What happened to GTC? It used to be a great cut-rate long distance company. Now they are about as good as monkeys in a dentist’s office.
When I first signed up for GTC Telecom a couple of years ago, I was happy with the service. How can you complain about 2.9¢ long-distance with no monthly fees? And it was very easy to contact customer service by phone — I never had to wait more than 30 seconds for a representative to get on the line.
But a few months ago, I started having problems with GTC. I got a call from a guy claiming to be from GTC who wanted me to give him my credit card number right there on the phone to pay a supposedly outstanding bill. It sounded suspicious, especially because I had signed up to pay my bill automatically through my bank account. So I told him I’d call GTC myself. When I called GTC, they told me that my bill was paid in full. Very strange. I got another call a week or so later, and then another. Each time, I called GTC back and learned that my account balance was zero.
Then suddenly, my long distance service stopped working. Whenever I tried to make a long distance call, I’d get a message saying “The number you dialed is no longer in service.” Of course, that was untrue because the numbers I was trying to call were in service, and I could reach them with my mobile phone.
So I called GTC (1-800-486-4030) to see what was going on. I was put on hold, and listened to really bad on-hold music. Every five minutes a recording would come on, claiming, “the next available agent will be with you shortly.” But no one ever helped me. After a half hour I gave up and hung up. I tried again several times that day and throughout the week. Same result — nobody picked up the phone. Maybe everybody quit their jobs and went home. That would also explain why I couldn’t make long distance calls.
In frustration, I sent an email to GTC Telecom informing them of the problem. No response. (Not even to this day). I finally switched to another cut rate carrier, ECG Long Distance, which has high ratings for customer service. They’ve been great.
Last week, ECG called me to let me know that I’d been slammed. Someone, without my consent, switched me from ECG to another carrier. I asked them who, and they told me that only my local carrier would know. So I called my local carrier and they told me it was Sprint. I called Sprint and they looked into it, and they told me that it wasn’t actually Sprint that did the slamming, it was a company that rented Sprint’s lines. Guess who? GTC.
I’ve been on hold with GTC since 8:45, listening to their awful new age music. It’s now 9:42 and I’m about to hang up the phone and write a letter of complaint to the California Public Utility Commission and the FCC about these idiots. They have wasted a lot of my time and I hope they go out of business soon so nobody else will get suckered by them.
UPDATE: 1-700-555-4141 is a toll-free number you can dial to find out who your long distance carrier is. You’ll get a recorded message telling you the name of your long distance company. It’s a good idea to check it occasionally, to make sure you haven’t been slammed.
UPDATE 8/22/05: Tanya says: “I just googled GTC and saw your link. This company must be run by baboons. As far as I knew, I ended their service 2 years ago after having similar company switch arounds and general roller coaster ridiculousness. Yesterday I got a letter from a collection agency saying I owe $55.92. I will attempt to call simian-central, but I am afraid, very afraid.”