LEGALLY OBLIGATED to honor the request and process the long-distance company’s charges. The local phone company doesn’t get the money that the long distance company is charging ($16 in this case), just processes it so it’s all on one billing statement.
This is supposed to help the consumer, in that they are free to use whatever long-distance service they want…instead of being tied to the long-distance pricing of their local provider.
In this issue…the blame goes to ILD, not Qwest.
June 6, 2009 at 4:35 am #668581
flowerpetalMemberThanks Alki_2008. However, you can be sure that Qwest must be getting some sort of “cut” for doing this billing. They aren’t, I’m sure, just doing it to be nice. I believe it must be in their interest to not raise to much of a stink about it; it probably does raise some revenue for Qwest. And then Qwest can say “we are only doing it because the FCC says we have to.
I have already had two replies from the Attorney General’s Office WRT this complaint. Still, it will take weeks before any real action begins.
June 10, 2009 at 9:05 am #668582
alki_2008Participantfp – I’m sure the local company (Qwest) is indeed getting some compensation for the “processing”…but I doubt they make much profit from it. They’d much rather prefer you just get long-distance through them.
Anyway, please let us know how things turn out…good luck.
June 10, 2009 at 12:57 pm #668583
beachdrivegirlParticipantThat completely sucks! Lets hope this can be resolved. Flowerpetal can you let us know what happens. Thanks!
June 10, 2009 at 4:17 pm #668584
flowerpetalMemberYes, I definitely will. Somewhere along the way I will be talking to our representatives in the other Washington. I think that is where the solution ultimately could be resolved.
June 10, 2009 at 9:44 pm #668585
alki_2008ParticipantIt doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult to implement some type of requirement wherein the long-distance company is required to get signed consent from the customer (even if it’s an online or faxed form). Then, the local company would need to receive that consent and attach it to the customer’s record before passing through the long-distance company’s charges. Seems fairly simple…especially since everything will be done electronically anyway.
If the customer contests the charges, then at least the local company can substantiate why they considered it “okay” to make the changes. ;-)
June 10, 2009 at 10:13 pm #668586
flowerpetalMemberI would agree Alki_2008, but that is not how the legislation was written and implemented by the FCC. That’s why it seems to me that the answer will be placed on Congress.
BTW, it isn’t really long distance that ILD is billing for. Specifically, they would provide to customers a 1-800 number so customers like me could access my Qwest Voicemail toll free from anywhere in the world. Problem is, they never asked me if I want this service! That’s the pisser for me.
June 10, 2009 at 10:31 pm #668587
beachdrivegirlParticipantHave you figured out how they got your account number to sign you up for it? I am not trying to drag this out but that is kind of a big concern imo if they can just call and add it to whatever numbers they want @ Qweest.
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