zpdi ripoff ripoff consumer rip-off fraud San Antonio Texas
A couple of months ago, my family and I went on vacation to Panama City, Fl. While there we used our calling cards to call home and paid the hotel for any local calls we made.
Last month we recieved our phone bill and there were charges from a company called ZPDI in the amount of $76.92 for 16 minutes worth of calls which averaged out to $4.80 per minute.
When I tried to contact them, a recording suggested that I call back later or go to their website which the recording failed to identify.
The calls that were charged were during times that we were either asleep or gone from the room. If they attempt to say that the charges stem from a cell phone, they are in for a surprise because our cell does not roam nor does it have long distance fees.
Upon checking into filing a complaint I discovered that many people have had similar problems with this company. How can a company with business practices such as these stay in business?
Chris
Bainbridge, Georgia
1 Updates & Rebuttals
anti
Irvine,California,
Check the HOTEL too....
#2Consumer Suggestion
Sun, August 18, 2002
Quote from ZPDI:
"ZPDI is a billing clearinghouse that processes charges on behalf of operator service providers and long distance carriers that provide service for hotels, motels, hospitals, payphones, universities, and correctional facilities."
Unfortunately you will NEVER see warning signs in those institutes: "if you use calling card, we have the right to charge you as much as we want LATER"
In plain English it means, that many hotels highly overcharge you for the calls you make with calling card. Yes, for using calling cards that you have with your OWN phone company.
Your hotel, instead of giving you the bill at the time of checkout, sent you a bill later through ZPDI. You called your home, so they knwo what is the phone number they can charge. This way the hotels responsiblity for this outrageous charge is hidden.
The only way is to prevent this is using the PAYPHONE in the hotel, and a PREPAID calling card.
How to fight them? First try to fill a complaint with ZPDI.
Here is the website: http://www.billview.com/zpdi/
Click on "Costumer Service" and you will see the on-line form to complain.
SOMETIMES they are ready to give some discount.
THEN you might consider to fill a complaint with FCC. FCC is required to investigate every phone bill complaint that was not resolved with the involved phone company.
Something else. I would recommend you to send a strongly worded letter to the HOTEL regarding their hidden phone billing policy....
(Do not accept the bs answer that "every hotel" is doing this. NO. Most of the hotel very simply charge $1-3 for every 800 number, that is all. I mean no more overcharge only because you used a calling card.)