[VoiceOps] USF and Minimum Billing

[Peter Rad.]

Just offering a perspective that the fee was probably less than the time 
spent.

You can make more money; you cannot make more time.

On 12/3/2015 2:57 PM, Mark R Lindsey wrote:
> If I read this right, I think Peter's offering to pay any invalid USF fees.
>
> Such holiday generosity!
>
> :-)
>
>
>
>> On Dec 3, 2015, at 14:30 , Peter Rad. <peter at 4isps.com> wrote:
>>
>> USF is 16% -- you are all worked up over how much money?
>> Emails to the list, frustration, looking up the law references -- you probably blew more time on this issue than what the actually fee was.
>>
>> I understand it is the "principle" of the thing, but it was probably billed by USOC or billing item -- and that billing item always gets billed USF - and they use that USOC billing code for their 499, so they have no real process to not bill you USF since they will be remitting USF based on that USOC.
>>
>> On 12/3/2015 12:33 PM, Peter Beckman wrote:
>>> On Thu, 3 Dec 2015, Carlos Alvarez wrote:
>>>
>>>> I agree with you, and I'd ask the carrier to remove that.  It sounds like
>>>> you haven't asked yet.  The whole thing is highly negotiable anyway, since
>>>> it wasn't an actual cost to them.  You might even get them to drop it or
>>>> severely reduce the overage based on future business.
>>>   I've asked -- this email is verbatim what I sent to them. Their response:
>>>
>>>   "We consider the minimum commitment to make up for services that were not
>>>    utilized during the usage period. Therefore all taxes and regulatory fees
>>>    associated with the service/product will also apply to the minimum
>>>    commitment fee on your invoice."
>>>
>>>   But that isn't how the FCC requirements read.
>>>
>>>   The frustrating part -- engaging a lawyer is likely more expensive than
>>>   simply giving up. And leaving the carrier hurts my business. And this is
>>>   only a one-time issue, not an ongoing billing dispute.
>>>
>>>   I'm quite confident that the USF shouldn't be billed on this non-telecom
>>>   fee, and I can get a lawyer involved and they'll capitulate, but it will
>>>   likely create bad blood plus I'll lose money on the process.
>>>
>>>   I really really dispise companies not taking ownership of issues and just
>>>   blinding standing ground. It makes me wish there were more telecom
>>>   companies that highly regarded customer service like Zappos.
>>>
>>> Beckman
>>>
>


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