Lingo

Josie of Hernandez, NM June 9, 2009

I signed up wtih lingo.com because I wanted to have a cheaper phone service and still have my phone number. So, I signed up with Lingo, was never told that there was a 2 year contract, it wasn't stated up front, I wanted a month to month to see how their service was before I committed. The bad service started at the get go, I asked if my phone number specifically would be able to be transferred and I was placed on hold while the customer service person "checked", I was told that it could be transfered, so I signed up with them under false pretenses.

I got and set up the equipment to have it ready for my phone number to be transfered, after 10 days I called to check the status of the transfer, I was told that it was in process and it may take a few more days. So, 5 more days pass and I call again to find out the status, again I'm tld that it was still in process. By this time I'm a little frustrated, but with wanting to save some money, I waited about week.

When I called again, I was told that my number was non-transferable, so I asked the date was they showed that, and it was before the previous call I had made. So, I was upset and I asked to have the service cancelled, well a month later I was charged yet again for a month of service, so I called to have that resolved. After being on hold for 48 minutes and getting nowhere with the customer service rep, I finally go to speak with a supervisor who said a ticket would go to the billing office to check on that charge, while waiting, with no response, I recieved a charge of 99.95 2 months after I cancelled the service. This whole experience has been a nightmare! I'm STILL waiting for those charges to be resolved. Everything about this company is horrible!

lingo of jackson heights, NY May 28, 2009

Lingo is the worst Voip company they do not answer you and when you want to leave the company because the calls were terrible they keep charging your credit card. Becareful !!!!!

Paulie of Browns Mills, NJ May 28, 2009

I signed up for Lingo services on June 24, 2008. I signed up with automatic payments. Customer service was polite but terrible. However, no real problems other than I now only have one phone line in a 3 story house. Because of electrical problems I could not plug in my extensions and the calls wouldn't go through anyway. Incoming calls would ring once and disconnect. Oh well. With Skpe, OoVoo, a cellphone, and call forwarding (youmail) to my cellphone, I don't really use my home phone that much. But I have had my eye on TMobile's VOIP services because I could get wireless extensions. Anyway, when I was having problems with the service, I considered canceling but after reading the nightmares on the internet, I didn't want the hassle. Now I *have* to cancel to take on a work from home job that requires me to have a land-line. I see the beginning of the problems already. I called today (May 28, 2009) and was told there would be a 99.95 charge. I said nothing in response. I was also told that if I wanted to keep my phone number to have the new carrier call. Before contacting Verizon, I decided to call them back about this cancellation fee since I was completely unaware of it. I called back and some guy told me oh yes it was in your materials. No it wasn't because from what I can tell, they instituted this fee in October 2008 and I got my service in June 2008.

I never received any information that any contact I may have had (I was completely unaware I had any, nor do I remember it being mentioned to me when I bought the service - and it is no where on their website). When I buy a new cellphone, it is made very clear to me that I am signing up for a new two-year contract. (Isn't there some new laws out there about this practice being challenged?). I do have notes from my first call to set up the service and I'll have to review them about cancellation fees. Anyway, the guy I spoke to told me well, some people have talked to finance and they've waived the fee for people who had earlier contracts. He transferred me over. I spoke to a "Kelly" and explained my situation (I have to have a landline) and got a reference number. I've been told to call back on June 24th to cancel the service. Already I'm feeling stressed out because I know that it won't be so clean and simple. I'm even willing to pay the 99.95 to get rid of them but from what I hear they keep charging you afterward. I have no lates on my credit history and the card I believe I've used I've had for more than 20 years. Hopefully, my credit card company will back me up.

Luis of Jackson Heights, NY March 14, 2009

Luis of Jackson Heights NY (03/14/09)
We subscribed for a period of one year service from Lingo Communications via online in November 2007. We provided our credit card number account (CAPITAL ONE) in order to make automatic monthly payments during the length of the subscription. We called in July 2008 to cancel the service and they advised us that we had to wait until the end of the subscription period so that we would not incurred with any disconnection fees. We called Lingo back in November 2008 to cancel the service and they gladly processed our request. We paid the full amount owed to them for the last month of the subscription in December 2008. We were charged an additional 2.99 in January 2009.

The February 2009 credit card statement shows a charge of 99.05 from Lingo. We immediately notified Capital One about this illegal charge and indicated to them that we were disputing the charge. The customer service representative from Capital One suggested that we should resolve this issue with Lingo before taking any action thru Capital One. We called Lingo and they informed us that they had change the terms of the subscription to two years without giving us any notification. Therefore, the charge was for cancelling the service before the end of the new subscription period.

Later, we called Capital One to let them know that we were disputing the charge due to fraudulent actions from Lingo Communications. Capital One refuses to take any action in order to dispute the illegal charge in our behalf and they are imposing late fees to our account. The economic damage is 99.95 for the Lingo charge plus 15.00 non payment fee from Capital One in addition to annual interest of 14.80%. Capital One has indicated that they will continue charging interest and late fees until we pay the outstanding balance that amounts to 116.26 as of February 24, 2009

Justin of Colton, CA February 23, 2009

Justin of Colton CA (02/23/09)
Lingo will rip you off! They advertise their service at a great rate, and it is - that is, until you go to cancel. We switched to the T-Mobile at Home service in late 2008, at which time my husband called Lingo to tell them that we wanted to cancel. They informed my husband that, due to our one year contract, there would be a 50 cancellation fee, but that we could cancel in February for free, and they could switch us to a cheaper plan in the meantime. We said okay, and they continued to charge us more than they said they would for the next 3 months or so. Furthermore, when we called to cancel our service, they said we were on a two year plan now, and cancelling would now cost 100! Unbelievable!

We were charged over 150, when the original cancellation would have cost 50!

Dara of New York, NY February 20, 2009

Dara of New York NY (02/20/09)
I first signed up for Lingo in 2005 and did not experience problems with them until the following year when I decided to cancel my service and switch to SunRocket. I was not under contract with Lingo at the time, and SunRocket assured me that they would be able to transfer my number and advise Lingo of my cancellation. I additionally called Lingo myself once my number had been fully ported and advised them of my desire to cancel. The representative advised me that there was no problem canceling my account, but that I would be liable for the costs of returning their equipment to them or would be subject to a fee for the cost of the equipment. I said I had never heard of a company forcing people to mail back equipment at their own expense that was just going to be discarded once they received it, but they refused to provide me with a prepaid mailing label and I did not wish to incur any more charges from them so I sent the stuff back.

Three months later, I noticed my bank account was still being debited monthly for Lingo service! I called them, livid, asking what they were billing me for when (a) I no longer had ANY telephone number attached to my account, and (b) both SunRocket and I had advised them of my cancellation. After quite a bit of arguing, they agreed to credit me for the month they had just billed me but would not credit me for the two months prior. Happy to be finished with them, I accepted this and figured that would be the end of my dealings with Lingo. Unfortunately for me, despite pre-paying for 2 years of service with SunRocket, the company folded about a year and a half later and in 2007 I found myself again looking for a new VOIP provider.

The last thing I wanted was to go back to Lingo after the cancellation nightmare they put me through, but after reading reviews of other VOIP companies' quality of service and finding that Lingo had a prepaid plan most comparable to the plan I had with SunRocket, I decided to re-enroll in their service since my prepaid plan would not be subject to the same cancellation issues I'd experienced previously- or so I thought. Sometime in the 10 months that followed, Lingo changed their terms and conditions to include an early termination fee for PREPAID customers who canceled prior to one year of service, despite the prepaid term being limited to one year of service.

When I unexpectedly changed jobs and moved in May 2008, 10 months into my one year of prepaid service, I called Lingo to advise them that I would no longer be in need of the service despite having two months left that I had paid for, and I simply wanted them to disconnect me so I would not have to incur two further monthly debits for the government taxes and fees associated with my account. I was told that they now had a condition by which I would be subject to an early termination fee.

I had my call escalated to two supervisors, both of whom informed me that despite having prepaid for an entire year of service, and despite the fact that I was NOT requesting a credit of the two months left on that service, Lingo was still entitled to assess me a fee and would be automatically debiting my bank card used at signup for the 50 fee. I told them I had never agreed to any such term, and would not have signed up for their service had such term existed as the time of my enrollment. Both supervisors refused to waive the fee, and I advised them that I would be filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau which I proceeded to do, but which has not resulted in any sort of resolution.

After the debit for the early termination fee came through, I called Chase Bank and explained the situation to them. They advised me that they could not reverse the charge if Lingo could prove that I owed them the money. Lingo could not prove this to the satisfaction of Chase Bank, and Chase indeed reversed the charge. I am now in collections with a company called Sko Brenner American for 53+. Lingo apparently credited me 17 for the 2 months of service I did not use, which I never requested, but proceeded to assess the early termination fee as well a fee for the collections agent. I have sent two lengthy and detailed letters to the collections agent asking for any form of evidence that I agreed to and should be held by Lingo's early termination clause, and all they have done is send me bill after bill showing the assessment of the termination fee. I am fearful of this impacting my credit rating and uncertain where to turn next.

Nguyen of Vienna, VA February 17, 2009

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |