Ikano Communications
Ikano Communications and their subsidiaries: DSLExtreme, Dialup USA, ISP.com, STIC.net, Amerion. Now that we have the keywords done, let’s discuss how they have bad business practices. We received an e-mail last week from a concerned reader about being sent to collections for a closed account. They had an account with ISP.com that they closed in February of 2008. This customer was still being billed for services after asking them via phone to close the account. ISP.com discontinued service for dial-up access, yet continued to bill at a rate of $9.95 per month for 3 months.
Well we always like a good fight. So here’s the scoop. This customer called and cancelled their account with ISP.com in Feb. 2008. Well ISP apparently sent out an e-mail notification that there was an outstanding bill. This customer no longer had that account, so how were they suppose to know the there was a balance? After three months of failure to pay this customer was called by The Affiliated Group which is a collection agency. The customer was informed that they had 30 days to pay; if payment was not received they would then have a “mark” on their record. The customer explained payment will be mailed immediately. ISP.com was notified about this by the customer and asked why they didn’t send them a paper bill. ISP states “We do not use postal mail for notification in any regard” Ikano there is no reason to lie to a former customer! ISP sent correspondence to this customer when they first signed up, they also sent periodic correspondence for resigning the account for longer periods. The customer then called Ikano Communications the parent company to negotiate this. The customer explained that they called in February to cancel the account; Jill the billing manager at Ikano said “I have no records of that phone call” Well Jill, sometimes business’s make mistakes such as, poorly kept records right? Jill further stated “Our march records indicate your service was discontinued in February, but we suspend your account for 60 days to give you an opportunity to reply, and that you had not called to cancel” Wait a second Jill the customer said February was when they called, but yet you don’t make mistakes remember! Our reader stated Feb. was when they called; Jill then got extremely rude and said this conversation was over.
We took on this story as it concerned us why a company would not try in good faith to reconcile a bill with a customer. ISP.com had this customers phone number and mailing address, If ISP’s e-mail were not being responded to, why didn’t they try other means to communicate, they are a communications company right? Furthermore, Ikano sent this to collections, the amount was $29.85. The Affiliated Group gets a percentage of this for billing. So let’s say hypothetically The Affiliated Group charges $10.00 for this service, now Ikano will only receive $19.85 for services that weren’t even rendered. The customer calls to dispute these charges which consumed about ½ hour of Ikano’s time. Another hypothetical, If Jill is a manager for Ikano she probably is making a decent wage. If she is pulling in $20.00 per hour the company is paying that plus tax for her wage. So that phone call now most likely puts Ikano at a zero balance for this account. The customer sends us this e-mail, we publish the story now Ikano is getting recognized on the web, which could possibly deter business. Now Ikano is in the “red”. Let’s introduce the ceo and invite him to respond. George Naspo the CEO of Ikano; George was this all worth the headache? Why did you bill a customer that wasn’t even receiving services from your company? George please feel free to reply to this post, our readers would love to hear from you.
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
jamielee1171
As a representative of Ikano Communications, we would be happy to respond to this complaint. However, without the details of the customer there is no way for us to accurately represent our side of the story. In regards to our general billing practices, our grace period before account suspension is 20 days. During that time, we send a total of 3 notifications via email to the customer reminding them to remit their payment as soon as possible. Once the account is suspended, we leave the account open for one billing cycle to give the customer time to remit payment and/or cancel before utilizing a more aggressive collection procedure. At 61 days past due, we cancel a delinquent account and send the balance to our collection agency, The Affiliated Group. We are always willing to negotiate off the second month of service while the account was under suspension.
Sep 2nd, 2008
ben54
Ha, we used DSLextreme for awhile. There price was marginal, there service was adequate. We sent our payment out late (4 days). We even called to let them know, and they said that was “ok” and our service would not be interrupted. They suspended our account right away. We called them to ask them why, and this is when I was treated as a sub-class citizen. I told them I wanted my service canceled. Apparently they were sending me e-mails for my bill, I could not get them as my service was down. They then sent me to collections. Why could they not just send me a paper bill since they knew I had no service. DSLextreme got their money, but I would not recommend them.
Sep 4th, 2008
admin
(1) Harry Hamlin
Thu, 21 August 2008 15:10:24 -0700
The following letter is very similar to the ISP.com/Ikano Communications letter that you have posted on your website. I sent it to the Utah BBB and also the Utah Attorney General.
August 15, 2008
This letter concerns ISP.com, a subsidiary of Ikano Communications.
In April 2008 I was notified by ISP.com that I owed for approximately 1 month of Internet service. I checked my records and found that I was current on payments until the end of April. I e-mailed ISP.com billing and informed them that I was current in payments. A few days later I could not connect to the Internet because ISP suspended my Internet service. On or about the last day of April or the first week of May, I called ISP.com and cancelled my service since I could not connect. On Aug. 7, about 3 months later, I received a letter from Affiliated Credit Services informing me that my account with ISP.com had been placed for collections in the amount of $29.85. This was for May, June and July. ISP.com did not cancel my account but waited 3 months until they could turn it over to collections.
I called ISP to get information on my account. They could not explain why I was suspended in April and why my account was not cancelled after I called them. I guess they don’t keep records or is it that they don’t want to give me any information because of their scam. Since I have always had excellent credit I mailed the collection agency the full amount to keep the bad mark off of my credit report.
Enclosed is a letter from another customer of who had a similar experience with ISP.com. It is posted on the web site http://corporateabuse.net. Also, I have enclosed headings that I found on http://www.ripoffreport.com.
I want my money back from ISP.com or Ikano Communications. I WAS RIPPED OFF BY THEIR SCAM! It is the worst that I have been treated by any business. How long are you going to let them get away with this?
This was copy and pasted from our geustbook
http://corporateabuse.net/fight-back/
So, Ikano would you like to comment again. The complaints are mounting up.
Oct 17th, 2008
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