Complaint Review: Zero Plus Dialing

My daughter-in-law called me collect from Fort Wayne, IN at 2:00 AM in the morning from her hotel room, and we talked for EIGHT MINUTES. When I got my monthly phone bill these con artists are trying to SCREW me for FORTY THREE dollars!!! FIVE DOLLARS A MINUTE!! Are you SERIOUS?! Even 900 numbers aren't that brazen!

I could pay for ENTIRE MONTH of cellular phone service, with free long distance, for this sum! ZPDI claims they act as a "billing clearinghouse" in facilitating this consumer fraud. Never have I seen such a brazen attempt to outright STEAL money from people. A phone call to their toll free number (how ironic) got me a measly $12 one-time "discount". The minimum-wage worker on the other end attempted to defend his employer by saying these fraudulent rates are for "connection fees." Connection to what? MARS?

My phone provider, BellSouth, participates in this fraud by claiming they only act as a "provider" in billing me for this crap. But if I decline to pay for this FRAUD they will disconnect my telephone. In my view they are just as guilty, federal regulations be damned.

I pledge that I will not rest until I have called everyone I can think of to complain, threaten, and raise hell until this FRAUD is STOPPED.

BTW, there was a telco scam artist operating a similar fraud here in AL a few years ago, wherein they overbilled collect calls of inmates in jailhouses. A state official was involved with the telco company, and the company was prosecuted and found guilty of criminal fraud. The same thing needs to happen to ZPDI and their "clients".

Wes
Montgomery, Alabama
U.S.A.