STATE OF MICHIGAN

Michigan Public Service Commission

6545 Mercantile Way --- P.O. Box 30221

Lansing, Michigan 48909

 

In the matter of the complaint of                            )           Case Number:_____________

                                                                                    )

TECHNOLOGY EXPERTS CORP.                               )

 

against

 

LDMI TELECOMMUNICATIONS INC. and/or         )

D/B/A TALK AMERICA INC.,  and/or                     )

D/B/A CAVALIER TELEPHONE                               )

 

FORMAL COMPLAINT

 

I, Thomas L. Fox, president of:

 

Technology Experts Corporation, located at

980 South Telegraph Road,

Monroe, Michigan, 48161,

734-457-5000,

 

brings this Formal Complaint against:

 

Cavalier Telephone Company, formerly or currently also known as

Talk America Inc, formerly or currently also known as

LDMI Telecommunications, with a mailing address of

3300 North Pace Boulevard,

Pensacola, Florida, 32505,

 

and a registered business office with the Michigan Public Service Commission at

Talk America Inc., d/b/a Cavalier Telephone,

6805 Route 202,

New Hope, PA 18938

 

for violation of the Michigan Telecommunications Act.

 

I request that a contested case be conducted against this party.

The telephone numbers covered in this complaint are:

 

734-457-5000

734-244-7287

734-244-7298

734-241-7591

734-244-7288

734-244-7299

734-241-7592

734-244-7289

734-244-7300

734-241-7593

734-244-7290

734-244-7301

734-240-0200

734-244-7291

734-244-7302

734-457-4332

734-244-7292

734-244-7303

734-457-0680

734-244-7293

734-244-7304

734-243-1500

734-244-7294

734-244-7305

734-242-5600

734-244-7295

734-244-7306

734-244-7033

734-244-7296

 

734-241-1200

734-244-7297

 

 

My daytime phone number is (734) 457-5000. My fax number is  (734) 457-4332.

My  e-mail address is tfox@expertsmi.com.

 

This complaint involves my :

__X__ Local Service __X__ Local Long Distance __X__ Long Distance

 

__X__ Other, please specify:  Toll Free Service

 

I have spent more than 20 hours of my own time, in an effort to correct this matter.

 

Specify your loss of revenue or income, due to the disputed action or inaction by the telephone company. Please attach an itemized list of the loss of income and/or undue expenses.

 

I have spent $XX to preserve and ultimately forcibly extract my toll free numbers from this carrier (copies of charges attached).

 

Please provide a detailed description of your telephone service complaint. Also include your contacts with the company and their response or resolution to the complaint.

 

In February, 2006, we contracted with LDMI/Talk (subsequently after acquisitions Cavalier) for local telephone service for our business.  An initial install date of March 9, 2006 was provided. LDMI missed this date.

 

It was finally installed on March16, 2006 – and we immediately had problems with our hunting groups. Through various service issues and outages, we stuck with LDMI/Talk/Cavalier, until we finally had had enough.

 

On March 20, 2007, we experienced an outage that lasted several days, followed by another outage in June, 2007 that lasted an entire day. Despite our having assurances in writing that we would receive significant credits for outages such as this, LDMI/Talk/Cavalier refused to issue anything more than a token credit.

 

At this time, we began the process of moving our service to another provider, McLeod USA.

 

Our services were moved to McLeod USA on August 17, 2007.

 

Despite numerous telephone calls, faxes and Fed-Exes to LDMI/Talk/Cavalier, the company has continued to bill us for services that were disconnected, and had refused to allow our new carrier to port our toll free numbers off the Cavalier network, despite assurances from company management that they would in fact allow the toll free numbers to port over.

 

Listed below is a brief synopsis of the calls and communications I have had with LDMI/Talk/Cavalier. I have recordings of some of these calls available should the Commission require them:

 

7/27/2007    (On hold 19 minutes before speaking with a rep)

Spoke to rep Alisha (Rep #4034) requesting credits for outage. She took my information and indicated I had to fax a request. I faxed it to 1-800-488-7915. No call back or credit issued.

8/28/2007    (On hold 28 minutes before speaking with a rep)

Spoke to rep Brandy (Rep number not recorded). Explained my services were disconnected on August 17, and that my billing should stop as of that date. She indicated their system did have this information in it. I explained that Cavalier was rejecting my toll free port, she said to fax a letter to 866-404-4203 explaining services need to be transferred to McLeod. Letter faxed. I also discussed with her the Router that is still here, and that they will need to pick it up, or we would have to charge storage fees. She said they will pick up the equipment.

11/7/2007    Fed-Exed a letter to Martin Clift, VP, regulatory affairs and copy to Edward Meyercord, President (copy attached) outlining issues and requesting immediate contact. No contact was ever received from Cavalier as result of this Fed-ex.

11/29/2007  (On hold 31 minutes before speaking with a rep)

Spoke to rep Niko. He read the notes on my account, and then transferred me to the regulatory affairs department. Spoke to Dimitri (sp?) in RegAffairs, she initially indicated her department wouldn’t handle this type of complaint. But then after reading the notes, said she would check into it and call me back. No Call Back.

11/30/2007  Found another number for Cavalier’s president’s office, 804-422-4100 – Called and explained why I was calling. Told by Jennifer (receptionist) that Valerie Herbinek is the person in the president’s office who handles serious complaints. I left a message on her voice mail. No call back.

11/30/2007  (On hold 16 ½ minutes before speaking with a rep)

Spoke to Ray (rep #7167) about problem with toll free transfers. He read the notes, and is sending an e-mail to the department that releases the numbers authorizing the transfer.

12/17/2007  Called again for Valerie Herbinek, she couldn’t be located. Was transferred to another number that continually rang. Called back again, got operator, explained I was calling about problems on my account, was put on hold for about 9 minutes, then transferred to a floor manager named Bill, rep # 064. His direct dial number is 727-772-2969. Bill brought the person who is responsible for toll free transfers on the line with us, explained the issues with the account, and instructed the toll free person to release our numbers when the next transfer request was initiated.

12/28/2007  Toll free number order was rejected again. Called for Bill at 2:09pm, did not answer, left a message on his voice mail.

12/28/2007  Called the executive office again at 2:20pm, asked for Valerie. Transferred to a number that rang continually. Called back, was told this time that Valerie was out, asked to be transferred to regulatory affairs department. Was put on hold for about 5 minutes, finally was transferred to Debbie in regulatory affairs. She was instantly rude, refused to listen to my explanation of why I was calling, continually interrupted me, and told me the only resolution I had was to talk to customer service. Despite my trying to tell her I had been dealing with customer service since August, she refused to even listen to my issues, and was even more rude. Finally hung up on her.

12/28/2007  Called customer care at 2:31pm, on hold for only 3.5 minutes (wow!). Spoke to rep Alysia (rep #17058), explained all the issues. She read through the notes, and said the service was cancelled on 9/27. I explained that I was still being billed for them on my December 1 bill, and that I thought it should have been cancelled back to the end of July or first part of August. She is going to research the issue and call me back.

12/28/2007  Alysia called back at 3:10pm (wow!), The $325 billing is for voice and was never cancelled. She is faxing me a form for disconnect. Once that form is processed and credits issued, they will then let the toll free numbers transfer. I explained my concern about the numbers being turned off, she said they would not be.

1/3/2008       Received call from Rick at Toll Free company, our toll frees are disconnected. I instructed him to take the numbers away from Cavalier. They use a process called NASCing… Which will cost me about $300 in total.

1/3/2008       Called Customer Care at 4:31pm, on hold for 27 minutes with no answer. Called back on a different number (800-683-3944). Waited on hold again for about 31 minutes, hung up. Will try tomorrow.

1/4/2008       Called customer care at 3:02pm, on hold for 21 minutes before speaking to a rep. Got rep named Ayla, explained my problems, she read some notes and transferred me to a supervisor, Veronica, rep # 79041 (direct call back 850-465-1236). She will “dig into” the problem and call me back either today or Monday.

1/8/2008       3:30pm – No call back from Veronica. Called her, got her VM, left message on voice mail.

 

 

 

The company has violated the Michigan Telecommunications Act as follows:

 

  1. Rule 58(2), U-11043, Section 305(1b), (lj),& Section 357, MTA, MCL 484.2305(1b), (lj), MCL 481.2357 – I was not allowed to transfer to another telephone company.
  2. Rule 58(4), U11043 – I was not credited for the delayed transfer of my telephone services from one company to another.
  3. Rule 62, U11043 – The company did not respond to or follow up on my complaint.
  4. Rules 35(i), 37(2), & 62(1), U-11043 – I could not report my service problems to my telephone company.
  5. Rule 61, U-11043 – My telephone service problems were not resolved.

 

I am asking for relief in accordance with section 601(a), (b), (d) and (e) of the Michigan Telecommunications Act, MCL 484.2601, including but not limited to reimbursement for my total economic loss of  $2,900 and storage of the company’s equipment in the amount of $1,350.

 

I further seek the imposition of fines against the company, as provided in section 601, subdivision (a), the company to pay a fine for the first offense of not less than $1,000, nor more than $20,000 per day that the person is in violation, and for each subsequent offense, a fine of not less than $2,000, nor more than $40,000 per day, (b) if the provider has less than 250,000 access lines, the provider to pay a fine for the first offense of not less than $200 or more than $500 per day that the provider is in violation of the act, and for each subsequent offense a fine of not less than $500 or more than $1000 per day, and (d) if the person is a licensee under this act, that the person’s license be revoked, and (e) the entry of a Cease and Desist Order.

 

 

I attest that the facts stated in this complaint are true to the best of my knowledge.

 

________________________________            ___01/08/2008_____________________

Your Signature                                Date

 

__Technology Experts Corp., 980 S Telegraph Road, Monroe, MI 48161___

Address City State Zip


_734-457-5000_______________           _734-457-4332____________

Day Time Phone number                         Fax Number

 

_tfox@expertsmi.com_________________________________________

E-mail address