For some time now, I have used the Internet fax service eFax, by j2 Global Communications (Nasdaq: JCOM), rather than an actual fax machine. Today I decided for a variety of reasons to cancel that service and go back to old-school faxing.
Apparently, however, j2 Global Communications doesn’t really like the idea of customers cancelling their service.
For starters, they make it difficult to find information on cancelling your account on their Web site. When you do find the instructions buried in some FAQ, you are informed that you must have a live chat with an eFax customer service representative in order to cancel your account.
That’s right — must. No live chat, no cancellation.
So I chatted. Here’s the actual transcript of my session this afternoon:
Welcome to chat.
The session has been accepted.
{Fred H.} Hello, Scott. Welcome to j2 Global online support. I am Fred, your Online Live Support Representative. How are you doing today?
{Scott Baradell} Great. I would like to cancel my eFax service immediately.
{Fred H.} I am sorry to hear that you wish to cancel. Could you please provide me with your Fax number and PIN for verification?
{Scott Baradell} The number is XXX XXX XXXX. I don’t know the PIN offhand.
{Fred H.} PIN is a 4 digit number mentioned in the Welcome letter which was sent to you at your contact email address at the time of signup.
{Scott Baradell} I don’t have that letter. What should I do?
{Fred H.} Could you please provide me with your last four digit of the credit card information for verification?
{Scott Baradell} It’s either my Amex or my Visa. The Amex is XXXX. Is that the one?
{Fred H.} Thank you for providing your information. Please give me a moment while I go through your records. In the meantime, please type the number corresponding to your reason for cancellation:
1) Moving to another provider
2) Bought a Fax machine
3) Business or role changed
4) Short term project completed
5) Financial reasons
6) Problems with Faxing or Billing
7) Dissatisfied with Quality of service
Too Costly
{Scott Baradell} 2
{Fred H.} Scott, I understand that currently you do not need the service. In the current situation, we will waive off the monthly fee for two months. This way you will be able to keep your account, which will enable you to send and receive faxes. You will also be able to use all of our services and re-evaluate it for your faxing needs. During this period, you will not be charged any monthly fee. We are suggesting this so that you can give it a second thought, as you will not be paying $16.95 for the next 2 billing cycles.
{Fred H.} Your eFax account will be credited with $33.90 so that you may utilize our services without being billed our monthly fee for the next two billing cycles.
{Fred H.} Since you will not be charged any monthly fee for the next two billing cycles you could keep the number till then. If at all you find that you need our services during this period, then you will still have the account. If however, you still feel that you do not have any use for our services by the end of this two months credit period, then you can always contact us back anytime. Would you like that?
{Scott Baradell} NO, I do not want to have to contact you again. I want to cancel now, please.
{Fred H.} I completely understand your wish to discontinue, since you have already paid for the month, we do not want you to lose out on the money. I suggest you to retain this number at least till the end of two months credit offer as you will not be charged any monthly fee for the two months. As a good will gesture to continue our association we will offer you an additional gift balance of $10 along with the monthly credit which will enable to send up to 100 additional fax pages free of cost(per page per minute within US & Canada).
{Fred H.} During this two months credit period, you can keep this service active and if you use it once in these two months we will be more than happy that we were able to serve you.
{Fred H.} If you do not wish to continue beyond this waiver period, then there is no obligation to continue. There are no contracts. All you would need to do is, contact us just once, anytime during this credit period to re-confirm your decision. We are at your service, round the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
{Fred H.} You can have it as your backup number during this period. It could prove useful to you as you never know when the need arises.
{Scott Baradell} NO. I do not want to contact you again.
{Fred H.} All right, I respect your decision and will cancel your number immediately.
{Fred H.} I’m sorry that you are leaving eFax. At eFax, we are continuously improving our products and services. Please do consider us if your faxing needs should change in the future.
{Fred H.} Is there anything else you would like to have assistance with?
{Scott Baradell} No thank you
{Fred H.} You are welcome.
{Fred H.} Thank you for contacting j2 Global Online Support, I hope you found our session helpful.
Good-bye and take care!
The user has ended the session.
Tags: customer service, eFax
Typical sales stuff – many have been trained to not give up until the customer says "no" a minimum number of times. It seems that at eFax, this number is 3.