VarTec

After being a loyal customer for over 10 years, I made two wrong numbers and was charged $9.45. I am 81 years old and do not hear well. My daughter contacted USBI to dispute the charges. Here's what happened:

3rd call: same waiting game, I insisted on talking to a supervisor, no help, hung up on me.

It's the worst possible customer service in a communication business. I will never ever use this company again and will spread the word in my community. They have horrible policies. All phone companies give you a courtesy credit for loyalty, but not this one. How can you be in business? I plan on informing the news on this one.

After returning from a trip over Christmas, I found that my dial-around service does not work at all. No matter what number I dial at whatever time of day, I consistently get a "busy" signal and the call does not go through. If this is not fixed within ten days, I shall discontinue using (and paying for) this "service".

Double billing on minimum usage fee.

I asked the customer service rep, Gemma, about this and she told me this was their procedure. I explained his situation, even offered to have hisphysician call to see if the repair could be expedited. The answer was this is our procedure.

My father can't use a cell phone. I also called Medina County Senior Services but they can't help. I called other providers but they wouldn't be able to install a second line for several days. Terrible anxiety for myself and my father. Lack of access to emergency medical services. His high risk of falls or disease with no way of contacing anyone.

My wife and I have been using a dialing card that came in the mail several years back for long distance calls and to send faxes. It boasts - 3 cents per minute and 39 cents to connect anywhere in the U.S, to Canada and Western Europe by Simply Dial, 7 days a week with No Monthly Access Fee!. No separate bill-all charges appear on your local bill. I began taking the mail and opening it because my husband has begun missing things, as we are senior citizens. To my surprise, I noticed the name "VarTec" has appeared along with our telephone bill and new charges along with it, including a $6.57 Minimum Usage Fee, along with several other surcharges and oth fees, all for 2 calls, 1 of .45 cents, and the other of .48 cents.

I called the company and asked what happened to my calling company, and her reply was that they mailed notices explaining the change-over. When my husband came home I went over all the telephone bills and correspondence with him and learned we were not notified of this take-over, and also learned that he paid for a Dec. bill of $4.27 Usage fee, a May Usage fee of $5.79, a June usage fee of $6.18, plus the extra surcharges associated with their billings. They did not notify us that they took over our no fee carrier. I feel they took advantage of us. I would have noticed these extra charges on the first bill, unfortunately my husband did not. I feel this needs to be reported to you, because this type of business should not be allowed. I will be receiving credit for the last bill, I reported, but not for the previous paid ones, unless I lodge complaints to their main office, maybe, I was informed. I also plan on notifying the FCC.

Iam a previous customer of Covad from a business relationship that I had with Vartec Telecom INC. Covad no longer has a business relationship with Vartec as I had DSL with Covad via Vartec. I am trying to get AT&T Uverse services and they are telling me that the old DSL (Vartec) is still showing the DSL services on my line as both services have been can canceled many years ago with no due balance.

Thanks

I have two phones in my house that I pay bills on and on both phones we use the 10-10-297 to call long distance. In March's bill of 15th 2009 I noticed charges that were incorrect. Under the date it had duplicate months and days such as 12/25/2008 twice and 1/25/2009 twice. It than stated under the time called was midnight on every single charge! Then under Number Dialed it stated Customer Charge! No Location was listed and 0:00 minutes were used, yet I was billed several $1.97 charges and others. I noticed this mistake on BOTH my phone bills for this billing cycle.

The first person I called told me he didn't see this bill in the system and kept stating the Feb. bill even though I told him several times it was the March Bill. Then he tried to tell me I would have to fax a copy of the problem so they could see what I was talking about. I live in the country, far from someone who can fax, plus I don't see why I should spend more money on gas and fax costs to send them something they should have already. Then he changed his story and said it was At&T that made the mistake. I explained to him that I did not have AT&T for a long distance provider and the bill clearly stated USBI.

I then asked to speak with a supervisor or anyone else beside him, and he refused to transfer me. He said he could put me on a call back list and someone may call me within the next 24 to 48 hours! So I hung up and called again. This time I got Linda. I explained my story to her and the conversation I had with the first person. She told me that the girl had refunded me $5.00 and that it will show on my next bill. Well I informed her that it was a man I had spoke with not a girl, and that he had said he couldn't help me at that point. I also told her it was more than $5.00 that was charged. She couldn't tell me what had happened or why the charges were there and then I asked why I was not being funded for the entire amount of the mistakes. She said they couldn't refund me the federal taxes and that I would have to call to deal with that refund. I read the number back to her twice because she kept stalling in between what she was saying like she was looking at something on her end. She seemed very unsure of what she was telling me and was not polite or professional.

I hung up with her and tried calling the number given. I wasn't even surprised to find that the number was disconnected with no further information. If this company did this to me on both of my phone bills, wrongfully charging me for calls never made, how many other people using the number had this done to them. Something isn't right! Someone is pocketing a lot of money wrongfully charged and stating the federal government is keeping the taxes on these fraudulent charges. Vartec uses so many other business names and owns so many other 10-10 numbers that I don't know who to use now. I definitely don't want to use Vartec any more!

I was charged a $4.05 minimum usage fee on my June bill. Even though I check my phone bill carefully every month, I had not noticed that Var Tec had begun charging a minimum usage fee. This is probably because I don't make long distance calls on this particular phone every month so no charges appear. Anyway, I went back to a few previous bills and saw that they had been charging this fee for several months but it had been running around $.55, which is another reason I probably didn't catch it.

When I called Var Tec to ask about the fee and when it was implemented, the representative explained what it was and said it was implemented last year. I asked if notification was sent to customers and she said yes. When I told her I did not receive any such notification, she informed me that it was because I was a 10-10 access user and not signed up for their service.

Long story, short, after pushing to speak with a supervisor, I spoke to a woman who said she was a supervisor. She said that for 10-10 customers, notifications of changes in services and fees are sent to the carriers who then are supposed to communicate this information to Var Tec customers. I told her I was going to contact my carrier (AT&T) and find out why I didn't receive any communication. The supervisor then began to back down and said that she wasn't sure how this information was communicated to the carriers. I asked her if there was anyone there who knew and she said no. This all sounded hokey to me at this point so I called my carrier.

The AT&T rep told me that the only thing they do for third party companies is post their bills on the AT&T statement. They do not provide any kind of communications from these companies to their customers. I am very disappointed in Var Tec. I have used the 10-10 number for several years and I have encouraged my friends and family to use it.

The truth of the matter is that I am not that opposed to paying the minimum usage fee. It's just the way they handled it--not notifying ALL of their customers of this change. It now appears to me that Var Tec is nothing more than shoddy company with unethical practices. What a shame!! I looked at the Var Tec website to see if there was a way to send my complaint directly to the company or the CEO, who appears to be Michael G Hoffman, but alas, there was no email address available on the site.

The cost of the additional fee.

I received a bill on my regular phonr bill for voicelink LD.I did not order this,do not even know what it is and am not paying the charge.

On December 17, 2007 i closed my account with Vartec Telecom. Vartec Telecom has being sending my name to collections agency. The agencies are: Genesis Financial Solutions Inc, Midland Funding LLC, and TrueLogic Financial Cor. I do not owed Vartec or these companies any monies.

Many, many problems with billing, but after complete frustration, tried to cancel the service all together. Called March 1st, it is now April 9th and by the 3rd call the phone is still not cancelled and we've been billed again.

Vartec's robots keep calling my residence although I am on the do-not-call list, do not do business with Vartec, and have called them to complain--the very next day after they assured me I would not get called again--I was called. I have filed complaints with Vatec, the DNC site, the BBB, and with consumer affairs.

I had made a payment over the phone and called 2x to verify that it had been taken out of my account because it show on my accout statement that it had not. So I called again and told them I did not think it had been taken out and I was told it was posted on my phone account. So then I received a bill for twice as much and obviously it had not been taken out because it did not show payment. So basically I owed twice as much so I called again and they told me the payment was not taken out due to insufficient funds.

So I told them the money was in there and if they wanted a copy of my statement I would be more than happy to fax it to show the funds were in there .So then I was scrambling to get a money order to get it in the mail so they would not shut my service off so i sent a Money order but they shut my service off the next day .I did not receive notice of no payment or a call or anything in between this period where they did not take the money oiut of my account the bill was the first I was informed of it they reasured me on the phone it had posted.

So then I spent a while like prob a half hour or so on the phone with them told them I was going to switch companys ect. because this was not the first time I have had problems with them. So they informed me they would have to wait till they were notified by the other company to tranfer my service. So at then end of the conversation this Mark asked what he could do for me because I was irrate and had spent all this time on the phone and the few times befroe that . So I told him I did not beleive I should have to pay the remaining $39.72 so he said it would be taken care of and if I received any more notices to cantavct hin and gave me his ext.

This was September 20th .

So today I come home get the mail and wala there is a bill from Vartec(October 29) It says final notice on the outside not that I had received any other notice since I spoke to him on Sept 20. So I called and noone can find him. They said there is nothing on the account that states he said he would take care of the balance. So this letter says they are going to turn it into collections if it is not paid in ten days.None was of any help the first time I called today the lady I was speaking to pretty much hung up on me without making any attempt to help me. Then there was Andrew who told me he did not know who Mark Bitlman was but he would look him up on the company directory,he found his name and said he would e-mail him and have him call me. Apparently there is not a # where I can directly call him .Basically I got the big run around again.

This is not the first time I have had issues with this company. My point is that it was not my fault they did not take the money out of my account , it was there glitch not mine and now I am paying for there mistake,after I called to verify that it was paid and reasured it was posted on the account.But then to get no notice or anything .

THey charged me over and over for services that were included with my package for free. Which I called to have removed. They are now trying to charge me late fees for the part of the bill that I didn't owe. I was told todaythat the late fees are legitimate charges even tho they were on something that was their error.The ffe isn't much but it is the principle of the matter and I would love to file a class action suit against them.

We got "slammed" by VarTec Telecom, Inc. My wife answered a call from them and they told her that our telephone company had been sold and that they could offer us continued service... etc. etc. She didn't understand the call very well and, doesn't remember the whole 'schpeel'. (She's Mexican.)

So what happened is, we were switched to VarTec. When I found out, I made calls and switched us back to SBC, I thought. VarTec said they didn't have a record of a change and I had to call SBC. I did. SBC said there was no change, but put a text message in my 'account' saying we didnt want to switch. Apparently it isn't seen company-wide. A week later I had to call again and actually 'sign-up' to SBC again! Meanwhile, we received a bill, a late bill and a warning from VarTec.

Then, I find out SBC no longer 'owns' our old number! VarTec does! So I tell SBC I can change phone numbers as I had no desire to contact VarTec again. That would have been necessary to have them turn our service back on and then SBC could change our service back to them. Its all very complicated!

Bottom line: We got screwed and it took a lot of my time to get this straightened out. It took another call to SBC to get connected to them again! AND this won't happen until next Friday the 29th!

What a hassle! I wish I could bill someone for this!

They advertise 24.95 a month for call waiting, three way calling caller ID and 100 minutes of long distance - however when you get your bill there are lots of hidden charges. Also, after getting my first bill and being mislead I went back to my regular carrier and had the service for 3 days and they are telling me I have to pay for the whole month of service that I'm not even using. They had someone from their company call and threaten me that they were going to put this on my credit report if I did not pay this entire month that I did not use.

Subscribed to Vartec in January, 2004 or possibly even December,2003. Am not certain since I did not keep the billing statement after paying the bill. We were misled about the charges that we incurred from the beginning. We expected that our monthly phone and fax charges would be considerably less but in fact were much higher than our previous vendor, SBC. After 1 month of service with Vartec, we cancelled our service and transferred back to SBC. SBC notified Vartec on Feb.20,2004 and all service with Vartec was disconnected. SBC has confirmed this with us and is sending confirmation. We received a final bill from Vartec in March/April which we also paid in full.

In May we received another bill from Vartec for monthly service in the amount of $29.69. We advised them that we had cancelled all service with them on Feb. 20, that there must be an error. The service agent checked and agreed that it was their error and to ignore the bill. The next day, we received a call from their collections dept. in Dallas. We explained that we had spoken to a service agent and that all the proper channels had been navigated and the bill was cleared. Collections apologized and said there would be no more calls.

We continue to receive a call from their collections dept. every day between 7 and 8AM. demanding payment. We have called the customer service dept. every day and spoken to many people, all of whom insist that we owe nothing , but it may take a couple of months for this to clear their mandatory 2 month billing cycle. They also said that an e-mail was being sent to the collections dept. in Dallas requesting that they refrain from calling and waking us up every day! All this for a service that has been cancelled for several months and a bill that is totally in error. So, now we have received a second monthly billing, for $34.69 and a $5.00 late charge! I immediately called the Customer service dept. again about this new bill, after the same old, lengthy explanation and history of this situation.

She (Joan) put me on hold for a long period of time and said that she spoke with SBC and would have to initiate an investigation that could take several months to resolve. I told her that the previous customer service agents had already initiated and resolved the situation. She stated that "No, nothing shows on this account that clears it or remedies the problem".She then hung up on me!

They keep sending me bills even after numerous calls to and from their customer service reps. At this time I have not paid the last 3 months due to the fact that my phone service was changed to another phone company. They keep pestering me! I have even sent them copies of my paid phone bills with my new phone company along with a copy of my complaint to the better business bureau with no success. I owe them nothing, and they need to know that and apologize for the headaches they've given me.

I signed up with this company in June 2003. Since that time I have received unprofessional, inadequate and rude service from this company. I signed up for the choice packet at $49.95 a month for two lines (account # S001331449 & S001331357). I do understand that there are surcharges, taxes, etc. I believe this company has been overcharging me from the beginning. I have had my service interuppted numerous times and charged a restoration fee due to the company's incomptence. Each month I call in a payment and specify the phone number to credit my payment. Twice I have had my payment charged to the wrong phone and had the other phone disconnected.

I called and spoke with a supervisor, who assured me this would not happen again. She assured me she would get the accounts staightened out, debit the one account and credit the other.

I received another bill with the same discrepancy, and when I called to inquiry, I was disconnected twice by two customer service representatives. I didn't catch the male representatives name who hung up on the first call, but the second callers name was Shantee.

I called back a third time and spoke with Latonya (customer service rep.) and asked to speak with a Supervisor.

According to Shantee, I made a payment of $71.45 in November which was debited from account S001331357, but never credited to S001331449, which caused the computer to generate a suspension of service notice. On 12/06 I made additional payments of $95 to account S001331357 and a payment of $75 to account S001331449.

Ms. Marsha Holland, Asst. Supervisor, advised me that the accounting dept. did not correct the error to the accounts in November as requested, therefore causing my account to be delinquent and in suspension status. She assured me, once again, that she would take care of this problem once and for all.

I believe that this company is double dipping or double billing un-necessary charges to my accounts. I have been very dissatisfied with the lack of concern each time I call to clear up discrepancies. Not to mention the customer service representatives are rude and unprofessional. There is not reason, as I mentioned to Ms. Holland for my telephone bills to be $75 or more each month.

As a consumer, I feel as though these billing practices should not go on un-noticed. I am concerned that I'm being overcharged and taken advantage of.

I would like to request an investigation of my accounts with this company.

I received a phone call from a sales rep at VarTec Telecom, Inc. on June 22nd of 2003. They told me that they could beat the prices of MCI (my current provider). I told them that I had never heard of VarTec and was hesitant to join over the phone. I requested information be sent to me.

I was told that if I signed up with VarTek I would have 30 days to change my mind and was told that in less than a week I would receive a membership kit, containing information on VarTek and a 1-800-phone number that I could call, anytime with in the first 30 days to stop the service transfer. What a LIE! VarTec transefered my service the next day (6/23/03)and I NEVER received a membership kit. The first bill arrived and it was NOT less than MCI, plus we did not have access to our voicemail. When I called to ask how to retreive my voicemail - since we had NO MEMBERSHIP packet explaining any of this, I was told we didn't order it! Anyway, to make a long story short.

I called to complain and cancel my service. I called MCI to hook us back up and they were willing - however, VarTec disconnected our phone and MCI couldn't hook us back up! It took three weeks (without phone service) to sort that out and we were still customers of VarTec. MCI finally was able to transfer us back in Mid-August. Despite numerous calls to VarTec, we are still getting bills for service and disconnect notices. The last one was for $208.62 and was for service until 11/24/03. I have confirmed, with MCI, numerous times that they are indeed our provider and they are. Our voicemail says "welcome to MCI". I am so exasperated. Not one VarTec Rep has followed up on my calls. It's almost like they don't keep customer service notes on each account. I have asked numerous times to be connected to a Manager but have always been denied. I am totally frustrated with this company.

We have had a credit balance on both accounts due to overpayment of our bills due to these companies not processing payments in a timely manner. (These are sister companies and customer service reps can deal with both on one phone call). In order to keep good credit we sent in extra money to cover bills that they said we had not paid eventhough we had bank statements to prove that we had. For 14 months now we have had bills showing these credit balances.

We have sent in approx. 6 - 7 letters, spoken to vaious representatives and with no success at getting our money back. These people either hung up on us or never bothered to respond. I sent in another letter telling them that I would carry this matter further as it was more a matter of principle now and suddenly our credit balances have diappeared and on 10/03/03 we received a check for $20.50 (this was $46.55 less than we were supposed to get back.) Customer service rep. Christopher Phillips gave us some concocted story about suddenly finding that we did owe them money after all and we did not nor never had credit balances with them.

We then received a bill on 10/08/03 for $20.50 and then 3 days later received a collection notice for $20.50. It not the money that matters now but the principle of this that we are being lied to and cheated out of what is rightfully our money. I cannot get them to give me a stateside customer service rep who is an american.

I switch to Vartec based on lies and or misrepresentation arround the middle of August 2003. When I signed up I requested something in writing stating the rules and regulations regarding the plan I signed up for. I received nothing as of today 9/11/03. Mr. Clinton from Texas who convinced me to sign up said that certain area codes I regularly call were considered local calls and that I would not be charged for this calls as long distance calls. I called customer service the same day and I was told that they would call me back to confirm the information given by Mr. Clinton, for at least two weeks I did not hear from Vartec so I proceeded to email customer service online.

I raised the same questions to them a few days later I receives a computer generated email that I could not understand. I emailed them again for this email I received no reply. I called customer service and again I was told that the area codes in questions were in fact considered local calls. I received my first bill unfortunately I was charged for local calls as long distance 5 cents a minute. I called customer service again I was told that I should not be charged for this calls as long distance and that I should receive a credit of $8.35 to be reflected in my next bill. I received my second bill adn again I was charged 5 cents a minute for local calls. I called in three occassions and I was told that the computers were down so my account could not be accessed.

I was told I would be called back the next day when the system was up. I did not receive a call. I called Vartec today 9/12/03 I was told that I needed to speak to accounts receivables department who was closed at that time, but I was given the direct number to the department I called them right away with the intention of leaving a message and was surprised to find out that after all the department was no closed. I told the representative that I had been wrongly charged long distance charges for local calls and that all I wanted to do is get credit for the calls pay in full and close my account. I was then transfered to customer service who quickly calculated the toal credit of approximately $38.87 I was also informed that I had to pay my entire balance and wait for the credit to be reflected in my next bill. I inform the person that since I was closing my account as today this was not necessary. She informed me that I needed to be transferred to accounts receivables again I spoke to someone in acct. receivable and I was told I neede to speak with customer service again.

I spoke to customer service they put me on hold for 20 minutes and then came back to say that the credit quoted before was not approved and that even though everyone told me that these calls would never be considered or charged as long distance againg that the first credit I received of $8.35 was a one time credit and that the charges that appeard as long diatance charges for local calls would remain because the computer would not accept the credit. I requested the persons name and last name I was only given the name of Bertin I requested to speak with a manager I was told this was impossible and I could not even get a name to write a letter to the manager. The only thing I was given was the address and Vartec's owners name Joe Mitchell. I feel I have been taken advantage of I am a single parent and money is not easy to come. I don't know what else to do I switch my service to another company a local company but I need help in finding out who can help me so that my credit goes through so that I am able to py the balance that remains after the credit is applied. Please help! there should be a law against this obvious abuse to the consumer.

i started using vartec's 10-10-811 long distance service in november and never received a bill. eventually i got in touch with them and they had the incorrect name on the account. they sent me a bill which i promptly paid in late may and my account has still not been cleared. i now have to have my bank send a copy of a cancelled check. it has been nothing but a nightmare.

Started charging a monthly access fee with no notification. When we called about it, they said it was for instate access. So we made no instate long distance calls. The fee was still charged. If you make one long distance call in or out of state they charge you the access fee.

I have been billed every month since October 2002 for a phone number that I haven't had since September 26, 2002 when my phone was disconnected. I have written an explanation on each bill and typewritten a note on the bill and mailed back that I have not had this number since September 26, 2002. I don't have a long distance carrier.

For two months I received several suspension of services notices for a missed payment. This payment was not missed and in fact had been charged to my Visa a month and a half prior to this. I called several times and the customer service rep insisted the problem would be fixed. Now they have disconnected my phone service, even after I have faxed them proof of my payment. When I called to complain they apologized an insisted my phone service would be reconnected. Now it has been two full days and still no service.

When I called again today I was told I would have to wait at least another five business days in order for the research department to verify payment was made. Now I am left without phone service for at least a week and I desparately need it for a home based business and I am a Registered Nurse who is on call for an Intensive Care Trauma Unit.

Vartec clearly states that unanswered calls will not be billed; however, every bill lists up to 20 unanswered calls and charges $.50 each. Customer Service readily agrees that this should not be and will take a list of the calls, promising to credit my account after 2 or 3 billing cycles. They promise to have the source of the error fixed but nothing happens and latest bill lists 4 calls.

We kept a record of our short calls and calls answered by machines so that some of the .50 cent calls are legit but most are not. My account number is my phone number. We are retired and every illegal charge hits us in the pocketbook plus all the frustration of trying to get what we are supposed to get.

When we changed phone numbers we got slammed by a company called Vartec through an arrangement they have with Farm Bureau Insurance. When our next bills arrived they totaled more than $500 due to the fact that all the Adjacent Calls (to the Internet) were now billed as LD calls and our Adjacent Exchange plan had been deactivated.

When we spoke to GTE they said that Vartec and provided a tape authorizing them to be our local LD carrier. There is no way that I would have agreed to such a thing. I am in the process of working that out with Farm Bureau.