This post, like most of my commerce based posts, is about another corporate monster who doesn't really care about the customer or what the customer wants.  They believe that it is their right to tell the customer what to do, and how to do it.  Primus is no different than the company whose service they resell, Bell.

I was with Primus for DSL high speed internet for a few years.  I decided to use them because they had a decent price and they allowed you to purchase your own modem to get a discount on your monthly service.  Seems simple enough. 

The long and short is that I had tons of problems with them.  In the beginning, before I bought my modem, I must have shipped 3 of their modems back to them as being faulty.  When I did purchase my modem, I promptly sent theirs back to them.  In the summer of 2006, I moved to a new house and attempted to have my service moved.  It took 3 weeks to actually get my service activated at the new address.  When I saw the Acanac $18.95 per month deal a year later, I knew what I had to do.

I cancelled my Primus service on August 20, 2007.  They told me that I had to wait 30 days to cancel.  I took that.  As of September 20, 2007 - I was no longer a customer.  I noticed that they charged my credit card for service at the end of the month.  I called them and they told me I owed a pro-rated amount, and that they would adjust it for me.  No Problem.  I had a credit of roughly $20 on the account.  Then, a week later, I received a package from Primus with a shipping bag and slip.  It had a note that said I had to return their modem.

I think not.  I called them up and after reading the notes on my file for 30 minutes, they agreed that I had returned my modem and not to worry about it.  I was happy.  Then in the middle of October, they billed my credit card for a modem.  I was livid to say the least.  I called again, they assured me it would be promptly reversed.  I waited.  Nothing happened.  In the middle of December, I received a statement from Primus.  It would seem that my non-existent account had a credit balance of $115 dollars.

I called them again.  They now informed me that I had to wait 90 days, then they would start the process that would take an additional 4-6 weeks.  Oh hell no.  I demanded that they send me a cheque or refund my credit card immediately.  They refused.  I talked to a supervisor, then another, then another.  They kept telling me the same story.  Some of you might be wondering why this is a problem.  Let me break it down for you:

• Primus fraudulently billed me for a modem that they had a record of having
• They billed me after I was no longer a customer
• They took the money directly from my credit card without authorization
• Now they refuse to give me my money back, for a few months
• The credit card is racking up interest.

They told me I could get the credit card company to do a charge-back, this would be faster.  I called Visa.  They told me that they couldn't do a charge-back because Primus had a record of refunding my money to my Primus account.  They also told me that a failed charge-back would cost me $10.  Nice.

None of the off-shore agents that I have spoken with could tell me why they have the process that they do.  They also couldn't answer a small brain teaser.  I first asked them if they had a manual or online documentation for their processes.  They said 'Yes'.  I asked them if the process for refunds was documented, they again all said 'Yes'.  I then asked them what the process was for refunding an ex-customer after the company illegally took money from them.  None of them had an answer. 

You can't just apply a blanket process to every situation.  As it stands right now, I'm waiting for a callback from another Manager who claims that he wants to help me.  First time for everything.