After 5 years with Primus on my cell phone and VOIP land line telephone, I called them to cancel my service November 2010. Shaw cable is now charging similar rates for a superior service with practically 100% uptime compared to Primus' lousy phone quality and constant busy line tone (or no tone at all sometimes) Unfortunately I just found out, like many other Ex-Primus customers that in my last invoice I've been hit with "lost equipment" charges even though I returned the PrimusVOIP modem (and with a Canada Post tracking number provided by Primus). This seems to be standard practice for Primus, after you cancel your account and return their equipment - they charge you anyway pretending they never received it! Google "Primus unreturned modem" and see what I'm talking about

Just to get the facts out, I cancelled the service in November, got charged a full month and a half extra, return shipping+ $168 ('lost' modem + HST). They did not send return postage until February 2011. That's 4 months after I cancelled, after which I immediately shipped the modem back with all their cables and in the original box. I placed the box inside a waterproof padded plastic shipping bag to ensure nothing got damaged along the way.

I have opened a complaint with the better business bureau and will post the story on as many websites as I can. If they do not reverse charges on my invoice, I will have to pursue legal action not just for the money, but because this will create a negative impact on my credit score. I think some media coverage might be in order, CTV, CBC that sort of thing.

It seems like Primus is losing the VOIP wars (the shaw modem not only sounds better but has so far 100% uptime) and as a result, their corporate policy dictates they make their money by ripping off their customers. I should note I had been using their VOIP service for almost 5 years= before cancelling.

Thinking about using Primus for your VOIP phone ? DON'T DO IT !