Birch Communications
Reviews and Complaints

We have notified your company many, many times that we are wanting to disconnect your service, yet you either don't respond, respond that you need to bill us for another month, etc. This has gone on since march 2020. It has now been six months, and you are still trying to bill us.

And, I see now that we are not alone, your company seems to not let customers go, and you keep billing them as long as you can.

I am reaching out to the fcc, the colorado attorney general, the bbb, and to the ceo of your company today. I'm sick of getting the run around from you.

I will outline our notes of all involvement since march below. — kelly ramsdale
Account number: 705154

*
March 11, 2020: sent a service request (through the online portal) to request information about our contract (because we were no longer under a formal contract; we had switched to a year-to-year in 2019). I requested that they send me a copy by email.

March 12, 2020: email response from fusion was that I had to call to get the contract information. I called and was told that they had to contact the sales dept, who has the contract info, and they would call me back. (no one ever called back or sent me information)

April 24, 2020: I emailed that we were giving our 90 day notice to end the contract and not renew after the end date of 8/5/2020.

April 27, 2020: email response from fusion was that I had to call regarding canceling service. I called and was again told someone would call me back.

May 5, 2020: emailed again to state that I had called and was told someone would contact me and still had not received any return call. I called again (today) and spoke with another representative who told me the same thing an that the sales dept is the dept with the contract and they were the ones at fault for the delay. She assured me that while the delay is the fault of fusion, the we would not have any issues tithe auto-renew canceling as requested. However, I sent another email so that it was documented (for the fourth time) that we are canceling by aug 5th contract end date.

July 23, 2020: I had to call, again - no one contacted me since the may 5, 2020 discussion that someone would call me back. The rep confirmed, however, that they showed the request was made and my numerous calls/emails were on file. But, then the email sent said we had 90 days to port our numbers to a new service and disconnect all services. If we did not do so in the 90 days then we would be bound to another one year contract. After the porting was complete then I was to call to disconnect all remaining services, which would be confirmed in 5 business days and we would be billed an additional 30 days (which is how long it would take to disconnect services).
* at no time from march to this date was this information provided. Had we known this, we would have started the entire process of porting much earlier. But, nothing was provided, no calls returned, no email responses (other than that I had to call, which I did).

August 5, 2020: I called and placed disconnect order after the numbers were successfully ported.

August 13, 2020: I emailed to alert them that it was business day six and we had not received the email regarding the disconnect that was to be sent within the "five business days" as promised. I outlined everything that had happened to date, pointing out that I started the process months ago, that no one contacted me, and now they were trying to bill us for additional months. Furthermore, their disconnect email was not received within the five business days outlined in the email.

August 14, 2020: received the disconnect email saying it would be disconnected on sept 3. It then said that we would receive an email with the equipment we were to return, and that an email with a fedex label would then be sent 30 days after disconnection was completed. It then also stated we would continue to be billed through this process, which added up to approximately two more months of billing. I emailed that what was stated was not acceptable, and demanded it all be done immediately, again pointing out that fusion was at fault for the delays since I initiated this months ago. I demanded the disconnect happen immediately, the specific list of equipment be sent immediately, the fedex label be sent immediately, and no further charges be made to our account. Fusion responded that they put the disconnect order in, they sent me the email with the equipment to be returned, and sent the fedex label. The email stated we would receive an invoice/credit within 30 days. I asked for clarification if it was 30 days from 8/5 or today's date. No response.

August 20, 2020: sent equipment back with fedex label given.

August 24, 2020: fedex package was delivered at 9:23am.

August 24, 2020: I emailed the current invoice (payment due 9/19) and asked why we are being billed when this was supposed to be done. I again outlined this process was started months ago and delays were the fault of fusion. Response was that she ordered the disconnect on 8/14 and they were at the mercy of their carrier. "once the service is disconnect your invoice will be back billed."

September 15, 2020: requested status of the disconnect as now it is past the 30 days (from the 8/14 date), as well as past the date given in the email that said it would be done by september 3rd. Our account still shows we have an invoice with payment due by 9/19 and nothing has been sent by email, no phone call received, and nothing on our account to indicate that the service has been disconnected, that the account is closed, or a "back bill" of any kind. No response.

September 17, 2020: asked for status of disconnect again and asked about the invoice on our account and why we are still being billed. Pointed out that I started this in march and they didn't give us any direction until end of july (nor a call callback as promised). Alerted them that no response will result in a complaint being filed with the fcc.

September 18, 2020: fusion responded that this "should be" the final bill. They did not give a status on the disconnect or explain why we had to pay this bill.

September 21, 2020: fusion emailed to say "unfortunately the billing just completed this morning.. So the bill you receive will not reflect the disconnect. You will receive the final disconnect with the prorated charges soon." I responded to point out (again) that I started this process in march and that fusion has a record of the calls in march, april and may. I asked someone to respond, in writing, with an explanation of 1) why we are being charged for anything past the contract end date of 8/5 when it's fusion's fault for not starting the process or providing information on how to proceed, and 2) to explain in writing why her email stated (in writing) that the disconnect would be done by 9/3 and it wasn't. I requested a copy of fusion's records that show the phone calls I made in march, april and may. (I also emailed mary - another contact - stating the same thing and asking that she send me a copy of their records that show I called in march, april and may and was told someone would call back and never did; that it was not until I called again at the end of july that we were told how to proceed. I stated that all of the additional charges are unacceptable when it is fusion that is at fault for the ongoing delay in providing information on how to proceed with getting everything done/disconnected by the contract end date of 8/5).

Also, emailed the aug invoice to mary, stating that we should be issued a refund for charges from 9/4-9/20 because they said (in writing) that the disconnect date would be 9/3. I also sent the sept invoice that shows charges from 9/21-10/20, demanded that the invoice be voided. I asked for a letter to be sent that states the disconnect is complete, the contract is ended, and no other charges will be sent. (we should have a refund for anything past 8/5 because the delay is their fault, not ours.)

July 31, 2017 Birch Communication signed for the receipt of Termination of Service request for our Company Telephone service. The porting over of all of our Business lines to Century Link was completed on 8/24/2017.

Birch Communication continued to Invoice our Company for two additional months of telephone service through 10/31/2017 plus late fees due to their failure to complete the processing of porting paperwork internally. In January 2018 and again in June 2019, Birch Communications and their collection representatives have been provided proof of the porting completion date and delivery of the termination request yet they refuse the reverse the overcharge for telephone service and two years of late fees. It seems unethical that a telecommunication company can continue to charge customers for a service they no longer provided.

Our company signed a 3-year service contract with Birch Communications in February 2016, being promised that we would get dedicated IP internet service at 6MB download speed minimum and 10% discount throughout the entire service period. We got the 10% discount but the internet speed rarely hit 6MB and affected the speed of our office operations. I called in multiple times to complain, but all I got was the Tech Support claiming that my IT department set up some kind of firewall that prevented the internet speed from going up but I know that this is not true.

In early December of 2018, we sent in a written non-renewal/disconnect notice, but received an email to call in after phone and internet services were ported over to the new ISP. Our new ISP sent in multiple requests to port but was blocked or rejected, thus postponing the porting date a couple times. However, during the two phone calls that I had with Birch Customer Service, they told me that the requests were never made. By the time the phone lines got ported by a technician, it was already a month from the initial request date. When I called to make sure all services have been disconnected, the first customer service rep told me that the porting has not been completed, leaving me puzzled and confused. I called my new ISP to verify and called Birch again, this time the customer service rep told me that someone will coordinate the disconnect and that it will take 30 days to complete the disconnect process.

During my entire adult life and the many times where I switched phone companies never had I heard of such non-sense disconnect procedure and additional billing after service has been terminated. And by far, this is the worst internet/phone company I've ever dealt with.

We had been with CBeyond for about 2 years and were negotiating a new 3 year contract about 2.5 years ago. I knew how ridiculous the early termination fees were so negotiated an option to cancel our new contract after 2 years with no penalty if we weren't happy. I signed the contract. About 2 years later we weren't happy with the service so notified Birch of our intention. Initial response was 'ok - your termination date is XXX'. One month later we get notified that we are required to pay an early termination fee of $3500. The reason: yes, we were allowed to terminate our agreement after 2 years, but we only had a 30 day window to notify Birch of our intention to not renew, or we're locked into the whole 3rd year and early termination fees are now applicable again. A policy completely written around trapping customers into another year of a contract that I have every legal right to get out of. Do not sign a Birch contract. Birch are now taking us to a collection agency.

I got a call today from "Naurice" stating that since AT&T has had many complaints, they were allowing Birch to lease accounts. The man made it sound like it wasn't something that was optional and it was just going to happen and my bill would lower significantly. He was speaking so quickly, I didn't have a chance to write everything down that he said but it seemed extremely fishy. He told me that he had to transfer me over to his supervisor to give me the details and when he did, I started to ask him more questions about the situation; his name was Steven Austin - phone [protected] ext. 0. When I asked why I hadn't been contacted by AT&T, he said it was because we had less than 15 phone lines...They repeated that we were NOT entering into a new contract and that there was no action that needed to take place on my part. Then, I stated again that I did not understand and he repeated that AT&T was allowing them to take over the billing while we remained a customer of AT&T and that was just bizarre to me. He then told me that I needed to answer some questions from an automated system verifying our services via the key pad on the phone and it would complete our transaction. I told him I would like a formal written statement from him so that I could be fully aware of what was taking place and he took my email address down so he could "get that right over" but I still have not seen that email. Do not let them push you into a corner and certainly DO NOT ANSWER THEIR AUTOMATED QUESTIONS. Do your research on them before they try and force you into a new contract with their company and terminate your contract with your provider because I have no doubt that although they said it wasn't a contract, it very much was and AT&T gave them no permission to do that.

When arranging to move from my previous residence, I disconnected all services on a set date. Everything went smoothly except for dealing with Birch. They said it may take up to 2 months for the service to be turned off and I would be liable to pay for that time period. After several phone calls. A "billing supervisor " said it would be prorated, , , , , however I still received bills for past due invoices and collection threats. I followed up with Birch a 5th time and they said they do not prorate, that conversation never happened and I am liable for those 2 additional months! I never heard of a company who charges you for service after you cancel on a set date!

I inadvertently picked up an incoming call from [protected]. Caller wanted to talk to the person in charge of Century Link account. When he ID'd himself as Birch Communications, I said I was not interested and asked to be on the Do Not Call list. After hanging up, he has called repeatedly (I'm not answering).

This past summer my AT &T contract was up so since we already had internet service with Birch I decided to transfer all our communication services with birch. I was lied to and told it would easy and effortless on my part but what really happened was that I was without internet for a month and when I asked birch people they blamed AT &T and AT &T put the blame on birch. I was given the run around by birch and because I am not educated about wiring and communication lines I had no way to fire back at anyone and I think this is how birch gets away with their dishonesty, Their customer service is horrible, very rude and are not willing to negotiate. Stay AWAY from this company. They are only out for themselves. They cost our company a lot of lost revenue because of the internet outage.

Birch Communications is the worst telecommunications company in the world, even tops Verizon for the absolutely outrageous fees and dishonest dealing. They don't bother to tell you that it takes them ( no other telecommunications company takes as long) between 30 -45 days to port over a telephone number. And if you don't happen to have a cell phone you are just out of luck. They don't tell you that when you become customers of theirs that you are locked into a year long contact with their lousy company. They charge you $400.00 if you don't keep their phone service for a year, even sending your name to a collection agency before they tell you about the charge, even through they are the ones that don't tell you that you have to keep it for a year to not be charged that fee. Also they are not helpful even when you are new customer calling to find out when your number is going to be ported over, they tell you to call your old company and find out. They would not bother themselves to call for you, showing their contempt for you their new customer. That should of been a warning to me, but didn't realize till too late and became stuck with them. Stay far away from this company unless you like to throw away your money.

We have used CBeyond for some years, with few issues. Now Birch has purchased them and it tanked, fast. Three weeks with intermittent phone and Internet and the phones are still not working right. When you call, they say things are down for several days while the merge. We run a business that is 24 hours and they have done nothing but hinder our success. I am extremely disappointed that this the the first impression we get from the new company.

Birch Communication called my home pretending to be my current phone service provider At&t! During this phone call the lady told me she was able to offer me a locked in price on my monthly bill that was lower than what I was currently paying. She had all of my personal information and knew everything about my At&t account which only led me to believe this really was At&t. The next thing I know, I am switched to Birch Communication and stuck in this ridiculous contract that I never agreed to. In order for me to be released from this "contract" I never agreed to, I have to pay a crazy amount of money! I came to Complaint Board to see what I could find on Birch Communication and I am seeing the same complaints. I am not sitting back and allowing this deceptive company to manipulate me and charge me for something I never agreed to. I am making all necessary calls to BBB and they are directing me to all of the proper places to deal with this company accordingly! If this company is doing the same thing to you, stand up and speak out so they can be shut down. Do not allow them to deceive you and please don't allow them to continue doing this to other people! We are all hard working citizens who are simply trying to honestly pay our bills and make it in this world. We deserve honesty and respect not deceptive sales tactics! Help me put a stop to this company for good!

Birch took over my long distance (only) phone service account from Covista, who I had been with for about 7 years, in April. I suddenly received a bill from Birch without any explanation (poor communications for a "communications company"). When I called to ask why I was told about that they had acquired Covista, but that my account was otherwise unchanged. However I needed to set up a new e-bill account to avoid a $1.95 monthly paper bill charge. They now send me a monthly e-mail notice with a link to my online account IF I want to see more details.

I just received my July statement available notice, and when I used the link to visit my on-line account statement, it contained a surprise " Recurring Charges" of $7.30 billed to my credit card. When I called to ask why - I was told to look at my June statement. I looked in my Birch e-mail file and found my April-May and July statement notices - but not my June notice; which either I failed to save or they didn't send (the amount was so small that they didn't bill my card that month and they may not have sent a notice?). When I otherwise accessed my June on-line statement, at the bottom there were 4 notices (in the so-called "fine print" section - the last of which is a notice of a new $4.95 minimum usage fee for long distance only lines. It did not specify an effective date.

I find this new fee surprising, and believe their indirect method of (non?) notification is totally unacceptable. Their e-mail should contain adequate advance notification of new fees - it should not be necessary to search thru all the detail in linked documents without a more specific warning.

I have been without phone service for 9 days to a business. My service went out on 10/4/12 and has been out ever since. The tech support has been the worst i've ever seen. For the last 3 days tech support was no show and no call. Every day when we call they tell us tech support will be there the next day (guaranteed)...they never show. I am starting to believe that tech's were never called or scheduled in the first place. Never have I had technicians no show for multiple days. What do I have to do to even get a tech to come out and check the lines? I have never had such crappy service from a phone company before and advise anyone interested in doing business with them to stay away. They will not fix your problems.

I am using Birch Phone Company services for some time. All the bills were paid in time and today I discovered that my phone is switched off. I thought it is a mistake and I called them to solve this problem. But they told they can’t help me. I think they want money for turning off. It is extortion.

Birch called trying to get me to switch phone companies in 2008. THey promised me my total fees would be$50/month. They recorded my responses to their agreement for their records. I agreed to use Birch for 24 months. No mention of any extension of a yearly contract. In fact instead of saying 2 years they said 24 months implying after that period I would be on a month by month and not year by year agreement. 31 months later I moved out of state and changed phone companies, something I have done numerous times in the past with out having to do it in writing or receiving any early termination penalties. Birch sent me a bill with a $200 early termination fee along with my monthly bill. the first time I heard of a yearly contract or early termination fees was when I inquired about the bill. Their excuse for these practices is that "everybody does it". Not in my experience - only Birch does it in my experience.

I can not sum up in 100 words how horrible this company has been to me. They have driven me to the brink of a complete meltdown. I have spoken to at least 10 people from this company and I have yet to receive a straight answer. I don't receive call backs when promised, I get employees passing the buck, and was told by a manager that if the VP of finance wont do her job he can not make her. He even went as far as calling her out by name! If you are looking for a company that bills you correctly or at least fixes their mistakes then you do not want Birch for any type of service. I have tried since December to resolve an issue and just when I finally thought it was fixed, I receive another bill that is still incorrect. When I called about it yesterday I was given attitude and disrespect and the same song and dance that I was given every other time. They will open a ticket and I never hear back from them. I have tried to be fair and give this company a chance but its just not worth the heartache month after month. I will be filing a report with the FCC and I hope that they can help me since Birch will not! All I want is a correct invoice, is that to much to ask?

Do not go with Birch. No customer care . No customer appreciation. once you sign or think about signing they put you on contract and give you run around and try to collect money. DOn't pay let it go to collection agency then deal with collection agency it is easier and you can get away easy.

i so called owed them $2322 and i just finalized a deal with collection agency for $200. Be smart dont try to deal with them.

I think with this pace they will out of business pretty soon. I am sorry for the employees but it is the worst company i ever dealt with.