Of course, the only possible vindication for my rude and bizarrely customer-hostile experience with Primus Canada and their TalkBroadband product would be, oh, I dunno, maybe some sort of apologetic response from Primus' Customer Service department, if not the immediate acceptance of my service request.
Hah! As if. Though I did receive automated email responses from my multiple complaints — "we have received your message and it should [huh?] be addressed, in the order in which it was received" — I have yet to actually have anything addressed at all. No calls, no emails, nuthin'.
It turns out that the happy ending to this story is that Primus' main competitor in this market, Vonage, had me up and running with a VoIP telephone service three days after my order was placed. Actually, it would have been two days had I been home to receive the equipment. I'm very pleased with the product and the Customer Support person with whom I spoke — though I really didn't have to — was helpful and exceedingly cheery.
In other Fuck-You-Primus news, it looks like one of my neighbours has had a similarly-crappy experience with Primus Canada:
96 comments
most phone companies like telus, rogers, primus, etc are the worst for customer service, and now bell is releasing customer info to the authorities which is why I cancelled my service with them. these companies only want to believe that they are the only phone company in your area so they can do whatever they want, but the reality is if you check around you will find many phone companies are available in your area. I would never go with telus, bell, shaw, or rogers ever again.
Go check out the website ofr Rapidtel, I think you’ll find them a nice company to deal with and lkess expensive with very good customer service.
Thanks
As if Primus’s worthless, Radio-Shack-Walkie-Talkie service wasn’t beyond abysmal, when you finally switch to another provider and go onto Primus’s site to send them a kiss-off, you get an error message! As a residential phone customer, you can’t actually send their mongoloid techies (sorry if I offended any mongoloids) a service request online – and the ones you talk to on the phone just want to blame your high-speed provider for the Donald-Duck-on-a-vibrating-bed “quack broadband” service. What absolute shitheads! I hope they go broke!
Try these email addresses, though if your experience is anything like mine, you’ll get an automated reply advising that the case was received and that you’ll be contacted with a response and then… tumbleweeds. Every now and then I like to send them the results of Google searches for “primus talkbroadband customer service”, just to show them how their shitty, incompetent support staff’s contempt for customers plays out on the interweb. I always get an automated response, never an actualy reply.
Here are a couple of email addresses for the douchebags:
Customer Service: customer.care@primustel.ca
Technical Support: support@primustel.ca
My Vonage VoIP service? Still terrific. I haven’t experienced a single problem.
So like the lot of you here, I have had bad experience with my primus phone service. However, there is something to be said here that no one has mentioned.
You can blame primus all you want, but the crappy phone connections IS likely your internet connection.
For instance, right now, if i use my phone, there is bad reception on the other end. but this is because my upload latency from rogers is crappy.
Check yours out, open Run, type cmd, and in the command prompt type:
tracert rogers.com
and take a look at the response times you get for the trace. Anythin over 100ms (for a high speed connection, at least) isn’t normal, and there’ is something wrong with your internet. You just don’t notice it with daily browsing.
Anyways, it is my experience that Rogers has THE WORST customer relations and business ethics. They have lied to me and broken the law (by avoiding handing over my number to primus) and have not taken any responsibility for thier actions.
You will have to deal with one of these annoying comapnies in your lifetime, my advice? Stay away from rogers.
Hi: This blog makes me feel better about my 3 months of Hell with PRIMUS. I stopped surfing and started waiting in the summer of 06. I have started a blog and hope anyone who wants will post a comment about their PRIMUS experiences. Did you get screwed on the billing? I think all ot the companies are a little cavalier in their billing at the end of the customer cycle. I think if there are enough of us who have had a billing error were to join together we could sue someone. It is theft if it is done enough times.
Ayway if you hate PRIMUS or better still worked for them and want to fill in the blanks on what is going on please head over to
http://letsbreakglass.blogspot.com/
Primus Sucks!
Primus Canada behaves like a bunch of hucksters.
After recieving payment from me for an invoice and posting it to accurately reflect the current balance, Primus cut off my service…Ten Days Later.
No..Im not kidding. I suspect that it is just a money grab..they nail you for $55.00 to reconnect.
Anyway, the best way to deal with hucksters is cut them off. Vonage here I come:)
Did I mention that Primus sucks?:)
Like Mary , I to had my services cut off / credit rating affected because of their useless staff, They have been deducting money from my credit card co for approx 3 years only to tell me my c/c was exp 1 year ahead of the actual date, what a bunch of clowns ( they were telling me that Visa was allowing them to deduct money from my account with the wrong exp date) All I can say is what a Mickey Mouse Operation, Potential customers BEWARE, This is a Company which I can see filing for Chapter 11 one day becase their lack of customer support and how they treat their customers!
MONEY GRABING OPERATION!!!!!!!YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT
I ordered primus phoen service and internet at the same time as I needed to get away from Telus. I was told to disconnect my current internet service and my primus DSL would be working in a week. It actually took 6 weeks and a total of 12 hours on hold with tech support. Ever day that I was actually able to talk with somebody I got the response “it will be working by tomorrow”. I called once and the told the person that I was garanteed that it would be working by Tuesday and since it was 9 pm Tuesday evening they had lied again. His response, (in a very thick accent) “well, Tuesday isn’t over yet is it?”.
I did eventually contact a person in tech support that knew what he was doing and spoke fluent english. His name is Max, he is excellent and did get things fixed up.
So now my internet is working again and I got my first bill… They billed me for the tiem that my internet was not working!
i think this site is fabulous!!!!! i am so pleased to see others just like myself dealing with these idiots as well. i actaully am currently invovled in a 4 month dispute with these people and i am ready to just scream!!!!i abasolutley despise this company and wish i had never been involved with them in the first place!someone shoud have the right mind to report them to the better business bureau.
This is one company that does not have any concept of customer loyalty or customer service whatsoever. I recently moved and had my number changed, when i placed the order nothing was said to me in regards to a supposed $55 fee in order to change the phone number. After they failed to perform the service on the date we agreed on they explained about a $55 fee, i requested to speak to a supervisor, at that point the agent said he would put in a request to have a supervisor call me within 48 hours. That did not happen.
Anyway, i moved, and sure enough in november i got charged $55 on my bill. I called them back and after being on the phone for about a half hour i was told that the $55 would be settled the next business day. Of course it was not. So tonight after receiving my most recent bill with no credit, i called customer service and requested an explanation. After speaking to their supervisor the response i got was “in November a request was put in to have this credited and it was rejected, because the charge was warranted”. At that point i dismissed the supervisor, called them back and cancelled my service. When i cancelled, i explained the above and their response was “well those are our terms and conditions and we cannot change our policy”
That is no way to treat a customer of three years. To hell with this company, i’ve already signed on with Vonage and will make a point of spreading the word to stay well away from this horrid company. Honestly i was absolutely shocked that they would lose a loyal customer of three years over a lousy $55. Goes to show what crappy customer service and customer relations will do to a company. Will be a cold day in hell before i ever use them for anything.
I work for Primus and I believe that some of these people on here are making up stories. I work in the Credit and Collection Department. You guys are forgetting that a lot of you do not pay your bill on time or at all . We try to contact our customers by phone, letters and by email if possible. For the most part we are ignored until your services are disconnet . Then you creat boards like these and not tell the whole truth. All phone companies have issues as a matter of fact all companies have issues beacause no one is perfect. So I would suggest you start your own telecomunication company.
Marie, you must be frigging kidding me! You mean if someone pays their bill late, it justifies billing them incorrectly for 6 months, and ignoring your own promises to correct it on the following bill??
After 3 years of service I for some reason looked at the primus website and found that the longdistance plan I was paying for was not even offered anymore and the ones that were offered now were cheaper – by a lot! As someone who does a lot of calling to a pretty odd place, I jumped to call and switch to one of these newer plans being offered. That was in October – of 2005.
November bill came – no switch. I called and after an HOUR of speaking with some moron like Marie, I get a promise that they will go over the bill and apply the new rates and give me a credit. December bill, no switch and no credit. This was repeated every month until June, them stringing me along with promises of a credit, which of course got to be a bigger and bigger sum of money, until i had enough and went to Vonage. BLISS!
But now after agreeing on the phone as to the correct amount that I actually owe under the never-applied North American Plan, they have sent the difference to a collection agency, the first collection involvement I have ever had in my 42 year old life! It’s only a little over $100 but it will be a cold day in hell before I pay it, they underestimate my resolve!
Oh and Marie, no need to start a phone company, Vonage already did!
I am having a problem with Primus and am so frustrated I could scream. It has been going on now for two months.,
In November, I overpaid my account, stupid, but it was a slip on the computer. I have sent them a copy of my bank statement proving that I paid them, but they will not accept it as proof of payment. I cannot believe it. Any suggestions as to where I go now?
Sally
You would not believe my story!!
I will fill you in point form for now but I shall also send a follow up full story report which is forthcoming.
1. Moved Aug 26/06 – gave 30 days notification
2. In new address, waited called, waited called and on and on by making over 38 phone calls to customer care, 14 emails and many more letters and still problems.
3. The deal is, they unhooked my phone in Aug/06. Then instead of hooking my DSL and PHone easily at new address, they re-hooked me at old address, where it stayed until about 2 weeks ago! Can you imagine, 5 months of hell!
4. I am a filmmaker and actor with grants active and projects active and I MUST HAVE INTERNET AS YOU KNOW!
5. They never did hook me up!
6. They told me in December that I had no interconnect so i could not hook up!
7. They still billed me three months in a row! Now my bill is $500 and they refuse to adjust it even though my entire story is all over my files, calls and in efiles.
8. They called me to say that they would consider adjusting the bill ONLY if I got a letter from an interconnect company explaining how I could not get service – WHAT!!!!!!!
9. Now i am moving up the street just to get internet and phone at a new address!! I will stay with Primus because THEY OWE ME!! I am considering going to Silverman at CITY TV or something!!!
10. I have put in about 6 “tickets” for new hook up and no will do anything until I pay up!!
11. I have been through so much hell with Primus Canada! I have even written a VP in marketing as I have many other people in Primus and NO ACTION!!
12. AS well, i have used my cell phone pre-paid to talk to them (on hold for atleast 20-30 minutes every time). Everytime I have to tell the whole story and they have an attitude like “Sir, I don’t really need, nor do I have time to listen to your personal problems.”
All for now and please feel free to contact me for further info at XXX-XXX-XXXX or at this email!!!
OH, ps, I have lost a grant and a government contract and a job offer all because of Primus. They made me appear like an un-professional idiot who could not even get a phone or internet, let alone produce a $200,000 television program!! Those that beleived my stories down in Los Angeles (all said – “no way, there is no company THAT BAD!”) could not believe that I could not just GET IT RESOLVED!!!
Thanks Gord Welke-Wilf (you may google GORD WELKE to find out info)
Dude, I removed your telephone number. Crazy people out there and whatnot. b
Hello,
This is Sally. After almost three months, my problem is finally resolved, but not by Primus. After my last communication with Primus, I asked my bank what to do next. As Primus maintains they have never received an overpayment from me, even though it was taken out of my bank acct. the day I made it, The bank put a tracer on it, and took it back. I didn’t know they could do that, but I am so relieved to have this over with.
thanks it was so great to have a place to vent.
Sally
Does anybody know how to cancel the primus services?
If you do, please e-mail me at grace_yay@yahoo.com.tw and title the e-mail “HOW TO CANCEL PRIMUS”
I’ve been phoning the the company and e-mailing them but no reply whatsoever.
Whoever can help with my problem, I would really appreciate it.
Primus what can you say.
I made the mistake of using Primus as a Vendor for LES.NET.
They quite literally screwed up every single order I gave them to execute.
At any given time, a dozen of my tollfree numbers don’t function.
They gave me the direct number to the NOC so I would stop calling my account manager all the time because stuff wasn’t working.
25%-50% of the new numbers they provision for me are non-functional during testing.
I received no satisfaction through my TWO account managers, and no satisfaction from the NOC manager. A common scenerio would be that around 11:00am, I would find (or someone would report) something was broken. I would promptly relay this to my account manager + the NOC and get a ticket at 11:15am. They MIGHT call me back saying “we’re working on it”, but most likely, they leave a critical ticket open, and go home for the day. Then my customer calls me, and I have to explain the carrier I’m using can’t fix stuff the same day.
Half the time, I have to call them back at the end of the NEXT day to find out how my nearly 48 hour outage was being addressed by them.
Not uncommon for things to stay broken weeks at a time.
I feel that I made a serious mistake by choosing them as a vendor, and my business and reputation are suffering for it. (But I shall prevail).
Maybe I’m just dealing with the wrong people there????
If you use Primus and spend more than $10,000 a year there, and have a seriously competent contact person, please contact me. I’d love to have them handle my account, if I still have anything left there as before it’s all ported away.
We cancelled their service and go for a better company with cheaper rate. Primus officials claimed they have never received our cancellation notice and kept on charging us for few months. What kind of unethical practice is this? They are scammers….thieves……stay away!
Using the same old trick as other telcos, pretend not receiving order of service cancelation and charge leaving cutomer a few extra dollars as punishment for leaving them.
Childish, unethical (like there is any ethical businesses left nowadays). For those who leave for much cheaper rate obviously concern with costs and if primus can offer anything better, they might just return, but using this dirty trick (which requires no brain to come up with it) can drive customers away. They will never return to Primus.
Think “long term” , Primus!
Business/commerce/economic degrees require no real intelligence to pass and this is how they use their so called “knowledge”. Pathetic!
Primus Canada is the worst company ever. Please do not subscribe for any of their products or services! Next time, I will think twice before purchasing anything from Primus Canada. I would rather be without phone and internet than work with Primus again! Their customer service centre is the worst ever. They promise to return your calls, but they never do.. They refuse to disconnect their services, even if you call as many as 10 times and kindly ask them to do so. They are absolutely the worst company I ever had to deal with and I will make sure that I never have to call them again. I already told all my friends about their awful customer service. I honestly thought about seeking a legal advice in order to see what I can possibly do to get these fools off my back. They wimply wouldn’t let me go and no matter what I did they wouldn’t let me cancel my business with them. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND you never purchase anything from Primus, or subscribe to any of their products or services! You will be ripped off and you won’t be able to do anything except take them to court!
I have no words for Primus. Fact is, I didn’t pay my bill on time, but the same day that I paid it, I finished a long distance phone conversation and had just enough time to check my voicemail – message from primus: please call us at xxx-xxx-xxxx. So I pick up the phone…can’t dial out.. Called them on my cellphone – they DISCONNECTED MY LINE!! They said that as soon as they receive payment, my line will be reinstated. I had told them that the payment has already been made, so of course they said that it has to be posted. After I called back to see if it was posted, they told me that they decided to check my credit and won’t reinstate my services unless I give them a $500 security deposit!!!!! UNAUTHORIZED CREDIT CHECK!!! then of course they said that in their terms and conditions it says that they can periodically check their customer’s credit (while ruining your credit score) to see if you still qualify for services??!! TOO BAD I NEVER RECEIVED THE FINE PRINT OR ANY SORT OF CONTRACT AS A MATTER OF FACT!! they still said they cannot do anything unless they get the deposit! and i was their customer since 2001.. ridiculous. and before all this happened i referred my sister and still got no referral fee to this day after numerous e-mails and phone calls. finally they said they can’t do anything because my service is suspended. AND THE FUNNIEST THING? a week after they had already disconnected my service, i got a letter in the mail saying: dear valued customer, in order for us NOT TO INTERRUPT your service we require payment of $xx immediately….please ALLOW 5 BUSINESS DAYS FOR YOUR PAYMENT TO REACH PRIMUS CANADA.!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL?
MARIE (the credit collections employee), DON’T YOU SEE ANYTHING WRONG WITH THAT?? PROBABLY NOT, YOU POOR BRAINWASHED THING…
GET ORGANIZED!!
BBB WAS ALREADY NOTIFIED!! THE MEDIA WILL BE TOO. WHATEVER IT TAKES.
Dear Billing,RE:PRIMUS CANADA
Once again I am not surprised by your company. Today I received my bill which was paided in full and found an additional charge of $55.00. Who does this, this issue should not have happened in the first place since I requested for all my payments to be taken directly from my account from day one. Through my suffering I had to bear with having my service cut because of your incompetence and now I have additional charges once again from your incompetence. What is up with your company are you so greedy not to see that a single mother here is trying hard to get ahead and do the right thing first of all not cancelling my service with you and putting up with your bullshit. Now I have to pay for your shit. This is not good customer service for any company.
Hello,
I can’t agree more. I just found out if no one knows that Primus is now charging its customers .50 cents for every bill it mails out to you and you get .50 cents off if you provide them with your email address. They claim to have put it on the May Statement but have been charging it since June and a month is enough time to provide to its customers. What I am most frustrated is in the amount of notice and complete disregard for its customers. The only reason how I found out is that I had to call about a different issue at hand. When you contact the CRTC they can’t do anything and you get the usual from Primus that they provided you with the information. I am pretty sure it was in small print and most consumers aren’t seeing the fine print used.
Primus canada is the worst company that exist.
They do whatever they want and their management and customer service is 0000000000000000000000 zerOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Shame on Primus
My problem is similar to Sally’s. Primus took over Magma (highspeed and dialup) in Ottawa over a 1~2 year transition period. A quick summary is that days after talking to them and sending out a cheque payable to Magma, they invoiced me that the payee must be Primus. After 3 phone calls (45 minutes total including 1 to India call centre) I was assured that unlike before, the transition period was complete and the cheque payable to Magma could not be cashed. I said, at the very least, please add a note to the account to not cash the cheque and I would send out a new one. Well, you guessed it.. they cashed both (~$200 ea.) for 6 month service. Now I’ll start with the bank and follow up with the BBB. However, after this is resolved I’ll be switching to Roger’s….Nice to know I’m not alone.
I am very unhappy with Primus because:
1) Magma used to send invoices, notices and spam reports in plain text, but Primus sends them in PDF (and a weblink for spam reports). This is annoying since the information is many clicks away. With magma, it used to be in the body of the email
2) download speed has been around 70kbps in the last month, it used to be 200-300 kbps with Magma.
I am considering teksavvy solutions.
Not only am I a customer of Magma, I started with WizNet that was bought out by Magma roughly 4 years ago.
Now Primus is running the show and they suck.
Their tech support is lousy, save for a couple of people there. If you’re experiencing problems with your ‘puter and try to reach them via phone – good luck! I enter my phone number and it isn’t even recognized.
I just recently received an invoice to state my account balance was zero – 4 months after it was paid!!!
They have frequent albeit short-term network outages that the blame on the customer, never them.
I loathe big companies and am searching for a small to medium earnest ISP that will be grateful for my business.
i HATE primus!!!!
Here is my story:
I have primus VOIP for the past year. I called to cancel my service in May. They said i needed to give a months notice.. fine.
They have a modem etc that i had to send back.
Since i was moving (to another province)- i told them to send the ‘send back’ package to my new address. They said ‘ya, no problem’.
I call 2 weeks later to confirm this new address. No problem.
The date that i was supposed to get the package came and went. I called them to see what was up. “oh- we sent it to your old address”.
They agreed to send a new package to my new address.
I get the package. Send it. Get confirmation from Canada Post that they have received it Aug 1.
Aug 22 i get a charge on my credit card for $160
I call them to find out why. “We havent received your package”. I tell them to go check. “Oh, we received it”. I ask them to reverse the charges. They say that it will only happen on my next billing cycle.
I found this totally unacceptable (what about visa interest charges??)
I called visa to try and get something done about it. They transfer me to the “resolution department”- yadda yadda i’m back on the phone with primus.
Now the primus guy is telling me that i have to call them back on my next billing cycle to get a “charge back” on my credit card, because if i leave it to them to refund it will take up to 8 weeks.
I asked to speak to supervisors, no go. I demanded an instant refund. No go.
WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!?!
I am going to try and call visa again on monday- but i dont know what i can say to get these charges taken off.
I am trying to spread this word as much as possible.
Primus has screwed up on my account SO MANY TIMES!!
I am very disgruntled and would like to do as much damage to their business as possible.
I regrettably checked out your forum after verbally agreeing to a 1 year contract (which apparently has a hidden $100 cancellation policy) and I am in total agreement with the horrendous customer and tech service Primus has ‘offered’. I have sent several complaint emails to no avail re: my phone service or lack thereof – i.e. I set up my bradband service and cannot get a signal for 3 days now. Techs tell me that the sytem is ‘down’ and the customer ‘care’ providers don’t know anything about it. When telling the ‘service’ rep about my frustration and want for a cancellation (as it is a major headache to imagine this to be continued service), they simply tell me that it will cost me $100 to cancel (for, once again, service that I haven’t bloody received!). Has anyone sought legal action in any of these matters? – they cannot go unpunished…
We have been with Magma in Ottawa since they began. Since they were taken over by Primus the prompt personal courteous knowledgeable service has been replace by long voicemail menus, longer wait times, discourteous behaviour and incompetent service. I also am looking for a smaller pre-Primus Magma type of provider that can host our mail, domain and web site. Any references would be appreciated
I’ve never dealt with the companies that have been mentioned .Thanks to your posts I never will.One thing that would improve this thread is info on which companies DID give you good service .That way the rotten ones will go down the drain. Thank you .
We decided to make the move to primus talk canada. 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! What we need is a class action lawsuit because they know no one will take them to court over 10 – 100 bucks, together we could remove this scar from the planet.
IT’s cld Terms & Condition Do you have anything better w/ Bell
As well when I had something to handle like a bill or any inquiries to straighten out I couldn’t even stand the India ppl they never wanted to understand what I needed or rather what we’re really calling for, God almighty they looked like they were having trouble tieing there own shoes always want to sell for no purpose… I was being smart, I pressed the french # to connect to someone in Canada, thought to myself I don’t think ppl in India can speak French so the associate introduce himself in French but when I answered he was bilingual. Well I could consider myself lucky to have had spoken to that associate I remember he was able to understand what I was going through, & gave this no. 1-888-501-8430 saved all my hassle of pushing those damn button’s & not getting a human being. Think this will help a couple of you frustrated machineheads. & everything went well. But it happened they implemented these charges & I thought to myself I speak to a supervisor, after a while I connected to Dennis in which he was able to make me understand as per the Terms & Condition it is specified in there. And they also inserted in on the “Message Center” on the Invoice in which Us ppl we don’t always look up to It’s like trying to see someone look at the bible everyday like if we have time for these days. But is it better w/ Bell, Rogers
I won’t even start w/ them, Telus, Aliant Or any VOIP company as well you’ll always find something wrong somewhere & you’ll certainly not have what you want if your going to scream to someone, The whole perspective of this scene is just misunderstanding. What a Negative World we live in.
[...] ****Veteran Military Wife**** wrote an interesting post today on Comment on Primus Canada Sucks: A Happy-Ending Update by WadeHere’s a quick excerptSo 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 … [...]
I had a dial-up account with EOL which was taken over by Primus.
When I migrated to Rogers portable broadband, I was surprised my Outlook no longer took or recieved messages.
I can still get them by going to the website, (similar to when one goes to an Internet cafe to retrieve messages), but when I asked thyem what gives (in an e-mail) I was given the web page for settings. Did that – no luck, still can’t get messages.
I emailed and asked for a live person number, and have sat waiting for several hours but never did get through to anyone.
Primus? Useless!
i should have read all of this before i signed up with them, but of course i only go searching when sh!t hits the fan.
my primus service was slow when it worked but for the last month and counting it has been “down” according to the hundreds of tech guys i’ve spoken to. they just can’t seem to figure it out they said. each one of them, everytime i call say the exact same thing “we are still trying to disagnose the problem” then they figure that it was Bell’s fault since i had my phone and internet with Bell just previous – something about a line card needing to be removed. so they made me call bell myself, as if i understood tech stuff, and ask them to remove the line card. so i call bell, wait hours on the phone just to hear that bell has nothing to do with it. so now, i’m stuck in the middle of a bell and primus territory battle – or so primus claims.
ending to my story? my internet STILL does not work over one month, hundreds of complaints and days of waiting later..
their reason? “we’re sorry ms. x, we are still trying to work it out”
customer service did offer me a whole 20.00 for my lack of internet for the month, while they were taking out much more than that from my cc.
i HATE primus.
I’ve worked in a call center for 10 years, I know there is a general level of bad service when compared to human standards – including WWII era prison camps, but Primus is BRUTAL.
In the last 10 days, no service – no call backs from managers as promised, countless hours on hold calling their que, just abysmal.
How do I inflict as much retribution as legally allowed?
Does anyone have the number for a VP so I can call and leave messages on a real line?
i have posting all sorts of crap about Primus here at my website. You only have to pay $4 to read each speech so feel free to come over and have a look.
Here’s a picture of a Primus rep who I had sex with:
http://virtual-impact.ca/images/mamma.jpg
I switched over to Primus Phone from Rogers (after they bought Sprint, which meant the service got worse and the prices went up). I was told initially that call block was included (it isn’t). Not a huge deal. Recently I couldn’t call across the street to my neighbour – they fixed that. But since then, whenever I connect to my ISP via dialup, EVERY call is terminated after 15 minutes. I tried another ISP on dialup using a friends’ account and hey, SAME THING. This is going on 4 weeks now, I’m told they’re going to “change the port” and I’ll be without service for 2 days. I was thinking of going DSL with them, but now after all this I doubt it will happen. Anyone actually RECOMMEND a phone provider in the Ottawa Canada area? Seems Bell and Rogers both suck also.
Pat,
The problem is not with Primus since you tested with another ISP’s connection. It’s more likely your dialup connection settings in Windows.
See here for more information:
http://help.expedient.net/dialup/disconnects.shtml
Hope this helps!
I cannot even express how incomprehensibly incompetent Primus has become. I was consistently overcharged ($5-$10) on my account, every month, for over 2 years, and closed my account as a result. After some “discussion”, I was repaid a portion of this, but my request to provide me with a breakdown of the overcharges, was refused. Three months later I received a call that I owed Primus for another month’s services. Not only was this well after my account closed, but the overcharge appeared again! I received a phone message threatening to refer the matter to collections if I didn’t call back. After spending 5 minutes attempting to call the number as directed (getting a recorded message that their “circuits were overloaded”), I reached the billing department, who told me “I can’t help you, you’ve called the wrong department!”. This imbecile ultimately transferred me to “Customer Service” after I asked for a manager. The next agent was not a manager, and transferred me to “a manager”, who again, was not a manager, so (why bother at this point), I asked HER to transfer me to a manager. I was put on hold for 10 minutes, only to be told she couldn’t find one. Feeling sorry for me, this very nice young lady in New Brunswick listened to my story and agreed to write off the mystery amount outstanding as a gesture of good will. A happy ending, but hardly worth the bad PR to get there. STEER CLEAR OF THIS COMPANY!
Here is my horror story with Primus. I called them to ask about changing my phone number and was told it would be done on January 4th without any problems or interruptions. I asked about that repeatedly as I would be out of town till the third and would not want to return to a dead phone or any issue. I was told, “No there will be no problem. Everything will switch with the new number on January 4th without any delay.”
Okay. I get home and on January 3rd about ten at night, I cannot call out on my phone. I discover that it’s dead. I call on my cell phone to talk to their “customer service” and at this point I”m told in a rude manner that my phone has been canceled with the old number and will NOT come back on for TEN DAYS!! Well, it’s quite expensive using your cell *twenty minutes on hold with Primus customer service didn’t help either* I asked to speak to a supervisor as this was utterly unacceptable and I was told the exact opposite of what was happening. I would NOT have changed my number at all if I’d been told this would happen. The customer service rep says “You can talk to whoever you like they will still tell you it will be ten days.”
I hang up since obviously I’m getting nowhere with this “Helpful” service. I wrote two emails. One to customer service and one to the technical help. NO REPLY for four days now and still no phone service. I had paid my bills AHEAD of time for over a year and when I would be out of town during a billing, I PHONED THEM to let them know.
I cannot believe they can just cut your service over a number change for ten days without telling you and THEN treat you like you are a nuisance when you try to get it resolved. I know someone who works for Telus and I happen to know there is NO EXCUSE for it taking ten days and that they could fix this if they wanted to.
I’m furious over this treatment. I had even recommended them before but, I won’t now. I”m looking for another provider immediately. If they over charge me, I will get in touch with the CRTC and get a lawyer. This is nonsense!!!
Ｈｏｗ ｃａｎ Ｉ ｆｉｌｅ ａｎ ｏｆｆｉｃａｌ ｃｏｍｐｌａｉｎｔ ａｇａｉｎｓｔ Ｐｒｉｍｕｓ Ｃａｎａｄａ ｉｎ Ｏｎｔａｒｉｏ？
ａｎｙ ｉｄｅａｓ？ ｔｈｅｙ ｎｅｅｄ ｔｏ ｈａｖｅ ａ ｌｅｓｓｏｎ．
ｏｒ ｗｅ ｃａｎ ｆｉｌｅ ａ ｃｌａｓｓ ａｃｔｉｏｎ ａｇａｉｎｓｔ ｔｈｅｍ．
ｉ ｈａｔｅ ｔｈｅｍ． ｉ ｄｏｎｔ ｍｉｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｍｏｎｅｙ ｔｈｅｙ ｃｈａｒｇｅｄ ｍｅ ｆｏｒ ｎｏ ｒｅａｓｏｎ， ｉ ｊｕｓｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｓｃｒｅｗ ｔｈｅｍ．！
Ben,
Check out the CRTC’s “Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services”:
http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/en/
This page summarizes their mandate:
http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/en/page/Scope
Interestingly, according to a CBC article, “all of the country’s major providers have joined with the exception of Calgary-based Shaw Communications Inc. and Toronto-based Primus Canada.” ( http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2007/12/21/tech-complaints.html ).
It’s worth a try anyway.
Below are the 2 back and forth emails i have exchanged with primus. If there are enough people i would like to be a part of launching a major complaint with the BBB. It appears there is more than enough people to get this going. I have never been soo annoyed or inconvenienced EVER with a phone company. Let me know what I can do to help!
Hello my name is Jaymie . I have had a home phone through your company for almost a year now. I have also purchased and paid in full the little receiver thingy i needed to hook up my phone.
I have had nothing but problems with my phone since the day the little package arrived in the mail. It has actually worked for me probably 3 weeks out of the 11 months i have had it and been paying for it.
I cant get a hold of ANYONE at primus at your customer service number, and IF I ACTUALLY DO, they dont speak very good english and keep asking the same things over and over, without really understanding it. If i could understand them, i would have wrote down their names for you. I have waited no less than 30 minutes up to an hour to talk to a human being only to get off the phone because i got disconnected or they cant help me. i have called countless times to get some help over the phone to hook up my phone properly because its never worked once in my new location i have lived in since may of this year. I have been calling Primus since June and have left countless messages on your answering machine, and told 2 different people that I WANT MY PHONE CANCELLED! Plus left several messages on your answering machine cancelling the phone, and i still am getting bills in the mail for a phone i havent been able to use in almost a year. YOU ARE WELCOME FOR YOUR FREE MONEY!
I keep getting jerked around by your company. When i am talking to your customer service reps on the phone, they keep telling me to hold on and keep switching me from person to person, in which i have to repeat my name, address and all my personal information. somtimes up to 5 times to 5 different people, I am absolutely appalled at your crappy service. I would rather use telus and have to deal with machines than the people who are working at PRIMUS. AGAIN i called about 3 weeks ago to cancel my home phone service, because i got another bill in the mail for a phone i had already cancelled. I talked to the customer service rep, and at home on my fridge i have the cancellation number which i can email you tonite when i get home.
I would like to be sure my home phone of 780.479.5674 is indeed cancelled.
I am also writing to state i am not paying PRIMUS canada one more dollar for anything. Any amount outstanding is not being paid because i havent used your phone in my new place once.and i have lived here since MAY. Like previously stated, i have called 3 times, and left messages, talked to humans to cancel my phone to which i am ensured yes maam its cancelled and then i get another BILL IN THE MAIL!
The last time i called, i was ensured it was cancelled. But when i called the number today, my message is still answering. Thus proving the phone is still not cancelled. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE THERE? seriously? does anyone speak or understand english??
OK SO I called your customer service line AGAIN today just now (waited a half hour AGAIN) to find out my phone HASNT BEEN CANCELLED! NOw this girl im on the phone with right now whose name is Pinky says that the guy i talked to on the 16th of october (when i cancelled my phone the 3rd time) failed to tell me that PRIMUS has a 30 day cancellation policy. The number this girl gave me is 1436910. After telling me 2 stories of how to cancel my phone (are you kidding me?? she told me to call my long distnace provider and they will cancel the phone?? UH I DONT HAVE A LONG DISTANCE PROVIDER because i dont use your phone!!!!!!!!!!!)) And oh now i need an email to cancel it, and oh now I have to send you my modem box back and then you cancel it? i paid for that !! CANCEL THE PHONE!!!!
I am not paying for anything or returning anything as i paid for my modem box you sent me. Any moneys outstanding to primus will not be paid. as mentioned countless times, your crappy phone hasnt worked once in my place since may.
I have been told this phone will be cancelled on nov 16 and im not paying you one red cent for anything so if its not cancelled, i will be taking legal action. you can bet on that. Dealing with your company has caused me nothing but stress, and this last convo with your barely english speakin customer representatives has made me cry in frustration. I have wasted probably 5 hours waiting for customer service on the phone, and trying to talk to your people. Never mind the emails i have sent.
If i have to deal with your company again with this im going to snap and take legal action. I HAVE had enough with your crappy service, crappy customer service and all around CRAP attitudes. Im definetly makin sure that everyone knows what a crappy company you are and to be sure they NEVER get a phone through you guys.
AGAIN FOR THE FOURTH TIME
CANCEL THE PHONE 780.479.5674
address
CANCEL THE PHONE CANCEL THE PHONE CANCEL THE PHONE CANCEL THE PHONE CANCEL THE PHONE CANCEL THE PHONE
STOP SENDING ME BILLS AND LEAVE ME ALONE FROM NOW ON OR LEGAL ACTION WILL BE TAKEN!
Thank you
JAYMIE WUNDERLICH
THE RESPONSE:
Dear Miss Wunderlich,
This refers to your recent request for cancellation of your account number
xxxxxxxxx with Primus Canada.
It is unfortunate that you will no longer be our valued customer. I have
sent the request to have your long distance service cancelled from Primus
but I need to advise you that this will take 7 to 10 business days.
Please note that to fully ensure your Long Distance service with Primus
Canada is cancelled, it is imperative that you call your choice of Long
Distance Company or your local service provider. Once your line is active
with your new long distance company, they will automatically cancel your
services with Primus Canada.
However, if you are moving and cancelling your local telephone service, it
will automatically cancel your Long Distance service.
You may monitor the transfer of your line by calling the following toll-free
number, 1-700-555-4141. Once the recorded message mentions the name of your
new carrier of choice, their network will carry all your long distance calls
and you will no longer be billed by Primus Canada.
It has been a pleasure servicing your telecommunication needs. Should you
require our services again in the future, please do not hesitate to contact
us anytime.
Sincerely yours,
Jeanne
Email Response Associate
Residential Customer Service
Primus Canada
1-800-806-3273
Then i got another bill for the phone that I havent even used once! AGAIN! so i sent them this email
Hello again! it seems I am still receiving bills for a phone i never used for the past year from your company. Below in the previous dated emails, it states IM NOT PAYING YOU FOR ANYTHING, and if you continue to bug me and send me bills in the mail for the phone i never used ONCE at the alotted address, i am going to call the BBB.
Again i have had nothing but hassle with your company and i thought i had finally laid this to rest. But yesterday i received another bill! I have called on several occasions and wrote emails stating im not paying anymore bills.
So kindly revoke the bill with account no: xxxxxx amount owing $36.91 or i will call the better business bureau.
I will show them all the emails, all the dates. times, and names with the phone calls to your company displaying how firstly, you cant get a hold of a customer representative, and if you do, you wait at the very least 40 minutes, to which you get a rep that doesnt speak english or very badly and you cant understand it. I have wasted countless hours with your company trying to talk to someone on the phone, or email and to no avail. I couldnt even get help to set my phone up in my new condo when i moved last may, and i still payed your crappy bills for a phone i didnt use, because YOU GUYS WOULDNT CANCEL MY PHONE! THIS IS the last and final straw. I have told most of my large family, to which they now know they will definetly NEVER use any service provided by your company, and have told many friends as well. I dont want to show up at your facilities with my lawyer, who also happens to be my fiance, nor do i care to bother and take legal action with you guys, because im so done with you and dealing with your CRAP customer service. SO AGAIN I am NOT paying you guys one red cent so please kindly revoke my outstanding balance for this phone i have NEVER ONCE used at the address you send the bill to.
THANK YOU
To the final response from PRIMUS
Dear Miss xxxxxx,
Thank you for your follow up regarding your account number xxxxxxx with Primus Canada.
Note that the Talk Broadband service was cancelled on Nov. 19th, following a 30-day cancellation notice. The amount of $36.91 is for the service until that time.
Since you stated that you expect to seek legal assistance with this, I have duly noted your account. Thank you for advising us. For your reference, Primus Canada’s Terms and Conditions can be found at http://www.primus.ca/en/residential/legal/termsofuse.html
Thank you for contacting Primus Canada.
Sincerely yours,
Manon
Email Response Associate
Residential Customer Service
1-800-806-
Just thought I’d let everyone know that Primus Canada still sucks.
I just had correspondence with them for billing issues (ie: they incorrectly billed me on three separate occasions) and they claim that they have not billed me incorrectly. I’ve provided them with excel spreadsheets of how to calculate my bill CORRECTLY. There response is that they haven’t calculated it incorrectly…but they will not provide me with any breakdown of the way that they have calculated it. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. I canceled service with them, but they owe me a credit that they are unwilling to pay.
If you think Rapidtel is good, you have some problems, they canceled my toll free number 2 months ago without any notice, and still bill me for the service, a client informed us that our service was not working, the busiest time of year at Christmas 2007 and still no toll free service Feb 2008, when I spoke to them, they said sorry sir it will be back online within 2 weeks and that was 2 months ago. SO if you like getting dicked around and burned, go to RAPIDTEL should be renamed to “RAPIDHELL” Customer service SUCKS!!!!!