ComplaintsforFedPhoneLine

• Initial Complaint

  06/11/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Yesterday, November 5th, I filed a complaint with BBB regarding a monthly charge I did not authorize. Upon speaking with their financial support department, it was in the fine print. Unfortunately, instead of explaining it to me the financial department decided to take the opportunity to belittle and insult me. If something can be done to process my 45$ refund I would greatly appreciate that. Also I want a genuine apology from their financial team.

  

  Business response

  07/11/2023

  Complaint ID: ********
  

  The issue:
  The customer contacted FedPhoneLine Support via telephone on  November 4, 2023 and was referred to email support regarding the refund of the customer’s monthly fee.  The customer has stated that she did not authorize the payment and that the Refund Policy was in ‘fine print’.
  
  FedPhoneLine Rebuttal:
  This complaint is invalid and should be considered a timing issue, which FedPhoneLine will outline below.

  FedPhoneLine is a telecommunications company, customer’s sign up for  a FedPhoneLine phone number and they are billed  for the monthly fee on the 1st of each month.
  
  Before registration the customer can learn about FedPhoneLines services via the fedphoneline.com website.   The customer can visit the Billing Calculator page which outlines how proration works:  https://*************************************
  
  Customers can also visit the FedPhoneLine FAQ page before registering and learn about how to enable/disable the automatic pay option here:  https://********************************
  
  When a customer registers for a FedPhoneLine number and the account is no longer required it is the customer's responsibility to log into their account and terminate the account themselves as outlined in FedPhoneLine Terms and Conditions and Refund Policy.
  
  This customer signed up in July 2023, when the customer signed up she checked off the box which allows for automatic withdrawal of the monthly fee (which is withdrawn on the 1st of each month). (*** ****** ** **********).
  
  The customer also checked off the box which states:  I have read and understood the FedPhoneLine “Refund Policy” (*** ****** ** **********).  Note: The customer cannot complete registration without checking off the box indicating that they have read and understood the FedPhoneLine Refund Policy which can be found here:  https://**************************************
  
  Within the FedPhoneLine Refund Policy it clearly states:

  -   Remember to terminate your account BEFORE the 1st of the month if you no longer need it.  FedPhoneLine DOES NOT provide refunds if users forget to terminate their accounts before the 1st of the month or forget to switch their accounts from autopay.
  
  This is not written “fine print” as the customer claims, it is in written with bold lettering with red font highlights to underscore the important points.
  
  FedPhoneLine Support clearly explained to the customer why she was not eligible for a refund. (*** *** ******** ***** ****** ******** ** ****** *):
  
  1.  On November 1, November 2 and November 3 between 4:00AM and 5:00AM, she received the following SMS message which stated (*** ****** **):
  
  -  Your FedPhoneLine transaction was declined.  Pls login to your to update your card information if needed.  Pls do not reply to this text.

  
  These SMS messages outline that the customer was still on automatic payment.  The funds were not withdrawn from the card and the customer had the opportunity to delete the account without paying the monthly fee.  Even though the customer received these texts, no attempt was made to terminate the account or contact support.
  
  2.  On November 1, November 2 and November 3 between 4:00AM and 5:00AM, the received an Email notification (*** ****** **), which outlines that the payment was declined, our software shows that the customer opened the email on November 3, 2023 at 2:57PM, however did not terminate the account or contact support.
  
  3.  The customer signed up in July 2023.  Which means that on August 1, September 1 and October 1, automatic payments were also attempted by the FedPhoneLine system and the customer would have received the same emails (*** ****** **) and SMS messages (*** ****** **).  However, once again the customer made no attempt to log into the account and disable the autopay feature or contact support.
  
  
  4.  During registration the customer checked the box stating that she had read and understood the FedPhoneLine Refund Policy.  The FedPhoneLine Refund Policy is not written using complex legal vocabulary and is not in a small font size.  It is written with large lettering and uses red font to highlight important points.  It clearly states:
  
  -  Remember to terminate your account BEFORE the 1st of the month if you no longer need it.  FedPhoneLine DOES NOT provide refunds if users forget to terminate their accounts before the 1st of the month or forget to switch their accounts from autopay.
  
  5. When corresponding to the customer via email (*** ****** *), on page 10 (email 8) the customer states that her texts and emails are ignored because she receives too many SPAM emails.  FedPhoneLine Support sympathized with her and this is why we make sure that the FedPhoneLine Refund Policy is available on the FedPhoneLine Website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as well as a comprehensive FAQ section which can be used to answer most customer queries, including how to terminate an account and how to disable the automatic pay feature.
  
  Summary:
  Regrettably, the customer is not eligible for a Refund of the monthly fee.  The customer had at least 6 different email/text notifications regarding the monthly payment, how to terminate the account and how to disable automatic payment.  Unfortunately the customer chose to ignore the notifications (even the ones that she opened) and only contacted support after the charge had been withdrawn from the account.
  
  The FedPhoneLine Customer Service agent did not have the authority to issue a refund and tried to find a way to assist the customer, however the customer chose to have BBB attempt to rectify the situation. 

  FedPhoneLine believes this is a timing issue and an invalid complaint given how many opportunities the customer had to terminate the account and chose to ignore all notifications (including email and text messaging) and available information on the website.

  Customer response

  07/11/2023

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  

  I see how I am no longer eligible for the refund of 45$ as it had been an oversight on my behalf. Unfortunately, when life gets overwhelming I am not going to prioritize certain things over others. As for the “notifications I read” those were opened to get rid of the notification. Regardless, this does not excuse the less than good customer service I have received from the financial team. Per my emails I did apologize for my part but I would also like to state that in no way did I insult the team or its members, simply pointed out that I did not agree with the policies. I did mention that their response was intense and unprofessional because they called me a text book *****. My response came from a misunderstanding and anxiety, (not so much a place of entitlement despite the interaction) about money related issues (also mentioned in the email). Furthermore, the agent did say they would see about getting some of the fee refunded if possible. Since it seems that I am not eligible for a refund, I would still like an apology for the poor treatment and below average experience with this company.

  The product itself is wonderful, the customers service on the phone was nice, but the email support was **** and intense. 

  
  ******* ******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩