jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
2 edits |  [VoicePulse] unlimited local is NOT unlimited
We've had VoicePulse for 18 months now and this past month we were just hit with a $55.10 overage charge.
When asked why, we were told that we are charged 4-cents per minute for all "absolute forwarding" and "call hunt" forwarded calls, regardless if they are local or VoicePulse-to-VoicePulse numbers.
We are on the "Unlimited Local + 200 Long Distance" plan and have been since the beginning on each of our 2 lines.
We've always had the lines "call hunt" each other so we don't need to use call-waiting and be able to pick up the next incoming call. We have also always used "absolute forwarding" to our cell phone when we're not home.
Our bills have always been normal, no overages.
VoicePulse is doing deceptive billing all of a sudden. They now make it more worthwhile using Vonage and others.
CHECK YOUR VOICEPULSE BILLS. |
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meister_sd
Premium
join:2006-01-29
La Mesa, CA | Re: [VoicePulse] unlimited local is NOT unlimted
Tell them that and if they don't adjust the bill, take it to the BBB. |
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jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
| I already said I will take it to the BBB. They claim that it has always been a charged service despite I show them their website page.
If you are a VoicePulse customer, check you bills and call and complain. If there are enough complaints they may undo their changes in the billing system. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
 ·VOIPo
 ·Metrocast Communic..
 ·AT&T DSL Service
·ViaTalk
| reply to jchin
Re: [VoicePulse] unlimited local is NOT unlimited
There has to be something else here. Did you go over on the long distance minutes by chance? How much usage did you crank out this months vs other months? There has to be a reason why this just popped up now.
Are you saying you were charged for people from other states calling you and using your 200 added minutes?
--
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org/index.htm
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_spa···_monster |
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jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
| I've asked them to prove the minutes. They cannot. All they said is download your usage. I did. We had about 120 minutes of long distance.
$55.10 at $0.04/minute means I've gone 1377 minutes over the 200 included minutes.
Spoke with 2 different VoicePulse customer support and they all say "all forwarded and call hunt calls are charged 3.9-cents per call".
I asked "even VoicePulse-to-VoicePulse"; he hesitated and then said "yeah".
So I said "unlimited and free is not really unlimited or free"; he replied, "no it is not a forward, not a call so it is charged and has always been that way".
To me this is deceptive, after 18-months of no such charge; and nothing has changed in the way I use the system. |
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swintec
Premium
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME
 ·RapidVPS
·surpasshosting
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·VoicePulse
·RoadRunner Cable
| reply to jchin
Unfortunetly the charge is right on there website not to mention in there knowledgebase. It reads like this:
"With the America Unlimited or Business Unlimited calling plans, there is no charge for forwarded local and long distance calls.
With the Local Unlimited +200 calling plan, all local and long distance calls that are forwarded (including Call Forward, Line Unavailable Forward, Filters, Call Hunt, etc) will be charged at 3.9¢/min."
While I am on the same plan as you and only rarely use these forwarding features, i have never been charged. Like I said, I hardly ever use them. You used 1337 forwarded minutes by what you said. Mayber you drew attention to yourself? Who knows or maybe after so much usage on the local plans, they finally decided to start implementing the charge that has always been on there website and knowledgebase for you to see. Yes you made the past 18 months without incurring a charge for it, but they have finally caught on, to either just you, or maybe everyone..I do not know. In short though, the charge was always listed, just not enforced. |
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Hooper
Premium
join:2001-10-22
Villanova, PA
| reply to jchin
Unfortunately, this game they are playing has lost my business as well. Why it costs per minute for network unavailable forwarding or absolute forwarding is beyond me. That and having to pay to call Canada. They just aren't competitive anymore with pricing. Great service but you can't nickel and dime folks like this. Throw in the high international rates to the mix here as well. |
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swintec
Premium
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME
·RapidVPS
·surpasshosting
·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·VoicePulse
·RoadRunner Cable
| said by Hooper  :Unfortunately, this game they are playing has lost my business as well. Why it costs per minute for network unavailable forwarding or absolute forwarding is beyond me. I'll agree that i can not fathom why they charge for it (I have never been charged forit yet), the issue seems to be though the OP doesnt understand WHY he was charged for it when the charge was listed right on the site. |
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Hooper
Premium
join:2001-10-22
Villanova, PA
| I knew full well they were doing this. I even asked them about it since the topic had been raised before.
I think the reason why there is some confusion on this is that they aren't charging you unless you go over a certain number of minutes. Some folks might even be grandfathered in on the old TOS. Who knows. It does seem arbitrary. If you were to direct dial all these calls, then there would be no charge. |
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nycityny
Premium
join:2005-08-09
New York, NY
·PHONE POWER
·VoicePulse
·RCN CABLE
·ViaTalk
| reply to jchin
This issue has been discussed before. Last year their website was very ambiguous on this topic - some areas indicated that forwarded calls were treated like all other calls while other parts of the site indicated the $.039 charge for all fowarded calls. They have since made things perfectly clear on their website. In reality, however, they appear to be inconsistent in the policy's application as the OP has indicated.
I cannot understand the charge for local forwarded calls on the limited plan. It makes no sense. Nonetheless, because of the policy I am on the America Unlimited $24.99 plan. If the policy were different I would have the $14.99 plan. So they make an additional $10 a month from me. I still like their service enough to pay it. It's cheaper than POTS and just as reliable. And the customer service cannot be beat in the industry. |
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jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
| reply to swintec
said by swintec :Unfortunetly the charge is right on there website not to mention in there knowledgebase. It reads like this: "With the America Unlimited or Business Unlimited calling plans, there is no charge for forwarded local and long distance calls. With the Local Unlimited +200 calling plan, all local and long distance calls that are forwarded (including Call Forward, Line Unavailable Forward, Filters, Call Hunt, etc) will be charged at 3.9¢/min." Can you provide the URL where this quote is shown? The VoicePulse customer service rep could not provide it. How did you find one? |
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jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
| reply to nycityny
said by nycityny :This issue has been discussed before. Last year their website was very ambiguous on this topic - some areas indicated that forwarded calls were treated like all other calls while other parts of the site indicated the $.039 charge for all fowarded calls. They have since made things perfectly clear on their website. In reality, however, they appear to be inconsistent in the policy's application as the OP has indicated. I cannot understand the charge for local forwarded calls on the limited plan. It makes no sense. Nonetheless, because of the policy I am on the America Unlimited $24.99 plan. If the policy were different I would have the $14.99 plan. So they make an additional $10 a month from me. I still like their service enough to pay it. It's cheaper than POTS and just as reliable. And the customer service cannot be beat in the industry. Their website still seems inconsistent. Take a look at »www.voicepulse.com/plans/default.aspx which still shows unlimited without any footnotes or exceptions. Unlimited local should be exactly that.
Because I have given my 18-month old VoicePulse number to everyone, I am now forced to pay them an extra $10 so I don't have to deal with these extra charges each month going forward. The thing that gets me most is that they charge for forwarded calls when their system is not available or the TA cannot register with them.  |
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jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
| reply to jchin
said by jchin :said by swintec :Unfortunetly the charge is right on there website not to mention in there knowledgebase. It reads like this: "With the America Unlimited or Business Unlimited calling plans, there is no charge for forwarded local and long distance calls. With the Local Unlimited +200 calling plan, all local and long distance calls that are forwarded (including Call Forward, Line Unavailable Forward, Filters, Call Hunt, etc) will be charged at 3.9¢/min." Can you provide the URL where this quote is shown? The VoicePulse customer service rep could not provide it. How did you find one? Never mind, I found it in their non-public customer only support site FAQ, which was updated on "04/02/2006 11:35 AM" ... all without notice to their customers.
And the link to the FAQ is:
long URL |
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thdesha
join:2004-10-19
Knoxville, TN
| I have been with VP for two years now on the local unlimited plus 200 mins LD. I have never been charged 3.9 cents a minute for calls forwarded, using call hunt or line unavailable. You must understand the terminology VP uses. If you forward or cause calls to go beyond your plans included "local area codes" you will be charged per minute charges. If numbers called, forwarded are in your included area codes they are local and not charged. This is how it was explained to me and has held true for two years. Has this changed recently?? I don't think so. I just tried it with no charge.... |
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jchin
join:2005-10-05
10300
| said by thdesha :I have been with VP for two years now on the local unlimited plus 200 mins LD. I have never been charged 3.9 cents a minute for calls forwarded, using call hunt or line unavailable. You must understand the terminology VP uses. If you forward or cause calls to go beyond your plans included "local area codes" you will be charged per minute charges. If numbers called, forwarded are in your included area codes they are local and not charged. This is how it was explained to me and has held true for two years. Has this changed recently?? I don't think so. I just tried it with no charge.... Go check your account. According to what I'm seeing, my family's (several individual accounts) are all seeing small charges since the May/June 2006 bill. It looks like they changed their website in April and started charging customers in May and June.
To me it is still deceptive that this information is not published on their public site; but only buried in a FAQ knowledgebase answer. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs:
·VOIPo
·Metrocast Communic..
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·ViaTalk
| reply to jchin
According to their site, I clicked select my local callign area using 860. It told me that 860 and 203 are local to me. I then look on "Plans and Pricing" and I see "Forwarded Minutes" as being "Local & LD 3.9¢/min
or international rate" after 200. It sounds like you had many forwarded minutes, and either
A) you went over
B)they are now enforcing the policy that was always there C)you triggered something using their system bringing attention to your account and use habits
D)You need to start using call waiting
E)Had a billing error
For only $10 more a month you can have all the forwarding you want on their unlimited plan. Looks like a good idea for you
Can you paste a copy of your bill here (blacking out ID information) that shows how many minutes etc were used?
--
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage? »www.venganza.org/index.htm
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_spa···_monster |
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llast08
join:2004-08-05
Boise, ID
| reply to jchin
It is unlimited local calling -- for calls you make from your VoicePulse phone. The service wasn't intended to be used as a redirector for your cell phone. Can you please explain under what circumstances you run up 1,700 minutes in forwarded calls?
Regardless, every page that mentions forwarding has a note with the same 3.9¢ charge, including the pages you link to. This entire topic has already been discussed, a YEAR ago, at »[VoicePulse] Call Forwarding - How much is it?. |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | Good find llast08! |
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voiplover
Premium
join:2004-05-28
Portsmouth, NH
·callwithus
·Axvoice
| The 200 minute plan that is being discussed here is $14.95 a month! 
I figured it was only a 4 or 5 dollar a month plan that was being discussed here.  |
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ptrowski
Got Helix?
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Putnam, CT
clubs: | reply to jchin
Yep, not like it was breaking the bank to begin with. |
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