Lingo

Esteban of Oakwood, GA November 4, 2008

Esteban of Oakwood GA (11/04/08)
I signed up for LINGO VoIP Phone Service. Right after I signed they sent an e-mail saying that I had to stay with the company for a year or I'll be charged 59.99 for cancelling contract. I tought that was fair. Then I found that the lines are not clear, people couldn't hear me on the other end, I had to yell to make myself heard. Then the modem got burned, It took them almost a month to get it replaced, I didn't get any credit for that. Now, the year has passed. My account is current, but the phone modem is not in service again. I hadn't check with lingo, because I was thinking of cancelling, since their time had passed. But when I checked my e-mail they sent a notice saying that I had to stay with them for 24 months or I'll be charged 99.99 for early termination. That's not what I signed for and I don't think they should be allowed to change their policies like that, without enough time to tell their customers. They only gave me a 5 day notice.

I had already made a contract with another Internet phone company, which is working a lot better. They didn't made me accept a contract, and I pay what I use month to month. But those LINGO people are now stealing my money from my bank account every month, even though I'm not using their system. I left Messages telling them to call me back and they haven't call. Is really stressful dealing with companies like that.

Jon of Floyd Knobs, IN October 18, 2008

Jon of Floyd Knobs IN (10/18/08)
To anyone else having trouble cancelling their Lingo account, hang in there. I finally got through to their cancellation department. I too went through a week of trying to get through. After being on hold for 10+ minutes, I would get an answering service and leave a message. Of course, I never did get a response. I also tried going through their phone service to set up a new account. As you would guess, I would get an answer there within 5 seconds...but no one there would ever help me out or put me in contact with their supervisor.

I tried going through their billing department and they hung up on me as soon as I gave them my account number. Finally, today around 11:00 am, I got an answer by calling their cancellation department. It took me a week of trying to get through, but I finally got there. My next move was going to be to cancel my credit card and send a certified letter (in fact, I just hit print on the letter when someone finally picked up).

So, to anyone else out there trying desperately to cancel their account with Lingo, I would suggest wasting a Saturday of your time and start calling their cancellation line as soon as they open. Once I finally got through to them, the cancellation was fairly easy...I just had to sit through a few minutes of their business pitch to try to keep me as a customer. The woman I spoke with assured me that my account was cancelled and I did receive an email confirmation that the account was cancelled.

Melissa of Ochlocknee, GA September 5, 2008

Melissa of Ochlocknee GA (09/05/08)
I signed up for a 30-day free trial. I received the equipment to activate the Internet phone system. I could never get it to work. I had my son try to install it and he could not get it to work either. He called customer support on several occasions to get the phone service working. We never could get it to work, so I decided to return the equipment and forget about it.

The equipment was returned and received within the 30 days (6-19-08) and I thought this was over. I attempted to e-mail them several times. I was either rejected from the server or no response. I called to tell them I was returning equipment and needed to cancel service this was one of several to come where they would transfer me and I would stay on hold for over 20 minutes and either get someone who did not speak English, they would accidentally disconnect me or just never pick the phone back up.

Since this time on 7/2/08 they debited my checking account twice for 27.59 for a total of 55.18. On 8/2/08 they debited my account twice for 23.44 for a total of 46.88 and again on 9/1/08 twice for 59.95 for a total of 119.90. I have denied the charges each time and now I have to cancel my debit card to get rid of these people. Now today I received a collection notice for 27.59. This is like a nightmare that will not end. I have wasted hours of my time on this, I have been inconvenienced, and now I have been threatened to have this put on my credit bureau. The collection agent Steve Collins at Sko Brenner American out of Baldwin, NY told me today that it was not worth fighting with them he was going to put it on my credit report and I should just pay it. He did not care what the problem was he was paid to collect it and put it on my credit bureau.

I have had to cancel my debit card, the collection agent threatned to put it on my credit bureau, and 3 separate occasions I have had money taken out of my account each occasion they have debited the account twice

Theodore of Taylor, MI May 17, 2008

Theodore of Taylor MI (05/17/08)
I had a Lingo account for about a year, and shortly after December 07 the phone was disconnected. When I sent an email to Lingo it took a week or so for them to respond. The response said that my account was cancelled due to failure of payment. I then sent another email telling them that my account was set on autopay and that they should have received their money, as they have in the past, and to get my line running. They waited even longer to reply the second time, and then they gave me a number to call, knowing that I did not have a phone. I was sent no notice of disconnection or failure of payment prior to having my phone disconnected, and my bank account shows that they were taking regular payments until the month of disconnection.

After trying to reach Lingo by email, again, they have sent no response as to my queries. I have been using another account by another provider fot the last 5 months and now Lingo has sent a collection agency to collect 131 dollars for late payments. I wrote an email to the collection agency explaining my position and stating that I am not paying it. Rather then send a swift response through email, or contacting my service representative to respond to my initial emails, they have chosen to wait another week to send an envelope containing back charges that I have already paid. It is interesting that they have never bothered to answer my questions by phone or email, while I was a customer, yet now they are sending me detailed(doctored) records by postal service.

Over my holiday vacation last year some of my plans were cancelled as people coming in from out of state, and family could not connect to me by phone, because of the cancellation. The initial bill was 26 dollars which I would have gladly paid had I been given any notice that Lingo was not receiving payment, but as I have stated, the account was on autopay, abnd if there was any problem with the payment then they are obligated to inform me prior to cancellation. Lingo has sent a collection agency to try to get 131 dollars from me, but I have emailed them that I do not owe this and I have no intention of paying for their lack of service.

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