Complain about a product or service

Talk America - Undisclosed Fees & Surcharges

Colin of Warrenville IL (10/11/04):
I have a local and long distance calling plan through Talk America. The package costs me $49.95 a month. I noticed that my bill kept increasing every month, but nothing had changed in my plan or my calling habits. Then I found out that Talk America was charging me a "TSR Administration" fee, which is basically a surcharge, and has nothing to do with taxes or regulation.

Cavalier/Talk America • Cavalier Complaints • Billing Disputes • Customer Service • Fees & Surcharges --- News • Cavalier Telephone Buys Talk America

This fee went from $1.25 to $4.95 in one year. So my plan went from $49.95 to $54.90 in 12 months. This fee is 300 percent what other carriers such as AT&T charge.

My other complaint is about billing. I was late on a bill (about a month). Without even sending me a letter, Talk America began to call me 3 times a day, even on weekends at 6am looking for the past balance. The bill was paid, processed and posted to my account on 10-8-04, but the very next day, Talk America called me at 8am (Saturday) looking for money that I no longer owed them. And to think this company received high marks from JD Power and Associates!

Stephanie of Ontario CA (10/20/04):
I cancelled my account with this long distance provider, but two calls, totalling 10 cents, went into the next billing cycle. I was charged all taxes and administrative fees for the entire month, even though my calls were only on two days. My bill was debited from my Visa card for $14.23, even though my calls were only 10 cents. They refused to pro-rate their fees.

Larry of Huntington WV (11/3/03):
Years ago, I signed up for a service on AOL with their long distance carrier who they represented was a part of their business. I agreed on 7 cents per minute for in-state or out-of-state calls with no monthly service charge. I truly never ever received a bill from anyone other than AOL.

I recently noticed additional UNAUTHORIZED charges were appearing on my Discover Card account. When I inquired at the Talk America number listed on the face of the Discover Card statement which is 888-825-5265 (which I might add is a Virginia Corporation) what was going on, they informed me that AOL was no longer providing my service, they were. They increased my charges to 9.9 cents per minute out of state, 18 cents in state and assessed a 5.95 per month service charge. I am very upset and feel that I obviously have been cheated. I told the party I talked to yesterday (Sunday) that I wanted an immediate refund on my overcharges and would seek the help of the Attorney General's office this morning.

Carol of Cape Coral FL (6/28/03):
This is the company behind 10-10-987 a new "low cost" phone service. They advertise 3.9 cents per minute. We just got a phone bill from Talk America. The call was for 1 minute, the charge for the call $.04, but the bill is for $10.32.

The breakdown goes like this:

• Local Connect Surcharge = $4.95
• Paper Option (?) = $1.95
• TSR Administration Fee = $1.95
• Communications Svc Tax (local) = $.39
• Fed USF Combined High Cost & School (Fed) = $.54
• Federal Excise Tax (Fed) = $.28
• Statutory Gross Receipts tax (state) = $.22
• Interstate Usage fee $.04

If you go to their website, it does mention a $4.95 monthly fee, but none of these other fees. It is rediculous that we should pay $10.32 for a 1-minute call (probably got answering machine).

We have switched to Sprint's new plan that cost $4.95 a month and we get 200 free minutes of long distance included.