Rj
Camden,#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, February 01, 2006
All indications are that American Premium Warehouse is nothing more than a HUGE SCAM working in concert with IntegreTel. Don't pay a nickel. Simply contact your phone company and dispute the charge. [Note that IntegreTel has already been sued by the federal government once and is likely under investigation again, judging from the 400 or so reports on the Rip-Off Report.] Deduct the total fraudulent crammed charge (usually $15.40) from your bill total and send the corrected amount to your phone carrier on time. Note on the portion that you send in that you reported the fraud, the date that it was reported and that the charge is being disputed. Cross out the inflated amount and write in the corrected figure. I filed reports with the FCC and I strongly suggest that all who have been scammed do the same. Be sure to mention BOTH IntegreTel and American Premium Warehouse. I finally managed to find information on American Premium Warehouse. They have a site called Roadside Pal. It supposedly offers, get this, Roadside Assistance Plus Voice Mail. The address is: http://myroadsidepal.com/signup/terms_Voice.html According to that site (not necessarily in this order): (Revision Date: March 21, 2005) American Premium Warehouse Voice Mail Terms & Conditions Customers utilizing our service are provided Toll Free access numbers, account numbers and passwords to access their account information via telephone and/or on-line. [Were you provided with toll free access numbers, account numbers and passwords? Of course not, because you didn't subscribe for any APW service!] When you subscribe for service, we will ask you to voluntarily provide certain personally identifiable information, such as; your name, address, telephone number, e-mail addresses, billing and credit card information. We need this information in order to fulfill your order and notify you of your account status. [Did anyone from APW ask you to provide your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, billing and credit card information? Of course not, because you didn't subscribe for any APW service!] You should also note their next declaration: Who Owns Information Once It Is Submitted? Once it is received in our database, any information, including your name, e-mail address, and home address, becomes the property of American Premium Warehouse. This information may be passed on to fulfillment and marketing parties. Once one of these entities receives this information, it becomes subject to their respective privacy policy, in addition to American Premium Warehouse. [Translation: If you are dumb enough to give us your information, we will spread it around like wildfire and profit from it as much as possible. Too bad if that causes you problems!] American Premium Warehouse Voicemail is billed at $14.95 per month. There is no long-term contract and the service can be cancelled at anytime. You must be at least 18-years old and are authorized to make charges and incur charges on your telephone service. The $14.95 monthly service fee will be automatically billed by American Premium Warehouse to your monthly telephone bill each month thereafter on the anniversary date until you cancel your service. The charge will appear on the IntegreTel page of your telephone bill. You can cancel the service by calling American Premium Warehouse Voice at (800) 773-0059 By Mail: Roadside Pal Customer Service PO Box 15624 Clearwater, FL 33766-5624 Office Hours: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time) Monday Friday It also says: IF FOR ANY REASON YOUR MONTHLY SERVICE FEE IS RETURNED UNPAID, YOUR VOICE MAIL SERVICE SHALL BE SUSPENDED UNTIL PAYMENT IS RECEIVED OR FOR THIRTY DAYS. AT THE END OF THE THIRTY-DAY PERIOD, IF THE FEE REMAINS UNPAID, YOUR SERVICE SHALL BE CANCELLED. [In other words, the above means that they are going to try their best to trick you into paying for a service that you didn't ask for and that you are not receiving. If you don't fall for it, they are going to cancel the service that you are not receiving. That's pretty funny!] The scam is to cram fraudulent charges on as many bills as possible. A good percentage of the phone customers won't notice and pay the entire bill. Of those who do notice and call IntegreTel, the so-called customer service person will usually first insist that you owe the money. Then, if you are not willing to give in, you may be offered a 50% discount. That gives them half a loaf for free. If they are not successful with that trick, they may either take the entire amount off, as a one time courtesy [funny], or tell you that they are only a billing agent and you must call American Premium Warehouse. I believe calling APW will result in the same song and dance. Don't fall for it! When making any contact with either IntegreTel or American Premium Warehouse, you should mention that you have already filed a fraud report with the FCC. Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (CALL FCC) or http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/cramming.html As long as you clearly dispute the fraudulent charges with your carrier and pay the legitimate charges on time, your carrier can NOT disconnect your phone service.