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MCI - The Neighborhood

MCI • Billing Non-Customers • Long-Distance • The Neighborhood • DSL • Wireless --- News • MCI Chairman Gets "Scrooge" Award • MCI Stockholders Approve Purchase By Verizon • Calif. Investigating MCI's Billing Non-Customers • MCI Reloaded

Andrea of Bronx NY (3/19/04):
I have been a customer with MCI since August 2003, At first, I had no complaints however, recently there have been some incidents which are very disturbing. The first one has to do with a verbal agreement that was broken on MCI's part. On or about February 8, 2004, a representative gave me an extension to make a payment by Feb. 18, 2004 and said that service would not be interrupted. However, payment was made on that date and service indeed was interrupted for 3 days. I had no dialtone.

On March 12, 2004, I requested to have my phone number changed and since then, I'm unable to access my voicemail. When i call customer service, they give me some story about how my pin needs to be changed but that their "system is down" and pin cannot be reset, call back in 24 hrs. This has been going on for 5 days now.

I have 2 children in the house and I think them interrupting service was inhumane especially after I made the payment when they asked me to. And now I can't access my voicemail and I am in the process of moving and need my voicemail for renting agents to contact me.

Patricia of Cleveland (2/25/04):
I ordered MCI The Neighborhood in November of 2003. It is now February 25, 2004 and my local service has gone down completely for the third time. I have no service, yet I am paying for service. The first time is was fixed relatively soon. The second time I was told that "squirrels ate through my line and a new cable was put up". This time I was not told what was wrong, but that it would be fixed today by 3:00 pm. It is now 2:00 pm and I still have no service.

My neighbors downstairs have SBC and their line is working fine and has been. The squirrels must have secret vision enabling them to know which line belongs to MCI and the ability to continually eat through just MCI phone lines. I was told I would receive credit for the times my line usage has been impaired, yet to date, I have not been issued that credit.

Additionally, I was told the cost for a monthly charge would be $24.00. They conveniently left out the taxes, line charge etc. I am paying approximately forty dollars a month for a quote of $24.00 per month. They are misrepresenting themselves.

Cynthia of Newport News VA (1/20/03):
I called customer services of MCI on December 2, 2003 and requested to have my *69 calls blocked. I called again on Dec. 17, 2003, to see if the calls were blocked. They lied and said they were blocked. They were not blocked and I was billed up to Jan. 19, 2004 for the *69 calls. Their paper bills and their online bills of my account doenot make since. If I call them or go online they say I owe $350 for bills and they are saying if was for 54 *69 calls. Also, they have added a Portability Fee of $40.00. (What is that?)

My Neighborhood Complete was supposed to be $49.99 a month. Then I called and asked that everything on my line be blocked accept a dial tone, local and long distance and ID Caller. The *69 calls are still not blocked.

Emeri of Baltimore (1/2/04):
I have been a valued MCI customer since June. In July, the company started sending me two different bills. I am under the Neighborhood plan and pay a flat rate of $65.95 for unlimited long distance and I only have one telephone line in my home. When I called MCI to notify them that they had been sending me two different bills (IN JULY), I was told that the "computer was kicking out two different bills and that the problem would be rectified."

Well, every month, it's the same thing. When I received letters stating that my phone would be turned off on an account that was closed, I notified my lawyer. She contacted MCI two months ago. AND, they told her that they apologized and I would not receive any more double bills. It is a New Year and the problem persists. They call and wake me up early in the morning telling me that my phone will be cut off. I have proof that I am current in my payments. I feel as though I am being harrassed! My lawyer told me to contact them again. I have. But I feel that the only way to solve this problem is to file a formal complaint.

Octavio of Rosemead CA (1/2/04):
I keep getting billed for a number that I cancelled several years ago. The bill amount is $4500. I called so many times I have given up. I am always put on hold, transferred for hours, the answer is this all the time: "You don't have an account with MCI ... it was a mistake and is now corrected. I have no idea what to do next.

Lenore of Roslyn NY (12/16/03):
I want my phone number to be listed. The customer service representitives at MCI tell me that they keep sending my request along the proper lines but that my request keeps on being rejected. Although no one seems to know why it is rejected, they keep promising to fix whatever the problem is within 2 weeks, but since I started with MCI in June of 2003, the problem remains and I cannot get my phone number listed with directory service.

I am a psychologist. My patients and students are unable to get my number from the phone directory or from directory information. This is costing me business and putting my patients in peril. I spend about an hour every 2 weeks with a new representative retelling my story and getting a very sympathetic response along with a promise to fix the problem but nothing ever changes.

Marcia of Severn MD (12/16/03):
Early September, I called MCI to set up a transfer of my phone from my old residence to my new home. I was assured that my new phone would be on by the Monday following my move. Well, I moved in on Friday, September 25. By that Tuesday, I still had no phone. I used my cell phone to call MCI and find out what happened. In fact, there wasn't an order placed and the new order would take up to 14 business days to have a phone.

I cancelled the order and went to Verizon for my new service. Verizon assured me that it would only take a few days to get the service started. When the service was turned on, I began to use the phone as Verizon had assured me that my new phone would be on. In fact, MCI decided to turn the phone on and bumped my new service. Without this knowledge, I used the phone for a week only to find out through a phone call from Verizon that they couldn't put in the new service until I was disconnected from MCI. I called MCI and the word wars began. I spoke with at least 5 agents before they finally corrected the problem (or so I thought) and disconnected my phone.

I received a final bill that totalled well over $200. I paid the long distance charges and taxes but refused to pay for the connection fee. Since this point, I have called and tried to have the situation resolved, to no avail. MCI contends that I still owe them $132.57. I called today, December 16th only to be disconnected from the call. I held on for over 8 minutes to talk with that represetative. I have to work and can't stay on the phone all day to get this problem resolved.

Mary of Midlothian VA (12/10/03):
In February of this year I got my local telephone bill and saw that I was overcharged majorly from MCI so I called them and I talked to a representative named Vicky who after seeing I was on their platform plan and should only be getting a bill of 13.95 a month she went back 6 months at my request to see other overcharges. All together I was overcharged $432.25. She told me she was putting in a request for a credit for that amount on my local telephone bill and I should have it within 2 billing cycles.

Two months went by and I had not recieved the credit, so I called again and I talked to Mr. Sellers and he tells me he will take care of it, Still no credit and this has gone on and on up until now. I should have reported them before this but I didn't think to. They are now telling me that my credit should only be 362.54 and that they cannot issue it because their corporate office is saying they can't find the overcharges because they can only go back 6 months in their system. I asked them to transfer me over to the corporate office and they we are sorry but our corporate office doesn't accept incoming phone calls. Imagine this. I am disgusted. I paid these overcharges and they have no intention of making this right.