US Telco Support > Frontier Communications > [DSL] Inevitable Billing Nightmare? HELP!

[DSL] Inevitable Billing Nightmare? HELP!

Let me say first off that I am certainly not a fan of Frontier. I know you were upset but you accepted the TOS. You should have stuck to your guns and not given into your frustration. It is very unfortunate but I think you are stuck. Frontier will go though line by line of what your new bill will be (at least they did for me), give them a call, you may be positively surprised.

Please do. I sincerely hope things work out for you. I will that from my perspective Frontier has a very poor opinion of their customers.

reply to whenthepawn
Send this same letter to your regional manager.

»www.frontier.com/customerservice/8/

reply to whenthepawn
My guess is that you are in a area that came from Verizon.... what they did was roll you from a Verizon grandfathered bundle to a new Frontier bundle... your bill may go down, but so will your internet speed. Be careful... they have been doing this to A LOT of customers... they don't actually tell them what they are doing.

reply to Aranarth

reply to f13f9f4

Hey everyone,

Just thought I'd give a quick update to those that have read my post.

A couple of days ago, I submitted my story to Stop The Cap.

I did mention this forum in the story. I had no idea they were going to post what I had submitted, which should be one of the main stories on their website now if any of you would like to read it, but it inspired me to call Frontier to see if I could get the changes reversed.

My call went to their service center in Indiana. I told the agent everything in my original post. I told him I was worried about surcharges, including the monthly modem fee, and how I had decided (since the changes were put in place) that I probably didn't receive enough incoming calls to warrant having Call Waiting and that I didn't even make 30 minutes of long distance calls in a month to justify having that many minutes of free long distance that rolled over to 300 per year.

He was very quick to then transfer my call to his supervisor's line. Long story short, she was happy to reverse all of the changes and put me back on my old plan (after I had told her everything in my original post too). After the reversal, I then told her that I believed my line speed had been downgraded by at least a meg (from around 2.2 Meg to 1.2 Meg). She immediately transferred me to Internet Tech Support, who created a support ticket and told me that a technician would be here around tomorrow to address any speed issues.

He then said that, after tomorrow, I should see a speed somewhere near 5 Meg, which blew me away. I then told him, "Wait. For the last 7 years, I've been paying for a 3 Meg HSI-max connection. That's the speed I would like to get back to. He only brought up the 5 Meg speed after I had told him that I believed that my speed was capped from 2.2 Meg down to 1.2 Meg shortly after the changes were made to my account.

He was a little surprised at my 2.2 Meg claim, and countered that the maximum speed I should've been getting (based on my OLD plan) was 1.3 - 1.44. I then stated that that speed really wasn't anywhere near the 3 Meg I had been paying for anyway, and he brought up how I should see somewhere near 5 Meg by tomorrow afternoon once a Tech came to look at the line.

I don't know how about feel about that. I was just trying to get back to 2.2 Meg, which was the speed I was seeing on June 14 immediately after I hung up the phone that day (after the plan was put in place) and performed a speed test. However, if they say that's the speed I should see, I will have to wait and see.

I'm still a bit discombobulated by the call, honestly. It took 1 1/2 hours to get everything resolved.

Some things surprised me, like how the internet Tech agent STILL tried to sell me a new modem. I even balked at how he tried to claim my SpeedStream 5200 might've been the cause of the slower speed. I laughed and said, "How can that be? I just told you that after I got off the phone with the agent on the 14th that I did a Speed Test on the company's website out of curiosity, and I'm pretty sure that my line speed was between 2-3 Meg, so how could the modem possibly be the cause -- even if it did fall on the floor?" I then told him about how I had been reading online about customers experiencing slower speeds after switching to their "upgrades," and I went so far as to say that I believed my internet speed was capped after the new plan was put into place, but his claim was that they didn't do that because they always want to provide their customers with the fastest speed possible.

I just laughed. During the call, I told him about how I didn't know about the $7/mo modem fee until after the support ticket for their new modem was cancelled and how I was curious why customers like me with old plans should be charged the fee when they were never charged before. He said there has been a push by the company to get customers like me to upgrade to a newer modem because it could provide faster speeds. He said, "75%-90% of speed issues can be resolved more quickly because we can actually dial into the newer modems and address speed problems faster without having to create support tickets and doing it the old fashioned way (by sending a live technician).

At one point during the call, he euphemistically tried to say that I was untrusting of the company because I didn't want to upgrade the modem. He said something to the effect of, "That would be like the owner of a GM dealership driving to work in a Ford car and parking in GM's parking lot every day." It kind of angered me, and I said, "Um, I cancelled the support ticket for the modem because I realized I didn't NEED a new one. It had nothing to do with trusting or not trusting Frontier. Why should you give me something new if I don't need it?" He just said he understood, and again asked me what I was calling about."

Anyway, I was told by a supervisor that I would not be charged for their "upgraded" plan after today and that my old plan would come back into effect next Wednesday, the 27th.

Overall, I expected a complete nightmare, but was transferred to a supervisor quickly, who told me it only took "2 1/2 minutes to put the service codes from your old plan back in place," and the Internet Tech agent was rather friendly.

Obviously, the supervisor I talked to must've felt the previous agents I had spoken with did something wrong after I had simply called about cancelling the new modem, as she was more than happy to get me back to my old plan. Furthermore, if those two agents had done nothing wrong (or underhanded in trying to get me to a newer plan), why would the Internet Tech agent say I would see a speed somewhere near 5 Meg when all I was complaining about was that my speed was nowhere near being the 3 Meg HSI-max connection I had been paying for for 7 years prior?

She knew what had been put into motion was not right. I'm just glad that I was able to get my old plan and service rates back.

I'd also like to thank all of you who took the time to read my post and offer advice about my situation. I can't thank you all enough, but I will continue to browse the forum here and share my experience with other customers who might encounter Frontier's sneaky tactics to sell their "upgraded" plans.

Also, I plan to bookmark Stop the Cap and will, hopefully, be a more informed customer so this NEVER happens again.

I will also update the thread after the technician comes to "fix" my DSL line.

Thanks,

whenthepawn

P.S. I apologize for the length of the post!

if you don't see your speeds increase let me know, I'll see what I can do from my end...typically I can just talk to the MCO and get them turned back up right away...

Update: The technician just left.

Less than 5 minutes after he performed a speed test, he was on the phone with the manager at the local office requesting a speed change.

After that, he rebooted the modem, went into the DSL statistics and said something to the manager to the effect of, "Now, that is a speed I recognize."

He did another speed test and, miraculously, the upload speed was around 2.2 Meg -- backing my claim I had made about it being that fast on the 14th before they put their "upgraded" plan in place. He said I'm running double the speed I was, so I'm happy.

He even told me that his speed at the local office was set at 6 Meg and that it normally runs around 2.2 Meg when there's a lot of congestion on the network.

He did say that they were in the process of putting an upgrade in place to give people near me faster speeds, but it wasn't finished yet. He also said that they've been "putting so many people on that one box that speeds are slower during 6-10 PM."

He said that the speed should've been higher since I'm right next to the local Frontier office (I can actually see the parking lot for their service vans and the back of the building if I look out my back patio...LOL).

I then told him about how they made unauthorized changes to my account. His first response was, "Your bill went up?," he said, snickering. That was very telling right there, at least for me.

He even called to confirm whether or not I was paying a modem fee. The person on the phone said no, so he told me he wasn't going to swap out the modem to a Netgear since the SpeedStream 5200 was still working. After he got off the phone about that, he said, "Most of us don't need that extra bill."

I'm satisfied. He seemed to be on my side, which was nice. He even gave me his business card and told me who to talk to if I had any further speed issues.

The last hurdle will be whether I'll be paying any cancellation fees with the newer plan like I said, so we will see.

Update - I begrudgingly called Frontier regarding any cancellation fees connected to the new plan was cancelled. I was actually transferred to the same supervisor, who confirmed that I will NOT be charged any sort of cancellation fee.

I was told there was a 30-day penalty-free cancellation provision regarding new plans. So, if there's anyone who recently got bamboozled into accepting a new plan, you DO have 30 days to cancel the plan and revert back to your old plan before they will even think about charging you any cancellation fees.

Yay for me!

Update - LOL. I knew it was too good to be true yesterday. I just logged into the modem page. They turned my speed back down to 1344000 / 192000. I guess that's all they're willing to offer (and the Internet tech I spoke with the day before yesterday said anything above 1 Meg is considered HSI). Whatever. If that's the fastest speed they can offer me, fine, but why send someone out here to put on a show for me and act like I was going to have a faster speed if they were just going to turn it back down?

It makes me think that his talk of some sort of upgrade to give people near faster speeds was complete BS too. Whatever.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to let you all know that I finally got my "new" bill from Frontier.

It was only $8 higher than June's.

Under the "Monthly Service Charges" section, they billed me $29.95 for "FrontierNet HSI Service 1mb/128kb" and $6.99 for "My Frontier Hot Spot," which I assume is the modem fee.

So, if I understand the bill, they charged me $6.99 for a modem I didn't even have during the 11-13 days I was on the plan.

Meanwhile, the "Other Service Charges and Credits" section is nothing short of confusing.

If I'm reading the bill correctly, they charged me $1.33 for Caller ID, $3.99 for HSI (still listed as "FrontierNet HSI Service 1mb/128kb"), and $0.93 for "My Frontier Hot Spot" from 06/27/12 - 06/30/12.

I was told my old plan would be in effect on 06/27, which explains the above prorated charges, yet they are still charging me for a modem I don't even have.

I requested to go back to my old plan on 06/25 and was told that it would be in place on 06/27.

The previous day, on 06/26, the technician came to look at my modem, called in a TEMPORARY speed change that they reversed the next morning, and then spoke to someone at the local office about whether or not I was being charged for a modem (as mine was out of warranty, like all SpeedStream 5200's). He got off the phone and said, "I was going to switch out the modems IF you were being charged the modem fee, but I won't since this one is still working." He wanted to replace it with a Netgear.

The person he spoke with on the phone told him I was NOT being charged the modem fee, which is why he didn't swap them out, yet if I understand the bill, they are still charging me for it.

In other words, they restored my old plan then slapped the modem fee on top of it even though they told the tech NOT to swap the modems out on the 26th.

It's complete BS. If they tell someone who works for them that they can't swap the modems out because I'm not being charged for it, why is it still appearing as a prorated charge on my bill after I switched back to my old plan?

At any rate, I'm going to the local office tomorrow. I'm going to have the person at the front desk print the bills off from June and July and have them explain all of the credits and prorated charges.

If they tell me they HAVE to charge me the modem fee on top of my old plan without the extra calling features, should I just suck it up and request that they give me a new modem?

It's just stupid to me. If you want me to pay it, then give me a new modem. Don't tell your tech to NOT swap the modems out because I'm not being charged and turn around and slap the fee on top of my old plan when I don't even use a new modem.

This is infuriating and ridiculous. I wish I would've NEVER called Tech support after the damn thing fell on the floor on the 12th of June...

Hey all (or whoever is still following my topic),

I begrudgingly went to my local Frontier office to discuss my July bill. Specifically, why I was being charged the $6.99 modem fee after being put back on my old plan on 06/27.

I asked if she could print out the bill so that she could explain the prorated charges/credits. She said, "Normally, we don't print bills, but for you, I will." After I learned they were not supposed to do that, I said it was no big deal, but she insisted.

She explained the charges/credits thoroughly. Then, I brought up the modem fee and told her I didn't understand why I was being charged $6.99 because I was never charged that for the 7 years I had been with them. She asked me for the model number. I told her it was a SpeedStream 5200. She immediately said, "I'll take care of that for you right away. It is Friday, but I'm not going to make it hard for you. I'm going to put that change in right away." I then asked if I would be charged the same amount in August. She immediately said no.

She said she understood where I was coming from, especially since there was no rental fee at the time I had opened the account 7 years ago. She then reiterated that it would be taken care of and that I would no longer be charged for it.

She asked who had made the changes to my account (when the order for the new plan was put in). I told her it was someone in Customer Service. That's when she started shaking her head. She told me, "If you get any calls from the company, ignore them. They will actually upgrade you without telling you." I said, "Yeah, that's exactly what happened. That's what started all of this, initially."

She then said, "The main goal of telemarketers who call on behalf of the company is to upsell customers. We know all about it. They have actually caused us a lot of havoc over here by upgrading customer accounts automatically."

I was surprised by that, but brought up the modem fee again. I told her I knew the modem was out warranty and that their goal was get newer customers on the newer, company-branded modems. I said, "I don't think I'm special or anything and that I shouldn't pay that. If I have to pay that fee, I will. It's just that I was never charged a fee for 7 years." She again said she understood and admitted that newer customers would have to pay the fee because that's their policy now, but said she would take that fee off of the account solely for the fact that it wasn't their policy 7 years ago.

I told her I really appreciated it and admitted that if my old modem ever stopped working, I would upgrade it without hesitation. "That's a deal," she said.

After that, we exchanged pleasantries and she said, "Your nightmare is over, I promise," which caused me to bust up laughing. She got a kick out of it, as did the receptionist next to her.

I left feeling like a valued customer, which is nice.

Honestly, if anyone is still reading my posts, do yourself a favor and SKIP the Customer Service lines. Go to your local Frontier office with ANY questions or concerns regarding your account. They are truly much friendlier to deal with, at least in my case, and are more than happy to please their customers if it means keeping them.

I'll update this post in August and let you all know if I get charged the fee (or not). Hopefully, the latter will be the outcome.

whenthepawn

P.S. Sorry for the double posts as of late.

Hey everyone,

Just wanted to update this post and let everyone know what happened with the modem rental fee that was put on my bill in June.

I just logged into Online Bill Pay and saw my statement for August.

The modem fee is STILL listed on the bill as "My Frontier HotSpot." However, a "Courtesy Credit" of $7.92 is listed at the top of the bill.

In total, my bill is actually about $10 less than it was in May (before all of the BS unfolded with Frontier in June), so I guess that's a positive.

At this point, I'm not sure if this "Courtesy Credit" will be a monthly thing or not, but the agent at my local office did say (more than once) that I would not be charged the fee this month or thereafter, which makes me think that the credit is going to be there from now on.

I guess I'll have to wait and see until I get my statement for September. If the credit is a one-time thing (and I end up being charged the fee next month), I guess all I can do is suck it up, request a new modem, and move on.

Has anyone else received this "Courtesy Credit" after complaining about the modem fee?

If anybody has any thoughts on this, please let me know.

Thanks,

whenthepawn

try not to make things more complicated then it should be .