FortuneFlow President George Wilcox takes Verizon to task for what he claims are fraudulent "bait and switch" marketing of business DSL services that don't provide what is advertised.
Sahuarita, AZ (PRWEB) March 2, 2004 -- In an age when most ISPs limit how many emails even business customers can send through their servers, more and more small businesses are turning to email solutions that include a low cost high performance, outbound email server, so they can reach their customers with their newsletters, support bulletins and new product announcements in a timely manner.
The problem, is that many ISPs dont provide real Business Class connections", says FortuneFlow President George Wilcox. They are happy to charge you extra for a ‘Business Account, but when it comes time to provide you with the standard things businesses need, they either dont offer them, or they try to use their power of monopoly to force you into buying more than you really need. Verizons DSL offerings for business are a glaring example; they offer customers Static IP addresses, stating that:
‘A Static IP Address …… is beneficial for customers who need to be consistently identified on the Internet, such as those who are hosting a Web, FTP or e-mail server.
However, once signed up to a one year term, when the customer attempts to get a standard reverse DNS pointer (PTR") record, (a standard feature that allows email servers to verify that a computer sending them a message is a server registered to the domain of the "From" address), you find out that their advertising is fraudulent."
Mr. Wilcox went on to say that he has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Verizon, noting One senior Verizon Techie told me:
‘Off the record, what they are trying to do is force customers to buy T1s, hosted email services, or to host their website with Verizon.'
Its not like they dont have the ability to provide this simple database entry in their system – every connection has a PTR record that can be changed for this purpose. They provided this service up until November, when they abruptly stopped offering it to new customers. Within the last two weeks, they have removed existing PTR records that were already established. In one case, they sent a letter to a customer advising that they wanted to switch them from a Static IP to a dynamic one (not an option, since they are using their own email server. The next day they turned off the customers connection, saying that he had taken too long to respond to the request, so they cancelled his service, saying that to re-start he would have to pay more than double the rate he had previously contracted for!) In my opinion, they are simply trying to use their power of monopoly to pull a classic bait and switch fraud on small businesses. Once they have you signed to a one year contract under false pretenses, they block you from using your connection the way that they advertised you could. What good is having your own email server on a Verizon DSL connection, if it cant deliver your messages reliably?"
FortuneFlow, Inc., the maker of the BEST Desktop Tools for e-Marketing, produces high performance HTML Email newsletter and subscriber management software that integrates with ACT!, the Worlds most popular contact management software. Contact: George Wilcox, President (520) 398-7021 or via our website at www.fortuneflow.com
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