| The People vs. The JoiPhone SCAM: A Class-Action Lawsuit? Stupidly, I signed up with JoiPhone January 5th, 2011 and snagged what I thought was a great deal. My "JoiPhone contract" consisted of 2-lines, locked-in for 2-years of "Unlimited Nationwide Calling Plan" for $419.00, with no activation fee based on advance pre-payment via any major credit card, which is non-refundable after 30 days (allegedly because it was such an amazing deal, they have to enforce a 30 day cut-off for refunds due to local laws in their jurisdiction.) It was explained to me by the sales rep that if I didn't like the service after 30 days, I would be stuck with the 2 unlimited long distance phones lines and couldn't ask for a refund on unused months.) Seemed fair enough to me, I mean "Stuck with the service?" who would complain about being stuck with an unlimited VOIP phone line for about what it costs me one landline per year with my local telco, a Regulated Monopoly known as Qwest, but with this deal I'm getting 2 lines for 24 months!! Even if I didn't like the service for whatever reason, it seemed like such a great deal that I simply couldn't pass up, what a dream-deal, besides, I'm always a sucker for a honest bargain! So what seemed like a great deal has quickly turned into a total nightmare and now in hindsight, a foolish decision to fall for JoiPhone's deceptive marketing and brazen fraud is proving to be anything but a joyful experience... Recovering my financial losses are looking less and less likely, unless all of those like myself can collectively organize and file a class-action lawsuit and seek damages against these white-collar criminals.
The story thus far... As brutally honest a person I am, I'm not going to lie to you, JoiPhone's service was actually quite acceptable when it was working. It was most clear late at night, downright undependable during peak hours (because its affected by network congestion, peak-hours will typically sound like crap and may even drop your call, the less congestion on the internet, especially for cable broadband, the better the quality, and that generally holds true with any VOIP provider, although Voice-Over-IP technology is getting better and better with time.)
So for about the first 30 days, my Unlimited Dual-JoiPhone lines worked like they should, and quite frankly a satisfied customer... for the first 30 days... Then from the first week into my 2nd month, it was like they started turning features off at certain days of the week and I even wondered if JoiPhone reassigned my 2 lines onto a slower backbone, because once my 30-day refund grace period ended and my ability to file for a refund was now gone, service quality went from decent service and straight downhill from that point on.
I began documenting what I was experiencing, albeit in random fashion, there was no predictability when something would go wrong with the JoiPhone service, all I knew was that something would always fail and fail often. I started enjoying things like random disconnects, voice echoing, time delays of up to 3 seconds when speaking (very annoying to other party, they think you're rudely cutting them off mid-sentence) web-based voice mail files vanishing into thin air, account password failing, week long account-lockouts on JoiPhone's account system (they said my account had been "compromised" and they had to bar me from daily access to my account, which was totally weird??) strange weekly $5.00 charges to my credit card (which they promised to reimburse, but still show "pending" on my MasterCard monthly statements) music-on-hold feature continually resetting/erasing uploaded track, my personal greeting deleted by JoiPhone multiple times (they blamed 'user error'), odd-hour service disruptions and day-long dead-tone (no dial tone) allegedly due to JoiPhone's exponential growth (they were having a hard time updating the servers with 1000's of new victims signing up last February), unannounced service disruptions due to "server maintenance" that routinely occurred exactly during peak-residential calling times typically 4PM-7PM the most annoying downgrade of the server out of all as it prevented calls during those times, almost every day!) lots of spotty system malfunctions with the "Free Added Bonus Features" including 3-way calling, music-on-hold, last number redial and on certain days, never ringing when anyone called me. With sheer amount of Hell JoiPhone crappy service put me through in the last few months, I'm almost glad they committed fraud against me, now I can forget trying to 'save a pennuy' and go Google for something that isn't a scam. I should have searched for JoiPhone+SCAM on Google before signing up with those crooks, lesson learned.
I'm sure you're wondering how JoiPhone scammed me? Well, today is Friday April 15th, 2011 and I've been with these idiots since January 5th on my prepaid service plan, which I was to have been stuck with for 2 years.. So I should have 21 months left of my JoiPhone service contract... But as of yesterday, I officially have NO PHONE SERVICE WITH JOIPHONE?!! Those knavish lowbrow thieves TERMINATED MY ACCOUNT ALONG WITH BOTH OF MY PREPAID LINES last week, without prior-warning and for no evident reason, just a bunch of BS that I violated JoiPhopne's Terms of Service (which they cannot provide me a copy of) and since I (unknowingly) committed this (mysterious violation) I willingly nullified my contract, therefore by (unknown) FCC law, JoiPhone must forfeit their responsibility to provide further VOIP service, irregardless of the fact I prepaid over $400.00 for said service, they are 'bound by law' to end our relationship and, oh, sorry, by the way, we have to keep all your money because your 30-day grace period for refunds is over... Are these white-collar parolee's SERIOUS?
Since this just happened, I've only logged the details of the call I just made (using my HTC Evo android Sprint line) and will try to update as I go along, we'll see if I get justice on this deceptive fraudulent scam outfit. Calling JoiPhone, I was confronted by a mean-spirited black Cuban dude with slurred angry speech, the voice of a lowbrow street-thug straight outta the projects (you may have talked to the same piece of trash if you call JoiPhone customer-service, watch out, he's icy-rude, makes veiled threats of having you arrested if you object, seems utterly callous to customer concerns, which may be why JoiPhone lets him fend off angry customers once burned by their fraud!) The rep said my account was terminated because 'the automated JoiPhone auditing system' had flagged my account because an "irregular call pattern," which is a direct violation of the Terms of Service (TOS) I had agreed to obey.
I asked him to clarify what he meant by "violation of the Terms? How can someone violate something simply through the use of that thing, and minimally at that? You guys aren't being very ethical here, I prepay and you yank my account for some mysterious thing you claim I violated? This is fraud!" His rude response didn't surprise me, "1st, I dont lyke dat voyce tone, don tryna disrespec me, cracka! Second, yu pre-pay 2 year, yu shit outta lukk cuz yu beyon 30 day refund, 3rd, irrrgula call patternz iz abusiff 'nough to warrant account termina-shunn, dat wut got done to yu," adding I should consider myself lucky I hadn't been terminated sooner for my (mystifying 'irregular call pattern' abuses) and if he owned the company, he would turn me over to the FBI and put me up for criminal charges with "yu lucki we aint press charg on yur azz for abusiv practices! Whut yu done, I cud sue yur azz or git yu do sum jail tyme!"
Jail time? For what?? I asked him to say that again, because I wanted to record this call, he shut up quick. Perhaps we're not communicating. I have the Unlimited phone service with the 2 line, I prepaid because you your sales rep said doing so would lock my account in for 2 years, besides making/receiving 2-3 calls per day, you can CLEARLY SEE MY USAGE, which is an average of 43 minutes every 24 hours!! How is that IRREGULAR, and HOW IT THAT ABUSIVE, HOW IS THAT A CRIME??! I added that I've never committed a crime in my life, asking him why they are cutting their own throat by stabbing customers in the back? Don't they know we can report our experiences online? Don't they know if they piss off enough people and grind people rights underfoot, the negative reports will kill thier company?? If anyone is a CRIMINAL, IT YOU PEOPLE!! The rep shouted back in his usual unintelligible gutter-talk, "I toll yu allredy, YU violate da Termz uf Servic!?! Wuz a CALL PATTERN GOT YU BUSTET, da system flag yur fone lyne, it catch you abusin Termz O Servize an it got yu terminatd, crackazz dummazz... juss lyke i say b4, yu deaf?!"
Once again, the street thug JoiPhone rep ambiguously stated that I had abused the unlimited plan thereby violating JoiPhone's Terms of Service, which by Florida Law, they are bound to meet FCC regulations and terminate any account who breaks the TOS.
I asked specifically how I broke JoiPhones TOS, which I hadn't seen nor been provided during signup. The gangsta said he didn't have the details on my account except that I violated the TOS, stating that its another department who determined I was abusing my unlimited plan and that those people would be gone for the rest of the week and might not be back for a while because they left the country on vacation.
I asked where could I find the Terms of Service I had allegedly broke and he said it was emailed to you once you hit submit on the credit card payment screen, if you didn't get it, it's not our problem, prolly went to your spam box and YOU deleted it, he said.
At this point in the call, it seemed more and more like this JoiPhone thing really was turning into the complete and total scam I'd read about everywhere online. The gangster JoiPhone rep replied, "Yu tink i giva fuck wut sum 'white boi' think of diz bid'ness, cuz yu da foo, yu break da rulez an dot lyke yu getz caut!" adding that Joiphone won't miss my business, since they have plenty of people signing up everyday just begging them to take my place! I was also told there's no refund on my account because I'm already into the 4th month of service, way past the first 30 days, adding his worthless 2 cents, "Itz not lyke we loze anythang, nukk!! We awredi mak profit off dat white azz, think we gonna wait anotha 2 year git money again?? Yu a stupit-azz, crazee-azz mofo! Deaf an dumb, too!" I told him to calm down and to stop insulting me, but I could see where this call was going and didn't want this needless fiasco ruining my good week.
I simply reiterated I hadn't been provide a clear answer to my question (apparently JoiPhone employees are at liberty to 'make up the rules' as they go along, so you argue all you want, you'll never win because they hold all the cards. This game is fixed, JoiPhone makes sure you will always lose) asking him once again, why my 2 YEAR PREPAID ACCOUNT is suddenly gone after using an average of 1 hour of phone talk-time per day??! How is that abusive for an "unlimited line??" I said it seemed to me it was JOIPHONE is the one in violation (OF MY CIVIL RIGHTS) and that if anyone was going to be reporting FRAUD, it would be me turning them in, not the other way around as this hoodlum threatened, at which point he curtly replied, "Get tha fuck outt mi fayce, looza!" and hung up.
I immediately called back, got transferred to the standard automated JoiPhone Menu-of-Misery and subsequent hourly Please Hold for Customer Service, Your Call is very Important to us, the next available customer service rep will be with you momentarily." as sat back for the long hold, waiting for customer service to wipe their asses and get off the toilet already! I waited exactly 33 minutes before I figured I could call the 'Sales Dept' instead, and have them transfer me to Customer Service, punching in for Sales Dept, instead of JoiPhone 'Cust Svcs.' Within about 30 seconds, I was talking to a real life person with broken-Engrish from Sales and asked for "name withheld" the disgruntled customer services rep who had hung up on me an hour prior.
The sales woman immediately handed the phone to Mr. Street-Thug with Customer Service (or lack thereof). He was peeved to hear my voice again having gotten through his weak firewall and I I straightaway began asking where I could find the mysterious missing "Terms of Service" I am being accused of having violated. The gangbanger asked what for? Uh, so I can prove you have no case? Should I not be able to review the TOS myself, for the first time, since it's impossible to expect customers to follow the rules, if said-rules are never divulged to anyone. I asked if they are available from the JoiPhone.com website?" He shot back, "Aint on da websyte boo, yu stupitt deff dumbazz, I awredy explain it!!" I explained that I'd checked my Gmail account and there was no evidense whatsoever that they sent me an email with the "agreement" and TOS attached, not in my InBox not in my Spam folder (which is set to hold junkmail for 6 months, I never manually delete it) nowhere, zip, nadda!
If anyone is deaf, its this dude, he turned my statement inside-out stating that since I had deleted the email containing the original agreement and TOS, it wasn't JoiPhone's fault and therefore not its problem.
Apparently he did not hear a word I said, typical of delusional thugs who enjoy exercising petty authority over lowly subordinates aka "customers." I told the dude he was being unreasonable and told him to go get his supervisor because he was wasting my time (half the time I couldn't even understand him, babbling English ghetto-rot!) "Nope. Awl on vacatshun, 'ike I sez, yu outta lukk chump. Dey cawl yu bac, sidezat, lookz lyke yu shit-outta lukk!" ...dial tone as he dropped my call (again!)
Beware, these fraudsters at JoiPhone will hang up on you if you try to get a straight answer, or defend your honor, which they will do everything possible to destroy you in attempts to protect the money they stole from you from ever getting back into your hands.
So that's where I stand in this new JoiPhone saga they're forcing me to deal with, and I promise you, they will not emerge unscathed. As you can tell by now I'm sure, THE JOIPHONE SCAM MUST END, they're seemingly starting to rip everyone off lately, one way or another during the course of a customer's contract, they screw them over well before services have been rendered, unless you're month-to-month, keeping the carrot dangling in front of their greedy noses. If you pre-pay, they will SCREW YOU BAD, because they hold all the cards making it so they always win! The best way to avoid loss of money or getting ripped off by these Internet Thieves is to avoid being lured into the trap where money is taken out of your shallow pockets and criminally placed into their bottomless pockets. Do not be suckered by cheap, slick promises and JoiPhone's flashy corn-ball website, as it turns out for me and everyone else, it's BOGUS BULLSHIT. Everything on the JoiPhone website is a dirty lie, they know it, you don't, and they want to keep it that way.
You can't sell someone a car, offer them a free bio-fuel engine upgrade and 2 years of unlimited fuel if they pay for the entire car in-full, upfront by credit card, then a couple of months down the road once the customer really starts enjoying the new ride, sneak to the owner's house under the cover of night and repo the car without warning, then simply explain to the owner that, 'even tho they paid for the car in-full, we were forced to repossess your new car because our computer system flagged you for random drive patterns that prove you must be using the car, which therefor violates your Terms of Ownership for Automobiles. If somebody did that, they would be arrested, but before a grand jury on trial and jailed for fraud and grand theft auto! If that scenario sounds crazy, that's exactly what JoiPhone is doing to decent hard-work-a-day people like you and I. So how it possible a group of fraudsters like JoiPhone are able to get away with endlessly defrauding thousands of honest, paying customers, and do so without a single shred of legal consequence against them? Seems to me they have found a lucrative, perfect little bulletproof racket to scam untold amounts of easy money out of unsuspecting victims, and get away with this fraud for 10 years long! Surely they are INVINCIBLE AGAINST RETRIBUTION OF ANY KIND. 10 years is a long time for JoiPhone to be running this ongoing, premeditated scam, its time they get taken down. As far as JoiPhone is concerned, crime in America is the most rewarding corporate strategy ever... Petty crime is always profitable for JoiPhone, because it always pays!
So what can a person do besides laugh at such petty-minded losers. Although its sad to see so many decent people getting scammed based on all these tragic reports against JoiPhone all over the internet, it never ceases to amaze me watching greed in all its bottomless shapes and sizes, no matter how stupid it makes people foolishly act-out, JoiPhone bites the hands that feed them, I will take great pleasure in watching JoiPhone crash and burn by the deeds of its own greed that knows no end! Apparently the gangsters running JoiPhone have not a clue how fast word spreads online, in the end, their criminal conduct and greedy, small-time thefting scheme will serve their own doom... That is, if they're not first murdered by somebody who's bloodthirsty vendetta against corporate thuggery is their life's goal to end. For dirty-low life's like JoiPhone, I'd be packing. In this desperate economy, such blatant, cold-blooded pilchering what few dollars people have left to survive on, will likely soon be met with equal-measures of desperation, you just never know these days. All I can say is that I'd sure hate to be one of the many scammers working at JoiPhone Corporate when that grim day of revenge comes knocking, time to choose a casket, boys!
Stay clear of the JOIPHONE SCAM, its a HUGE TIME & MONEY WASTER. HEED OUR WARNING OR THEY WILL ROB YOU BLIND, SPIT ON YOU AND LEAVE YOU FOR DEAD. Stay clear of the JOIPHONE SCAM, that is... Unless YOU ENJOY BEING SCAMMED LIKE A SORRY SUCKER, THEN YOU'LL BE JUST LIKE ME and we can be BROKE AND MAD AT JOIPHONE TOGETHER!  |
