BEWARE_ACANAC
@bell.ca
1 edit | ACANAC --> WARNING!!
About one year ago (February 2008) we signed up for a year prepaid with ACANAC, taking them up on their 18.95/month offer (year total=$227.40 + $50-refundable- for the modem). Because we did not have an existing tel. land-line, we paid an addition $96 for a year of the "dry-loop" service.
To note, we signed NO CONTRACT with ACANAC. All of our dealings were by email. We borrowed a friend's credit card in order to place the order by phone. We received the original invoices from ACANAC by email. Nowhere on the invoice does it refer to a contract, or the "user agreement" as posted on their website.
There were problems from the start. It took over one month before we had obtained satisfactory connection and service. This after dealing with impolite and unreasonable phone staff. But eventually things were settled, and we were REASONABLY happy with the service...enough to even recommend them to friends who were looking to escape Rogers and Telus. Most recently the access/download speed dropped considerably, but this seems to be an all-around issue...
HOWEVER, HERE's THE WORST OF IT :
RECENTLY we received two new invoices from ACANAC, in which they claimed to be RENEWING our contract. One invoice was for an additional year of dry-loop at the same price of $96 for a year.
The other invoice was for one complete year of DSL for $479.00 !!!
That's a rate increase of over 100% (++ONE-HUNDRED PERCENT!!) from $18.95 to $39.95 per month!
To make matters even WORSE, they gave NO NOTICE of the "renewal", and they charged these two amounts to our friend's credit card, WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION!!
In response to our grievances (and NOTE HERE that ACANAC DOES NOT RESPOND TO BILLING ENQUIRIES BY PHONE!!) they sent us a form letter stating that we should consult the "user agreement" online, and they were within their right to renew our service if they had not been notified otherwise before the year-end of our original agreement.
No matter what the "user agreement" says, here's the legal scoop:
No contract was signed between us and ACANAC giving them the right to renew any contract without our consent.
No contract provisions give them the AUTHORIZATION to submit charges to a credit card account without our (user) consent.
Our invoices do not refer in any way to a contract or user agreement with ACANAC.
And further, even if there was some sort of built-in stipulation to renew a contract after a year, without prior notice, this stipulation and the relevant contract would be deemed null-and-void given that the TERMS OF THE CONTRACT have CHANGED CONSIDERABLY.
We insisted to ACANAC that they had no right to charge any fees to a credit card without authorization, and that the credit card holder is in now way attached to the service for which they were charged. We insisted on CANCELLATION of SERVICES and a REVERSAL of the CHARGES as applied to our friend's credit card.
ONLY AFTER REPEATED and INSISTENT calls (to the SALES DEPARTMENT, as you can not access anyone in BILLING, and they will not even give you the name of the so-called "billing manager"...) did they agree IN PART to our terms.
Here is the result thus far:
___________________________________
Refund for DSL service.
Dear valued client,
I have issued a refund to the account for the amount of 367.45 and 88.00.
These amounts are the total less one month of service as per the user agreement.
Best Regards
Louis DiBiase
Retention Department Manager
___________________________________
So they expect to go ahead and bilk us out of $112 for one month's service (plus some cancellation fee no doubt) as well as another $8 for one month of dry-loop service, for a total of $120 UNAUTHORIZED charges to the credit card.
We will contest this further, in hopes that our friend's credit card company will agree to consider this to be a FRAUDULENT CHARGE to her account.
And of course, we hope that this unfortunate tale will steer any and all of you considering ACANAC to think twice before agreeing to ANY TERMS OF SERVICE by this DISREPUTABLE COMPANY.
THERE ARE MANY MANY MANY COMPLAINTS REGARDING THIS COMPANY throughout CONSUMER REPORT SITES AND OTHER LISTSERVES that monitor DSL Providers.
THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU RATES ACANAC WITH AN "F" due to many unresolved issues, including many regarding unauthorized charges and billing/accounting procedures, as well as RUDE customer "service". See this link for the full report:
»mwco.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx···=1133979
See the following link for more: [mod edit -- link to obscene image removed -- fatness]
This has been a tremendously frustrating experience for us, we only hope that we can save you the same trouble.
Thanks for reading.
 |
|
BEWARE_ACANAC
@bell.ca
| A quick CORRECTION to the information above:
The NEW RATE charged by ACANAC is in fact $407.00 for the year, rather that $479.00 as I originally posted.
Still, that amounts to a monthly rate of $33.95 and is STILL a considerable increase from the original plan.
To note: Had we been given reasonable notice of our original plan's pending termination, and had we been informed of the reasoning for a significant rate increase, and had we been ASKED for AUTHORIZATION to purchase a new year of service up front, we just might have continued patronizing this ISP.
But it is clear to us that ACANAC practices an aggressive and unreasonable approach to "customer retention"...perhaps they should try practicing some "customer relations" instead... |
|
zadigre
join:2006-10-02
Montreal, QC
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
from Acanac's User Agreement (»www.acanac.ca/User-Agreement.html ):
********
Billing. All terms are due up front. If you sign up for the lowest rate then you are likely on the 1 year term. You will be billed the entire term up front and then billed on a yearly basis.
All credit cards are billed automatically on there renewal dates. If you do not want to renew your account please cancel the account on or before the renewal date. Cancellations must be done by e-mail and sent to accounting@acanac.com or billing@acanac.com. Please make sure you obtain the cancellation ID or ticket number for your request to confirm cancellation of service.
**********
And you you fill the form to get an Acanac account, you can read this on the webpage :
********
Important
By filling out this form and submitting it you are agreeing to our terms of service ( User Agreement ) so please make sure you review it before processing your request. User agreement is localed at the bottom of every page on our website
********
So if you took the 1 year deal, your renewal date is 1 year later...
It's not Acanac's fault if you can not or did not read the user agreement... |
|
zadigre
join:2006-10-02
Montreal, QC
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
and a small note... you can read on Acanac website for the 18.95$/Month term :
***************
This offer is only available on a 1 year term and the first year of service
***************
After reading this you have to check what you will have to pay... and in this case, it's the regular price of 33,95$/month |
|
Fergless
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON
·Acanac
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
I didn't hear you mention or complain about the fact that Acanac was loosing money on your first years subscription.
But that's OK with you. RIGHT.
Take some responsibility and read before you sign up for any service. Grow Up.  |
|
moo cow
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
Actually, I had the SAME EXPERIENCE. And pardon me, but some so-called user-agreement tucked away at the bottom of a web page, with a brief mention of this automatic billing after a year of service tucked in two third's of the way into the agreement, which is full of all kinds of useless information, isn't exactly very upfront. What it is, is sneaky.
Also, is it really unreasonable to expect some kind of notice or reminder that my "contract" is coming up for renewal, after a year? Or, is it really unreasonable to be provided a bill with the sum total that will be deducted from my credit card, in my case it was a lump sum total of $407 + $96. Again, sneaky.
I would NEVER recommend Acanac Inc. to anyone. They're no better than Bell and Rogers. In fact, they're worse for getting our hopes up, and screwing us when we thought we could trust the little guy.
As for the comment about them taking a loss. So they say. I don't buy it. But even if it were the case, smarter to bill upfront, rather than piss off your "valued customers" by not being up front before billing rather than attaching some sniveling explanation to your invoice after-the-fact.
Good luck to their employees.. |
|
zadigre
join:2006-10-02
Montreal, QC
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
1 edit | reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
It's your responsibility to read the user agreement...
If you don't read it and think Acanac is bad after that, it's your problem... Acanac did his job to give you all info you need...
that being said, yes Acanac should made it clear at least 30 days before the renewal date that they will charge the full price for 1 year for those people who don't want to read the user agreement...
But even with that, some people will still complain with the fact that Acanac is not clear enough for whatsoever reason...
oh and by the way, my soul is not sold to Acanac... after my first year with Acanac, I'm not sure if I will stay with them... If I go elsewhere, it's not for the price... I wan't MLPPP support and French language sales/technical support... something that Acanac can not or does not want to offer... |
|
Fergless
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON | Hi Zadigre, I know Teksavvy supports MLPPP in Toronto, do they also in Montreal? |
|
zadigre
join:2006-10-02
Montreal, QC | yes... I'm connected with them right now and my router is currently using MLPPP |
|
Fergless
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON | Way to go man, hope everything works out for you. |
|
Hate_Acanac
@acanac.net
|  reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
I had the same problem; got full refund after they (or I should say after he/she as it seems the whole thing is run by one person- guess who? Louis DiBiase) learnt of "charge back" process by my credit card issuer.
When you sign up, they should give you the option if you want auto renewal of the service at an increased (or so-called regular rate); or at lease they should give you a notice that your account is about to be renewed.
Even if you e-mail them for cancellation (as all my friend did who got notified by me in time for their renewal) prior to renewal or your service they will still go ahead with it.
Then you have to try your luck through e-mails which are 99% of the time answered by software-generated replies.
BE WARE!!!!
The name of the software is as follows:
Louis DiBiase
Retention Department Manager |
|
Louis DiBiase
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
Hi there,
Just for the record....I am a human being and I actually find it funny that people think I am a machine. I am the manager of the billing and Retentions department.
What I cant understand is how people will eagerly give there credit card information without reading the terms and user agreements. They are very plain and simple, we ask you to read and understand them 3 times before you sign up.
Further more our second year rate is still one of the best on the market.
I find it very hard to understand with over 50,00 clients only a handfull find it hard to understand that this company does everything by the book and that we are not forcing anyone to stay.
I am always available to talk to anyone that is in need. Please e-mail the billing department and make the attention to myself.
Once again I am sorry for those who did not take the time to read the user agreement and understand that we have an auto renewal function.
Take care and remember that we are owned and operated not by a corporation but by a private owners. |
|
darknestgirl
join:2008-08-11
Montreal, QC | reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
Thanks louis i had to contact billing more than once and always had great support so keep out the good work.  |
|
whiteman
@acanac.net | reply to Louis DiBiase
I have read everything including the testimonials were a person is so happy to have their credit card charged for $19.99 for VOIP.
Please explain this. |
|
zadigre
join:2006-10-02
Montreal, QC
·TekSavvy Solutions..
·Acanac
| said by whiteman :
I have read everything including the testimonials were a person is so happy to have their credit card charged for $19.99 for VOIP.
Please explain this.
can you explain your statement? sarcastic or not? |
|
tkachuk
join:2008-11-13
Newmarket, ON | reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
$33.95/month after the first year which I am about 1/2 way through. No problem, I was paying bell $55.00 a month for throttled internet. Now I will be paying $33.95 for real speeds no problem! |
|
Tim85
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
the credit card holder is in now way attached to the service for which they were charged. How is that relevant? Your friend agreed to let you use his credit card so how is that Acanac's fault?
The fact that 18.95 is an introductory price for 1 year is made very clear when you sign up.
Then it goes up to $35 or whatever. Even so, why would you want to cancel it, that's still one of the cheapest rates available especially when you consider the speed and unlimited downloads. You sound very cheap. |
|
Taylor Brown
join:2008-04-29
Russell, ON
 ·Rogers Hi-Speed
·Acanac
| reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
Please, it's ok to have an opinion, but personally attacking hard working members of a small organization is just wrong. I have had the best experience with Acanac billing, which surpasses any other company I've been with. At first I kinda flip flopped around, wasn't sure if I wanted the contract or not, so I went from contract, to no contract, back to contract, and they didn't complain once! Honestly, I don't know how someone can attack a computer for doing what it told you it was supposed to do. And, Mr. DiBiase, I know you have to deal with people like me everyday, and would like to say, you and your Billing team have done a great job making the service work.
Thank you,
Taylor |
|
carlo77
join:2009-03-09
H
1 edit | reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
Have been with Acanac for more than 1 year for the Voip service 10 $ by month is the best price on the market.
I work for a voip provider we charge 29.95 / month for the same service.
I installed it on Linksys SPA2102, Had some busy/drop calls in the beginning, i sent email to the tech support they quickly fixed my problem and all is good now.
I recommand Acanac |
|
Fergless
join:2008-04-19
Toronto, ON
·Acanac
4 edits | reply to BEWARE_ACANAC
Obscene Indecent link
You Sir and I use the term loosely, are a PIG.
Anyone that would post a link like you did should be banned from this forum.
How can anyone take you seriously.
Are you really fiestaware in disguise, is she really your sister?
The Moderator has been notified.
Did anybody else see that link in the Original Post?
What's going on with this so called forum?
I demand it be taken down Immediately, enough is enough.
UPDATE: Thanks Fatness. for removing the link.
Now if we could just do the same with the poster. |
|
