VOIP etc > Voice Over IP - VOIP > VOIP Tech Chat > [Future9] Rate surprises (and not good ones)

reply to Toollio

Re: [Future9] Rate surprises (and not good ones)

To Morbo:

You just don't get it, do you?

You cannot quote a customer a price, then charge triple that price.

It doesn't matter whether it is a small business or a large corporation. And it doesn't matter whether fixing it is on a "to do" list. It is just plain wrong for as long as it lasts.

If customers who expect the truth are "high maintenance," then I suggest there's something wrong with your perception.

My expectations are whatever I want them to be, thank you. I use many VOIP providers, and have for the last 10 years. So far F9 is the only one that has consistently quoted a low rate and charged a far higher one.

Interestingly, this is still going on. That makes it at least a week (and perhaps more). This thread has had no influence whatsoever on F9's point of view. The two lowest tier routes to Brazil cell phones are still quoted at 3.9 cents and charged at a minimum of 9.9 cents. Do you really see nothing wrong with that?

Quite frankly, I don't give a damn about the size of the business I am dealing with. I simply expect honest and forthright dealings with me, and everybody else, as a customer

I just conducted a small survey, using the same Brazil cellular number in all cases.

I have queried the rates of a number of VOIP providers, then made a test call to the same number to see if the rate charged is identical to that quoted. (Let me point out that never once in this thread have I complained about anyone's rates, just the fact that F9 is quoting one rate and charging another. So this is not a "rate competition.")

With providers that offer more than one tier of service I have called at least two of those tiers.

Results:

VioP.MS--rate quoted and rate charged identical

CallwithUS--rate quoted and rate charged identical

Callcentric--rate quoted and rate charged identical

Inphonex--rate quoted and rate charged identical

Vonage--rate quoted and rate charged identical

MyWebCalls--rate quoted and rate charged identical

Future Nine--rate charged on lowest two tiers was 2.53 times the quoted price. Rate on premium tier was identical.

Some of these are smaller providers, some of them large. But the only one misquoting rates is Future Nine.

Yes, I have access to all these providers. I made all the calls. That is the only way I would know whether providers were charging their quoted rates.

I use VOIP extensively. (I also use Voxalot for easier handling of multiple providers--Vonage excluded, of course).

That does not mean I had to pay for all the calls. With some providers I can make a call, hang up before it is answered, then check the call records page for the rate on the unanswered call.

For the record, I am in Brazil at the moment and the phone I called for this test is my Brazilian cellular. So I am in control of both ends of the calls.