Phonehog.com ripoff Internet
I signed up for phonehog in December of 2004, I responded to some offers and was supposed to be rewarded with phone minutes. I did not receive all the minutes I was supposed to. I also referred 2 people to the site ( my sister and her friend ) and they signed up. I was supposed to receive minutes for doing this as well. After these p[eople signed up they were denied membership. Oddly enough both people complained to me that while they were denied membership, they had begun receiving an awful lot of e-mails ( including e-mails from phonehog!! ), which lead them to believe phonehog possibly gave their or sold their e-mails to someone else. I wrote an e-mail to phonehog seeking an explanation as to why they were denied, and why I had not received all the minutes I was supposed to receive. I never received an e-mail back from them!!!
At this time I decided to just write it off as a lesson learned. This past weekend I went back to phonehog out of curiosity, to see if they had ever actually awarded the minutes I never received. I e-mailed them again, and finally got a response. The response I received mirrored a rebuttal by the president of the company which is posted here on this site. Basically they say that you can only have one account per computer and that if I gave an incorrect e-mail address I couldnt get my minutes. I responded to that e-mail and have not received a response yet!!!
Basically my response was this:
1) I didnt use the wrong e-mail address, because the companies have sent me e--mails since, unfortunatley I assumed I was ripped off and had no recourse so I didnt svae the e-mails
2) The accounts were not from the same computer, in fact they are in different states, I am in upstate NY, My sister lives at the jersey shore, and her friend lives in NJ but near Philly and on the opposite side of the state.
so the response from phonehog is nothing but hogwash, but they would rather send responses that accuse people of wrongdoing instead of admitting wrongdoing. Even the Presidents responses here at this site dont address the problem, but deflect it back at the party making the complaint. The president of hogwash claims that they answer all e-mails within 24 hours, however out of 3 e-mails sent as long ago as 3 weeks I have only had one response which basically accuses me of dishonesty
AVOID PHONEHOG, it is not worth the hassle or the insults.
Steven
malone, New York
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Jeff
Fairbanks,Alaska,
U.S.A.
As A Member, I Find PhoneHog Very Useful
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, October 06, 2005
I have been with PhoneHog only a brief time and have logged up and used hundreds of free hours (as they promised). I'm surprised to complaints against the service but pleased there were only 3 I found. I read PhoneHogs stipulations carefully (as any consumer should), knowing nothing that good is free and have been nothing but pleased. It may be because I am recently setting up a new household and net surfing for a lot of goods and services that it works so great for me. I'm still blown away by getting free long distance for information I was looking for anyway... insurances, household products, auto finance, home-based businesses, mortgage estimates, etc.
It is true that you cannot open more than one account off the same computer as I discovered before I moved to my fiance's home, but we do just fine using my account. Isn't it just smart business to disallow multiple accounts in the same household? There are 2 and only 2 circumstances that made me a little testy at first (1) From surfing through so many websites I picked up a lot of cookies and pesky bugs causing technical problems. This is no fault of PhoneHog but the risk of net surfing. I upgraded my vantivirus/anti-spyware software and have had little problems since. (2) Most all the companies I want information from want to verify my phone number... which is in my fiance's name but the PhoneHog account is in mine so I am not credited in those cases... again, not PhoneHog's fault and soon to be remedied by putting my name on the household phone account. Oh, and we have picked up some annoying telemarketers, again, not PhoneHog's fault... we are looking for information and know what it takes for us to get these folks to leave us alone if we are not interested in their promotions or did not request information directly from them.
Using PhoneHog, we are now saving major long distance dollars calling family, friends, and folks outside of Alaska.
As an active member, I know that PhoneHog is providing a viable and much needed service for Internet Information Hogs like me.
Phil
Boca Raton,Florida,
U.S.A.
PhoneHog is a Great Way to Earn Free Long Distance Calls
#3REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, May 19, 2005
Hi,
My name is Phil Nadel and I am the President and one of the founders of PhoneHog.com. My partner and I founded PhoneHog 6 years ago with the concept of giving our members free long distance calls when they complete offers from our advertisers. So far, we have given away more than 100 million free long distance minutes to more than 4 million members.
To address Steven Malone's post, he is unhappy that his account was not credited when he referred two of his friends to PhoneHog. If these were legitimate referrals of other people (not other email addresses for himself), then we would be glad to let them join PhoneHog. We wouldn't have much of a business by turning members away. If we did not allow these accounts, then they either violated our Membership Agreement or we suspected them of fraud. Our systems are not 100% perfect at detecting fraud, but after 6 years, they're pretty darn close. If we made a mistake and there was no fraud, then I apologize. If that is the case, please just ask your two friends to join PhoneHog again.
Regarding your comments about PhoneHog selling your friends email addresses, please be advised that we never rent, sell or give our members email addresses to anyone. Period.
PhoneHog is a great way to earn free long distance calls. And we do have a great Member Support team that replies to every email they receive within one business day.
Thanks for listening