so, a little backstory first:

i got Lingo voip service around this time last year... it completely sucked, so i canceled it shortly thereafter. i spoke on the phone with a rep who confirmed this, and i didn't see any charges for a few months after that. all of a sudden, i saw a charge in october for the service... then one in december and january as well. SECU, being the awesome people that they are, charged back the fees and gave me a brand new card. i didn't see anything from them again until march... where they somehow found my new card number and charged me 3 months of service all at once. i've been trying to call them ever since then to find out what the fuck is going on, but i've never been able to get anyone on the phone.

about 2 weeks ago, i talked to SECU again, who charged back the 3 months of service they charged me in a row + the months they had billed me before (total was $165.56). apparently Lingo never responded to SECU's request for verification of the charges, so they left the credits in my account.

today, i got a letter in the mail from lingo saying that "our records indicate that some of your invoices with our company have still not been paid. we want to give you a final opportunity to pay your outstanding bills before we forward them to a collection agency. if we do not hear from you in 10 business days, we will have no alternative but to send your account to a collection service, which may influence your credit rating or result in legal action. additionaly, non-paid accounts are now referred to National Telecommunications Data Exchanges, who report delinquent customers to the telecommunications industry nationwide."

they then list the charges that were most recently charged back (the 3 months of service + april/may/june, total $165.56) and demand payment sent overnight.

what can i do? my dad offered me the use of the lawyer he has on retainer... but is there anything i can do on my own?

7/11/2009 4:01:07 PM

I certified letter from a lawyer will get things fixed.

7/11/2009 4:15:46 PM

I, certified letter from a lawyer, will get things fixed.

7/11/2009 4:28:42 PM

NTDE Disclosure Center 1-800-471-6321

I'd see if Lingo, INC even has the right to refer accounts to this place. It sounds like one of those shady ass companies that try to threaten people into paying.

7/11/2009 4:35:12 PM

Lingo is shady as shit and tried the same BS on me years ago. Yelling at the managers enough made them give up. I never even talked with the CS reps, told them I needed a manager and they really didn't want to deal with me.

They tried to make me pay for 2 months of extra service so they'd release my phone #, I got a new number.

7/11/2009 7:10:24 PM

I'm having a somewhat similar issue regarding BS going to collections. When I moved overseas and out of my place here in Raleigh I was not refunded my security deposit or given reason for not having it returned within the requisite 30 days. Not the most pressing issue on my plate at the time until I received a bill that was several hundred dollars more than the security deposit (note: the charges were BS). When I flew back to the states for vacation some months later I dropped by the office to discuss the charges and ended up walking out the door with them owing me money. The property manager 'needed' to run this by here bosses so I told her to call me by a certain date and time as I was flying back overseas. I never heard from her.

Fast forward to now, Im back living in the US for the time being and I pulled my credit yesterday only to find that this has been sent to a collections agency and that it is showing up on my credit report. Ive occasionally received a phone call since being home asking me to call a number regarding an urgent matter. Ive ignored it thinking that it was a scam but now think it may be the collections agency.

Im really pissed off about this whole thing and trying to figure out how to proceed. I want this off my credit report and now I am much more interested in getting my money back.

7/11/2009 7:27:49 PM

This is relevant to my interests.

Keep the thread updated with your results. I am a lingo customer.

7/12/2009 12:27:10 AM

shouldn't that be fraud or something if they acquired the info and charged a credit card that you didn't give them?

7/12/2009 12:30:18 AM

http://ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q5=lingo&q1=ALL&q4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0&submit2=Search%21&Search=Search


looks like a bunch of people have had problems.

7/12/2009 12:16:53 PM

Quote :

"if we do not hear from you in 10 business days, we will have no alternative but to send your account to a collection service, which may influence your credit rating or result in legal action."

Tell them to BRINg It.

fuck those bastards

7/12/2009 7:40:12 PM

haha, thanks everybody

and H8R:

my dad left a VM with his lawyer's paralegal, said he'd call me tomorrow morning to see what we can do.

shit's goin' down, son.

7/13/2009 1:33:25 AM

still doesnt keep them from putting bullshit on your credit report and its a pain in the fucking ass to get it back off, i had to file suit against rex hospital and some bumfuck collection agency to get mine taken off because of a bill that didnt exist and neither would take responsibility, definately pursue damages for harrassment, it took a while, but most people don't take it that far and it pays well

7/13/2009 9:28:45 AM

I'm popping my chargeback cherry.

I wasn't happy with Waste Management as our trash company because they often missed pickups, and were either completely unwilling or unable to accept payment, which resulted in more missed pick-ups. It's pretty telling that they never even came to pick up their can or recycling bin.

So I went with Republic. Took two weeks for them to even start picking stuff up (no one entered in the first service request). Then I had to call to ask why they weren't picking up recycling...because no one put that service on our account.

Then I see that we've been double-billed. All this while, pick-up service is spotty.

I'm calling, and calling, and calling...I've got phone calls to them out the ass, over getting service started, correct, the double-billing issue, and missed pick-ups. Yay itemized phone bills.

I got a promise from them 3 or 4 weeks ago that the 2nd charge would be refunded by that next Monday. Nothing. I called and spoke with accounting, as opposed to regular CS, this past Wednesday, and was again promised a refund would be processed that day. Still nothing.

In my last dealings with them, I've been like "Look: you all have double-billed us, AND not provided the service we have paid for. Make this right, or I'm requesting a chargeback in full for both charges. Fix it by refunding $82 + $41, and I won't need to request a chargeback".

I even said I was in the area and would come to them to get the issue resolved that day (this past wednesday). Of course not: "accounting doesn't do things that way."

They have blamed every single mistake on a merger that happened over a year ago

Quote :

"definately pursue damages for harrassment, it took a while, but most people don't take it that far and it pays well "

I approve

8/18/2009 11:34:54 AM

I bet you're gonna get a big ol ambrosia boner when you send that story to The Consumerist.

8/18/2009 11:55:05 AM

If you're a student, you can use the student legal services for free.

8/18/2009 2:12:52 PM

Let me give two items of advice:
1) Document everything. Where, when, who, etc.
--> And has been mentioned, send certified mail of documentation with respect to respond within reasonable amount of time (10 business times) either by mail and/or direct contact information.

2) Start calculating the total amount of time you are spending on this.
-->I gave up on an $80 incorrect charge from CompUSA (when they were still in business) a couple of years back. 10+ hours later of paperwork being lost, resubmitted, explaining things countless times on the phone, etc. it simply wasn't worth the hassle.

[Edited on August 18, 2009 at 10:29 PM. Reason : .]

8/18/2009 10:29:08 PM

Quote :

"I'm calling, and calling, and calling...I've got phone calls to them out the ass, over getting service started, correct, the double-billing issue, and missed pick-ups. Yay itemized phone bills. "

Phone calls don't mean shit. If you didn't send them requests and notification of expected repayment by certified mail, you are still at square one.

8/18/2009 10:44:41 PM

http://www.ncdoj.gov/Consumer.aspx

8/19/2009 4:44:23 PM