The Better Business Bureau rating of F must be worn like a badge of honor for these guys. Or, rather, guy. Apparently the whole fly-by-night company is run by one clown who goes by the name "Gabriel". Call their customer service number (1-888-865-8100) with a question or complaint and see how long it takes to get him yelling at you. The smart money says less than two minutes.
I have been using this company for maybe ten years for international long distance because all of my wife's relatives are overseas and the prices were right. Service--not so much. There were many periods when there would be no service or the connection would be so poor that you couldn't hear the person on the other end of the line but these were personal calls, not business, so I put up with the inconvenience for the price. There was also low-level thievery like getting charged 1/10 of a minute when a call would not go through (sometimes 10 times in a row) but it was a fraction of a cent so I let it slide for years. And years.
Then several months ago I received a bill that did not credit me for the previous month's payment even though I could see the check had been paid on my bank statement. I tried to call a couple of times but could not get through to customer service. I'm a procrastinator, I let it go for a few months but kept paying the current charges as those bills came due every month, just not the "past due" amount I had already paid. Then they suspend my account. OK, I call customer "service" to straighten this out. Here is where Gabriel comes in. It starts off well enough but he goes back over my payment history to four months before I ever received notice of a past-due amount and tells me I was not current then.
Really? So why did I receive four bills that made no mention of IBNTEL not receiving payment, and then get one for a past-due amount that is for a completely different amount? If you don't let me know you did not receive the payment, I can't make it right. That is all it took to get this imperious jerk to begin yelling. The words "deadbeat" and "liar" never came out of his mouth but I am smart enough to know when I'm being called one. The guy sounds Indian, and if you've ever met one you know there is no bigger snob on the planet than an upper-class Indian, it is just part of that class-based culture they grow up in.
As soon as I questioned one of his statements he became indignant. There was no attempt to hear my side of the story, just yelling and veiled insults. I ask for his name and employee number and he says Gabriel but won't give me a number. I ask to speak to a supervisor and he tells me he is the "highest-ranking employee in this office". His exact words. At this point I figure he's lying, this has got to be an Indian call center, so I hang up after he tells me he will be turning over my account to collections. I call back and get the same guy. Then I get on the internet and see how many other people have dealt with "Gabriel" and realize what a small-time operation this is. Now all the service outages and billing problems make sense.
Bottom line: If you are thinking of using this company for your business, don't even consider it. They are non-professionals and will end up losing you clients and money. For personal use, if you can deal with the regular service outages, poor call quality and the outrageously bad customer service, then go right ahead. Just for the record, I am not some internet gadfly who wants to spread his opinions around. I've probably bought almost a thousand products online and never left one review--I just don't have the time. But this guy's actions and attitude were so insulting that I took the time to register on this site and type this up so that maybe one person could be spared the aggravation of dealing with him.
I had been a customer with IBNtel for many years. For approximately one year I however have not been using their phone service. I did get an online bill over the last couple of month with phone calls charged on my account. In the month of August I had 6 phone calls billed to my account. Apparently all this calls were done calling my home with my toll free (800) number.
Interesting part is that my family was for the whole month of August in Europe. There was nobody in our home to answer the phone calls, no housekeeper, no gardener, nobody... for the whole month!!!
Most calls were 7 or 8 minutes (my answering machine would not record over 2 minutes... )
When I called IBNtel about this they told me they will not correct or adjust the account. The only person working there 'Gabriel' actually threatened me that if I don't pay the outstanding $5.36 they would charge me an additional monthly fee going back to about 6 month.
I told them that I would like to a supervisor. 'Gabriel' told me there is no supervisor and he is the only person there and there will be no other person I can talk to.
Next, when I mentioned that I will file a complaint with the BBB, Gabriel told me than our deal (where I can just pay the $5.36) will be off and he will add monthly maintenance charges to the outstanding charges!
Since it is such a small amount, I just paid the $5.36. Again, none of the calls were made from me or for me.
IBNtel, Inc. Reviews
The Better Business Bureau rating of F must be worn like a badge of honor for these guys. Or, rather, guy. Apparently the whole fly-by-night company is run by one clown who goes by the name "Gabriel". Call their customer service number (1-888-865-8100) with a question or complaint and see how long it takes to get him yelling at you. The smart money says less than two minutes.
I have been using this company for maybe ten years for international long distance because all of my wife's relatives are overseas and the prices were right. Service--not so much. There were many periods when there would be no service or the connection would be so poor that you couldn't hear the person on the other end of the line but these were personal calls, not business, so I put up with the inconvenience for the price. There was also low-level thievery like getting charged 1/10 of a minute when a call would not go through (sometimes 10 times in a row) but it was a fraction of a cent so I let it slide for years. And years.
Then several months ago I received a bill that did not credit me for the previous month's payment even though I could see the check had been paid on my bank statement. I tried to call a couple of times but could not get through to customer service. I'm a procrastinator, I let it go for a few months but kept paying the current charges as those bills came due every month, just not the "past due" amount I had already paid. Then they suspend my account. OK, I call customer "service" to straighten this out. Here is where Gabriel comes in. It starts off well enough but he goes back over my payment history to four months before I ever received notice of a past-due amount and tells me I was not current then.
Really? So why did I receive four bills that made no mention of IBNTEL not receiving payment, and then get one for a past-due amount that is for a completely different amount? If you don't let me know you did not receive the payment, I can't make it right. That is all it took to get this imperious jerk to begin yelling. The words "deadbeat" and "liar" never came out of his mouth but I am smart enough to know when I'm being called one. The guy sounds Indian, and if you've ever met one you know there is no bigger snob on the planet than an upper-class Indian, it is just part of that class-based culture they grow up in.
As soon as I questioned one of his statements he became indignant. There was no attempt to hear my side of the story, just yelling and veiled insults. I ask for his name and employee number and he says Gabriel but won't give me a number. I ask to speak to a supervisor and he tells me he is the "highest-ranking employee in this office". His exact words. At this point I figure he's lying, this has got to be an Indian call center, so I hang up after he tells me he will be turning over my account to collections. I call back and get the same guy. Then I get on the internet and see how many other people have dealt with "Gabriel" and realize what a small-time operation this is. Now all the service outages and billing problems make sense.
Bottom line: If you are thinking of using this company for your business, don't even consider it. They are non-professionals and will end up losing you clients and money. For personal use, if you can deal with the regular service outages, poor call quality and the outrageously bad customer service, then go right ahead. Just for the record, I am not some internet gadfly who wants to spread his opinions around. I've probably bought almost a thousand products online and never left one review--I just don't have the time. But this guy's actions and attitude were so insulting that I took the time to register on this site and type this up so that maybe one person could be spared the aggravation of dealing with him.
I had been a customer with IBNtel for many years. For approximately one year I however have not been using their phone service. I did get an online bill over the last couple of month with phone calls charged on my account. In the month of August I had 6 phone calls billed to my account. Apparently all this calls were done calling my home with my toll free (800) number.
Interesting part is that my family was for the whole month of August in Europe. There was nobody in our home to answer the phone calls, no housekeeper, no gardener, nobody... for the whole month!!!
Most calls were 7 or 8 minutes (my answering machine would not record over 2 minutes... )
When I called IBNtel about this they told me they will not correct or adjust the account. The only person working there 'Gabriel' actually threatened me that if I don't pay the outstanding $5.36 they would charge me an additional monthly fee going back to about 6 month.
I told them that I would like to a supervisor. 'Gabriel' told me there is no supervisor and he is the only person there and there will be no other person I can talk to.
Next, when I mentioned that I will file a complaint with the BBB, Gabriel told me than our deal (where I can just pay the $5.36) will be off and he will add monthly maintenance charges to the outstanding charges!
Since it is such a small amount, I just paid the $5.36. Again, none of the calls were made from me or for me.