Essential.com I mean .dead - Check your bills..

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xsecurity

Member
Feb 15, 2000
102
0
0
Forgive me if I'm late in noticing this..

Well, I helped kill another one. I just noticed that I got a charge from QWEST on my December bill, from a LD call I made in September. At 4 times my rate.. .33 cents for 1 minute is crazy..

After a little research, I found out Essential.com filed chapter 11 and have been switching users without telling them.

Their LD service ran over QWEST lines, yet the monkeys at QWEST have no knowledge of the Chapter 11 and their systems were down when I just called.

Info site ...
http://essentiallygone.com/
News ...
http://essentiallygone.com/essential_com_news.html
Slamming info...
http://10-10phonerates.com/slamming_tips.html
 
C

CivilRightsLawyer

Senior member
May 3, 2001
345
0
0
if i get charged on my credit card by essentials.com for excessive rates, i'm going to dispute the charges. i signed up with essential this summer and they offered $25 cash to new customers....

 
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sjshaw

Member
Feb 5, 2001
160
0
0
It's about time these choad huffers went out of business. I could write a freakin' dissertation on their (lack of) customer service. The only bad thing is that I'm sure the CEO and others made out like bandits... literally.
 
R

Ribbet

Senior member
Feb 18, 2000
238
0
0
Just got an e-mail from Essential about **new rates** beginning January, 2002:::

New Essential Rates

We've used Essential for 1-2 years -- **no fees**, good/ok rates, no problems, etc.

But beginning 1/02 they'll charge a: Monthly Advance Fee of $4.95

We dumped AT&T, MCI, etc. because their fees usually far-exceeded our LD bills. Now we must find another alternative.

 
D

dteague

Member
Jun 14, 2001
97
0
0
I got in on the whole essential.com bit when they offered $100 a line to switch. Never had any problems with them, but then I don't make too many long distance calls. I'll probally hit Save On Phone.com and pick one of the choices there. The top one is only 4 cents a minute to the states you call on a regular basis.

I also got the email from the new company and it's new rates...

I know I will not stay with this new company.
 
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frenchy1

Junior Member
Jul 30, 2001
2
0
0
xsecurity is smoking crack. He is just trying to promote another service.

I have been an essential customer since they started (got $100 for signing up) and never had a problem. Some of the best rates around especially for international calls. Calling card rates are very good too.

We'll see how the bankruptcy plays out but so far no change in service.
 
G

geekender

Platinum Member
Apr 26, 2001
2,414
0
0
they aren't switching you with Qwest, they used Qwest lines....resold the service. therefore when they filed Chapter 11, you still are with Qwest....but you aren't in their database and are getting billed "casual billing" rates. Call Qwest and explain what is going on....tell them you want some calling plan so they will make it retroactive....then begin shopping for the carrier you want....or stay with Qwest.
 
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DaveF

Member
Jun 8, 2001
120
0
0
Ah, Essential.com! I signed up when they had their $100 bonus and 6.9 cents per minute a couple of years back. They also had a $25 bonus for viewing 3 online pages of info. After not getting the $25 bonus, I called them up and they said they would apply it to my bill. They ended up applying a $25 credit to every month's bill! I never paid long distance. Then I had to switch telephone numbers to get a DSL line and forgot to call Essential.com with the new number. Next thing you know, Essential is sending me a final bill ($0), and Qwest is sending me an outrageous bill (3 months at 15 cents/min). Arrghhhh!

I called Qwest and they said, if I signed up for their 5 cents/minute plan, they would credit me the difference for those months. Also, if I paid online (actually automatically deducted from a CC), they would wave the monthly charge. So, to get your money back, you have to use their service until your credit runs out, if you want to switch carriers.

Anyway, if anyone wants to get in on this plan (5 cents/minute, no monthly fee), I can refer you. Email or PM me. Pretty simple for online bill paying- they send you an email when posted to review, and you choose between CC and bank acct for payment.

edit: in-state ld calls can be switched to Qwest, too. Mine's 12 cents/min.
 
AuctionHugh

AuctionHugh

Senior member
Nov 22, 2001
272
0
76
www.kallenweb.com
I dumped my long distance carrier, and now I have to dial 1010255 or some 1010 number to dial long distance. This saved me (in michigan) not only the $5 I was getting billed per month for a calling plan, but also the $5 tax or so that fed/state added on if I have a long distance carrier. Plus I called the folks up to sign up for a plan (minimum $.75 per month), which is I believe 7 cents per minute 24/7. Since we make most LD calls for free on my (work) cell phone, I was paying about $.50 per minute for actual calls made when I take the total cost divided by total minutes used when I had AT&T. Now it is a true 8 cents or so with tax. Love it! Unfortunately, I can't tell you off the top of my head what the 1010xxx number is, and what the 800 num is to sign up. If anyone cares, PM me and I'll call the spouse and ask her to look it up and post it later.

:)
 
A

Artist9

Member
Oct 4, 2001
95
0
0

Call 1-877-922-6699 for 5 cents a minute rates and no monthly fees. The 5 cents is broken up to increments of the minutes as well. They only bill after your fees add up to $10.00 or more. I just got my first bill after 3 months.
 
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dbLA

Senior member
Jun 9, 2000
252
0
0
As best I can gleen from their website, essential.com will soon start charging a minimum 90 minutes usage per month, whether you actually make any calls or not.

I just (5 minutes ago) switched from essential to everdial.com, which offers no monthly fee, no monthly minimum, 4.9 cents/min interstate, and, within California, 3.49 cents/min (including Local Toll Calls). Oh, they also do 6 second billing, instead of by the minute.

Their online form asks for a SS number, which I don't like to give, so I called their customer service and was told that I could enter any 9 digit number for SS, so long as they have my credit card on file.

Essential.com's threat of a 90 minute minimum was too expensive for me, since most of my long distance goes through OneSuite.com (prepaid 2.9 cents per minute) for domestic and BigZoo.com for International calls.
 
J

JJordan

Golden Member
Dec 27, 1999
1,069
0
0
I just swithed today from Essential to Sonix4u.com becuase all of my longdistance on my home phone is to Germany and it is 6 cents/minute. No fees. Local calls seem cheap too. Hope they are OK.
 
X

xsecurity

Member
Feb 15, 2000
102
0
0
No crack here.. I just can't get to essential.com from work for some reason.. After getting billed by QWEST, I quickly switched to zoneld..
Seemed good at the time..

Guess I'll try from home and call later..

jp
 
RossMAN

RossMAN

Grand Nagus
Feb 24, 2000
79,020
435
136
I signed up for Essential.dead over a year ago when they were offering a $100 free check.

There was a provision that I had to stay an Essential.com customer for at least 6 months.

After 6 months passed, I signed up with the hottest long distance deal ever the free $150 Amazon GC from MCI Small Business, bought the $300 Fuji Finepix 1400 digital camera for only $50 thanks to MCI.

After receiving my $150 Amazon GC I cancelled MCI and opted to have no long distance carrier since I use BigZoo.com.

Recently I received an e-mail from AT&T offering me a free $25 Amazon.com GC if I switch back to them.

:D
 
A

alphansx

Member
Feb 20, 2001
138
0
0
does anyone know any long distace phone company that have low rates & No minimum fee every month. i hardly make long distance calls
 
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cmv

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
3,490
0
76


<< does anyone know any long distace phone company that have low rates & No minimum fee every month. i hardly make long distance calls >>


OneSuite.com

Sign up for OneSuite.com. My brother and I used it while he was a state away staying with some people using their phone line. Basically you go sign up for the OneSuite.com account, call and 800 number, punch in your pin, and call wherever for 2.9 cents a minute. But they also have some other good stuff like if you are calling from the same phone number a lot (such as your home phone number) just punch it in on the site and you won't get prompted for a PIN next time you call in. So basically calling long distance is now an 800 number + long distance number. Obviously the best bet is to put that 800 number on speed dial and you're all set. You know you can cancel your long distance and still call 800 numbers? I'm planning on doing this soon. I don't see any reason NOT to get 2.9 cents a minute with no monthly fees and all the other BS the phone companies try to get you to go with...

There have been threads about OneSuite.com so go snarf them out if you want more information. The only problem we've had (and it was just once or twice in 3+ months of calling) was a busy signal on the 800 number. Hang up, call again, got through without problems...
 
J

jrichrds

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,537
3
81
10-10phonerates.com and essentiallygone.com are made by the same person, someone more interested in making money off of you than helping you. Anytime you sign up with one of his "recommended" long distance companies, he gets money.
Notice how he fails to mention the best options in longdistance...prepaid services like onesuite. If he ever cuts a deal with BigZoo or some other company to make money, then you'll see it on his site.

What I recommend...
Use 1-800 prepaid services like BigZoo, OneSuite, etc.
If you're looking for a normal direct-dial LD service to back up these 1-800 prepaid services, one good choice is Verzion "SmartTouch." Even though it's direct-dial LD, it's still prepaid, and the per-minute rates are all-inclusive, meaning you won't get any extraneous taxes and surcharges (no monthly fees either). As an added bonus, their International rates (no monthly fees either) are better than Verizon's own postpaid International calling plans with monthly fees. The good thing about Verizon SmartTouch LD is not their rates though (8cents/minute domestic ain't that great, but it's better than most no-monthly-fee normal LD services from one of the major phone companies). It's that you won't get any extra taxes, surcharges, monthly fees on your phone bill, which is especailly good if your current LD provider charges you taxes and fees even if you don't place a long distance call!
So SmartTouch is a great backup when BigZoo, etc. are busy during peak times.

http://www.getsmarttouch.com/

It's a relatively new service. My Verizon local phone service customer rep. had no clue what it was and kept trying to get me to switch to one of Verizon's postpaid LD plans...very annoying when they're commission-based.
 
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