Roadpost.com??

[s/v Thea]

I'm posting my experience with attempting to purchase an iridium prepaid card from roadpost.com as to me it seems somewhat bizarre, you can take from it what you want.

I wanted to get an Latin American prepaid iridium card along with iridium extreme hotspot, roadpost seemed to have a good price. I'm a Canadian driving down to my boat in Mexico, the card is good for six months from the date shipped. I could have bought from their Canadian website at inflated prices but would have ended up having it almost one month early, wasting 1/6 of life. The logical choice was to buy from US website, have it shipped to San Diego so I could pick up on way by.

The US website only takes US credit cards, I've got around this in the past by getting a Visa debit gift card which works for most online purchases. The order went through ok but this morning I received an email saying the following:


"As part of our commitment to protecting our client's financial information some of our online orders will be selected for additional review before being fulfilled. Your recent order, #24203, has been selected for review and as such we are requesting additional information before sending out your order.

In order to verify the information provided we would as that you provide a copy of a recent credit card statement that shows the billing address provided with your order and the last four digits of your Visa card number. All other information on the statement that you deem sensitive can be blacked out. You can send this as a reply to this email or via fax"


I replied to them saying it was a visa debit gift card and that there was no statement. I checked the card online and it showed their charges has already been posted, I.e. they were at that point sure they were going to get paid.

They then replied that:


"Unfortunately a Visa Gift Card and this method does not give us anything to use for verification. Considering your short timeline I've gone ahead and cancelled your order so that you have time to make alternative arrangements."


I has also noticed that amount charged the card did not match the total of the order (about 12$ more) and questioned that, their response:

"the price given in the email that your recieved does not include the amount for the Universal Service Fund which accounts for the difference in the price."

Has anybody heard of this "universal service fund"? Shouldn't it be shown on order summary?

To add insult to injury I cannot use the card to buy another item for at least three days (the time they claim that their charges will drop off the card).


Doug



Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Stu Jackson]

Have you tried the telephone to contact them?

[s/v Thea]

No I haven't, I left ordering this a little late. We're flying home for Dec so will get the card then and can do without it for Nov. At this point I'm not really interested in dealing with them anyway.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[libramax]

I see 2 issues here, the payment and the price. For the payment, they made it clear they wanted a customer with a US address. I'm not sure what their reason for this might be, or even if it's a valid reason, but you can't really complain if they are enforcing their stated policy after you tried to circumvent it.

For the price, that seems like one of the sneaky things they do in the US to quote lower prices without any taxes or fees. For example, hotels on the internet quoted without the $25 mandatory "resort fee" that you discover upon arrival (seems like they are cracking down on this, and now they are disclosed after you make the reservation). Also, some airline booking websites would include taxes and fees, and others wouldn't. As a consumer, this is highly annoying, and I wish there would be laws and/or enforcement to stop this kind of practice. But it seems to be ingrained in the psyche of American business: quote low prices, make your customer waste tons of time comparing prices online, and then hit them with hidden costs--not a great way to treat customers. However, it's one of the unseen dangers of buying lower cost goods and services in the US.

Frankly, if you can avoid both of those issues by paying more money in Canada, it's very often worth it.

[N3VR L8]

Originally Posted by libramax

I see 2 issues here, the payment and the price. For the payment, they made it clear they wanted a customer with a US address. I'm not sure what their reason for this might be, or even if it's a valid reason, but you can't really complain if they are enforcing their stated policy after you tried to circumvent it.

For the price, that seems like one of the sneaky things they do in the US to quote lower prices without any taxes or fees. For example, hotels on the internet quoted without the $25 mandatory "resort fee" that you discover upon arrival (seems like they are cracking down on this, and now they are disclosed after you make the reservation). Also, some airline booking websites would include taxes and fees, and others wouldn't. As a consumer, this is highly annoying, and I wish there would be laws and/or enforcement to stop this kind of practice. But it seems to be ingrained in the psyche of American business: quote low prices, make your customer waste tons of time comparing prices online, and then hit them with hidden costs--not a great way to treat customers. However, it's one of the unseen dangers of buying lower cost goods and services in the US.

Frankly, if you can avoid both of those issues by paying more money in Canada, it's very often worth it.

USF isn't a "made up" fee.. it is a very real government mandated fee.

Contribution Factor & Quarterly Filings - Universal Service Fund (USF) Management Support | FCC.gov

[W5PAD]

I've been a customer of Roadpost for over 2 years and signed up for one of their monthly plans, also known as post-pay. I don't look at my invoice every month but have noticed my monthly credit card billing going up over the last few months. I've been in New Zealand since November 2014 and haven't used the sat phone since arriving. When I did get around to check the last invoice I saw 6 calls from 111111 and 7 from 111112. The total for these calls were $26.44. I contacted customer support to find out what's going on. The first suspicious comment was that he had never seen calls from these numbers and that he'd get back to me, which he did within an hour. Below is an except from his email:
QUOTE:
The usage charges are for incoming calls from other parties.
The 111111 under the number called section is charged at $1.59/min to you when somebody tries to contact you via 2 Stage Dialing 480 768 2500, and then your service number 8816 xxxx xxxx making the call cheaper for them.
The 111112 under the number called section is charged at $1.69/min ton you when somebody tries to contact you via your +1 Access Number 480 xxx xxxx. Making the call cheaper for them as well.
Both ways your are charged for receiving these incoming calls. The incoming calls are only free with your subscription when another party calls your service number directly.
END QUOTE:
The problem here is I never answered any of these calls. Also, I flew back to the US in December, the phone remained on the boat and powered off. Roadpost charged me for incoming calls even when the phone was off. I sent a reply asking for a clarification to being charged when incoming calls are not answered, but it's the weekend and I don't expect a reply for another day.
No matter what Roadpost's reply is, I will be cancelling my account and will give my money to another airtime provider.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, W5PAD.

[W5PAD]

A short follow up. Roadpost's reply to my inquiry said I should not have been charged for unanswered calls. But the fact remains that I was.