Re: Primus Triple Value Bundle Rip Off

http://www.primustel.ca/en/residential/bundle/bundledServices-tripleValueBundle-g.htm

The above web address carries an ad as listed below

Save over $49 a month! Let's compare:
Primus Bell Rogers
Home Phone
Calling Features
High Speed Internet (7Mbps, not Lite)
Unlimited Long Distance (Can/U.S.) Included
18
Included
Included $40.94
5
$42.94
$24.95 $42.17
6
$47.95
$19.95
Network Charge $0 $5.95 $5.95
Total $64.95 $111.79 $107.03†
Monthly Savings with Primus Triple Value Bundle $49.84 $42.08

I signed up for this service after checking the availability etc with postal code for the service listed at $64.95 and received a confirmation as follows:-

“We are pleased to confirm that your order for Home Phone service shows
completed as of November 7. Please let us know if you are experiencing any
difficulty, however.”

Interesting enough I get my first bill in December at 84.95 per month, an e-mail, two customer service reps and a supervisor Celine ticket# 2204873 on Dec 10 2008 questioning the discrepancy was answered with absolute nonsense, rhetoric and an explanation that the site has a technical difficulty and the $64.95 offer was incorrect, I did advise them that the site processed the information and order after a postal code verification.

What is interesting is that I have been on this site two weeks prior to Nov 07 2008 with this so called better deal than Bell & Rogers however it is unknown to me how long they have been running this scam. Oct to Dec with a technical difficulty on their web site for customers to sign up for a price that is changed on their fist bill is criminal, it is hard to believe that the competition and the regulatory agencies in Ontario actually allows this type of business practice to go on.

Note I was fully aware of the fine print and the one year contract clause was only taken into account after I advised them and was then offered it at $74.95, a further discount of $5/- was offered by Celine if I accepted it, as if they were doing me a favour I advised her that was not the contractual obligation I signed up on the web site and that it is false advertising & illegal in Ontario to conduct business in that fashion, note had I acknowledged the $5/- discount offered by Celine that would be an acceptance (Variance) to the contract to which I signed on the web site smart little trick to pull on unsuspecting customers. One has to wonder how many customers are stolen away by Primus from their competition by this type of sleazy business practice.

This is not acceptable in any shape or form not withstanding all the other customers that have fallen victim to this outrageous practice.

Redress is not only warranted but demanded from this unscrupulous business practice

David Schokman

Cc: Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services
Better Business Bureaus in Ontario
Bell Canada
Rogers