A penny for your thoughts on customer service

Funny thing, when teenagers live at home they seldom seem to talk much, but just have them move out of the area to attend college, and the long-distance bills instantly make you forget all about that lack of rapport in person.

A retired law enforcement officer with a daughter in San Diego recently shared a story with me about how the search for inexpensive long distance service is driving him to distraction.

He saw a TV ad for a calling plan with the offer of six cents per minute. IDT Corporation was hawking inexpensive service and so they switched. Of course, in this competitive world of telecommunications, they found a better deal months later and called IDT to cancel the service. No problem, no contracts.

Wrong. That’s when the troubles began. In October of 2006, the service was canceled. They promptly received a bill for $5.10, which they paid right away. So far so good. However, in January they then received a bill for $2.30. Odd, they had not used the service for months; this was a small fee which included federal taxes. They contacted the company for an explanation, at which time the company stated, “We will take care of this, but you do owe this bill. We show the account closed.” OK, so they paid the bill.

Then bills for ONE PENNY began arriving. More phone calls were made, more explanations were given, and again IDT promised to get this bizarre issue cleared up. They did not. Annoyed by the notices, the officer sent the company a dime, with a note to return his refund of nine cents.

Let’s do the math: each bill for one cent was mailed at a bulk rate of .30 cents per mailing, adding in the cost of a return envelope, and IDT is making quite an investment in collecting this penny!

In March, they received a CHECK from IDT for a penny! The check was mailed with return service requested, so the postage was thirty one cents! OH boy! The officer and his wife deposited the check and took that fabulous dream vacation.

At least now they thought the problem was over. No more bills for a penny and no more worries about this stupidity ending up on the family’s credit report. (What a shame it would have been to have turned this retired officer’s family into deadbeats over a penny!)

But, folks, that is exactly why these annoying issues need to be taken seriously when they arise.

Days after the check for a penny arrived, they received another bill, this time for eleven cents. More calls were made to the offshore call centers, more apologies, more promises. By now, this situation had lost its humor. The last person the officer spoke to said they had a computer problem and that he was not alone.

Well, a problem like a computer glitch is short-term, but a problem like theirs that had been stretched out for months lasting that long move from problems to pure incompetence.

So, he was not surprised when in April he received yet another bill for one cent. That is when he brought the BBB his paper trail: all the envelopes, notes and frustration. We suggested he file a complaint online at www.bbb.org . The fact is that many companies quickly work through most red tape once the Better Business Bureau steps in to help gain resolve via its complaint process. Then again, this is a telecommunication company in an industry plagued with challenges and competition, and consequently, problems such as this ridiculous scenario.

Several years ago when World Com found itself short on cash and facing angry shareholders, it announced staff cuts like most companies in such conundrums do. World Com proceeded to close all of its customer service centers. (The logic of some huge corporations baffles me at time.)

So, back to the issue of IDT Corporation of New Jersey: in checking the BBB reliability report online for the company, we found that the officer and his family were not alone.

To date, the company has received nearly 600 complaints in the last 3 years, most of those having to do with billing/refund issues. The company answers some complaints and chooses not to address others. They have also failed to substantiate advertising claims when challenged by the BBB.

Big hmmm! Had the officer and his family checked before they had switched, they would have seen this disparaging information in the company’s report, at which point I am almost certain they would not have gone with this particular long distance carrier with an unsatisfactory record with the BBB, for people tend to steer clear of firms with unsatisfactory records.

So, what are the lessons here?

“Check on the companies first with the BBB by going to: www.bbb.org

“Be persistent. Keep good notes of all conversations with companies, and start and maintain a paper trail until you are sure your problem is cleared up. Don’t just give in, for that is what they mostly hope that you will do!