Q. I turned in my converter box to Comcast three years ago. I just found out that I have been charged $3.79 every month for the past three years for a converter box that I no longer have. When I complained to Comcast, I was told it was my responsibility to call it to their attention. Robin from customer service informed me that they only had to credit me six months. Shouldn’t the company be responsible for removing these charges from my bill?

GERALDINE RYAN
Lawrenceville

A. The company agrees with you, Geraldine. Comcast’s Jody Doherty asked customer care agents to research your account. You are correct. The three years worth of $3.79 monthly payments were deducted in error. Ms. Doherty says Comcast will give you a full refund of all 36 or so payments, along with its apology.

«Mrs. Ryan is a valued customer,» said Ms. Doherty. «Comcast prides itself on stellar service and we thank her for bringing this problem to our attention.»

So what happened to the «we only have to refund six months worth of payments»? You were charged for a service you did not receive. Unless you signed a contract that specifically gives a company a refund deadline, there is no six-month limit on errors.

Company reps might say they can only refund six months. That may be all that particular person is authorized to refund; to get the rest, perhaps you have to talk to a supervisor.

Company reps might tell you it is their company policy to refund only six months. That could well be true, but that does not mean you have to accept the company policy. That policy is often based on how many months of easy computer access a customer rep has.

Just because a customer service person tells you that refunds are limited to three months or six months doesn’t make it so by law.

That said, this is another example of why it is important to look closely at what we are paying for on our monthly bills. Mistakes happen and the sooner we catch them, the easier they are to fix.

Q. When I opened my Verizon bill, I was surprised by a $2 charge for long-distance service that I never knew I had. I didn’t order it. Verizon said I had this «timeless» long-distance plan for a while. Before there had been no monthly fee and no charge if I didn’t make any long-distance calls. Now Verizon says I have to pay $2 a month not to make long-distance calls and if I don’t want to pay the fee, I have to pay Verizon $5 to take the charge off. What’s going on?

CHUCK BERTRAM
Plum

A. Verizon is doing what AT&T did a while back, surprising old customers with a new charge. In fact, that may be how many of you became Verizon «timeless» customers. Back when AT&T started charging customers a monthly fee for a long-distance service few people realized they had, you might have switched to Verizon’s no-monthly-fee plan.

The people most likely to be surprised by this charge are those who rarely, if ever, make long-distance telephone calls. If you were on this «timeless plan» and didn’t make long-distance calls, you wouldn’t see any sign of the timeless program on your bill.

As of Aug. 1, that changed. Customers listed under Verizon’s «timeless plan» will now be charged a $2 monthly fee that will allow them to make in-state long-distance and state-to-state, direct-dialed long-distance calls for 10 cents a minute.

If you don’t want to pay that $2 charge, you can change to a different Verizon long-distance plan and pay 35 cents per minute with no monthly fees. You can say you want to drop long-distance plans altogether or you can switch long-distance carriers.

Verizon’s Lee Gierczynski said there is no fee for switching plans or dropping long-distance. There is a $5 fee for switching from one long-distance company to another.

By Ward Sanderson, Stars and Stripes

BAGHDAD — Authorities have shut off long-distance service for government-issued MCI mobile phones here, due to monthly bills as high as $10,000 for one handset.

The Coalition Provisional Authority issued the phones last year for staff in the Green Zone without reliable phone access. The phones worked in Baghdad, but all operated as if in the United States, so even calling an Iraqi line had cost at least $1.25 per minute. And individual organizations using the phones never received bills, leaving the impression that the phones were free.

The decision to cut the service was made by the State Department and implemented by the military.

«Unfortunately, control over the phones was a little lax,» said Col. Evin Planto, director of the Communications Support Office, Multinational Force Iraq.

«Now that we’ve got a more mature phone system, we’re trying to get people to use their desktops.»

Commercial long-distance calls aren’t cheaper via desktop lines, but Planto said office-to-office or DSN calls certainly are. As it stands, the phones can now only reach others of the same type — unless Planto’s office approves an upgrade.

Planto said callers grossly exceeded the government’s budget for the phones, but declined to say by how much or disclose how many phones were in service. An MCI customer representative said the problem was due to a «$2 million bill.»

"It was like, ‘Where do these phones come from? It’s like magic,’ " Planto said of some customers. «Well, it’s not magic.»

Planto cited «sensitivities» in not disclosing further numbers, but said the problem came to a head when nationals of an undisclosed country repeatedly called home.

Despite the service just being cut in October, the decision to review the phone service was made in August.

«We knew it was going to happen sooner or later,» said Lars Hanson, an MCI manager here.

Planto’s office is also trying to account for all the telephones. Some users took the handsets back to the United States with them, where they don’t function. Others gave them to other units or offices upon departing. That, combined with the fact that the government only received itemized billings following a two-month lag, made policing the system difficult.

Long-distance service can be restored once a request is submitted to Planto’s office and the service is deemed necessary.

«They’re filling out forms, and I review them,» Planto said. «My job is to ensure people have communications, not to ensure people do not.»

Nonetheless, Planto said some request forms are incomplete or contain smart aleck answers as to why the service is required. He turns those down.

«Now,» Planto said, «we have control of the phones.»

If you’re already paying for high-speed Internet service, why not make the most of your money?

Those cables aren’t just good for downloading sports scores, they can digitally transmit and receive phone calls, too. Once you sign up with a VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) provider, your long-distance phone bills may go the way of the rotary phone. Using a high-speed connection, a telephone and a router that links them to your PC, you can make calls while avoiding the tolls associated with typical jack service. Plus, installation is easy — even a ding-a-ling can get the hookup.

At present, the three major players on the scene are Vonage (www.vonage.com), Packet 8 (www.packet8.net) and Voiceglo (www.voice glo.com). Plans range from $15 to $35 a month, with prices varying according to the type of service (local, long-distance or international)

Most basic packages offer features like voicemail and caller ID, but the most appealing benefit is portability. Wherever you go, your VoIP number follows (as long as there’s a high-speed connection). So even if you move from New York City to Hong Kong, you can bring your digits along for the ride.

- Clark Howard

TAMPA — Amtrak will restructure its Florida service Nov. 1, providing Tampa with more convenient schedules, restoring sleeping and dining cars here, and adding Orlando, Columbia, S.C., and Raleigh, N.C., to stops on the Miami-Tampa- New York route.

Four Florida cities — Dade City, Wildwood, Ocala and Waldo — will lose train service when the Silver Star is routed through Tampa to replace the Palmetto.

However, Amtrak will serve those cities with buses, adding Gainesville and the University of Florida as stops on a Jacksonville-Lakeland bus route to provide train connections.

The Palmetto, the all-coach train that leaves Tampa at 8:25 p.m. for New York and 7 a.m. for Miami, will operate between New York and Savannah beginning Nov. 1. Amtrak removed sleeping and dining cars from the Tampa route years ago, a move that reduced the train’s ridership.

The Silver Star will leave earlier than the Palmetto for New York at 5:22 p.m., and later for Miami at 10:35 a.m., when it begins serving Tampa Nov. 1. The new route will trim one hour from its 29-hour Florida- New York schedule.

The changes result from Amtrak discontinuing its U. S. Postal Service mail contracts to concentrate on carrying passengers, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said. The Palmetto’s schedule and its inconvenient times through Tampa were driven by mail business needs, he said.

``From a purely Tampa standpoint, Tampa is a big winner in all of this,’’ said David Johnson, of the National Association of Railroad Passengers in Washington.

``The Silver Star restores full service with its three sleeping cars and dining car, and with five or six coaches this winter adds much more capacity.’’

Johnson expects the Silver Star to increase passenger demand in the Tampa Bay area, in addition to pleasing regular passengers.

``It enhances travel within Florida in addition to long-distance service,’’ Johnson said.

He said it is unfortunate that four Florida cities will lose train service, but he said Amtrak has been challenged to make business rather than political decisions on where to run trains.

Amtrak had no immediate details on the potential loss of jobs or reassignments involving the small stations.

About 300 employees nationwide will be affected by changes, with other closures planned for Ohio and Indiana.

Tampa served 42,523 passengers in fiscal 2003, sixth- highest ridership in Florida. Dade City served 1,644, Waldo 3,082, Wildwood 2,153 and Ocala 8,842.

Eliminating mail and express cars will shorten trains and eliminate cumbersome freight braking systems, Johnson said, That means swifter acceleration and deceleration, trimming minutes from schedules at each stop.

Reporter Ted Jackovics can be reached at (813) 259–7817.

SBC Communications Inc. has won a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract with St. Louis-based Maritz Inc. to provide voice and data services in 16 states.

The exact value of the contract was not disclosed.

Maritz provides market and customer research, travel management services, customer loyalty programs, meetings and event management and rewards and recognition services to clients worldwide.

Under the terms of the contract, SBC will provide the company with local and long-distance telephone service and upgrade the company’s data networking equipment throughout its 16-state region, including Texas.

«Our needs in terms of voice and data services were fairly straightforward,» said Maritz Division Vice President Mark Bryzeal. «We wanted to cut network costs by at least 15 percent, and continue to maintain the same high level of network availability for our internal users and external customers. SBC heard that challenge and came through with a solution that met our needs.»

SBC provides local and long-distance telephone services and Internet access in the Dayton area through the company formerly known as Ameritech.

By Jerri Stroud
Of the Post-Dispatch

Gandhi M. Ramsaroop and Ruben Chapa aren’t trying to reinvent telecommunication. But they might be changing the way some customers buy it.

The entrepreneurs have spent years working for other telephone companies. Ramsaroop was a salesman for NuVox Communications Inc. Chapa spent 23 years working for XO Communications and MCI WorldCom, among other telecom companies.

They formed St. Louis Telecom in March to help companies to find the best fit and value in services from a variety of telecom providers. St. Louis Telecom is an agent for the companies, but it’s not wedded to any of them.

«In one meeting, we can tell them if the rates they’re paying are competitive,» Ramsaroop said. «Then, we can facilitate contacts with the carriers, and the carrier pays us as an agent» for signing up the customer.

St. Louis Telecom also is selling consumers and businesses a telephone service that uses voice over Internet protocol, which places calls over a customer’s Internet connection. The service costs $34.99 and includes unlimited long-distance service in the continental United States.

The service is similar to what’s being offered by Vonage Holdings Corp. and Charter Communications Inc.

«What we bring to the table is a local company you can deal with,» Chapa said. It’s a good second-line service for households with teenagers or owners who want an extra line for business use, he said.

St. Louis Telecom has four sales representatives who work from home. Also, the company has 11 distributors, who are independent agents selling its products. And it offers schools and charitable groups the opportunity to sell the service and get a percentage of sales as a fund-raiser.

The company has a third business hosting Web sites that customers can build with tools provided at www.websitewagon.com, run by St. Louis Telecom.

Brad Pittenger, chief executive of Xiolink LLC, invested in the company because its «business model is the way of the future for the industry.»

As a company that acts as an agent for five or six carriers, it can react quickly to changes in the market rather than having to adjust based on one company’s business plan, Pittenger said. His company, a data-services business, uses St. Louis Telecom’s service.

«They’ve been very responsive,» said Karen Phon, a manager at Human Resource Management Corp. in Brentwood. Ramsaroop and Chapa helped her to evaluate alternate telephone services. She didn’t change carriers, but they helped her to streamline some services and to save some money.

Chapa said the company expects its cash flow to cover its expenses within six to nine months.

Qwest Communications International Inc. and Bell Canada say they have signed a multi-year interconnection agreement to enhance the quality and reliability of telephone services to residential and business customers making international long-distance calls between Canada and the United States.

International voice traffic between Canada and the U.S. represents the largest volume of international long-distance traffic in the world, the companies say, with telephone traffic between the two countries estimated to represent more than 12 billion minutes of use per year.

The companies say Qwest and Bell Canada customers will experience transparent use and termination of long-distance services between their two countries.

Shopping Services brought to Mobile Subscribers in Shanghai

SHANGHAI, China, July 20 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Smartpay Jieyin Ltd. («Smartpay») today announced the launch of the first mobile shopping service in China’s most prosperous metropolitan region -- Shanghai -- partnering with Shanghai Unicom and China Merchants Bank (Shanghai Branch).

Starting today, over 3 million Shanghai Unicom subscribers can purchase pre-paid mobile «top-up» cards, long distance VoIP minutes, ISP access, online gaming time and other products and pay for them conveniently and electronically using Smartpay.

Customers can easily register for the service through dialing a phone banking system, accessing Shanghai Unicom’s consumer service website ([ >>> ] or logging on to either the Smartpay user registration website ([ >>> ] After registering, customers can simply send an SMS to access a menu of products available for sale.

In addition, Smartpay’s geographic reach is growing. In the coming two quarters, the Company expects services to commence in Anhui, Chongqing, Jiangsu and other provinces throughout China.