After the recent 25% hike to my Primus landline service, I decided there was no way I was paying over $45 (with taxes, network fees, etc) for a service I use less than 15 minutes per day. Not being sure when my 1-year commitment ended, I contacted their customer service via email and inquired. As part of the reply, the rep "reminded" me that I must give 30 days notice or else face a penalty fee (one month of service + network fee).
Now, this is where I think there's some hostage-taking going on. The one thing that is always strongly mentioned when you want to port your phone number to another company is never to contact your current provider and say you will cancel, because that's a sure way to lose your number (and it can't be retrieved) but rather let your new provider do all the work. So on the one hand, if I want to avoid the penalty, I have to tell Primus I will cancel in 30 days, which (I assume**) will cause me to lose my number, or port (as we are all used to) by signing up with another provider and let them transfer my number but then I incur the penalty. It doesn't seem right.
Anyone else had this problem?
** I say 'assume' because in 3 subsequent attempts to get a straight answer from Primus' reps specifically about porting my number, the "porting" part of my question / will I lose my number? was always ignored with the emphasis being put on "you won't pay a penalty if you tell us 30 days ahead".
Now, this is where I think there's some hostage-taking going on. The one thing that is always strongly mentioned when you want to port your phone number to another company is never to contact your current provider and say you will cancel, because that's a sure way to lose your number (and it can't be retrieved) but rather let your new provider do all the work. So on the one hand, if I want to avoid the penalty, I have to tell Primus I will cancel in 30 days, which (I assume**) will cause me to lose my number, or port (as we are all used to) by signing up with another provider and let them transfer my number but then I incur the penalty. It doesn't seem right.
Anyone else had this problem?
** I say 'assume' because in 3 subsequent attempts to get a straight answer from Primus' reps specifically about porting my number, the "porting" part of my question / will I lose my number? was always ignored with the emphasis being put on "you won't pay a penalty if you tell us 30 days ahead".