Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
always make sure that your dial up numbers are local and are not considered long distance
update...
just read your last post in which u said that the dial up calls were local. they cannot charge you long distance rates if calls were local regardless of whether you dialed them or the computer did. I have never heard of the term "computer related calls" Call them back and tell them u don't even own a computer :)
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Yeah i had make sure of my dial up numbers…it was my area code…all of them.I am only surprised as if the phone company knows that these are computer line related charges…they should be waiving it off…
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Just did that…i had it before too till last month…was trying to save some money with free AOL..
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Goliko...did you visit some sex site...
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
same area code doesn’t always mean a local number. the question u need to ask is are they charging you because the calls were considered long distance (or zoned) or is it because they have invented a new category called “computer related calls” without your knowledge. Regardless, I wouldn’t pay this money in a million years if the calls were indeed local. If they were in fact long distance then I am afraid you are out of luck.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
some local numbers are physically far from switch and hence fall under “long distance”, it happened to me only once, area code was 214 and all phones in that area code were considered to be “local” by me, but one of my friends was way up north with 214 area code and phone bill showed me that his number was “long distance”. so you should note down all the numbers your Dialup has been using to dial out and check with Verizon to see if they are “local” to you or not, if they are “long distance” then you should take up the matter with AOL and pull their pants.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Hahaha…That’s what the supervisor told me…i am not lying…
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
This makes pretty much sense…If they came out to be ‘long distance’…would AOL listen tome…& would pay me back with something…
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
I doubt if AOL will help you out in this regard. I don’t think they assume any responsibility for the numbers you choose to dial.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Nahin Yaar… 600 $$ main tou…you can get practical sex…They looted me, both Verizon & AOL…I guess Captain 1 is right…I used my area code numbers for Dial up that somehow were not covered in my zone/local calls & they charged me 600$$ for that/I don’t think it’s a virus…(there are many out city ,within USA numbers on my bill though,but as i read it completely their cummulative bill is 67 $$ only,the rest 534 is for local calls)…According to Verizon they did their part by decreasing the bill to 400$$…Also I know AOL are the biggest SOB…they would do a ‘thaingaa’…Asif is right too…i guess i run out of luck here…& would have to pay this 400$$..(that anyways would have covered my whole years DSL charges)…Thanks for your help guys…now i know what happened…& that free things may not always come handy.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
hmm interesting! but those dialups don’t just turn up on any pc 
what u were upto lately!
ok sumthing about topic, if u used the local access number you can contact ur local industry watchdog with those details that AOL charged you for accessing those numbers which were supposed to be free. or atleast warn AOL that you intend to do that. I am not sure how it works over there, but in UK if the OFCOM accepts any complaint about a company they charge £350 from that company just for accepting the complaint, and normaly companies wave off any charge less then £350 just to avoid to go through all that hassel.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Goliko, who is your long distance carrier? is it Verizon? if yes then switch to some other company and don't pay Verizon's long distance charges that you dispute. They might sell your outstanding charges to a collection agency where you have a choice of further bargaining, AND you can send the collection agency in writing that the charges are disputed and that should be the end of it (no reporting to credit ratings).
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
I think AOL is your service provider which only provided the free Dial-up program…
If you call from your lap top…you pay to the company which provide you the phoneline services…
I think calling from a laptop is more expensive than from a desktop…like in the case of using cellphone and the fixed line phones…
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
yeah and by that time your credit history is going down the drain. you have to make a choice. is $400 worth damaging your credit hsitory which may lead to home/car loan denials in the future?
I say that speak to the manager of the manager of the manager of the manager at verizon until you can get the amount reduced down to what you are comfi with. I think you can still negotiate without without having to dump verizon. Write a letter or two to the top management with CC to everybody you have spoken to. I have seen that letters seem to be more effective in such matters.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
What nonsense. You laptop and desktop both use modem to dial the number provided by AOL. There isn’t any difference.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
Not really, if collection agencies can’t damage your ratings if you dispute the charge.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
I may be wrong but I thought that non-payment of the charge will have already made it to the credit agencies by the time the issue has been handed to collection.
Re: Dial Up and my phone bill
no, phone companies, apartment owners SELL their outstanding accounts (which they think they won't be able to recover) to "collection agencies" which then take charge and try to extract as much as possible and in case they fail to get any then they report to credit rating cos.