PBXES.org account blocked!?

hrana98 · #1 (**permalink**) November 4th, 2007, 06:09 PM

Three days ago I get an email saying that I've violated the terms of service because I had a second account that I didn't know existed (nor did I use it). I retrieved the login details from their site and deleted the second account immediately.

Today I get an email saying that my primary account has been disabled/blocked because:

" * You violated our terms of service.
* You failed to make a payment."

Mind you this is a free service and my primary account was on a free plan.

The only recourse suggested in the email is for me to donate 50 Euros to their company in order to regain access to my account. This is the equivalent cost for a 5-month subscription to their service. Without any contact email, how do I know that if I donate this money that they'll even restore access? I'm extremely disappointed in how this company has dealt with this situation and my confidence in their business tactics has been shaken.

If my account won't be restored in light of an honest error, then I just want my account, VoIP trunk login details, and personal information deleted out of their database (which I can't do unless I pay to login) and don't see why I should give in to such strong-arming. There is no support email address either other than "noreply@pbxes.com".

Any thoughts or ideas on how to move forward from here?

crazyjim68 · #2 (**permalink**) November 8th, 2007, 12:09 AM

I had the same thing happen to me. My original account I could not even access and I created a new one. I used the new account for some time and then they locked my account and want 50 Euros to unlock it. It wasn't bad for a free service, but certainly not worth 50 Euros.

saifbarry · #3 (**permalink**) March 4th, 2008, 12:12 PM

Yea, pretty much reporting the same thing... I loved their service... I had a few friends and family sign up for their service... non techie users making a few calls everyday here and there... and then poof! most of the accounts are blocked and there's NO WAY TO CONTACT them without paying first. Can't email them, can't call them, can't post to their forums, no way to get in and delete your account details... nothing!

So anyone considering their free service... beware!

For a while I considered pooling money from everyone to get 1 premium account... but with no way to contact them... I decided against it.

I know they are providing a free service and I may be being too bitchy... but now I have to go to each and everyone of the people I recommended this service to and fix their phones!

Thanks a lot pbxes!!
Saif

Paddy92500 · #4 (**permalink**) March 4th, 2008, 05:03 PM

Just to share: this is my story. I first created an account with pbxes. At some time, it was not blocked but it stopped working (actually their call log was full of lines that had nothing to do with me).

So I deleted the account and created another one, with the same name it's my mistake!

About 2 or 3 weeks later, I received an email requiring me to upgrade of delete my account because I had more than one (not true!) The other funny thing is that to upgrade, you have to be checked via paypal. I actually tried that with them to buy a DID and had never received any news. How to trust tham?

No way to contact them, of course.

I agree that for free, their service is great, but if I have to pay, I'd rather buy and old box on ebay and install my own asterisk with trixbox !

What they do is very similar to phishing email

Paddy92500 · #5 (**permalink**) March 5th, 2008, 05:15 AM

Same for me!

Their free account system looks like a phishing trap!

As a free offer, it's OK, but if you have to pay, why not buy an old box and install trixbox to run you own asterisk at home?

bchill · #6 (**permalink**) March 8th, 2008, 01:51 AM

I signed up with them about a week ago, provided some fake and incomplete information on the "personal details" page, and when I read the notice that they would terminate users with fake user information I thought "what the heck, they're not gonna check it anyway ..."
sure enough, I get an email a few days later saying "your personal information is invalid, you have 3 days to correct this otherwise we will terminate your account in accordance with our Terms of Service". I then went back to my account, changed the information to be truthful, and have been using my account since then ...
don't know if this is what happened to the rest of you, but now that I've understood more about how the service works, I think it's great and have 5-6 SIP profiles up and running there.
so maybe just try again with a new account and more complete personal details.

Paddy92500 · #7 (**permalink**) March 8th, 2008, 07:03 AM

And this is the story: I finally found an email to contact those guys at pbxes. I will not post this address here, but if I found it, you can find it too. Or you can try their forum at http://pbxspace.ning.com/?xgsi=1

I sent an email requiring them to reactivate my account, with my story. I assume that they realized that their reason to block the account was unfair (I had only one account while I actually created twice the same account after the first one was unusable and full of calls that were not mine). I'm quite sure that they have logs and can check everything!

However, I still believe that their pricing policy is not fit for the home user. They should have a small amount / year offer as voxalot between their free service and their premium service. In France, for 9.95 EUR/month you get a full and illimited telephone service nowadays.

325xi · #8 (**permalink**) July 7th, 2008, 02:03 AM

They got fairly strict FUP for free accounts, but recently they offered SOHO plan for 2.95 EUR, which is IMHO fair, given they got unparalleled features. I was thinking to migrate to some less expensive service, but then realized I just can't stay without their features now... Highly recommended.

markosjal · #9 (**permalink**) December 12th, 2008, 11:20 PM

They will not only block your account, they have BLACKLISTED numbers , so they become inaccessible from their system. That guy (Pascal) is way , way whacked in the way he manages this thing. I did everything I could to help Pascal out at the start of this and all he did was take and take, no give whatsoever. My last paid account was blocked simply because he did not want me using his system.

They can cut you at any time, then take your money and later cut you off again on a paid account. No thanks!

They will then block other users from dialing YOUR numbers! Yes there are some numbers you can not call from PBXes because they are former users that he has blocked, or numbers they dialed frequently.

BE WARNED

325xi · #10 (**permalink**) January 8th, 2009, 07:06 AM

They indeed have weird policy for users with free accounts, but once you got min paid account AND got rid of any past free ones it's all good. Having problem - post on support forum - response time is very good.