Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  04/12/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ***************** with Lingo was disconnected on 4-4-2020 due to system issues with upgrades that Lingo is doing. I have contacted Lingo 4 times already regarding this and not having any service in a household for an 85 year person that does not have another phone, and always get the same answer that they will contact me to send someone out and that my issue has been escalated, yet almost two weeks later now and I am still getting the exact same answers and still do no have anyone that has contacted me back or come out to correct the problem. Still no phone service.

  Business response

  04/13/2022

  We have reviewed the account and show this customer is scheduled to have a tech out to their home today. They do have an all day appointment so we are not able to provide and exact time. Hopefully the issue has already been resolved, but if not a technician should be out at some point today.

  We apologize for the inconvenience.

• Initial Complaint

  03/31/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Home phone land line hasnt worked in over 72 hours. Every time I call for a solution Im told something else is the problem. The company said they would send out a technician and never did. I need them to be honest with what the problem is and fix it immediately. 72 hours without service for an elderly woman with mobility problems is a unacceptable.

  Business response

  04/05/2022

  We have reviewed the account and apologize for the interruption in service. We were attempting to escalate the issue on 4/04/22 and see that the customer did contact us regarding an order they have placed to have the service ported to another provider. 

  We apologize that we were not able to get the service working prior to the customer making this decision. I will be sending an email directly to the customer with information they will need to complete the port out. 

  Customer response

  04/08/2022

   
  Complaint: 16969226
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business response

  04/08/2022

  My apologies but there is no reason listed for the rejection. We have emailed the customer on their personal email address with the information needed to contact the winning provider to complete her port out request. I am not sure what else the customer is requesting as there was no information provided in this response.

  Customer response

  04/08/2022

   
  Complaint: 16969226
  
  I am rejecting this response because: service still has not been transferred/exported. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/26/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Lingo has been supposed to come out and fix my landline. Im 90 year old man going on 3 months without a working phone. I will call and they will give me a date and time that they will show up. And they never do. They tell me they are working with **** to help fix problem. One person has showed ** in the last 3 months. Saying he got half of the problem fixed and he would be back. Nobody has showed. That was approximately 2 months ago. Luckily my daughters cell phone has enough service to dial 911 in case of emergency. But sometimes I have no service on it. Ive been. A long outstanding customer for a long time. I need this fixed. I live alone. And have no way of contacting anyone in an emergency.

  Business response

  03/29/2022

  We have reviewed the account. In working to restore the customer's service we were notified that the line had been ported to a VOIP service with another carrier and we would need to port it back to a POTs service. We worked to complete that process as the customer had made no mention of going to another provider. We were in the process of working the repair piece of getting the service restored when we were notified today that the customer has ported to AT&T. We apologize that we were not able to get the service working but it appears part of the issue was the ************ out to another provider that we were not made aware of by the customer until today.

  Again we apologize for the inconvenience.

• Initial Complaint

  03/17/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Order Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Lingo disconnected my business phones "accidentally" with no explanation for 4+ days. I switched two lines and a month later put in to disconnect the third line. That was around November 2021. As of today, after much wasted time calling them, paying all but the most recent ****, I still have the line and only a response that it is in for disconnect. I have filed a **** dispute. I even had one lady hang up on me.

  Business response

  03/18/2022

  We have reviewed the account and show the customer did have a repair issue from 9/13-9/15/21. There was a $50.00 credit applied for the down time. There were two lines ported out to another provider and we were notified on 10/08/21. The customer filed a billing dispute in November '21 and was issued an additional $128.10 credit. The customer did request to have the account canceled on 1/07/22. That request was submitted but for some reason was not completed in a timely manner. The request has been escalated and was processed today. The billing will be backdated to 1/07/22 when the next invoice generates on 4/01/22. We will ensure the account reflects a $0.00 balance at that time.

  We apologize for the timeframe in having the account closed.

  Customer response

  03/19/2022

   
  Complaint: 16904947
  
  I am rejecting this response because as you can see from the attached, the request to disconnect was made last year, not in January of 2022.  I initially was told it would be disconnected when I was on the phone with a representative.  I do not have that date but it was in October.  When it was not disconnected I called and they said I had to call on November 22.  I missed that date and you will see the rest starting December 16.  I only paid those bills under dispute to protect my credit.  The sums reimbursed do not account for all the money I have paid them nor for disconnecting all three of my lines in September.  Fifty dollars for loss of thousands of dollars of business is not adequate.  I received another suspension notice and I will have to just let it affect my credit because I am not paying anymore to them. Hopefully when it does I can work with the credit bureaus to get it taken care of.  That is more time away from my very business real estate closing business.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************

  Business response

  03/22/2022

  The customer did contact us on 10/08/21 requesting cancellation of the account because she had ported to another provider. The customer was advised that we could close the account but if all lines were not ported she would lose any lines that were not ported. The customer stated she would confirm they were ported prior to closing the account and call us back. She called back later that day and advised that two of her lines ported and to keep the third line ending in **** active. The previous mentioned credit of $128.10 was issued due to the customer disputing the billing and requesting additional credit for those lines (which she was due). The two lines were credited back to the date of disconnect. The remaining line ending in **** will backdate on April 1st to the 1/07/22 date shown on the account as the original date of disconnect. Based on the date of the email provided in this rebuttal we will issue an additional credit if needed back to the date of 12/16/21. We will provide an additional update to this complaint once all billing has been completed with the final credit amount. 

• Initial Complaint

  03/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  I am filing this on behalf of my 87 year old mother who struggled to maintain a landline at her address since a change from **** to a predecessor Lingo back in 2016. According to Lingo, they contacted my mother and established a 3-year contract.Unfortunately we have no record of having switched from ****. I suspect that she was tricked into switching providers as she would never leave ****.Lingo claims to have a "verbal contract" establishing a 3-year commitment. When called, they could not provide that information. They state that a 3rd party provider verified the contract and cannot provide any further details.In January, 2022 I was fed up with the lack of service. Whenever it would rain she would lose phone service. It was in December, 2021 when I had to initiate a service call and demand that service be repaired after not having phone service for over a week and not being able to make an emergency call during the holidays.I personally had to issue 4 requests for repairs and this is documented on their system, dated 5/30/202, 6/2/2021, 8/27/201 and 12/30/21.This is a rural area with no internet or other services available. They had a landline for over 40 years. Only until the mysterious switch over from **** did they encounter major outage issues. Until the last few months, cellular service was sporadic and unreliable. This was their only form of communication.That being said, and after having to travel to make sure my mother was okay after not being able to reach her by phone, then demanding a service call to repair the recurring issues, I established a new service for them. But according to Lingo, she now owes a $200 "early termination" fee. She maintained service with them for 34 months of the 36 required and only switched because their service was unreliable. Now she is being billed for an additional $200.I have attempted to contact Lingo directly. On 1/22/2022 I spoke with ****** who said that it would be taken care of.

  Business response

  03/17/2022

  We have reviewed the account and show that it has been canceled. The customer was charged an ETF fee and we have credited that amount, so please disregard any further billing should it occur. The account now shows a $0.00 balance.

  We apologize for your inconvenience and that we were not able to resolve the issues. 

  Customer response

  03/17/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  

  Thank you to everyone for their time!

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/14/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We have been customers of Birch/now Lingo since 2017. We have LINGO with the phone number ***-***-**** as our landline and ***-***-**** for call forwarding. I am assuming this means that our number is **** but we pay additional to have the **** number so that it can end with PLAY. Our call fowarding with LINGO has not been working, meaning that someone has been calling the public number ***-***-**** and it has not been forwarding to ***-***-**** so that we can answer the phone. I have made NUMEROUS attempts to get this fixed with LINGO from May 2021- they have said that the **** is no longer serviced with LINGO, but I have not made ANY changes to our service. I then contacted Bright Link and they said they do not work directly with Lingo customers and do not have a record of our being a customer. During this whole time ********************** has been billing us and has record of both the -**** and -**** number on our ****.After numerous phone calls and no change I decide to go with another provider in November 2021. I am informed that I can make a claim/dispute with LINGO for the charges from May 2021-November 2021, but should not discontinue services until the phone number has been ported to the new provider. In February 2022 the phone number is ported and LINGO is informed we no longer want their services and I ask to speak with a manager to dispute previous charges. No one called me back or emailed and they still continue to charge us monthly. I have called numerous times asking for a call log and a record of the complaints I have made, they will not disclose them. I am only offered a phone call back from a manager that never happens.

  Business response

  03/17/2022

  We have reviewed the account and see that this customer did originally report an issue with the line ending in **** on 5/18/21. In researching all account information I do not show that we were ever able to resolve the issue reported for that line, however the service on the line ending in **** was still being used during this period. The customer would be due a credit for the charges billed on the **** line back to May. The customer has not made a payment on the account since 11/23/21 so there would be no credit due for the line ending in ****. The credit amount for the line ending in **** will be $512.50. Once all unpaid charges are credited the customer will be due a refund of $97.00. Once the final billing is generated on 4/03/22, we will request that a refund check be sent to the address on file.

  Customer response

  03/17/2022

   
  Complaint: 16893050
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  The only public number was the **** number.  This was explained several times.  Since the **** number was the public number and the **** number was not a public number we were not able to receive any calls because the **** number was not working. This lead to MONTHS of no phone service that has negatively affected our business and taken HOURS of time away from my work in my trying to resolve this issue.

  On top of this- we have cut ties with Lingo as of November and should not have to pay for services that not only were not working from May 2021, but also should not be responsible for bills that have accrued since November?!? 

  I have asked Lingo several times to have a record of the phone conversations and/or the notes on the account to prove this, but they have not been provided.  i am also not able to review the account as it is now closed.  

  We expect FULL REFUND from May 2021- November 2021 and NO FURTHER PAYMENT will be issued from GiGi's ********** PERIOD.  If we were to take this a step further we would seek legal counsel for loss of business and loss of time spent on resolving this issue on our end when it should have been resolved in MAY by LINGO!

   
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  03/21/2022

  We did take a second review of this account. The initial review allowed credit for one line without taking into account the second line was not working without the forwarding on the initial line. We have issued an additional credit of $766.95 for charges incurred back to the original date of complaint. These credits will apply on the 4/03/22 invoice. Once the billing is current, we will request a refund for the credit balance. We again apologize for the inconvenience.

  Customer response

  03/22/2022

   
  Complaint: 16893050
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Lingo states: "We did take a second review of this account. The initial review allowed credit for one line without taking into account the second line was not working without the forwarding on the initial line. We have issued an additional credit of $766.95 for charges incurred back to the original date of complaint. These credits will apply on the 4/03/22 invoice. Once the billing is current, we will request a refund for the credit balance. We again apologize for the inconvenience."

  We are no longer customers of Lingo, thus issuing us a credit on a **** that should not even be arriving makes no sense.  We will not be paying any past due bills because we have never had service that was working from May of last year.  

  We changed phone companies at the beginning of this year and had to wait until February for the number to be ported (again, still didn't have a working phone number) and then terminated our service with Lingo.  

  We have not and will not be paying any outstanding bills from November to February/March, we will also not be paying a termination fee.  We expect a FULL refund and all current pending charges to be dismissed.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

  Business response

  04/25/2022

  My apologies, I was under the impression a response had been provided. As previously stated an additional credit was applied to the account which created a credit balance. The customer's account is in the process of being refunded $895.01. The refund should be received within the next **** business days. 

  Again I apologize for the delay in response. This issue has been resolved and account has been closed.

  Customer response

  04/25/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *****************************

• Initial Complaint

  03/11/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I reported a phone issue on 2/4/2022 where there was no active line. I was told by the Lingo representatives that a technician would be out to the residence on a certain date by 8pm Central to fix it. The technician did not show on that date, so I called the next day and was told a different date by a different agent. Several calls have been made and the technicians have not appeared, and agents keep apologizing but no actions have been taken. One agent promised to escalate the issue but there has been no resolution of the issue in six weeks. Also, there hasn't been any written acknowledgement of what the official issue is, outside of one agent saying possible cable failure. This residential number has been used over 50 years and is for a senior citizen so it CANNOT be changed.

  Business response

  03/17/2022

  We have reviewed the account and see that this customer is part of a cable failure in their area. There was a technician at their location yesterday 3/16/22, however the full repair affecting all customers is not due to complete until tomorrow 3/18/22. We do apologize for the inconvenience but we are working diligently to have the issue repaired. 

  We have issued a credit of $128.76 for the February invoice. Once the issue is resolved a credit for the remaining days without service will be applied.

• Initial Complaint

  02/20/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  My father passed away 02/22/20. I notified Lingo and said his wife still lives at home and keep phone. Was told no problem. Wife passed away 11/12/21. Notified Lingo to cancel service as everything is being sold. Was told will owe $124.64 for early termination. I said they did not terminate they both passed away. They said still had to pay. Advised them I was not responsible for paying. They wanted death certificate told them did not have one. Representative very rude and said "well I have my dad's death certificate'. Advised representative was estranged from father. They continue billing and I continue calling. I have ask to speak to Supervisor and told one will call back, doesn't happen. Finally last call when once again advised I did not have death certificate I was told to fax obituary and account would be closed. I went to local paper, they printed one and was faxed January 31,2022. Just received another ****. I provided Lingo dates of death, city, state, and phone # for acct and told them to ****** as public information. They said not their policy. I have worked collection's for 20 years, being collector and manager, and have never dealt with such a rude, non helpful or non problem solving company.Father - ************************ *******, ** PHONE # ************ I am completely at wits end

  Business response

  02/21/2022

  We are sorry for your loss. We have reviewed the account in question and show that the account was in the father's name and the death certificate provided for him was used to close the account. There was a remaining balance of $124.64 remaining on the account. That amount has been credited bringing the balance to $0.00.

  We apologize for the timeframe in resolving the issue.

  Customer response

  02/21/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩