Consumer Alert !!!

Some Of The Matters That Have Come To Our Attention, And We Think You Should Know !!

December 30, 2007  Hargray Phone Company is being sued by an individual who's phone service was cut off one morning after being told by Hargray representatives that his service would not be disconnected.  The story begins with the customer asking if he could make two payments on his new cell phone.  He was told he could.  But when he made his first installment, the next bill came out showing a past due amount.  He had been assured he could ignore the threat of disconnect, so relying on Hargray's promise, he went about business as usual.  You guessed it.  Dead phone.  To make matters worse, upon contacting Hargray, the company representative laughed at the customer when he was requesting information about what was told to his callers while he was disconnected.  As she laughted at the customer she made the comment, she didn't know because she's never had her phone disconnected.

The customer's lawsuit is seeking punitive damage based on a premis that Hargray has a pattern of mistreating their customers.  "Town of Hilton Head . Com" is investigating, and if you have had an unpleasant encounter with Hargray, please email us the story. 

January 5, 2006  Hilton Head Schools are ordered into "lockdown"

January 3, 2006  Bell South is being sued by a local business.  The Business Owner's statement is that he paid to be included in the Yellow Pages Directory distributed in Savannah, by Bell South.  The amount involved was nearly $1,000.00.  Upon discovering the yellow pages books from Savannah being distributed free at the local Post Office, he discovered he was not included.  When the bill came, he inquired, and was told that the directory he received at the Post Office was the pocket version.  Hilton Head's Hargray Phone Company does a similiar pocket directory, which is a miniature of the full size book.  But Bell South informed the business owner that they charge an extra fee to be in the pocket directory.  The business owner felt he was grossly mislead, and asked for statistical data on how many people read the "pocket version" vs. the "full size directory", and how come he wasn't informed of the pocket directory?  Neither question was able to be answered.  He asked for an adjustment, but was refused.  Even after making several payments, and attempting to resolve the dispute, Bell South management stood firm, and continued to send bills, along with threatening statements.  The business owner further found out, that there is no office in Hilton Head or nearby within South Carolina to obtain jurisdiction so that his complaint could be heard.  Seeking relief at the Magistrate's Court on Hilton Head, and service by certified mail to the legal department for Bell South in Atlanta, the attorney for Bell South, Mr. Craig E. Burgess, in answering the complaint, asserted that the court did not have jurisdiction.  In an interesting development, the Bell South attorney did however file a counter claim seeking a judgement for the advertising amount originally involved.  The matter is currently before the court.  The business owner filed discovery and the attorney for Bell South has refused to provide pertinate pretrial information, citing that the Magistrate's Court does not have the discovery procedure.

We will follow this story and report on it's conclusion.

October 18, 2006  The matter was set for trial.  On the weekend preceding the trial date, the Bell South attorney, Mr. Craig E. Burgess, notified the plaintiff by phone and asked what would the plaintiff require for a settlement?  It was agreed that if Bell South paid the business $382.00 and abated any and all charges for any advertising which the business owner previously had agreed to, the matter could be resolved.  This was acceptable, and Bell South through it's attorney notified the court, filing all necessary papers, that the matter had been settled.  On or about December 13, 2006 the business received a check from Bell South for $382.00.  Editor's Note:  The small business that took on the Giant was Joe Little, who is a local DJ.