Selected ISP Support > Earthlink DSL > Most Absurd Bill Ever

Most Absurd Bill Ever

03/05/05 USF Fee Recovery               .97

reply to awluck
A new PHISHING message perhaps? Look closely at links.

reply to Doctor Olds
did you know EL tech support is represented by only three techs between 2am-5am? Two techs....25 million customers...hope you have a chair.

reply to awluck

reply to awluck
Dr. Olds,

Yeah, I've taken to looking at my Credit Card Statement every month very carefully, and even checking it online about once a week. I think if the difference had been one dollar when I checked it online, I probably wouldn't have gone back to the original invoice to see what's up ( lotsa dial-up use in addition to the ADSL).

Bill_MI,

No, it isn't a phishing scam ( at least not this particular e-mail). I was alerted to the problem because they had billed against the credit card for over three times the normal monthly amount, and I check my cc statement online at least weekly. The links are good.

ALso, the smiley is an interesting development, since "it" doesn't appear on my original invoice. Can I assume that this is an added "service" from BBR?

On second thought, I'm willing to guess that it's an unintentional artifact (emoticon), due to the juxtaposition of the colon and the dee. Yes? How many others are there? :? :/ :> :-- :: :A :B :C :E :F :G

.sig under development

Yeah, a lot of emoticons exist. Just conveying the humor of ": D S L" coming out ":DSL".

reply to awluck
Well, I think I figured this out. It would appear from this page:

»support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/i···psc.html

that the USF charge on the bill $107.14

is simply the approximate sum total of the USF charges for every State in the Union where Earthlink itemizes a USF charge.

Sum of the minimums: $90.11
Sum of the maximums: $110.84

Well, they always did say that the Internet offered the opportunity to be a lot of places at one time or another(Telepresence) »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telepresence . Little did I know that it also offered the possibility of being everywhere all the time.

Talk about living a vicarious life....

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.sig under development

Very interesting - didn't realize it varied so much. Does the original have anything funny in your address that may trigger it?

Hey, I bet somehow this may be involved:
»ADSL Pricing changes. 3.0 Costs more now!
... billing change bug?
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...from another lucky 97-center.

reply to awluck
The address couldn't be any more vanilla. Unless living in the suburbs of Atlanta Georgia confirms some special significance or "powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men"

»www.hollywoodteenmovies.com/Supe···Men.html

(be sure and wait for and listen to the soundtrack)

Could be a billing change bug for some, but my service hasn't changed in years, I live in Bellsouth territory, and my connection is to a remote terminal up the street (so no Covad option).

I'm open to any suggestions for getting better speed, including just going with Bellsouth. DO they offer higher speeds on remote terminals, where there isn't any competition except Comcast?
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I got the same bill, same USF charge, $107.14. Through an article I wrote about it...

»photodude.com/article/2640/earth···recovery

...I've encountered five other people who got hit by the same thing. Two of them cancelled their accounts. That's just my small circle of contacts.

"Customer service" said it was due to a database error, and the best they could do was submit a request for a refund. They claimed it would be credited to my account in 3 to 5 days, but I've since found that, to Earthlink, that means "up to seven weeks."

»support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/i···l#credit

So, it would appear Earthlink has made a three figure mistake on a large number of accounts, which won't be refunded for many weeks, and has done nothing to placate those customers. No offer of a week or three of free service in repayment for this error ... like Mindspring would have done.

I'm waiting until the close of business tomorrow, which will be the promised fifth day, to see if a credit shows up onlineon my account. Then on Monday, I'm contacting the FTC, trade publications, and anyone else I can think of.

reply to awluck
For what it's worth, I got my invoice the same day as you did, and the USF fee was the usual $.97.

reply to awluck
Reid is a better wordsmith than I am, so check out his take on this. Mine certainly isn't an isolated incident.

But reading through his "conversation" with customer "service", one thing comes to mind. Is Earthlink going to "wait and see" who catches this mistake? Are you kidding me?

Just once, I'd like to see the following correspondence come out of a large organization. It certainly would have come out of MindSpring.:

Dear Subscriber,

We f***ed up.

Completely.

We know what happened. During the changing of some billing parameters, we messed up the Universal Service Fund (USF) Recovery charge item. »support.earthlink.net/mu/1/psc/i···psc.html As a result, some of you got a bill which included enough USF Recovery charge to last for nine years. We're sorry, and we hope you didn't hurt yourself or put too big a dent in your ceiling. Under the TOS and user agreement which applies to your service, you can't hold us liable for damages, but here's what we're going to do:

A. We know who actually caused this problem. Everyone makes mistakes. While we aren't going to fire this person, we are going to pay more attention to their work for a few months. And their supervisor's work, too.

B. By looking at the line item "Universal Service Fund (USF) Recovery collected" in our accounting program, we can see that it is about XX million dollars more than it probably ought to be. Because of this clue, we can go back and do an account database search, and quickly figure out who got overcharged. This should be done by noon EST on Friday, and we will make every effort to get your credit or debit card accounts credited with the overage by close of business Monday. If you pay by check, we'll credit your Earthlink account plus five percent as interest. In return, we won't incur the expense of sending you a check for reimbursement.

C. If, for whatever reason this can't happen, we'll announce an updated status of the situation on our Network Status board, found here »netstatus.earthlink.net/netstatu···tus.aspx. .

D. If you have problems with your bank or credit card company as a result of our screw-up, please let us know by e-mail. We will send you some contact information for a small group that has been put together to send out letters or make phone calls on your behalf. We may not be able to solve all of your problems, but this group has been fully informed of the situation, and will not make you jump through stupid hoops to get help on this issue.

E. In the future, we are going to check the invoice batches before they are released, through a method known in some circles as Pre-Bill. In that way, if there is a wide swing in the gross accounts in a batch from month to month, we will be much more likely to pick it up before it goes out. We may not catch every glitch, but the ones which are brutally obvious should be caught before they get to our customers.

F. While it was nice to have an extra XX million dollars on the books for a few days, we know that just the interest it would accumulate in the bank will not cover the value of the customer loyalty which has been burned by this incident. Unfortunately, we did not know of the extent of this error until it was brought to our attention by our customer service staff. And they didn't know that your problem was not an isolated incident. Now they do. And you won't be challenged to prove who you are just to get this particular charge reversed.

Again, WE ARE REALLY, REALLY SORRY about this. Instead of promising you a free month, or offering you a trinket, we propose to do the following three things:

1. Over the next six months, we will be contacting each account holder with an offer of a renewal of comparable service at the lowest rate available in your area. We won't match the discounted rate (first three months for $2.95/mo), but we will match the incentives available at the time. We will ask for a three month commitment, and the rate will be valid for one year. Specifics of the offer will be sent to you in the email containing the offer.

2. Auto makers are offering loyalty incentives, and so are we. For every year you have been a subscriber to Earthlink or an acquired company, we will take one dollar off your basic monthly service bill, up to ten dollars a month, regardless of your basic rate. While we are going to cut into the advertising budget to fund this initiative, we think it makes more sense to keep existing customers than to chase new ones. The loyalty offer will be applied regardless of the rate offered under item #1.

3. WE REALLY ARE GOING TO THINK about how we can make your customer experience better, especially when communicating with our representatives. This may mean more training, and definitely a new attitude. Our reps will think BEFORE they speak or type, and they will LISTEN TO YOU before they start thinking.

We appreciate your business and your loyalty, what's left of it. We want to start now in rebuilding your confidence in our company, and hope you will keep us as your ISP. We need you to be willing to recommend us to your friends and family, and we believe that in a few short months you will be able to do so without reservation.

Sincerely,
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.sig under development

reply to ReidStott

IANAL, either, and I do intend to contact my bank to contest the charge. But my bank didn't make this mistake. There's more to this issue than getting my $106 back. I no longer feel I can trust Earthlink with my account numbers, and seek some reassurance that next month I (and other customers) won't get hit for $1,007 dollars ... and have to wait up to seven weeks to get my money back.

If Earthlink is not concerned about addressing this situation in any way (as they have failed to do so far), that's their choice. It's a dumb one that will cost them customers, but they are free to make it. However, I've been a customer for nine years, and have spent over $6,000 with them during that time. I intend to do a bit more than just get my money back.

As I quoted on my site, I was told by an EL rep in Live Chat, "I will forward a refund request to our billing department for $106.17. Once approved, it will reflect on your credit card in 3 to 5 business days once processed." I'm not sure how you interpret a "refund" that "will reflect on your credit card" to mean a credit on my EL account. But perhaps EL does as well. We'll see. To me, "refund" means I get my money back. But I'm not exactly holding my breath.

reply to awluck
BTW, I have yet to try and contact EL regarding this whole issue. I just didn't have the time or the patience.

This just appeared as a new invoice on my account billing page within the last couple of hours.:

Previous Balance .00

03/10/05 FUSF Recovery Fee Credit 106.17CR
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New Charges: 106.17CR
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Balance Due: 106.17CR
Refunded to Visa 106.17
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Remaining Balance Due: .00
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Haven't seen the normal e-mail from invoice-inquiry.

I'll look for it on my credit card statement online in the morning.

reply to awluck
I decided to check my latest bill. No taxes or USF this month! I guess you picked up my tab. I owe you a beer.

02/12/05 Feb 12-Mar 11:Internet Access 1.00 17.95 17.95
02/12/05 Feb 12-Mar 11: DSL Telecom Svc 1.00 32.00 32.00
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New Charges: 49.95
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Balance Due: 49.95
02/15/05 Paid by Discover 49.95CR
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Remaining Balance Due: .00
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