MEGAPATH and ITS OVERBILLINGS ARE TO BE AVOIDED!
We started with Covad, and then got a proposal from Megapath for a $109.00 a month DSL line. We are in a very high security high rise in LA. The Megapath tech came out to install without SPEAKING with our IT guy or us, and was refused entrance because he did not have security clearance and no proof of insurance. That happened in October of 2011.
On November 19, I got a billing from Megapath for $380.24 AND WE DID NOT HAVE ANY DSL SERVICE YET!
It took me 10 days, but on 11/29 I finally got a hold of a PERSON on the phone at Megapath. She apologized, said the whole billing process was messed up, and that we should not have been billed at all until service was started. I told her we were having trouble getting the Megapath tech OUT to install the line. She told me how to get that done, and that we should not pay until we got service. Once the service was up, she would get involved, straighten out the billing, get us a credit of the improper charges, and we would be good to go.
It took another couple of weeks, but on December 16, Megapath got us our new DSL service. I then got a December 22, 2011 billing for $630.30: we had only had 6 days of service!
I made multiple calls to Megapath's billing department, and no one answered or returned my calls during January and early February. When I finally got through, I asked for the same lady who had helped me before, I was told she was gone. I was back to square one. I was told that I had to fill out some special forms and to submit them to service for consideration by email. I got confirmation that my forms had been submitted and received, and then 15 to 30 days later, an email telling me it had been considered and addressed. Trouble was, there was no explanation as to what had been done or not done, or why. Again, no one returned our calls.
We then got notices that we were late in payments and that we were going to be disconnected. While we had some technical problems with the line, before we could address them, Megapath disconnected us and terminated our contract simply because I wanted a corrected billing before I paid.
Today, I figured out the scam when I spoke to the head collection guy. FIANALLY, last week, a very nice person from billing called me, I assume in response to my emails and all the messages I had left. I took him through all the billings we had received, and he understood my reluctance to pay $600+ for nothing when we had no DSL service. I told him I was more than willing to pay for the four months of service we got, not the $1921.02 we were billed by Megapath on May 27, 2012. At the end of the conversation, we had agreed that I would pay for the four months and sign a new contract. In exchange, Megapath would credit the over charged amounts and close out that account. Great. Deal done. Matter resolved.
Yesterday he called to set it all up, and then shortly thereafter called to say the deal had been nixed by the collection department. When I finally spoke to the collection guy today, I learned how Megapath does business: it is not the service, or long term relationship they are after, it is the money they believe they can collect aggressively applying the terms of their one sided "agreement" which I was repeatedly reminded we had signed. According to the Megapath collection manager, we only had 60 days to challenge a billing, and even if we challenged it, we still had to pay it and then submit an application for a refund. If Megapath felt it was warranted, it might return the money. When I told him I was being billed for DSL services we never got, he said we were bound by the terms of the agreement we signed. AND, because we had not paid the billings, despite our complaints, Megapath could terminate the contract and begin to apply early termination fees. I could not believe it. I told him I had struck a deal with Megapath last week and he told me that deal was gone. He said I was obligated to pay the termination charges, and that I would have to pay them. I reminded him that it was Megapath the terminated our agreement, not us, and that termination charges did not apply. He said I would have to pay the termination charges, and that the matter would be turned over to collections.
Megapath's goal is not happy or well serviced customers, but charging and collecting fees under the terms of its agreement. And, if it can collect for DSL services it has not even provided, all the better.
That is how and why Megapath has billed us $1920+ for four months of $109 a month DSL services. Not bad. $1400 for not providing ANYTHING.
Clearly we are going to fight it, as Megapath cannot charge for services it did not provide.
If you have had similar experiences with Megapath, I would like to know about it, as what they are doing does not appear to be legal. read more
