efax sucks, part two
In reviewing a recent bank statement, we noticed that we’ve been getting recurring charges from eFax, for an account which we weren’t using anymore. So I log on to eFax.com, have them send me my PIN, and then try to find the account cancellation function. Which doesn’t exist. And their help function 404’d. Then it hits me: I’ve been down this road before.
Turns out I’d waited in an online chat queue for two hours back in November of 2003 to cancel this very same account. And had written up the experience, complete with charts and graphs. So this time I dialed the corporate sales number and forced my way into a conversation with a level two support rep. Sure enough, they had record that my account was supposed to have been cancelled back in November. The rep was kind enough to actually cancel the account this time, and issue a credit for the monthly fees we’d been paying since then.
Back in November I noted that the reason I was cancelling was because they were raising their rates, and that if they had followed any kind of discriminatory pricing strategy, they would have left the “set and forget” folks alone. I quit eFax because they were raising the rates on a service I didn’t use. Their latest mistake may be an honest one (“well, gee, we’re sorry we didn’t cancel that account…”), but it’s these kind of tactics that kill satisfaction with personal service providers. Just because you charge a monthly fee doesn’t mean you’ve earned the right to a perpetuity…