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ZPDI: Charges on Hotel Room Calls

ZPDI • Feds Settle with BSG/ZPDI/Billing Concepts • Disputed Collect Calls • Expensive Collect Calls • Calling Card Calls • Hotel Room Calls • Scam Calls from Mexico • "Regular Carrier Unavailable" • Calls through Opticom --- • Congressional Action Needed to Stop ZPDI • You can fight back • ZPDI: What Can Consumers Do? • Consumer complaints about ZPDI and WXT Communications • Who's Behind ZPDI?

Peach of Logan UT writes (6/19/01):
I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Jacksonville, FL. I used the collect phone service that was suggested on the ad beside the phone. When I got my phone bill, there was a $99 charge from ZPDI on it. One call was $34.28 for 8 minutes!!! This is such a scam by the hotel and the phone service.

$99 is a lot of money to someone in my earning bracket. That represents a trip to the dentist for my husband or half of the cost of the new eyeglasses my daughter needs. I wanted to contact you in hopes that more people can be aware of still another way you can be a target for confidence scams.

Carol of Easley SC (6/19/01):
On 5-18-01 while in Richmond, Va for the wedding of my nephew,I made a collect call to my best friend at home (Easley, SC). Our conversation was brief as I only wanted to leave the telephone number at the hotel (Hampton Inn, Richmond) where I was staying in case of any emergency. (My husband is not in the best of health). Her bill shows that we talked for 24 minutes. Not true....This call cost $60.81 and shows that it went through Opticom/One Call Com/Zpdi.

I called to report what I thought was an error (1-888-371-0734) and spoke with Shinita. I told her that this was $2.53 per minute. She stated that the total of $60.81 was for the per minute fee as well as several other charges. ... She also stated that my friend should have asked what long distance carrier was being used before she accepted the call. (Excuse me I didn't realize I had to look out for these crooks when on the phone).

I asked Shinita how they were getting around the FCC with this. She states the FCC knows. After my conversation with the infamous Shinita, I got on the computer and realize I certainly wasn't the first to get slammed by these crooks. I am hopping mad. I consider myself to be a pretty savvy consumer and it infuriates me that I have been taken by this monster.

Meveree of Trenton FL (6/10/01):
Made a collect call at the Sleep Inn, was told by the desk person that I would not be charged by the motel for the use of the phone. It really upsets me mentally that someone can put such an outrageous bill, $17.05 for 3 min (I did not talk 3 minutes!) on my bill and there doesn't seem to be much that I can do.

Donna of Atchsion KS (6/6/01):
My husband was sent to Texas by his company for work-related training. He called home on three occasions to see if everything was OK. He made the collect calls from his hotel. We received the bill yesterday and the total minutes for the three calls was 39 and the amount of the bill was $75.80. I called and talked to a representative and she contacted the one long distance company called Opticom and they agreed to drop $13.50 off of their call. The other company called Hotel Connect would only take 77 cents off their bill. This still leaves an excessive charge of $61.53. I would think that this is a definite scam.

Doug of Chapel Hill NC (4/5/01):
This is to add the list of furious complaints against Zero Plus Dialing Inc., the long-distance carrier that charges more than 13,000 percent more for a less-than-2 minute call than most of the other long-distance carriers. I made two calls after 5 on Friday from the Clarion Townhouse, my hotel in Columbia, S.C., on March 9, 2001, leaving a brief message for my wife on our answering machine. The ZPDI charge on the back of the AT&T bill: $13.03 for one; $13.62 for the other. Later, I connected with my wife and spoke for 21 minutes. The charge: $31.81. Total bill from ZPDI: $60.23, almost as much as the motel cost that night.

My complaint is the one that is repeated over and over in your website: Why does this company snatch the call without reasonable warning, when I made the call with my BellSouth calling card and PIN number? A reasonable person would expect from past experience that the call would be carried by MCI, our usual carrier. I understand that motels, prisons and other institutions have a special deal with ZPDI. This should be exposed -- widely. I plan to let public utilities reporters at The State and The News & Observer, the newspapers in Columbia, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C., know about this company in hopes that they will go after the story.