Affordable Voice Communications Inc.
High quality long distance service at the lowest possible rates.
-----Original Message----- Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 4:35 PM To: Subscriber_Services@avcinc.com From: MC in NC Subject: Is this too good to be true? I appreciate the rapid and informative reponses to my two previous e-mails. It's been a week now, and I'm still waiting for a reply from Sprint on an e-mail request for an explanation of their additional fees, surcharges, and taxes for one of their services. On the other hand, your responses were immediate, friendly, and on target. Thank you. I have taken a chance and subscribed to AVCI. I figure that after all the research and contemplation, this is the only way to find out if there is a hidden catch. To my knowledge, I have compared every residential consumer long distance service available in this area, and no one else comes close to the final cost you say you can deliver (projections are from the cost worksheet on your webpage). Quite frankly, I'm perplexed. If you can deliver service as advertised, why can't other companies? In fact, your prices, surcharges and taxes are considerably less than Qwest advertises for residential consumers. Very unsettling, especially since you pay them for wholesale service, if I understand your Services Information Webpage correctly. How is it that all the big name companies are charging 9.9% currently for a "Universal Service Fund," which is not a fund at all, but is in reality a method to overcharge various surcharges and taxes? I saw no mention of any such fund in the surcharges and taxes AVCI passes to customers. Instead, you offer a detailed breakdown of each individual charge, the net value of which varied between about 2-7% depending on actual minutes of home, credit card, and 8XX useage. And, of course, your per minute (or per second) basic charges are are less than any other advertised. But I'm sure you already know this. Your website is professional, thorough, and gives the impression that you have done considerable market research. I have been frustrated in dealings with phone companies for over 30 years in on-going attempts to find honest value, understandable and truthful billing, and ethical business practices. I've done business at various times with GTE, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, Bellsouth, Talk Americia, and several regional local phone companies. In every case, I have been less than satisfied. So, is AVCI too good to be true? I hope not. If the bills I receive from you reflect the information and formulas contained in your Website, if connections are rapid, if calls are clear , if service is uninterrupted, if you don't sell or give away my personal information, if you hold the line on low prices, if you treat me and your other customers as real people instead of a cash crop -- then thanks; it's about time someone got it right.
-----Original Message----- From: AVCInc Customer Service [SMTP:Customer.Service@avcinc.com] Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 6:29 PM Subject: RE: Is this too good to be true? Thanks for the report card, we greatly appreciate both good and bad news. We know the answers to your questions and we'll address each. The hidden catch? There is none. Make a few calls and check your billing advice on-line tomorrow. Your bill will be computed as if it was going to be issued to you. Many of our customers ask the same question and check the billing advice several times during their first month. They even check the arithmetic. The AVCInc billing advice is designed so that anyone can re-calculate it by hand (a calculator greatly helps). We believe the AVCInc billing advice is the only telephone bill in the U.S. that can be recalculated by the customer. And, the AVCInc billing advice exceeds the FCC's "Truth in Billing" rules. If you can deliver service as advertised, why can't other companies? The AVCInc long distance service is traditional long distance, that is, it's not based on Internet Telephony. In many states, the service is provided by Qwest Communications, the fourth largest long distance carrier in the U.S. Other companies do provide the same identical service. When was the last time you saw an advertisement that claimed one carrier's service was better quality than the others? There are two differences that allows AVCInc to sell the other carrier's high price services for much less. First, everything that can be automated has been. This has reduced the company down to real customer service and engineers. Second, AVCInc doesn't advertise. AVCInc is listed on the Internet in search engines and directories, which doesn't cost very much. Many of our customers are from referrals. How is it that all the big name companies are charging 9.9% currently for a "Universal Service Fund"? This is what the other carriers try to hide from consumers. Most of it comes about because of the rules imposed by the FCC and state regulatory authorities. For example, the FCC rules say that every carrier must contribute 6.8823% of their end-user revenues from interstate and international services to the Federal Universal Service Fund. The rules say the carrier must contribute and don't say the consumer must pay. So, carriers pass this through with a markup. Some of the markup covers other surcharges that are not explicit line items on their bills, such as the surcharge for administration of the telephone number plan. We have never been able to determine how their higher rates were determined. AVCInc passes the exact tax and surcharge rates through to customers without markup. So, is AVCI too good to be true? Yes, everything we publish on the Website is true. We have nothing to hide. Thanks for taking the time to write. Sincerely, Customer Service Affordable Voice Communications Inc. http://www.avcinc.com/