Comments on: Primus: The Exact Opposite of Customer Service

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:33:58 +0000

I feel you jim, Primus is the worst company. it is very bad that they carry Canada name behind their name “Primus”, I signed up for the VOIP and it was the worst choice I have ever made. then I decided to more to regular phone line and they asked for $50 connection fee. it took them 7 days to transfer the phone. my family lived with no phone or internet for complete 7 days. then they offered me a very good offer on the internet. so they promised me to get the internet and they never did. I lived without internet for about a week again. then I said fuck it and called Rogers and got a phone service and internet from them it took them 1 day to set everything. I rather pay more but not to live in this shit.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:06:46 +0000

Primus is the worst company I have dealt with in my life. They refused to cancel within the ten day grace period when they failed to provide the service they agreed to. Nothing but shear hell trying to get it fixed. They lie. They fabricate excuses so they don’t have to actually provide the service you pay for. I am currently thirty minutes on hold just to get the name and address to write the company to complain before making a formal complaint with the governing authority. They have no interest in serving their customers. You are just a sucker if you sign on with these people. They are thieves. Con artists. Liars. Scumbags.

By: Adriana

Adriana — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:51:51 +0000

I have had an awful experience with Primus. After 2 weeks of delay in my payment they disconnect my phone and it takes 3 months to reconnect, therefore I cannot move to another company because my account is “suspended” even after full payment. I later try to move home, and they can’t because they need one month’s notice. All calls to customer service are at least 30 minutes of waiting time, and service is rude and unhelpful.

By: Vic

Vic — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:43:59 +0000

This Company deserves to fail. everything you have read about their customer service being poor is true. Tried to move my move my home phone with them to my new address. On the move date the phone wasnt hooked up and I wasnt even called. 5 phone calls later and 2 hours of waiting on hold I was told that “I had made a mistake w/ my address” as they could not find it. Even though I had given the correct address and they had screwed it up. They didnt bother to call me to tell me that they hadnt hooked up the ph# or apologize and they could not fix the issue. After hours of this stupidity (speaking to someone who could not understand English)they said and I quote “we are prepared to offer you $5″ thats it. Service cancelled and headache removed.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:39:24 +0000

Fell into their Aeroplan offer trap.
Service was supposed to be switched on Monday 27th April,Tech.came to house disconnected Rogers and left.
Today is late on Wed. 29th phone has now been dead since Monday.
Everything said about Customer Care is correct……….. it’s terrible.
Commissioner For Complaints(CCTS)have now taken over .
http://www.ccts-cprst.ca.
I would strongly urge victims of this terrible company to contact CCTS. immediatly.

By: herculisa

herculisa — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 16:14:05 +0000

I don’t know what I enjoy more, the hour + long wait on hold everytime you have an enquiry/complaint, the rude “customer service agents” or the fact that phone service has been interrupted over 4 times in the last month. All I have to say is that Primus makes Bell look good. “gauges eye out with plastic spoon”.

By: Neil

Neil — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:21:03 +0000

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 had been charging me long distance through my preauthorized 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 not 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 service now and get a refund of $23.12 which represents 1 month of service. 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. They have not responded to my faxes and one of the numbers was not even in service. I am wondering if the others were even to their legal department or some other poor soul. I have 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.

Since seeing this blog, 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 responce.

To add insult to injury, Primus has just sent me a bill for this months service. These guys are unbeleivable!!! I wish there was a way to let everyone in Canada know what kind of company Primus is. Is this the kind of company that should even be allowed in this country? Is Primus Canada just a name that Primus India ( yes there is a Primus India ) uses just to suck us into thinking we are buying a Canadian service?

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:04:19 +0000

Primus Canada has customers on ignore once they get your credit card #!

I have wasted at least 6 hours of my life on hold with Primus Canada. I have been a long distance customer for 12 years but ever since I ordered home phone and DSL – they have fallen apart. I order DSL at least 2-3 months ago and still don’t have it. I have ordered it 3 times, spoke with a cutomer service mgr which was a bigger waste of my time and have not been able to talk to one 2 other times. I can’t even get a hold of anyone to cancel the friggin’ order. It’s hard to believe but even BEll Canada has better customer service.

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:48:20 +0000

Primus gave me BRUTAL customer support. God, they’re awful… I’ve moved my ISP to Teksavvy at my work. Great customer service, reliable connection. Will be moving home connection, too. I’ve set up VOIP with Callcentric. Testing it with software phone, so far so good. Shout out to dorian at MetaFilter for his tips.

By: Muaddubby

Muaddubby — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:32:04 +0000

For anyone interested in filing a formal complaint against these losers, the CRTC does not regulate them, but they did give me the phone number for the Office Of The President at Primus Canada. Their number is (800) 957 1177. You can also leave a complaint at the Commisioner for complaints for telecommunications services at (888) 221 1687 or http://www.ccts-cprst.ca.

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 00:43:57 +0000

I wish I’d read this before signing on with Primus. My friends said it was the best company around for internet service. So, I signed up.

I told them to send all communication to my roommate, as I would be out of the province for four months. They didn’t. I had to petition Canada Post to let my roommate receive all my mail. It took *only* 1.5 months to receive the modem. The telephone service was connected after *only* .5 months. They told us we couldn’t have dry-loop, which is why we had to have the telephone service.

Then, it turns out they programmed the modem for the wrong platform. They had to petition Bell to do a hot-line programming on the modem, then transfer the network in Bell’s systems, taking us from 7Mbit to 5Mbit without changing our monthly recurring charges–not what we signed on for. Then, they told us that we had to give them 30 days notice to disconnect our internet. In the meantime, we weren’t able to get any other provider because our Circuit ID Number was already in use by another company.

So, now that the 30 days has passed, we’ve received two bills from them for two months of telephone, internet, and a modem fee. I’ve managed to get them to waive the internet fees and the modem fee will be waived when the modem returns, unless I was lied to again. But, we can’t disconnect the phone without going to porting to another company AND paying a $40.00 early-termination fee.

Who do we contact about this shitty service? There must be someone we can contact to make them comply to decency standards and not break the law by breaking their own contracts and charging us for it.

By: Wade

Wade — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 23:19:31 +0000

We decided to make the move to primus. Very easy to get set up….. then Came the day we bought a new house in a new province. We called Primas to cancel, just like we called all our providers to either move service or cancel. The rep we spoke too was is a hurry and assured us that we did not need to do anything. we were told that when we cancelled to phone the Long distance package would cancel automatically. We had also switched Banks (no TD in our new home) and credit card providers (better rate and linked to our new account) and so we asked that they do not try to bill our old CC account, and send us our final bill to our new address. We were assured that all was well and went on to worry about the 1000 other things you need to deal with during a major life change such as this. Time goes by and moves on and 2 months later we get our first bill from primus. In it they show a previous Account Summery of 24.32 for a bill we never received. then the real fun part.. the new charges 9.18 monthly recurring charge for 08/08-08/21… but wait… we did not even have a phone line at the time as it was cancelled as of 07/31??? then a 25.00 NSF charge because they charged the card we told them not to for a bill we never received! then TAX for the new charges but PST for Saskatchewan were we have NEVER HAD PRIMUS!!!!! Total new and incorrect Charges 35.19. What a shock. But that’s OK mistakes happen, all we need to do is call and they will fix it and send us a proper correct bill right? So here is were we learn what Primus calls customer service. We call the number on t he bill and the machine wants a phone number. then tells us the number we entered is invalid, then the same for an account number. after about 2 minutes of repeatedly hitting the 0 key we are finally put through to a “customer service rep” Slyvin who was short with us and rude finally agreed that our bill should be 18.65 for service up to July 31. We then asked him to send us a final statement for our records, with this amount showing, because we have dealt with a rep before that did not do what he said he would do, and we do not want to blindly pay an amount without seeing what the charges are for. He then told us that there would be a 25.00 “reprinting service charge” we told him that we feel we have a legal right to a honest and accurate bill, and that we NEVER received a bill with any of these charges outlined. Sylvin would not budge. He insisted that we just pay the 18.65 and get no proof of the charges or that the account is in fact closed. We asked to speak with a supervisor. and this made Sylvin MAD. he told us that if he transferred us to a supervisor, they WILL NOT remove the 25.00 NSF, and that only he can do that, and No one will remove the fee for the statement. To say the least it sounded odd that his superior had less authority than him in these matters, and so we pressed him to talk to a supervisor. Obviously upset he told us he would see if one was available and put us on hold. 5 minutes pass then 6 then 7. and we decide that he is either coaching the person we are about to talk to or has simply dropped us into a void to punish us as a part of his strong arm technique. So we hung up and called back… press the 0 key 20 times, and immediately insist on speaking to a supervisor (this took some persistence, but we just kept saying “No please just transfer me”). He places us on hold and not 30 seconds later we have a “supervisor” Jennifer listens to our story and then for some reason tries to explain to us that the 18.65 will be credited to the bill and that we need to pay the other portion around 40.00 …WHAT??? she has clearly skimmed the notes from Sylvin and really messed it up now. Why is it that a Supervisor can’t read or understand these primus charges. We got into a heated argument with her and it took forever to get this half wit to realize what should be clear and simple to see for an person in her position. So she then insists that we simply pay the last bill. the one we never received. We tell her we would be happy to pay this bill if she would send it out so we can see the break down of the charges (because we know that we are being charged up to the 08/07 on it and know that it is also not accurate) She then tells us that we must pay the same 25.00 “reprint fee” just to have a break down of the charges we owe. I am confident that 18.65 is the correct and accurate amount not 24.32 … and I would hate myself for giving in and paying 1 cent more than I owe. This is clearly misleading and a form of fraud as far as I am concerned. just imagine how many people just pay the bill and don’t ask questions. the incorrect charges on this account amount to more money that all the correct charges since we had the service connected! Why is this SO hard?? we are not asking for a break! we just want them to do the RIGHT THING!!!! I am scared to pay this bill. I don’t think it will ever end!

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:25:58 +0000

After being moderately satisfied with Primus for the past two years, I am now trying to disentangle myself from them. UGH. When I got TBB the whole deal was pretty good – cheap, unlimited long distance, all the features… And it worked pretty well during the first year too. And then the service interruptions. At one point, I was without a phone for over a month, which is when I became well acquainted with Skype. At another point, calls kept dropping every 5 minutes. Sept 06 to Apr 07 was simply hell with Primus.

So anyway, I move to California and decide to cut off my service. I call Primus in May to cancel, and to change my address. They’re supposed to send out a return package. I said that I could return it on my own, but they INSISTED. Okay, I thought…. I was to have the return pkg sent to my NS address (my family home). Two months later, they still never sent it, and tried to debit my account for $166.94. I didn’t have it, so the debit bounced, resulting in a $35 NSF. They gave me no warning that they were going to debit, either. So I called Primus, and it turns out that they NEVER changed my address and the return pkg was sent to London, Ontario And I distinctly remember changing my address because the person on the other end had a hard time getting his computer to accept “Bridgewater” in the city field.

Finally, I get the return pkg. They want everything back. The portal, the adapter, the instruction manual, the telephone cord and the ethernet cable. I can easily replace the last two, but who the hell would still have the instruction manual and original box after two years?

Anyway, I will never deal with Primus again.

By: Nagib

Nagib — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:02:02 +0000

Here’s my Long Distance Nightmare with Primus:

Was a subscriber to Primus long distance. Cancelled in Aug/07. We were on the My Country plan, which Primus does not offer anymore. They have a new International Plan with much better rates then the My Country plan. To make a long story short, we had a guest over that made long distance calls and racked up a $400 bill in less than a month which would have only cost $45 on the new plan. We asked why they didn’t switch us to the new plan, Primus responded that is not their policy. It is up to the customer to continously poll their web-site and find out what is the best available plan. I argued that since the My Country plan is no longer available, that we should be charged at the new Lower plan rates. Primus’ position is that they can’t make any changes and we owe them the full amount. As a result we’ve switched to Shaw, who incidently do not charge the $4.95 a month system admin fee, and have low long distance rates. I’m happy not to have to deal with the incredibly long wait times with Primus Customer “care” and the incomptence of their staff. Good riddance!

Please support my complaint here:

http://thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/2007/AUG/complaint17136.cfm

Or launch your own…

By: Jason Spaceman

Jason Spaceman — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 03:37:40 +0000

Thanks for the heads up. I’m moving to a new place soon and I’m considering getting VOIP instead of a regular phone line. I considered Primus, but after reading about how terrible their customer service is I think I’ll go with Vonage instead.