[mama2gavin]

Ok so I am not sure if this is where this needs to be posted, so please feel free to move wherever it needs to be.

So, today I got my phone bill. Actually, my husband let me sleep in, so he opened it, and when I woke up, he asked why our phone bill was 77.00 this month. I didn't know, and asked to see the bill. Well for the 3rd time this year we have been charged twice by Internet Security Suite which is 4.95 a month along with our internet bill of 19.99 a month that we have through verizon online. I am a little perturbed by this only because this is the 3rd time, but I am not really worried about it since it is only an extra 4.95 a month and I know I can get in taken off when I call in.

I keep looking, and I see another section of our bill that is labeled ILD ( Welcome to ILD Telecommunications )with a customer service number. I call the number, and the lady (Brett) told me that I signed up with it through coolsavings.com. I know I didn't sign up for this, I know better. Not even for the things I have to sign up for, but the junk mail that comes when you sign up for coolsavings is outrageous! I tell the that I need to cancel and I was very polite and said that I never signed up for this and she said that I did. OH and BTW, this service I signed up for cost me over 21.00 a month including tax. Guess what it is for???-----It's a 1-800 NUMBER that you can call and get phone numbers and directions.

At this point I am starting to fume. I had only been up for about 5 minutes, so I am sure I was probably nice at first, but now I am just plain mad. I tell her that I have the internet that I pay only 19.99 a month for, and if I need directions I can get them and any phone number I need by going online FOR FREE! She said that this is for when you are traveling. Oh ok, does that make it better? I mean, if I REALLY NEED a number that bad I will pay 1.25 for 411 one time rather than 19.99 plus tax a month for your scam service. She told me they sent me a confirmation email--to my husbands email and that I had 3 weeks to cancel before they would bill me. I told her my husband never checks his email, and it is all spam anyways. I asked her if anyone that calls in says they would like to keep this "service" and she said actually, yes. I cannot believe this. I mean, if I had to take a guess, everyone that sees this on there bill calls in, yell because they never signed up, or didn't know they were signing up, and then cancels. They make there money from the first 19.99 they bill you. She asked me if I would like a copy of the email and I said yes. (She never sent it) I told her I refuse to pay it and asked to be connected with her manager. I got cut off at this point.

I had my husband call back and guess who he got? Brett...I am thinking she and her manager are the only ones who work answering phones. The manager tells him that they cannot refund us even though we never signed up and never used this "service" that looks up phone numbers and directions that we could easily do ourselves by the internet.

So here we are stuck with this extra 20.00 on our phone bill. I tried to call verizon, but they aren't open until Monday, but I am thinking of canceling with them if they don't take care of it. Anyone that could have looked in the phone book could have gotten all the info they needed to sign us up.

Is there anything I can do? Can I report this "company" to anyone? Please help me!!!

[twilcn]

I would suggest contacting a lawyer or telling the company you are contacting a lawyer for this manner..You never signed up for it and there was no reason why you should pay for it. If all else fails...I would contact the Better Business Beau and find out what you can about this company.
Don't let them win!!

[twilcn]

I just unscribed to cool savings!

[wendy1214]

I would def call Verizon- they may just give you a "credit" for your next bill, but they are good about things like this.
Best of luck- i would have been fuming too!!!

[mikeswife]

we had the same prob with my dh cell phone $4.95 for some weird service, We finally got it taken off thru T-mobile.
The funny thing is my dh is so scared of the computer he doesn't even have an e-mail to confirm it keep us updated on this

[PattyinOk]

You can report it to the BBB online. I had this same issue with another company and I used the BBB to resolve it. Don't give up, that's what they are counting on and probably making thousands from those who do. Pursue it on every avenue including your phone company.

[gagesmommy]

We just got a magazine subscription that said we owe like $14.95 for Parents magazine. Guess where it came from- CoolSavings! It said my DH signed up yeah when pigs fly! Isn't this a free mag anyway? I need to do something about it. I suppose I need to call the 800 #. I won't go back to CoolSavings.

[staviles]

If you talk to your phone carrier and say that you would like to dispute that portion of the bill, they have a department set up just for that purpose and you would only owe the actual telephone charges from your carrier...they will then investigate it and so you have to give them all the information about how you never signed up and tried to resolve it on your own..this has happened to us before and you are not responsible to pay anything on your phone bill other than the actual phone providers charges that you have agreed to when you signed up with them..they then send you a letter asking you to fill out all the info about the dispute as well and usually takes them about 60 days to get back to you, but you do not have to pay for this charge and make sure when you do pay, you do it by phone and have them take your payment for just the phone service and taxes, and write the memo about the dispute on your account...HTH

[therbel]

I agree with everyone about contacting the BBB online. I have personally done this twice, and each time I received a full refund of my money within a reasonable amount of time. The form is easy to fill out, you submit it to the BBB right on their website.

[therbel]

Here's the link https://odr.bbb.org/odrweb/public/GetStarted.aspx Also on this site is a place where you can look to see if anyone else has filed a complaint against this company, might be useful when you call them again!

[pemerson]

If you don't get anywhere with Verizon I would coontact the BBB. The one time I contacted them they were great!

[mama2gavin]

Ok, didn't get anywhere with Verizon, I contacted Ohio's Attorney General, next I am contacting them in MN, and FL.
The name of the site that is charging me is Need the Info, and the clearing house I contacted was the ILD teleservices.

[SoccerMama]

This is interesting because I had got a magazine subscription and bill from Taste of Home and they said I ordered it through the internet.

I never ordered it-I don't care for Taste of Home. Anyway, they canceled it for me.

[mama2gavin]

Ok I just wanted to update.

I contacted the BBB, and the Attorney General's Office about this, and guess what? They took the charge off! VICTORY!

April 30, 2008

Greg Harder, Mediation Coordinator
Better Business Bureau of Minnesota
2706 Gannon Road
Saint Paul, MN 55116
Via Email: gharder@thefirstbbb.org

RE: Complaint No: 57122396 / Ashley D.

Dear Mr. Harder:

We are in receipt of the above referenced complaint. Attached is the Letter of Agency, which is our authorization to provide and bill for services for your review. The Letter of Agency was processed as received.

Upon receipt of the Letter of Agency the consumer that placed the order, Ashley Davis, was sent an email to the email address provided on the order. This email was sent on February 19, 2008 at 9:02:07 AM. This includes the confirmation of the order, which includes our business address, email address and our 800 number for questions regarding service activation, cancellation and billing. This email also provided you with the option of canceling the service either through the 800 number or sending the request via electronic mail. The activation letter sent provides detailed instructions to access the premiere information service. This email also provides the consumer with the option of canceling the service prior to the monthly billing.

Ms. D had contacted our Customer Service Center February 19, 2008 to request that we cancel the NeedTheInfo product that was ordered from our company over the Internet. The service was canceled effective February 19, 2008. The cancellation number is 3051994.

Ms. D stated the information submitted was accurate. We did receive a valid order for the premiere information service that includes, directory assistance, restaurant information, directions to or from any location, roadside assistance with unlimited access from either a cell phone or landline.

NeedTheInfo has issued a courtesy credit of $19.95 directly to Ms. D local telephone company. Please allow one to two billing cycles for the credit to be processed by her local telephone company and appear on her telephone statement. Full credit has been issued.

A block has been placed on the billing telephone number to prevent the consumer from submitting future charges.

Please note that NeedTheInfo does not process orders randomly. The consumer initiates all of our orders. WE DO NOT do any ''SPAM'' or ''EMAIL'' promotions. The only way for an order to be processed with us is for someone to order our service over the Internet by clicking on an ad of ours at one of numerous websites, the predominant being coolsavings.com, eversave.com etc. Our website address is Need The Info.

If you have any further questions you may contact me directly at 651-464-3700.

Respectfully,

Janice Munt
Regulatory Specialist

Please ladies and gents, if you have a problem, don't let them get away with it. I didn't/and I wasn't going to let them charge me for something I didn't order...

To bad alot of people would call them and give up. This is how companies like this make there money!