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I have been a customer of Primus for several years now. In mid-December of 2007 I contacted customer support to find out if they would still be able to provide me long distance service if I switched from Bell to Persona Cable telephone. They instructed me to contact Persona and find out what carrier they were using. After doing so and finding out that Persona uses Allstream, I called back Primus customer service and gave them the requested information. At this time I was informed that they would be able to continue providing me with the same service with no problem. I have received my monthly bills from Primus and continued to pay them in good faith since that time.
Last month I noticed some irregularities in my bank account and after looking into it, found that Persona Cable had been charging me long distance through my preauthorize payment plan. They had charged over $346.00 above the agreed monthly price. When I contacted them and explained that I pay for all of my long distance through Primus, I was informed that Primus had never taken over as my long distance carrier. I then contacted Primus customer support and was put on hold for over 1 hour as thy tried to sort it out. I was told that since I had continued to pay my bill to them each month that I had no recourse except to cancel my non-service now and get a refund of $23.12 which represents 1 month of the service that they had not been providing. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was then passed on to Primus support in India where I spoke to their managers several times with the same response. I was told that I should have contacted them as soon as they stopped providing service. I tried to explain that I had no idea that they had stopped providing service and that I wanted a complete refund from Dec 2007 to now.
They have told me that I was negligent for not keeping a closer eye on how my services were being provided and again have told me that Primus policy only allows them to refund a maximum of $23.12 and if I want any more than that, I will have to take them to small claims court. They provided me with 3 Fax numbers to their legal department in Canada which I have used to send a request for information so that I am able to fill out the small claims court form 7A. I later however, received a call on my cellphone from a very rude, and incredibly hard to understand manager from India who I asked to call me on my land line because I do not have a long distance plan on my cell and this was going to cost me a large amount. He refused and continued arguing with me until I had no choice but to hang up on him.
I have gone online and placed a complaint with the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). They have responded by email asking me for the same information that was in the original complaint. I have sent all of the information to them and am still waiting for a response.
To add insult to injury, Primus has just sent me a bill for this months service. These guys are unbelievable! They totally understand that they have not been my long distance carrier for over a year and they still demand that I continue to pay them $23.12 a month. They refuse to refund the money that they have received from me because I gave it willingly to them... It's all my fault... I deserve to be ripped off.
I can't believe that Primus is allowed by law to conduct themselves in this manner.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
I had billing issue with primus. Every month primus send me invoices of home phone which i never used. In fact my home phone is registered with some other company and i pay them every month. I called primus for more than 3-4 times after waiting for more than 30 mins each call. I also emailed them but after 3 months still my problem is unresolved. The customer service is most poor. Alwasys there is a call queue for more than 20 mins and when you call them they are absolutely making fool. I am fed up and i appreciate if anyone could show me how to sue this company for harrassement and poor service.
Thanks,
Hemal
We signed up for a phone and internet bundle with Primus in Oct 2007 which came with a one year contract. Since we moved in Sept 2008 I called Primus to arrange a move of our services to our new address. They told me I would be contacted within 10 business days with the new phone number when it was hooked up. This was on Aug 25/08 and I called again on Aug 27/08 to confirm the move. On the 11th business day we hadn't been contacted so my husband tried calling on Sept 10/08. He waited on hold for 40 min only to be hung up on. Since at this point we don't have a home phone and were using an expensive cell phone we can't afford to call and wait on hold for 40 min every time. My mother-in-law called on our behalf on Sept 11/08. She was told that they were very back logged and they didn't know when it would be hooked up. She told him how we need the phone and internet for school and he said it could be up to 15 days. She asked him about the cancellation cost, he said $99 an d 30 day notice. Since we only had 2 monthss left on our account that would be stupid. I called on Sept 15/08 to try to speak to a manager but there were none available. The person I spoke to had no helpful information but assured me that he move was set up. On Sept 17/08 I tried calling again. I talked to Rupesh who knew nothing of the move and didn't even know what the new address was. He tried to get me to set up the move of services again and said it would be 10-14 business days. I said we had already been waiting 3 ½ weeks and asked to speak with a manager. He put me on hold for 15 min only to tell me none were available. I then told him I would like to cancel, but she said that it wouldn't be in effect for 30 days from now so I could have to pay until Oct 17/08 plus $99 cancellation fee. I said this was unacceptable because I have been almost a month without service, why should I pay for no service. I told him I should not have to pay the fee since they forced me to cancel by not holding their end of the bargain. I told him to cancel anyways and to have a manager call my mother-in-law to sort out what fees would be paid and gave her full control of our account. He told me we should be contacted within 24-48 hours. By Oct 7/08 they had not contacted her or us and nothing was hooked up. Then we have received a regular monthly bill with our old address on it. This tells me that absolutely nothing has changed on our account, neither the move nor the cancellation has been put into effect.
I tried calling Primus agian on Nov 13, 2008 and for once there was actually a supervisor to talk to. This is the first time I have gotten someone in authority to talk to. I told her the situation and she told me that she would reverse the bills sent to us for October and November and she would send me a cheque for the payment I made for September since I did not get any service in September. She also said that I would recieve a box to return the modem.
Its Nov 27, 2008 and we were supposed to recieve an empty box to return our modem to Primus as well as a refund cheque. Instead they sent us a whole new modem. So now it is my responsibility to return BOTH modems and I was told that they won't be sending a box anymore, I have to mail them off myself. I was also informed that my refund cheque will not be sent out until they recieve the modems back.
Primus' customer service is LAUGHABLE! Considering how many times they have screwed up on just our account I don't understand how this company is still in business!
I TOTALLY Agree!
Primus honestly is a FRAUD company from this date on for me as I am kinda going through the last of your issue there
I had to call THREE time sto cancel my service.
Now that i paid the bill and i no longer have any phone because of them they send another bill stating for me to pay them. ARE YOU KIDDING?
they arent getting any money and i told them any further bills sent to me are not authorized! I tell them i dont have a phone, so how the hell am i using your service.
It's absolutely ridiculous!
I have a similar issue: After switching to Aliant in December 2007, my service was "slammed" by Primus in 2008 (they stole the account from Aliant without authorisation). I had the service switched back to Aliant again and paid the bills, hoping that would be the last I heard from these scammers. Unfortunately, they decided to send another bill, with invalid (made-up) charges on it. The ### at their "Customer Care" center in India was of no help.
I have lodged a complaint with "Phone-Busters Anti-Fraud" having been referred there by the RCMP. A copy of my terse letter to Primus has also been forwarded to the CRTC.
The thought that what is essentially an organised crime organisation is allowed to sell telecommunications service within Canada is simply unacceptable in my view.
John
"laughable" is the very word I have used on multiple occasions to describe Primus' customer service.
You know what the damn problem with this country? Is that just because you receive poor customer service everyone is jumping to sue companies. Did you bother to check if your phone provider hasn't been bought out by Primus? I don't think you did, you dumb [censor] just wants to make a quick buck. Only if you worked as hard on finding out who your true provider as you are on finding out how to sue Primus.
Absolutely AGREE!
I have now problems with them as well. They got me to switch to them because they promised to give me a cheap long distance to Slovakia, and when I switched it did not Exist!
I couldn't call my family in Slovakia through Primus, so I cancelled. Now they are charging me some "discharge fee" even their own Sales person told me it is a month to month service and I can cancel at any time!
So I bought something which does Not exist, and then I am even being overcharged for it!
Talk about Scammers and Ripping off Artists!
How come criminals like Primus are allowed to do their mafia deeds in Canada?
Which politician is keeping his/her "protecting hand" above them?
I am 100% AGREE. Primus is a FRAUD company. ANYONE OUTTHERE THINKING OF USING PRIMUS SERVICE. PLEASE DON'T. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO GET INTO TROUBLE LIKE US.
I have signed up a 1 year commitment with Primus for internet and telephone service bundle as Costco member with UNLIMITED download. However, after only 6 months, I received an email from Primus saying that they can no longer provide me with the unlimited download. It drops from UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD TO 25 GB/MONTH. Don't you think it is rediculous? I tried to contact the management to sort things out. However, I receive no response from them. I intend to fight this to the end and not letting them do what they want. I urge anyone who are Costco members and signed up for this bundle to fight back if you are experiencing the same issue as I am.
100% AGREE. This is a Fraud. They advertise they offer unlimited bandwidth. And today, I received they email saying they have to implement my unlimited bandwidth to 25GB bandwidth usage. This is a SCAM. When I call them up to cancel the service ( only used for 3 weeks with their service). They refuse to cancel my service and saying I signed a 1 year contract with them and I can't cancel the service unless I pay the penalty fee. The CSR Rep Charmin and her supervisor Monique both are un-professional and give me a not very good attitude. If there is really a contract, the contract only protect the fraud company themselves. So right now I need to pay for Primus DSL service for one whole year with their 25GB Bandwidth (compared to unlimited usage that i signed up fore 3 weeks ago). Now I have to stick with this Fraud company for 1 whole year! Stay away from this SCAMMER! BTW, I also filed a complaint to CRTC and BBB.
Yes they are the worse i moved and to connect the line it took them more the two months so i was without service for 2 months.but they say only take two weeks shame service.
I'm a Canadian who just switched my long distance service, not because Primus charges too much for phone calls, but because I consider one of its service charges to be ridiculous. I had not received my invoice and called the company asking that they fax another one. I was told there was a $25 charge for a duplicate invoice. Suffice it to say, I paid my bill without seeing the invoice and immediately switched phone companies. It's not only gauging to charge so much for a faxed piece of paper, but it's also a stupid way to do business. Doesn't the company realize that the sooner a person has an invoice, the sooner they're likely to pay--and once people have heard about the $25 charge, they'll probably put off payment until next month's bill arrives.
My Credit Card was suspnded and I was told to call Customer Support. I called my bank and they had flagged the charge by Primus from the night before. They said they had them flagged and any activity from this company was automatically flagged and the accounts suspended because of this fraud charging. I am glad my bank is looking out for me because a charge of $50.66 might have gone unnoticed. THEY ARE STEALING CREDIT NUMBERS AND CHARGING ON THEM. Call your bank immediately, I am sure they have heard of this "company" before. But now, 2 weeks before Christmas, I have no credit card to use for rental cars or hotels. A new one will be sent to me in 7-10 business days. This company sucks.