"The Demise of Birch Primus Lingo
Attention Birch Owners and Stock Holders
RE: Lingo.com, Birch Communications, Inc., Primus
320 Interstate North Parkway, SE
Atlanta, GA 30339
September 14, 2018 San Antonio, TX. We are reporting on a sad situation as we've witnessed the sinking of a once prosperous company. Here is the story as we have experienced it.
In 2004 we signed up for a VOIP Voice Over IP account for my office phone at https://adventdigital.net with Lingo. They were located in the United States and the service and support were very good. We had need to contact support about every couple of years and the service was 4 stars out of 5. Lingo at this time was a valid contender with Vonage. In March of 2016 Birch acquired Primus Telecommunications Canada and Lingo. Since that time Birch Primus Lingo are failing, and they pose zero threat to any valid VOIP provider.
After the Lingo company was acquired by Birch everything changed. Support was moved to Manila Philippines and that is where the demise of this company began. All offices and phone numbers in the United States were gone. Support calls became a circular failure. On occasion, 5 or 6 calls are required to obtain a "partial solution".
On ALL support calls they give you the option to rate the call by pressing the 1 key while holding. The staff in Manila completely stop this by never hanging up at the call end. They simply place ALL support calls on hold, so clients are NEVER permitted to submit a report of bad service. This horrible practice is about than 2 years old, and continues today.
The client portal at Lingo VOIP began failing in 2018. Simple tasks such as "View My Invoices" or "Current Calls" or "Billing History" have failed to function throughout 2018. These have been reported to Lingo Tech Support perhaps thousands of times by us and other clients. Now for 9 months this portal failure has gone unchecked. Also, the site is NOT secure, there is no SSL. This is NOT even legal in the United States.
Next, in July of 2018 we called for Tech Support, and the person in Manila gave us a telephone sales pitch to change our plan from a $26.95 a month to a $19.95 plan. To our surprise our next bill was $68.04. Obviously this entire switch was fraud. But, we were not surprised as this company appears to be in a death-spin of failing.
We have been completely unable to contact anyone at Birch Primus Lingo within the United States. We now have 8 phone numbers, but talking to U.S.-based staff is effectively blocked. Only after many days of trying, we finally have resorted to publishing these findings. We sincerely hope to save you misery from joining in a similarly bad situation along with thousands of other very disappointed clients. We are currently looking into NetTalk at this time.
Blessings,
Greg Schipper, San Antonio, Texas
"
"LINGO INC (phone Service), Primus Lingo Phone, Lingo VOIP, Lingo Inc , Primus Telecom Pure scam. False advertising. They do not have true unlimited plan. Their fine pint (terms and condition clearly states that). Also you give you rights to Trial by Jury for any dispute resolution. Read their fine print before subscribing to their service. There are many other services like Vonage and Joiphone will give you better deal then those cheaters. By unlimited plan they mean that your usage has to be “single-family residential usage patterns” (under their “Residential Use of Service and Device” of terms and condition). Which they never clarified what is that pattern, because My service was disconnected for using less than 1000 minutes in a month. Do they consider this as non single family usage? They disconnected my service after charging my credit card in advance, for which I never received the service for and they are not willing to pay my money back. Stay away from these cheaters. They have already filed chapter 11 they are not a good company they just want to get as much money as they can from your pocket.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1639086820090316
Those who did not take Lingo service, please stay away from them.
"
"The WORST SERVICE AND CUSTOMER SERVICE I EVER HAD.
Order service on 1/7/2009, order not processed till 1/14/2009, had to call twice to get the equipment shipped.
Service activated on 1/125/2009 after calling several times.
Requested cancelation in 30-days money back time from activation and even got mail to confirm the same.
Was charged for equipment and no refunds on any other thing as per their policy. For first 7-8 calls they were not able to track my shipment to them and then after 10-12 calls they told me that I was outside 30-days money back period. I had the confirmation of cancellation with money back period.
NOT EVEN GO CLOSE TO THEM."
"This company is FRAUD!! Somebody should file a class action suit against them. They are fleecing money out of innocent people. They kept charging my credit card for two months even after I had ported out the number. THey said I had to call to cencel the service, what fradulent practice. THen they quickly charge $99 cancellation fee without telling me. And I dont remember even reading that I will be charged $99 fee for cancellation (before 2 yrs of service), otherwise I wud have never gone with the service. They are a big fradulent company."
"I had a similar experience with other reviews. Had a TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE with them. I wish I checked this review site first before I got into. The device didn't work at all and I could not go back to any other phone company because other phone companies couldn't switch my existing phone # from Lingo once it was transfered to Lingo. I end up losing my phone # and had to get a new phone # from another phone company. Lingo charged additional fee of $39.95 for cancelling before 30 days of service and I didn't even get a refund of cancelling before 30 days. I end up losing both my phone # and money. VERY BAD COMPANY!!!
"
"EXTREMELY, unbelievably BAD. Unbelievably.
Ordered service on 1/9, sent Letter of Authorization (LOA) for porting my local number same day. Immediately got a conformation email, stating it takes 10-20 days to port my number from my current local phone company to Lingo.
They assigned some "temporary number", one CANNOT USE: it requires to physically switch phone to their line, meaning - you got a number nobody knows. Call everybody give them that temporary number? Well, then you have to call back everyone, when your permanent number is ported to Lingo from your current. And I have 257 contacts in my Outlook.
It is just a sham, allowing them to charge you from the day one, before the real service started: "You have connectivity, therefore…" And they claim it is impossible to start that "connectivity" from the moment the number is ported.
Waited 21 days (that's business days!), called Lingo – "Sorry, we do not have your LOA" – "Yes, you do, you sent me a confirmation letter, that you do" – "Submit it again" – "And wait another month?" – "Sorry, there is nothing I can do". OK, I submitted that LOA again.
And in a few days, my phone line (it was still connected to my local phone company, SBC) went dead. I am calling SBC – "Sorry, but you switched to another carrier, they presented all necessary papers on your behalf". Checking my phone: yes, it is connected – still with that "temporary" number. Calling Lingo – "Well, we didn't do anything. We do not know anything about you asking to port your number. What number did you want to port? You will have to submit LOA for this. You should know that"
After another several weeks of agonizing and mind-numbing conversations with Lingo, which are too disturbing for me to relive, I decided I've had it. Called SBC, and in a few days, exactly as scheduled, I was connected back to them. Phone troubles are over, but not Lingo troubles.
I called them and asked to close my account. "Why - asked Lingo - is there something you do not like?" OK, sure. But in addition to the price of the equipment they sent me (what do I do with it now?), in addition to the monthly charge (remember – I had "connectivity"), they told me I'd be charged about $40 for "discontinuing service"…
It was 03/09/2005. And I received an email from Lingo on a same day – a survey. They would like to know, why I decided to leave.
I logged in my Lingo account two days later, on 03/11/2005 (somehow I did not feel very confident about whatever Lingo had said)… and my account is ACTIVE. Meaning – I have "connectivity", and they still charging me.
I called Lingo – again. Unlike what the Customer Service told me first time about disconnecting, this time representative said I have to wait 48 hours for the discontinuation to become final.
OK. I logged in next day, 03/12/2005. My account is active. I called. "Why - asked Lingo - is there something you do not like?"… "Just disconnect me! I do not want your "service". OK, said Lingo, it is taken care of right now, already. And they sent me another survey, asking why do I want to leave…
I waited another two days. I logged into my account – status "Active". I called Lingo again. "Why - asking Lingo - is there something you do not like?" – "I request discontinuation twice already, two days ago and five days ago, what do I have to do to get disconnected?" – "Let me see what is going on with your account, could you hold?" – "Do I have a choice?"…
I waited, and waited, and waited… And then they hung up.
Now, I am typing this review. After I post it, I am contacting FCC and California Public Utility Commission.
Maybe they could help me to get rid of Lingo…
"
"since 15th jan to 20 jan 2005, calling every day to fix there phone device.
Either wait on phone or they say will call and no one calls up.
EXTREMELY BAD COMPANY. BAD VOIP PHONE PRODUCT and EXTREMELY BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE."