Mike-go for it. They should not be able to automatically do anything without your authorization. If they try to make it appear that it was in the contract, print it out. Some wordings are fraudulant and not allowed. Fraud is so prevelant in almost all businesses that it is indescribeable. I'm doing battle with Verizon right now about an unauthorized withdrawal on a debit card. If the credit card company pretends they can't do anything in this case, find the latest ad, preferably a national ad which does not say not available in some areas about consumer protection. Also contact some comsumer protection groups. Are the Gray Panthers still in existance? Try AARP. Good luck. I'm fortunate. Bof A is going after these rascals for me. All I had to do was fill out a form and file a report with the police. The sad part is that the police already have a procedure for following up on these. The Banks can fight better with the police behind them. The important thing is to report and go after it. That's the only way it will be stopped. Pamela Mike Shuler wrote: > > The situation is a bit more complex than I indicated, but my arthritic left > wrist was giving me fits, so I tried to be brief. > > The actual situation is as follows: I've had the Earthlink DSL for about a > year & a half, but after you complete your contracted year unless you choose > to abandon the service at the one year mark, they appear to be locking you > in for another complete year. To me this is unethical. Also, I'm supposed > to have 20 hours of free dial-up with the DSL each month. If you go over > the 20 hrs, they bill you (actually deduct it from your card) $1 per hr or > part thereof for each excess hour. With me, however, they decided that I > should have a dial-up account in addition (without my authorization), and > are now deducting an additional $21.95/month from my Visa. This, > apparently, was due to my exceeding the 20 hrs of free dial-up under the DSL > programme. > > Obviously, with only one CPU, I don't NEED two separate accounts. They seem > to be oblivious to this. When my monthly Visa statement comes in (fairly > soon), I intend to fight tooth & toenail to get the smaller of the two > amounts restored to me. > > As to the CPU mfg, I did, indeed, follow the instructions of the "tech > support", which is what angers me so. I did have a great deal of my data > backed up on ZIP disks, and have managed to restore quite a lot, but I had > been composing a family cookbook (had about 530 recipes in it already), and > since I restored the ZIP drive to the CPU, it no longer recognises the > extension on the cookbook, and when I try to change the extension, the ZIP > drive won't permit it. > > My anger at both companies wouldn't be nearly so great if it were possible > to restore all the data, but some of what was lost on the genealogy was > digital scans of documents from an archive which has since burned, > destroying the originals. Many of these were deeds, wills, etc., which were > close to 200 years old (one of the wills was actually probated in 1836). > > Some of the recipes which were lost (they're still there on a ZIP disk, but > unavailable for access), were over two hundred years old, and there were > about 6 of them which were written down in 1603. > > I do wish to thank you for your input on this. Just telling the whole tale > helps me relax a bit more...doesn't dispell the anger, just helps my > disposition! > > Mike, IBSSG > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ruthie Jones" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 1:51 AM > Subject: [BS-L] Bermuda Triangle??/Mike > > > > > if the DSL client (Mike) signed a contract for a specific time (which is > the norm) , i.e., a year, HE is breaking the contract by dropping the > service before that time, and yes, he is subject to a early termination fee. > It is not the DSL provider's problem that you no longer have an ethernet > board. Read your paperwork before you start screaming for the FTC/Better > Business Bureau and upper management. > > > > 40 years' research! That is a lot of data, to be sure. This is a > lesson to us all to have everything backed up, off of the system's hard > drive. On CD's, floppies, zip disks or what ever. That way, if your system > dies, your data is safe. > > > > On the other hand, if the CPU mfg phone tech gave you instructions over > the phone to follow, and you followed them perfectly, and the result was > your board being fried, they are liable for the repair/replacement of your > board. If they do not agree, call your credit card company, explain the > situation and tell them you wish to refuse the charges. That should help > make up for the cost of a new ethernet board. Hope this helps, > > > > Ruthie > > ==== BLACKSHEEP-CHAT Mailing List ==== > Unsubscribe from the list: > Mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe&body=unsubscribe > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237