Lingo

Luis of Jackson Heights NY (03/14/09)
We subscribed for a period of one year service from Lingo Communications via online in November 2007. We provided our credit card number account (CAPITAL ONE) in order to make automatic monthly payments during the length of the subscription. We called in July 2008 to cancel the service and they advised us that we had to wait until the end of the subscription period so that we would not incurred with any disconnection fees. We called Lingo back in November 2008 to cancel the service and they gladly processed our request. We paid the full amount owed to them for the last month of the subscription in December 2008. We were charged an additional 2.99 in January 2009.

The February 2009 credit card statement shows a charge of 99.05 from Lingo. We immediately notified Capital One about this illegal charge and indicated to them that we were disputing the charge. The customer service representative from Capital One suggested that we should resolve this issue with Lingo before taking any action thru Capital One. We called Lingo and they informed us that they had change the terms of the subscription to two years without giving us any notification. Therefore, the charge was for cancelling the service before the end of the new subscription period.

Later, we called Capital One to let them know that we were disputing the charge due to fraudulent actions from Lingo Communications. Capital One refuses to take any action in order to dispute the illegal charge in our behalf and they are imposing late fees to our account. The economic damage is 99.95 for the Lingo charge plus 15.00 non payment fee from Capital One in addition to annual interest of 14.80%. Capital One has indicated that they will continue charging interest and late fees until we pay the outstanding balance that amounts to 116.26 as of February 24, 2009

Justin of Colton, CA February 23, 2009

Justin of Colton CA (02/23/09)
Lingo will rip you off! They advertise their service at a great rate, and it is - that is, until you go to cancel. We switched to the T-Mobile at Home service in late 2008, at which time my husband called Lingo to tell them that we wanted to cancel. They informed my husband that, due to our one year contract, there would be a 50 cancellation fee, but that we could cancel in February for free, and they could switch us to a cheaper plan in the meantime. We said okay, and they continued to charge us more than they said they would for the next 3 months or so. Furthermore, when we called to cancel our service, they said we were on a two year plan now, and cancelling would now cost 100! Unbelievable!

We were charged over 150, when the original cancellation would have cost 50!

Dara of New York, NY February 20, 2009

Dara of New York NY (02/20/09)
I first signed up for Lingo in 2005 and did not experience problems with them until the following year when I decided to cancel my service and switch to SunRocket. I was not under contract with Lingo at the time, and SunRocket assured me that they would be able to transfer my number and advise Lingo of my cancellation. I additionally called Lingo myself once my number had been fully ported and advised them of my desire to cancel. The representative advised me that there was no problem canceling my account, but that I would be liable for the costs of returning their equipment to them or would be subject to a fee for the cost of the equipment. I said I had never heard of a company forcing people to mail back equipment at their own expense that was just going to be discarded once they received it, but they refused to provide me with a prepaid mailing label and I did not wish to incur any more charges from them so I sent the stuff back.

Three months later, I noticed my bank account was still being debited monthly for Lingo service! I called them, livid, asking what they were billing me for when (a) I no longer had ANY telephone number attached to my account, and (b) both SunRocket and I had advised them of my cancellation. After quite a bit of arguing, they agreed to credit me for the month they had just billed me but would not credit me for the two months prior. Happy to be finished with them, I accepted this and figured that would be the end of my dealings with Lingo. Unfortunately for me, despite pre-paying for 2 years of service with SunRocket, the company folded about a year and a half later and in 2007 I found myself again looking for a new VOIP provider.

The last thing I wanted was to go back to Lingo after the cancellation nightmare they put me through, but after reading reviews of other VOIP companies' quality of service and finding that Lingo had a prepaid plan most comparable to the plan I had with SunRocket, I decided to re-enroll in their service since my prepaid plan would not be subject to the same cancellation issues I'd experienced previously- or so I thought. Sometime in the 10 months that followed, Lingo changed their terms and conditions to include an early termination fee for PREPAID customers who canceled prior to one year of service, despite the prepaid term being limited to one year of service.

When I unexpectedly changed jobs and moved in May 2008, 10 months into my one year of prepaid service, I called Lingo to advise them that I would no longer be in need of the service despite having two months left that I had paid for, and I simply wanted them to disconnect me so I would not have to incur two further monthly debits for the government taxes and fees associated with my account. I was told that they now had a condition by which I would be subject to an early termination fee.

I had my call escalated to two supervisors, both of whom informed me that despite having prepaid for an entire year of service, and despite the fact that I was NOT requesting a credit of the two months left on that service, Lingo was still entitled to assess me a fee and would be automatically debiting my bank card used at signup for the 50 fee. I told them I had never agreed to any such term, and would not have signed up for their service had such term existed as the time of my enrollment. Both supervisors refused to waive the fee, and I advised them that I would be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau which I proceeded to do, but which has not resulted in any sort of resolution.

After the debit for the early termination fee came through, I called Chase Bank and explained the situation to them. They advised me that they could not reverse the charge if Lingo could prove that I owed them the money. Lingo could not prove this to the satisfaction of Chase Bank, and Chase indeed reversed the charge. I am now in collections with a company called Sko Brenner American for 53+. Lingo apparently credited me 17 for the 2 months of service I did not use, which I never requested, but proceeded to assess the early termination fee as well a fee for the collections agent. I have sent two lengthy and detailed letters to the collections agent asking for any form of evidence that I agreed to and should be held by Lingo's early termination clause, and all they have done is send me bill after bill showing the assessment of the termination fee. I am fearful of this impacting my credit rating and uncertain where to turn next.

Nguyen of Vienna, VA February 17, 2009

Nguyen of Vienna VA (02/17/09)
I signed up with Lingo in August of 2007, and paid them for a 1 year service. In February of 2008, I contacted Lingo to ask them to fix the problems with the toll free numbers. After 2 frustrating months of trying to get them to fix the problems and broken promises, I switched to another phone company. In April my phone number was officially transfered from Lingo to that new company and the service provided by Lingo was terminated, so I thought! At that time Lingo owed me 4 months of service that they have not provided, and I tried to get them to reimburse for that unused portion of the service contract. When I talked to them I was told that I owe them money! I even tried to get my credit card company to help without any success!

Around the first week January of 2009, I received a letter from a collection agency, SKO-BRENNER-AMERICAN, saying that I owe Lingo 234, an amount equal to one year of service and their fee of 58.50. I tried to explain the situation to them but they don't want to hear about it, and they kept writing me letter and called my house to demand payment!

David of Orlando, FL February 3, 2009

David of Orlando FL (02/03/09)
Bottom Line---Very unhelpful and incompetent custom service reps. I called to cancel my service in December. I was given a month free and told to call back by January 15 to cancel and avoid further charges. I did call and said I wanted to cancel my account. I gave my look up information and was told the account was canceled. The agent I spoke with made two errors. He looked up and OLD account of mine that was already closed and did not reference the correct number/account. The other error is that he did not log in my call as he thought it pertained to a closed account.

SO, I see a charge for an account I thought I closed and after 45 minutes on the phone they won't believe I ever called in January. I offered to fax my phone bill with their number on it. 15.69 which is one month that should not have been charged.

Mel of New Milford, NJ January 31, 2009

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