ILD Teleservices Scam
ILD Teleservices is running a scam. One of our Bellsouth small business accounts recently had the following charge on it:
Miscellaneous Charges and Credits
For ILD Teleservices, Inc. Billing Questions,
Call 1 800 433-4518
Amount
Service Provider - Axcess Internet Solutions, Inc
For billing questions, call 1 800 433-4518
Date
1. 08/25 Web Hosting Monthly Service Fee (29.95)
This comes from ILD Teleservices, Inc., a service provider that has notified BellSouth that they are billing new services on this above bill this month. After further investigation, I found the website for Axcess Internet. Here’s what Axcess has to say about it on their site:
Axcess Internet would like to take this opportunity to let our customers know that neither Axcess Internet Services, Inc. nor Axcess Internet (a Washington State registered trade name) is responsible for this action. Any charges attributed to Axcess Internet or its subsidiaries, found on your phone bill, are fraudulent.
On their site, there is also more information on the fradulent company responsible for these erroneous charges. Kevin Tien writes about his incident with ILD Teleservices, and provides other customer complaints. Consumer Affairs has even more customer complaints. One can only wonder how shady companies like these can even be allowed stay in business.
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I have a bill from these goons for the last 3 months. I will never have my bills paid by bank again. I will pay all my bills by check, I can take off ILD. I am 70 and have emphysema and kidney cancer. I am on a fixed income have a hard time paying bills without other people putting a bill in and I dont know what it is. What’s wrong with the phone company? I no longer trust anyone.
Mary, sorry to hear. It is extremely irritating that third-party companies can add charges to a telephone bill without any consent from the actual account holder. And when using automated bill pay systems, the fraudulent charges can be quite easy to miss.
When my husband was in St. Edwards Hosipital in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, he made two collect calls home which is only 40 miles away, one for 2 minutes and one for 12 minutes, this ILD whatever they are charged us $26.41. How are they allowed to do this without any regulations? Something is definitely wrong here.
Joyce, unfortunately our problems are still not over. ILD Teleservices has billed us again for the months of October 2005 and November 2005 under our small business Bellsouth account. The only advice I can give you is to refuse to pay the bill with those charges. See also this article on ILD Teleservices by Consumer Affairs.
I can tell you why. You were contacted by Axcess Internet Solutions Inc. of Las Vegas, and not Washington, which is the one that shows up in Google. These people operate YellowPages.BZ and for $30.00 per month you get dial up Internet and a free listing on their website. It is owned by Phinder a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ.
So yes the Axcess you contacted has no idea. But the one who contacted you or your company did a voice verification before billing you. So you see, this is where your bill is coming from.
P.S. I think the owner is a scumbag. Good luck!
Tony, thanks for the information. I’m sure that it will be invaluable to those who stumble upon this post.
My 9 year old son went to a prize website and filled out some forms and used my name and birthday. I recieved 5 different charges each at $14.95 on my Verizon phone bill. ILD was one of them. So far they all said they would cancel and credit my account. I am more upset with Verizon who says they have nothing to do with these charges.
I’ve spoken and e-mailed Verizon and they just give me a run around. I cancelled my Verizon home phone, DSL, and 2 cell phones. I would just as well do without their services and use other companies that remeber customer care. It’s sad that the gov’t allows this to happen. You think someone is getting paid off?
Have a charge of $13.34 on my Sprint bill for voice mail I did not order. Sprint will not remove the charge until I contact ILD Teleservices.
Received BellSouth bill for December 2005 reflecting $14.95 charge from Surfsafe Internet indicating Internet Access Monthly fee and apparently was triggered from ILD Teleservices, inc. I have never had contact with either one.
I have been charged for several months on my bellsouth account for voice mail I never ordered through ILD Teleservices. I called ILD, and they will not credit the account even though I never ordered or used this service.
Well, I spoke with ILD and spoke with a gentleman (Abraham) who was professional. He assured me the charges have been reversed. IMPORTANT: this company handles billing for other companies and I was told my charge originated from Generation Telecom.
I have just received a bill totaling 32.89 from some company I’ve never even heard of. ILD? I had to look them up on a search engine and found this place. I called their number but of course it being the weekend, no one was there. Who are these people and why is my Sprint bill showing a charge for Internet protection when I don’t even get my Internet through Sprint?
I just disputed a $17.69 charge on my Verizon bill for a ONE MINUTE collect call that supposedly came to my home while I was out of town. The person who answered the phone at ILD (after a 16 minute wait on hold) said they would credit it and didn’t fuss with me at all about it. But he also said it would take one to three billing cycles to show up! I told him three billing cycles is hardly the industry standard; if they could bill me within one cycle, they can credit me within one cycle. He also claimed they only process the calls and that the collect calling company was called “City of Chicago”! Strangest name I have ever heard of for a phone company. Anyway, I am skeptically waiting to see how long it takes for the credit to show up.
We just received our AT&T bill and have a charge from ILD Teleservices on it for $5.52 for a Directory Assistance call for Nevada information. We live in Ohio and had no reason to call for a number. I have tried four times now to call ILD, and each time have been put on hold (for the “next available representative”) — once for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes, then 30 minutes, and the last time for 40 minutes. I have stayed on the line simply to prove a point — they must not have any “service” reps or there is only one, and that one can’t get off the phone! I called AT&T and they are putting the charge into a “disputed” area, and will keep it there for 90 days. At this rate, it will take that long to get ahold of someone at ILD!
I just noticed at $17.16 charge from ILD Teleservices on my Verizon bill for an 800 voice mail service I supposedly agreed to through some sort of survey. They said it was a contract because they had my date of birth and mother’s maiden name and that was like an electronic signature. They refused to credit me for this saying it was a non-refundable fee. Veizon, however, did take it off their bill, but said ILD will bill me separtely. It’s amazing they can get away with this. It may have been written in small print somewhere that you were agreeing to the service, but I know I certainly did not and would not want the voice mail service they were offering.
I received my SBC phone bill for January and was surprised to see a charge of $7.51 for a call to Nevada from my home in California from ILD Teleservices. First of all, I don’t know anyone in Nevada. Second of all, it is just me and my wife and neither of us made such a call. I called ILD at their 800 number and was on hold for a total of45 minutes. I realized that this is a scam, called SBC, and SBC agreed to drop the $7.51. Hurray for SBC!
We also have been receiving billing from ILD teleservices at the rate of $50.00 per month for three months, through Sprint. We have tried to get these removed to no avail. Maybe some one ought to take them to court and sue the devil out of them — because the telephone companies won’t stop them. David Voudrie, owner Bills Car Car, MO.
I have been charged two months for $34.95. The charges are from ILD Teleservices Inc. I contacted my Business telephone company requesting that they reverse the charge, and to notify ILD that I did not require their service. Today, I have been on hold for 30 minutes (no answer yet). Any suggestions?
My daughter has used my computer to find coupons on the Internet. Many are honest businessmen and comply with the requests of my daughter. We recently recieved an extra billing charge from ILD Teleservices for $31.57 for 1 month and a setup. We did not order this and my daughter was not authorized to charge anything to our phone. She understands this and would not order such a service.
We are signed up with SBC Michigan. We have basic phone with no long distance as we rarely use the phone and have little use for it. If we have to use long distance, we use a prepaid phone card. This just happened today, 1/28/2006, and we will have to wait until monday to make our complaint to SBC. Thanks to everyone who has made their earlier complaints for us to use as ammunitiion. And God Bless the Internet for exposing this scam artist company.
We have also been hit for $13.22 every month, It started on Nov. 20, 04. It was for a voice mail account that we never used or even knew was there, but got activated when my wife was trying to get coupons online. I called ILD and they canceled the service, but stated up and down that it was a legitimate charge. His solution was for me to have third-party billing blocked by SBC. I know we have laws forbidding minors from entering a financial contract, it seems like there should be one for parasite companies.
I just received my Bellsouth bill and noticed a $14.52 charge from ILD Teleservices. The statement reflects that it is for monthly Voice Mail service through Nationwide Voice, LLC. I do not need a voice mail provider as I have an answering machine. Of course this is the weekend and ILD Teleservices are not open to clear up this charge. I have never signed up for any voice mail and feel that one of my underage daughters who cannot sign any contracts must have put in our telephone number on the computer. As far as I know, it is illegal for a minor to enter into any kind of contract and there should be laws blocking companies like this from just being able to charge your phone bill.
I just found a charge on my checking account, dated 2/1/06 and all it said was PHONECA*TO 40794 for $15.67. I called my bank to find out some information and all she could tell me was that it listed as ILD Teleservices of San Antonio, TX for services on Jan 29, 2006 (Sunday) at 7:58 am. She suggested I call information to find a phone number because if I disputed the charge, they would have to send me new bank cards in the mail. I can’t find a phone number for ILD but did come across several complaint sites while searching - can’t believe this! I have Sprint as a local landline phone service along with Sprint/Nextel as one cellular company, but our primary cellular phones are with Cingular - what should I do, and who should I contact? Any and all help would be appreciated!
Today i called SBC to rearrange my phone service. I do not get a paper bill and over the past year have not went online to look at my bill. I knew I needed to make time to call them because my bill seemed wrong, but I had not got around to it. I called today and to my surprise there was a miscellaneous charge from a company called voice mail direct.
SBC told me to call them and to have them reimburse the charges back to my phone bill. The name of the company that i was supposed to call was ILD Teleservices and as far as they can tell the charges have been billed on my account since October of 2005. I’m going to follow up with these charges to see if they go back farther, after finding this web site and the others, because I think the phone companies are in on this.
Some people say that their phone companies took off the charge and others like me were told that we would have to call this company, as if we are lying. I think the phone companies and ILD should be sued. I welcome any response.
My father-in-law saw the charge for ILD, $25 plus tax, for Emergency Roadside Vmail. He was angry and was blaming the DSL, and our local TelCo. When my husband and I tried to explain it could not be the DSL, he got even angrier and called the TelCo. They told him to call ILD. This bill has apparently been showing up on several phone bills. They said if ILD did not refund the money, they would. Apparently, I accidentally signed up for the service while looking for coupons, and checking out online universities. I know better than to do anything that will result in an extra charge to my in-laws. And I don’t have authorization to sign them up for anything. I believe scammers like these should be put out of business. I learned my lesson, I don’t touch banner adds anymore.
I have received my phone bill from SBC for 3 months at least, and I have had a charge for IDL Teleservices. I called my phone company said I wanted to dispute my bill. I was told to call IDL there was nothing they could do. I was then on hold long enough to do two loads of laundry and fold and vacuum. Finally, when the call was answered I was told that they were experiencing technical difficulties and someone would call me back. I could not understand why I was being charged for this but by reading others’ comments I probably did it myself by getting coupons and discounts from the Internet. I was trying to save money. I won’t be doing that anymore.
I finally reached ILD Teleservices and was told that they were a third-party biller and that I would have to be the one to call them. Nationwide Voice Vmail was the company. I then was rudely hung up on by ILD and called the 1-800-773-5219 number for the other company. My call was quickly answered by Tony who said that my husband had signed up for it on the Internet as a promotion. What a crock. I was told they would credit me for the last three months, though I have been charged for 6 months. I will take what I can get. The web site that they say my husband was on was TheUseful. Don’t go there and probably many others as well. Pop-ups are not our friends. Don’t answer the pop up.
Lisa Richardson, this all sounds too familiar. My wife and I were slammed with charges a few years ago. Last month our SBC bill began showing a charge from ILD Teleservices, Inc. (1-800-433-4518) for EMERGENCY ROADSIDE VOICEMAIL MO. FEE at $12.95/month. I would NOT need or agree to such a service.
After doing some investigating into this matter, I cannot believe that David Stein (ILD owner) is not in jail and that ILD Teleservices is still allowed to continue to operate. Where are the government agencies whose salaries our taxes pay to protect the public from just this kind of scam? This has obviously gone on for quite some time. They have already been issued a Permanent Injunction for illegal 3rd party billing of phone customers.
I don’t even have a phone line in yet as we recently moved. But while checking my bank account online I show them actually pulling money out of my account. I dont know who they are, but I know I didnt talk to them. I am not even sure how they got my account information.
Hi guys, I guess I get to join your club. I also got charged from ILD Teleservices for something I don’t even know. I tried to call them but the only thing I hear is music and nobody answers the phone. I called my phone company, SBC, and they said they cannot do anything. This is not right! I have to work for my money and these guys, they just take it like this, it’s not right.
ILD charged me $13.34 erroneously for emergency roadside voice mail. I didn’t order these services nor do I know what function it would serve. I called the company and was put on hold for nearly an hour and didn’t get a response. I have put a hold on the bill with SBC-ATT. SBC-ATT is very tightlipped about the charges and ILD. I am not very happy about the whole thing.
I’m mad as hell. This company has charged my phone service 13.34 for 4mo’s. I just caught it today on my phone bill. I called ILD they said they would credit my phone bill for 2 mo’s, but I would have to write ILD and complain to get the other 2 mo’s taken off. They said I signed up for this on the Internet. I would have not signed up for anything like that. How can SBC/AT&T allow this sort of thing to go on. You know they have known about this for a while from all the complaints. I will have my phone service cut off so as I dont have to worry about this crap.
Just wanted to let you know that I started receiving charges from ILD Teleservices, Inc. and USBI on my phone bill after my son added Internet. I assumed these charges were related to Internet services. Later, when my budget was tight I asked my daughter about the charges. She found out they were fraud. We called our telephone company AT&T and they said they can block future bills from these companies with our permission and they allowed me to reduce the amounts the two companies were charging from my bill.
I have a charge of $14.12 on my Verizon phone bill from ILD Teleservices for voice mail. I have never ordered voice mail from anyone. Verizon won’t speak about it until I contact ILD but I can’t get an answer. So I looked online and I found lots of complaints about ILD. Obviously I am being scammed.
I have an ongoing dispute with ILD for the Emergency Roadside Voicemail charge of $13.34 I never signed up for. SBC told me to contact ILD. I was on hold for about 15 minutes. I was very aggressive with the customer service agent and threatened to file complaints with the FTC, Public Utilities Commission, and California Attorney General if they did not stop billing me and credit my phone bill.
I was put on hold again and a manager came back and said the billing would stop but I would have to contact Emergency Roadvoice directly for any credit. I went back to SBC and she told me that it was within law to allow these billing clearinghouse companies to put charges on your phone bill. Don’t buy that. It is because IDL has contracts with SBC, Verizon, Sprint, Bell South, and so on. Where did I find that fact? From an official court complaint injunction filed in Florida where the FTC is suing a client customer of IDL called 800 Connect for fraudulent billing. Gotta love the information age!
I have received unknown charges on my telephone bill for over a year, for unknown services and unauthorized services. I called my phone company, SBC, this morniing and asked what ILD Teleservices was, and they said it is a billing company. I called them and I talked to a lady name Linda who was very deffensive at all times. She said that I was charged for my caller ID service, but my caller ID is with SBC.
I disputed the charges and after a long dispute she agreed to reimburse the charges for $39.14. According to her records they only charged me for 3 months, and afer we hung up the phone I called SBC again to verify and as candy the lady from SBC went through my records and she tells me that ILD Teleservices have charged me for over a year, for the same bogus services that do not exist.
I called them back at ILD only to have them shout at my ears and ultimately hung up the phone on me, with a threat that if I don’t pay them they will find other means of collection. This company has to stop defrauding the consumer! We need your help to do something about this company. I am sure I am not the only one that they are taking moneyfrom. What that company is doing is illegal and they can’t just go around submitting bogus charges on people’s telephone bills.
Please help! They are defrauding the consumer. I hope to God that there is an investigation open to bring those scumbags to justice or shut them down. For your own good file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, follow by the Public Utilities Commission, and of course to Consumer Affairs. It’s a hassle, but well worth it to try to stop those scumbags. This makes me very angry.
Just received billing from Bellsouth for this month’s services. And I received charges from these morons. Nothing was ever ordered from anyone except Bellsouth for my Internet service. I noticed billing from My Info Guard for February and I am sure they changed the name each month to collect the fees. Now this month it is SurfSafe Internet.
So in February it was $16.61, and now in March it is again $16.61. Can anything stop these people? I am so angry, I called BellSouth and they told me to call Sufside Internet so they could get their money back. Their money! What about my money?! The favorite thing that ILD likes to do is change the companies names each month so they can get their fees. Watch your bills! They are all out there. People on fixed income shouldn’t have to fear every month that they will get these outrageous and bogus charges. ILD should be put out of business. Please watch your billing each month don’t let them get away with anymore charges. Bellsouth did eventually deduct the charges.
I tried to get the free iPod, and I was reading the fine print on every page I had to survey. What I read was this: they can charge your phone company without your permission. I tried to cancel, but they already had my name, address and phone number. It’s all they need to start scamming you. So recently I got an ILD Teleservices - SurfSafe Internet Access item on my bill. A $16 bill that I never heard of it. Be aware about those free gadgets on internet, they are not free at all. They just want this information.
I received a bill from AT&T dated March 22, 2005. It included a charge of $12.95 ($13.79 with tax) for something called “Emergency Roadside Voice Mail.” The source of the billing was ILD. I had never heard of ILD nor have I ever needed or used emergency roadside voice mail. More reaching, the date of this service was January 3, 2007, a full 9 months in the future, Perhaps these scammers are psychic. I deducted the $13.79 from my phone bill and if I see any more specious charges from ILD I will contact the local District Attorney’s office.
Thank you so much for doing your homework Mr. Barik. As the CEO of Axcess Internet Services, Inc. I want you to know we appreciate your letting people know it’s not us that are billing them.
We are just as frustrated about this whole ordeal (and in fact ILD showed up on our telephone bills), and we intend to seek justice in the courts. If you could please update the website that you are directing your visitors to here - this will link directly to our Support Article regarding this issue.
Sincerely,
J. A. Restucci
Vice Chairman & CEO
Axcess Internet Services, Inc.®
I have the same complaint about ILD Teleservices, I didn’t order this service either. When I got my BellSouth bill I noticed an extra charge also. Now I do have AOL, MSN and Yahoo. I noticed a charge from AOL, which I knew was supposed to appear on my Bellsouth bill, but this ILD company
I never heard of nor have any other member of my family.
I e-mailed BellSouth about this bill, that it had been added on to my telephone bill, and they e-mailed me back saying that they didn’t have anything to do with ILD, an that I would have to call ILD about the account. I called ILD and talked to someone who claimed that I had ordered their services when I had not. She asked if I wanted to discontinue the service and I told her yes.
Now they have already charged me $14.65 for their service which I paid, not even paying attention to the charges on my bill. Now they have charged me $16.45 for 2who knows what, and I’m not paying it. I have also ask BellSouth to put a block on my telephone line to keep third party companies from adding on to my telephone line in the future. ILD also said that they will refund my $14.00 which I won’t believe until I see the credit on my telephone bill.
My small business was contacted by this scam company about 6 months ago. I spoke with a lady who could barely speak English and was harassed into agreeing to a free 30 day web listing. They actually contacted me three times that day before I agreed to the free 30 day trial. I made it clear to her that I was not agreeing to any charges and she said her company would contact me at least twice before they would proceed with any charges.
Six months later a charge appeared on my Bellsouth phone bill from Axcess Internet Solutions, Inc. I couldn’t even remember speaking to these people at first, but when I started to research the company online I realized what had happened. Why isn’t the FCC or someone doing something about these idiots!?
I was recently billed by ILD for Internet services, and at the same time, I was double-billed for Internet services by Bellsouth. I spoke with Bellsouth about the issue, and did not receive much help.
I will not do business with Bellsouth again. If I send a bill out to a customer under my name, I am responsible for the billing, and I should be responsible for each line item. If I can not explain the charge, the responsibility lies on me. Bellsouth did not take responsibility for the billing and transferred it to me.
Then, they threatened to turn my account over to a collections agency. I am job hunting, and I do not have enough time and energy to spend on this issue. But, some legislation must be passed to minimize this activity. I want to allocate some time to this matter. Please contact me if I can assist in lobbying to change this issue.
Tez, 404.297.3239
I received a post card from the (expletives deleted) at Axcess Internet Solutions. They have a fly-by-night yellow pages type web site at http://www.typ.bz and they had set up a really bad “listing” for my company which didn’t even get our hours of business correct, and they did it without any authorization. The post card said that we would be billed unless we cancelled first. I cancelled with them, and now I get to wait to see if they really cancelled their “service” or if I’ll get billed anyway. I’ve already filed a complaint with the FTC about this company. Companies that operate in this way make me so mad I can’t see straight.
I just received my BellSouth bill and also had charges on there for a company I never heard of — ILD for $14.95 for Surfsafe Internet Charges. They are closed today but I will call tommorrow after I get home from work to get this little scam taken care of.
We have been billed $32.95 for 4 months. I cannot get the charges off my bill. They say it is for Axcess Internet Solutions. Why would I have agreed to a free webpage when we have more business then we can handle? I am so angry at this group that has conned us. They used a recording of my voice, answering questions about a free listing and overwrote the questions. When I disputed the bill, they played the recording of my voice but had dubbed in new questions to make it appear that I agreed to their services. Well, after calling Sprint again today, I was able to get someone that could actually help me. The representative was able to put a third party block (allowed in NC) and credited the charges. How do you like me now ILD!
My phone & DSL internet service bill from AT&T or SBC has been $140 a month for about 6 months now. I was distracted and paid it, but recently I have had a house fire and had no renter’s insurance, so I had to pay for a motel for a few weeks while my place was being fixed and eating out and all and paying my rent and other bills.
I stopped and took notice of my bill. It is only supposed to be $94.00 a month but ILD Teleservices has been billing me $28.74 and USBI has been billing me $14.41 a month for services I don’t even recieve from them. I have tried calling them with no luck and my phone and Internet service expects me to pay them as part of my bill with them. How can that happen? I am going to lose my phone and Internet because of it. What can I do to stop this and get credit for past payments made?
I did not order this service, and have no intentions of paying this. It should be against the law for someone to do this to a person’s bill. I was unable to reach them.
I think this company owes us all alot of money for doing what they did and for our time having to take care of this matter. I did not ask for a service, and yet they are going to charge me for it over and over again. I don’t think so.
I just found them on my bill. I think if enough people are getting scammed like this, that we should all organize and plan a trip to their offices — and pay them in sacks of pennies. I don’t know about you, but it would be worth the expense to me to get photos of that day, when the people deluged ILD Teleservices in a sea of smelly copper coins.
The more I think about it, I would love to be a part of that. As soon as they open the first person walks in and empties his sack on the nearest desk, leaves his name and number and leaves. As soon as he hits the door, the next person comes in and does the same. After the third or fourth person, it will be clear to them that they are caught up in something. By day’s end, they’ll have to walk on pennies to get out the door.
I’d love to tell my grandkids I did that.
Anyway, got my bill today (May 2006) from Verizon and like everyone else, I got bogus charges from ILD Teleservices Inc who claims to be a “pass-through” billing vehicle for Skillzsafe who is the real culprit.
Basically, the charges were for:
Skillzsafe1X Emailsetp - $14.95
Skillzsafe Email Mth - $14.95
Skillzsafe Cost Rcvy - $2.99
TOTAL: $32.89
When I called ILD Teleservices to inquire about the charges, they claimed that they have my signature agreeing to the services. What they don’t know is that the bill is in my grandma’s name who happens to be over 80 years old and does not speak English! How they would have her signature is beyond me! Naturally I then asked to see a copy of the signature and they finally relented that they don’t have the actual signature, just a document that “says” they have it. Don’t let these con-artists push you around!
I was then told, like others on this site, that I will be credited the amount of $32.89 in 1 to 3 billing periods. They said I can pay the amount now and wait for the credit later or call my service provider (e.g. Verizon) and inform them about the impending credit. I’ve learned enough
in life to know that you NEVER pay them upfront. It’s is almost near-impossible to EVER get your money back once it has been given away. Always dispute the charges and never pay when it’s illegitimate. This a good general rule for all similar situations in life.
Like others, I was extremely disappointed that Verizon allowed these charges to occur in the first place. When I spoke to verizon’s customer rep, I made it very clear that going forward, all miscellaneous charges are to be BLOCKED. She complied and said it has been noted in my account.
The lesson from all this is that we are now in a world of greater fraud and identity theft. Never share your personal information with anyone!
I hope my experience helps everyone as the previous postings & shared experiences have helped me. Good luck all!
AT&T, previously SBC, included in their monthly bill charges from ILD Telesevices for two months of Emergency Roadside Voicemail totalling $28.62. I don’t know what is or how to use Emergency Roadside Voicemail. Fortunately, I caught the scam in the first billing. I called ILD and they agreed to stop billing me but advised I would have to call Emergency Road Services at 866-527-4960 to dispute the bill as they (ILD) were acting as a billing for Emergency Road Services. That seemed strange. Instead, I called AT&T and complained about the fraudulent charges. AT&T agreed to “back charge” to ILD which meant that I did not need to pay the $28.62. They even asked me if I wanted to lock my account and not allow billing in the future from any outside company. I went for that option and got a letter confirming that my account was locked. I think everyone should do this. It forces the scammer to deal directly with the consumer and not hide behind two levels of billing agents.
We were billed for a Directory Assistance call that we never made. I talked to Michael at the above number at ILD Teleservices and told him that we never made such a call. After a very bad and heated discussion on his part, he finally granted a refund of all expenses (refund #10345). I then asked for his supervisor to get a clarification on when the credit would be issued. Derrick, the supervisor, was even more rude and said that the “law” gives them 90 days to issue a refund and that they WOULD take 90 days to do it. This can not be tolerated. The number of complaints, past government action, and lawsuits shows that this company has an extreme poor reputation. They MUST BE BANNED from the industry!!
Here’s a new name to add to the ILD con. My business BellSouth bill had charges from “Litespeed Connection” as the service provider. I first called BellSouth, and they took the charges off and told me that Litespeed’s phone number was 1-800-433-4518. This number turns out to be ILD, which was also listed on my BellSouth bill. They claimed that they were only Litespeed’s billing service, but they could not supply me with a phone number for Litespeed. They said they were taking off the charges and would e-mail Litespeed with my concerns about how they got my name and number so that Litespeed could call me. When I asked for the e-mail address, the gentleman replied it wasn’t in his system. After reading the information on your site, I probably won’t hear from “Litespeed Connection,” but I will be contacting the Florida Public Service Commission and the FTC. I will also be calling Bellsouth again and asking them why they continue to accept business from ILD, especially when they are obviously cramming, slamming, and abusing their company.
I am going to be direct and to the point. Why doesn’t anybody do anything against this company that is charging people for services that they never requested or never received?
In my latest Verizon bill there is a charge for $14.95 that goes up to $16.30 when taxes are included for Surfsafe Internet. What is SurfSafe Internet? Why would I request their services when I pay for Verizon DSL? I hope somebody is going to stop these people from stealing consumers’ money.
Scam! I have been charged 29.95 for web hosting fee. I do not use ILD or Axcess Internet Solutions. After calling 3 different numbers the billing was cancelled. I’m sure that Sprint/Embark will report me to credit agencies because I refused to pay for something that I did not authorize. Here is contact info. Fred Lloyd, VP Strategic Planning, ILD Telecommunications, Inc. 5000 Sawgrass Village Circle, Suite 30. Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. 32082. Office (904) 273-2440, FAX (904)285-3616. Flood them with faxes and phone calls!
I’ve just received a charge on my Sprint/Embarq phone bill from something called Nationwide Assit Emergency Vmail Monthly fee 12.95. I never signed up for anything like this. The phone co. offered NO help other than to tell me to call the number on the bill. When I called that number the rep agree to credit my account and remove the charges, but totall y refused to provide me with the company’s corporate identity or any physical address other than a P.O. Telephone numbers are not credit cards and shouldn’t be allowed to process third party billings without direct verification from their customer.
I’ve just received a charge on my Sprint/Embarq phone bill from something called Nationwide Assit Emergency Vmail Monthly Fee 12.95. I never signed up for anything like this. The phone co. offered NO help other than to tell me to call the number on the bill. When I called that number the rep agreed to credit my account and remove the charges, but totally refused to provide me with the company’s corporate identity or any physical address other than a P.O. Telephone numbers are not credit cards and shouldn’t be allowed to process third party billings without direct verification from their customer.
I live in Nevada and believe that this is probably the same scam under a different company name?
SurfSafe is an Internet services company that uses trickery to charge customers on their phone bills.
SurfSafe is located at:
Surf Safe Internet Services
96 Linwood Plaza #254
Fort Lee, NJ 07024
SurfSafe’s phone is 866-398-1625. Please contact SurfSafe to settle your complaints. You can contact SafeSurf with your offers to help.
Just got an unauthorized charge on my local telephone bill for the SECOND time from ILD Teleservices. Here is my story on how I dealt with ILD and the charging companies on both occasions. I hope it helps some of you out.
The first time I dealt with ILD was in 2004 when eChurch Network charged my business line a web hosting service setup fee. I called ILD (800-433-4518) who then gave me contact information for eChurch Network (866-232-4872).
eChurch informed me that they had a recording of my employee authorizing an Internet business listing for $50 setup and $24.99 per month. When I was finally able to listen to their recording, it was a “cut and paste” recording of my employee’s voice. I found out that my employee had received a call from someone posing as a local directory distributor who asked for permission to deliver the directories and for address verification. This information from my employee was then inserted into eChurch’s authorization recording. I called the local phone company to ask if it is common practice to call businesses in order to distribute directories, and they said no.
I found out that eChurch was investigated by the Iowa Department of Commerce Utilities Board for fabricating its authorization recordings. Iowa is one of the states who have laws against the despicable practice of cramming.
Whenever I dealt with eChurch, it was unpleasant. Every rep told me a different story and all reps were rude, especially Alyson, who hung up on me. I left several messages for the supervisor, Irene Vue. She never returned my messages. Meanwhile, ILD told me they could not cancel the charges imposed by eChurch AND the local phone company was telling me I had to pay the entire bill, disputed charge included, in order to avoid late fees.
That was it. I called the local FBI office and informed them of the fraudulent practices of ILD and eChurch. I called the Iowa Utilities Board to give them more fuel for the fire against eChurch. I called my state’s Public Utilities Commission, which unfortunately doesn’t have laws against cramming and so could do nothing. I filed complaints with the state Attorney General’s office, BBB, FTC and FCC.
On the back of my local phone company bill, is a very helpful number, that of the consumer advocate group (CAG) which usually assists residential customers with public utilities problems. They graciously agreed to help me after I explained my situation and all the assistance I had attempted. The CAG was able to convince the local phone company to recourse the charges to ILD and I only had to pay what I owed to the local phone company. The CAG also sent a letter to ILD on my behalf. ILD sent a lame response that they forwarded the complaint to eChurch.
I got a letter from eChurch a week later canceling and crediting my account in full. It was CC’d to the CAG. I hope your state has such a consumer advocate group you can turn to.
My second run-in with ILD happened just days ago. I was charged $50.01 for a monthly “web hosting” services from Burgeion Financial Inc., a company that doesn’t even have a web presence nor a business directory listing (they are not in Reference USA, Hoovers, nor Dun & Bradstreet). Luckily I didn’t have to go through all the legwork I had done with eChurch. I found out on another [website]((http://www.barik.net/archive/2005/09/21/170152/) that an ILD rep named Abraham was able to get charges taken off and accounts cancelled without a problem. I called ILD armed with this information and spoke with authority and experience (since I had gone through this with them before). I explained the situation to the rep I spoke with and asked for Abraham if the rep could not assist me. The rep told me that she could not transfer her call to another rep, according to her manager. So I asked to speak to her manager. After a few moments, the rep returned to the phone, and I was able to get the Burgeion account cancelled, BLOCKED and all charges reversed within 1-3 billing cycles. I’ll be watching my bill for this in the next 30-90 days.
I called my local telephone company to inform them of the unauthorized charge and to ask if I could not pay that part of my bill. The local phone company said I had to pay the entire bill or risk getting charged late fees. I agreed since I didn’t want to do any more work on the issue. I also inquired if I could block ILD from putting charges on my phone bill and my phone company said YES I CAN AT NO CHARGE. As of today, ILD can no longer put charges on my business telephone account! Check with your local phone company for this capability.
Something that is still at issue for me: I had called Burgeion Financial at 888-666-8710. They are on Pacific time. I called early Eastern time and got an answering machine. Someone did call me back and I told them that ILD is reversing the charges. I stupidly gave them my name and the name of the ILD rep and when I tried to ask more questions from the Burgeion rep, he hung up on me. I made another call to Burgeion and am waiting for them to call me back. I have a sinking feeling they will try to dispute ILD’s reversing charges. But I feel a bit safer in that ILD cannot put charges on my account thanks to my local telephone company.
Who the hell is ILD Teleservices? I am being charged for some web hosting service for a company that I don’t have. They are trying to bill me for two months of service plus a setup fee for $49.99 per month. If these clowns think that I am going to send them $149.97, they need to look into the website called “WHAT KIND OF FOOL TO YOU THINK I AM” and collect on that. This company needs to be investigated by the BBB and charges need to be filed against this fraudulant company.
They just got me too. Thanks for having this blog as a source of info and what I can expect to deal with now that I’ve been hit.
The bill is for $12.95 for voice mail services from ILD, the bill states the charges are on behalf of:
Service Provider - Empire Marketing, LLC
Like everyone else here, we never asked for any voice mail services and have no idea why these folks are billing us. I will be putting a 3rd party block on my BellSouth account so this does not happen again, and will not be paying the $12.95 regardless of what Bell South or ILD have to say about it.
I also had a ILD charge on my AT&T phone bill for $12.95 plus tax, $14.18 total. I called ILD and demanded a credit which I immediately was told would be on my next bill.
I was told by ILD that someone appled for the Vmail service, and got approved without authorization, using the following: name of Patty (I spell my name with an “i”), the last 4 digits of my social, and my home mailing address.
I am very disturbed by this, and will take any action I need to, to put these people in their proper place.
Well well. I too join the list of people who must have said “WTF is going one here” after they saw ILD services charge on phone bill.
I have Verizon phone/DSL service and today I saw that ILD has billed me for Nationwide Voice Message. I am itching to call them and I am not resting in peace until the charge is backed off.
Did any of you get a refund for this charge?
My charge is piddling in comparison, a mere $7.39. It was supposedly a collect call from Mexico. Only, it occurred on my birthday when my family and me were out to dinner, so I know no one was there to accept the charges.
I called the number listed on my AT&T bill for ILD and was funneled to Dulce at Link Systems (I don’t know what that was about), and she actually gave me no hassle at all. She gave me a reference number and assured me that the charge would be credited back in “2 to 3 billing cycles.” I wait with bated breath. (sarcasm intended)
I also called AT&T and spoke with billing. They used the reference number to put a hold on the full amount of this charge. This hold will keep the charge at bay for 30 days without affecting the status of the account. In other words, I can pay all of my bill expect the fraudulent charge and it will not be viewed as a late payment or subject to late charges or disconnect. Of course, 2-3 billing cycles far outnumbers 30 days, and I had already paid the bill before reading it through — my mistake there. Theoretically, the 30 days is to allow ILD to refund the charges — again, bated breath on my end. I may pass out even!
AT&T also told me that the research hold was all they could really do, they couldn’t prevent it from occuring again. I asked why that level of securuty wasn’t available to consumers, and she said that legally phone companies have to allow third party charges to the phones authorized by their clients. If they didn’t, they would have an equal number of angry customers and would be violating the law. They have no way of knowing whether or not a third party charge has been authorized, they can only deal with the charges retroactively, and on an individual basis. I pointed out the number of people who I found that had been fraudently charged by ILD (including one in Yonkers, who had the exact same amount charged from Mexico via collect call on the exact same day!), and she agreed that this wasn’t the first time she had heard the name.
Obviously these companies rely on people not checking their bill, or just assuming some one else in the household authorized the charges. I’m not sure where our recourse lies? With the FCC, FTC, PUC, or all of the above? I understand that Wisconsin and Florida have filed lawsuits agains ILD and similar companies, so perhaps consumer recourse is at the state level. Let’s all write our congressmen, and wait with even more bated breath for their replies.
I just noticed this site after recieving a $16 charge from ILD Teleservices on my BellSouth bill for “SurfSafe Internet”. The charge was for “Internet access monthly fee”. We just noticed it this evening, so no action has been taken yet, but tomorrow we will be calling ILD and our phone company to try to clear this matter. This was our first bill from them luckily.
Oh my god!! I am going nuts here. I just got my mill from AT&T and there’s a charge from ILD teleservices inc. for $28.74 for a 3 minute collect call. I have only accepted one collect call in the past few months and it was from my nephew who needed me to pick him up. I can’t believe that this company has the right to charge this much and have it put on your phone bill without letting you know what their fees are. I still have to call AT&T and ILD tomorrow. But right now I’m just pissed off! I read part of the injuction against them in Florida. I just want to know how we can get one in other states where this company works out of. I’ve seen a ton of websites where hundreds of people have gone through the same thing. This is just very upsetting.
Titus,
This blog is good. I just found it after looking for info on ILD and the scam artist known as David Stein. I just found out about them after talking to my service provider, which was after looking at my phone bill. I have read much about them now and have come to the conclusion that David Stein has no intention of stopping –ever!
The FTC has hit him, consumer affairs has hit him, the Attorney Generals of several states have had him in court, for years now, and today, I find that David Stein is still a scammer working as hard as he can to make every unethical cent possible. I do believe that he scams more money than the courts are taking in fines and other compensation and considering the numerous methods he has used to do it and the countless subsidaries and spin-offs from ILD, I have no doubt that the FTC is not done yet and won’t be until they actually shut him away or he finds lead!
In this day and age it is not too far fetched to wonder what he is doing with his money besides finding more ways of acquiring more money. Where the hell is Alberto Gonzales when there is an economic terrorist on the loose. Over the last 4 years, I see $675,000, $80,000, 250,000 fines over and over. Where the hell is the real justice? Who the hell is getting the kick-backs for keeping this vermon on the street and taking those kick-backs out of OUR pockets! Somebody is getting paid off because Real Justice would not allow this to happen year, after year, after bloody “rape the public” year!
What does it take?
Whose job is it?
Does it eventually have to become OUR job, and if so, don’t THEY know what that will mean?
We made it OUR JOB when the church of England got out of hand. We made it OUR JOB when we opened our eyes to the suffering of the American slaves. I know that I am not alone. I see some storms on the horizon. Maybe David Stein will disappear in the confusion of bigger things, or maybe it’s the Davis Steins of the world that are fomenting these storms. It’s no wonder they want our guns.
I just came back from being off work for six months after having surgery to find a bill from Axcess Internet Solutions, Inc. 1-800-433-4518 on my BellSouth bill for $29.95. After calling and canceling I found out they’d been billing me for nine months and due to the fact I was out of the office I didn’t catch the charge. Anyway, after arguing with the supervisor (so-called Ally Falcon from Las Vegas) I realized that I was getting nowhere. They had a pre-recorded voice of my office manager agreeing to this.
After realizing that we were told a month or two before this happened that we were getting a free phone line and my office manager was asked several questions, which she answered, I realized that they took her answers and edited her voice to look like she approved of this web hosting site. I run a small court reporting agency in Kentucky and have no need for a web hosting site. Anyway, I don’t know how these people sleep at night. I always say what goes around comes around. I just wish I was around to see these people get what they deserve! Everyone, watch out and check your phone bills (office, home, cell) EVERY MONTH!
Even though my SBC/ATT phone bill is auto drafted, I always check it when I receive my e-mail notification that a new bill is available online. For the second time in four months, there was an ILD Teleservices charge. The first time, several months ago, was for the roadside assistance service; it was credited promptly. This time, the charge was for Nationwide Voice VMail in the amount of $12.95.
I contacted ILD at the phone number on my bill, and their representative gave me the phone number for Nationwide VMail. The ILD rep stated they would cancel the subscription, and block the Nationwide VMail vendor (Same as they did with the roadside service vendor).
I called 800-773-5219 and promptly spoke with Andrew, representive #342. He cancelled and said I would receive the credit within two billing cycles. So we shall see.
Bottom line — check your phone bill - even if you auto draft.
I got hit with ILD, charged for 3 months. My service provieder (AT&T) would not take responsibility — WHICH THEY SHOULD. I called ILD and quickly got through and they had no problem refunding me. The most disturbing thing about this whole thing is what ILD told me: “ANYBODY CAN PUT THIS ON YOUR ACCOUNT.” I believe it was a teenager on a network machine filling out something for free coupons.
I received the monthly bill from our phone service provider, Qwest (which is a different company than the long distance provider) and discovered long distance charges (at 15 cents a minute) from a company I did not recognize, ILD Teleservices Inc. I called to inquire about the long distance services because I’ve been using Sprint at 5 cents per minute for long distance and for our 800 number for our in-home business.
I was told that my husband authorized the switch to ILD; he assured me he did not authorize anything (I handle all phone set-ups, changes, etc. and he would never have authorized a change). I told ILD to discontinue their long distance service and I would be reactivating my account with Sprint. I called Sprint and it’s not that easy to switch back. I had to fill out a form from an email and fax it to Sprint and it could take days to get the account reactivated. I’m told until this can happen I could be billed by random long distance providers since I don’t have a long distance provider at this time. The charges could run $2.00 to $8.00 per minute! So I called my phone service provider, for the fourth time today, and had to pay $5.00 to insure that my long distance will be through Sprint but they couldn’t make that happen right away — it would take 4 days. Who knows what charges will accrue by then, and all of this the fault of ILD Teleservices, whom we never authorized to use in the first place! ILD Teleservices are obviously scam artists — just read the posts at Consumer Affairs.
Today in my SBC Dallas bill, I had a charge from ILD Link Systems for 9.95. I called the 1-800-433-4518, waited for 25 minutes, and finally a guy answered the phone. I explained to him that nobody accepted a callect call, and they told me it was an error in the invoice deparment. They gave me a confirmation number and I wrote down the name of the person who assisted me. Then I called SBC, explained the situation, and they requested from me the confirmation number and the person who did it. They will credit the charges in two months.
Add me to the list. 9.37 collect call to Mexico. Called Qwest and they took off the charge.
I just got my phone bill from At&t and notice a $13.76 charge for a call to Mexico. I have no idea why on earth I would be charged for a call I never made and decided to look up the name of the company, Link Systems, Inc. and found this page. Now I know I’m not crazy. It is amazing that a company like this can exist. Somebody please sue them!
And, if you live in the State of Florida, you can add insult to injury: after getting hit with charges from ILD that I have now spent four months trying to clear up, I asked my local telephone company (Embarq, formerly Sprint) if they could code my account so that ILD — or anyone else for that matter — couldn’t add charges for services I never requested. I was cheerfully told “Sure - for a $30.00 fee!” You read it right: I have to pay $30.00 to prevent ILD from charging me $1.95. God bless America.
I made a 1-minute phone call and was charged $5.00 twice on the same day. Then 2 days later, they charge my card another $16.
I had many charges from ILD Teleservices between 2000 & 2004. I had Pac Bell (now AT&T) take it off several times. After adding more charges. I contacted ILD and they refused to cooperate when I asked for a copy of any such contract or agreement.
So I trumped ILD Teleservices & Pac Bell. And, I told them this was an illegal agreement. I challenged Pac Bell to prove it was a legal contact. They refused to cooperate. So I asked where I could send a summons to court. I was taking them to small claims court. After they stumbled through a few excuses they finally put me on hold for about 40-45 minutes. Then a supervisor finally agreed to refund me over $700.00 for all past billings from ILD Teleservices. It never happened again. The phone company is able to stop the charges!
I suggest every one start this kind of action. Threaten to hit them in the pocket books.
Our government won’t defend us enough to be effective. ILD Teleservices fraudulently bills thousands of people each month collecting between 2 and 10 million dollars each month in fraudulent charges.
Don’t think your phone company seeks to protect you either. They get a fee to bill you for ILD Teleservices. It’s a scam which our government should be ashamed of — and has failed to protect us on miserably. So, do you think people are being paid off? Yes, I think so.
I have a charge (”nationsvm mthly fee”) from ILD on my Verizon phone bill. I have never had contact with this company, and have no idea how they got my name. I don’t plan to pay it.
I’ve tried getting a hold of them, but I never seem to be able to get to them during business hours. The one time I did, I was on hold for 20 minutes and gave up. Anyway, they’re now costing me $45/mo, which more than doubles my phone bill. I make just enough to get by as it is. That’s a hard blow at the point I’m at. And now they’re putting multiple monthly charges for the same service on my bill. My recent statement shows monthly voice mail service charges for 3 different amounts and 3 different dates. I should add that, of course, I didn’t request the service, nor was I informed of how to access it. BellSouth just lets this go on, too. It’s ridiculous. The way I see it, BellSouth should be reprimanded for that, as well. They can’t honestly say that nobody there has noticed the fraudulent charges.
As soon as I have the money for the setup charges, I’m switching phone services, probably to Comcast Voice.
Thank you Jeff Oliver! I am a recent victim of ILD Teleservices. They are only hitting me up for $7.17 (smaller charge) for a collect call from Mexico which never occurred but it’s just the principle of it. Why should I pay some parasite for something I didn’t use? My local service is BellSouth which I think has joined with ATT recently. They tried to tell me I had to take it up with ILD — that there is nothing they can do about it. If you call ILD’s toll free number, you never get through.
So I am going to try Jeff’s tactic on BellSouth or something similar. After all it’s BellSouth’s bill. Would they rather take the word of some parasite criminal corporation or their own customers? Not to mention that any local service can tell what numbers you’ve called and what numbers have called yours. Can’t they match it against what some crooks like ILD says and prove that you didn’t use whatever service ILD says you did?
Charged a collect call from Mexico, disputed with Verizon, requested call blocking for any collect calls. Credited with charges after e-mail to ILD and Verizon. Need to contact FCC on this scam.
This month I was charged with a service on my telephone bill that I have never requested. I have yet to call the telephone company and let them know. I plan on doing it tomorrow. The name of the companies are: Nationwide Assist Emergency Vmail, Enhanced Services Billing, Inc. These services are illegally put on your phone bill.
Last several months, my BellSouth phone bill has included extra charges from ILD that I did not authorize. It was monthly voice mail service fee from a company called “New Link Network”. I called ILD, and according to a woman answered the phone, the service was authorized by a “Tammy Watts”. No one in my family knows any “Tammy Watts”. “Tammy Watts” is not even remotely similar to my or anyone’s name in my household! I asked the ILD woman: “Who is this Tammy Watts?”
She gave me the lame excuse: “She may just mistyped phone number and accidentally signed up with your number on the internet.” What a stupid liar! I checked my local white pages. There is no one with Watts last name having a similar phone number as mine! By the way, “New Link Network” has the same address and the same 800 phone number as “Nationwide Voice”. People may start to be aware of “Nationwide Voice”, so they changed their name to “New Link Network”. ILD has been doing business with this company for many years. ILD knew what this New Link Network is up to. Both ILD and New Link Network are criminals.
Though I am unhappy about my recent “Mystery Charge”, I am glad that such a forum has been created. Mine showed up in my bank account this morning, so I assume they have my credit card number. After Googling the name “ILD Teleservices”, nothing but the word fraud came up on 100 websites as I am sure you are all aware. I called and canceled that card right away. Sorry guys, I feel your pain. Next on the list, the FCC.
Anara Guard:
I received my BellSouth bill today and there was an ILD charge for a 3 minute collect call that I did make from GA to MS in January. The bill was $31.26 for 3 minutes! I disputed the charge and was told the exact same thing you apparently were. Has the charge been credited back to your account yet?
Just billed $7.18 from ILD for some bogus service that never took place. Will not bother calling them for they never answer your call. Will file formal complaints with FCC, California and Florida Attorneys General, and AT&T. These lower life forms should be put in prison.
I just received my phone bill from AT& T on April 16, 2007 and the bill was more than usual, so I scanned the bill and found a charge from NEW LINK NETWORK LLC VMAIL MONTHLY FEE phone number 1-800-773-5219. They said someone using my e-mail address requested the service from Register.freeze.com, some sort of voicemail. I called this number and spoke to a woman named Linda and she said she would issue a credit to my phone company but it would take 1-2 billing cycles. I am now in the process of calling my phone company. I am also going to file a complaint with Consumer Affairs.
The scary thing is that when I called they kept asking for more of my information. I stated they had enough to put it on my phone bill to begin with. When I asked (demanded) they cancel the service and refund the money, they kept asking for more of my information. I again told them if they did not need that information to add it to my ATT bill, they did not need it to take it off. Persistence paid off. My only concern now is they stated there might be future bills because it takes a while to get the account removed. I stated I wanted it immediately and there will be no future charges. We’ll see how far that goes.
I’m back again! So after reading some of the complaints about ILD, I read a complaint on here by Connie. Sure enough, Thanks Connie! I also called ATT and they took off the $21.18 for 3 minutes that was billed by ILD and blocked ILD from future charges on my account. ATT will send the ILD charges back to them! Hip Hip Hurray. Now we’ll see what ILD will come up with now.
I also had charges from Enhanced billing services and I have had to call every month to get it cleared up. They did credit some stuff, however there is now a 460 past due fee from all of this mess. My bill every month is around $44-$46. I have my internet $14.99 added to my phone bill and that is all.I cannot afford to pay these outrageous charges that first of all I did not authorize. They said that someone using my email address did. I asked AT&T if they could block these fraud charges from being placed on my bill and they said they could not. It is their bill. I don’t see why not. Something needs to be done about this because apparently its happening from people who are using computers from the complaints I have been reading. I am not paying these charges. If my bill is $45 a month where did the $60 come from? I pay my bill every month and I have had problems with my bill since I got my computer in December. All was fine with my bill before that. Apparently somehow this is happening and I am going to file a complaint if this isn’t taken care of. I want that money taken off my bill. I was told by the company to pay it and they would reimburse me. Yeah right! I cannot afford to pay it, I am on a fixed income!
I am in CA, Bay area. Noticed a $7+ charge on my ATT bill from ILD Services for a call to a Nevada directory assistance number. I do not call any number with outside area codes from this number and do not even call 411 because I know they charge 25 cents. Called ATT and spoke to Fran. She said they cannot stop these charges from showing up on my bill (lock out) and they are required, by law, to pass them on to me. She said my only option is to ask ILD to remove charges but I cannot get hold of them, plus I am afraid that by calling ILD I will incur another bogus charge.
ATT said that I must have called 411. I said I did not. She asked if anyone else has access
to the phone and could have made the call. I kept saying no and she kept asking me three more time, like I am lying! Finally I said that this is a bogus charge and I am not paying. Fran said she all she can do is to note that on my record! I am frustrated and disappointed to see companies like this continue to exist and operate in my state. It certainly cannot be due to lack of evidence.
They’re at it again. Our company AT&T phone bill has had a monthly charge of $29.95 added for the last YEAR paying ILD for “Discount Bus. Services- Internet Monthly Fee”.
After the interminable wait on hold, an ILD representative told me that this was for a dial up internet connection ordered by a member of staff: he quoted the name of an employee who flatly denies any such order. The company has had Time Warner broadband for the past several years, and there is no reason to have a dial up account. He agreed to cancel it, but no refund was forthcoming.
Why do reputable? companies like AT&T do business with these shysters?
I received my Verizon bill for Jul 4, 2007 and it had a charge of $14.95 on it. I did not accept nor did I authorize this. What a scam/spam and a dump.
It sounds horrible to say, but I’m glad I’m not the only one with “ILD troubles”. While at the Raleigh-Durham airport awaiting a delayed flight, I had to make some phone calls using my bank debit card. Not believing there would be issues, I made four or five short calls to notify family of my late flight times. When I arrived home the next day (a Saturday), I find not only five charges of $5 each dated 8/17, but also additional charges dated 8/18 and even today, 8/19, for amounts: $39.00, $37.97, $34.11, $34.11, and $34.11. I am quite ready to locate Mr. Stein and demonstrate just how quickly he or anyone associated with ILD can meet his maker. Slaps on the wrist by FTC or any government agency are simply insufficient. He and scum like him have no right to breathe our air. Charges are going to be filed.
I just received a bill for 3 collect calls from a phone booth for $150 plus about $30 in what they called “FCC taxes.” The calls were billed at $6 per minute. When I called they offered me a 40% credit then quickly a 60% credit. I told them I am still not paying $3.60 per minute for a US call.
The refused to tell me who owned the phone. They claim they are just a billing service.
I told them I would not pay it. As long as you pay your local phone company their charges, they will not shut off our phone.
This is my second billing from ILD, I called last month when I noticed the new charges of $40.09 and called to cancel and receive credit. My new bill came and I called them again, they tell me it takes 2-3 billing cycles to have the charges removed. I requested a call back from their manager with the phone call that authorized this service. I am furious! What do I do?
This just happened to me. My wife used HotGiftZone and they auto billed me $12.95.