Provisions and Billing of Service: Potential customers must be 18 years or older to obtain service(s) from Pioneer Telephone (Pioneer). Service is provided and billed on a monthly basis, for a minimum period of one month. The start of service date is the date on which the customer accepts Pioneer’s service. For long distance service, usage charges for services are billed in arrears and fixed monthly recurring and non-recurring charges are billed in advance. For all local exchange features and services, charges are billed in advance and will be prorated depending on when the order is processed and service begins. When local exchange features and services are discontinued prior to the expiration of the minimum period, the customer is responsible for paying the regular rates for the remainder of the minimum service period – Pioneer will not prorate bills upon disconnection. All applicable local, state and federal taxes and surcharges will be applied to bills.
Customers subscribed to Pioneer for local exchange service will be subscribed to Pioneer for all long distance usage. For long distance calls, Pioneer reserves the right to bill for incomplete calls if such calls comprise 10% or more of a Customer’s monthly usage. Pioneer’s long distance rates are charged to Customers at a 50% discount as long as a Customer pays on time, within the due date. However, if the account is placed into collection status, the 50% discount is null and void and any outstanding long distance charges will be recalculated and charged during the collection process at the full, non-discounted rate. For example, if the quoted price of a Customer’s long distance rate plan is 3.3 cents per minute, then the actual rate is 6.6 cents per minute – Pioneer will bill calls at 3.3 cents unless the account goes into collections, at which point Pioneer will rebill any outstanding charges at 6.6 cents. Pricing for rate plans and long distance service is dependent on the customer’s carrier for local phone service. Pioneer has three tiers of long distance pricing, ranging from lowest in Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) areas (Tier 1) to highest in rural and independent areas (Tier 3). If a Customer uses Pioneer for local service, long distance usage will be at Tier 1 rates. Long distance-only Customers with one of the following RBOCs as their local service provider will be charged Tier 1 rates: AT&T, CenturyLink (former Qwest), Verizon (excluding former GTE and CONTEL areas and areas not in Verizon’s Northeast footprint such as Michigan or California), Frontier (former Verizon RBOC areas only) and FairPoint (areas in ME, NH and VT formerly served by Verizon). Long distance-only Customers with GTE and Embarq as their local provider will be charged Tier 2 rates. Long distance-only Customers with a rural, independent or competitive local service provider will be charged Tier 3 rates. Should Pioneer determine that a long distance-only Customer has a different local service provider than the provider listed at the time their initial order was processed or at any time during service with Pioneer, Pioneer reserves the right to adjust such Customer’s rates accordingly. All calls placed to AK, HI, USVI & PR are billed at a higher rate than the contiguous 48 state-to-state rates. For calls placed to Directory Assistance, Customer will be billed for each listing returned by Directory Assistance regardless of the number of calls. Pioneer does not condone calling schemes that attempt to circumvent normal calling patterns such as “bounced” calls, e.g., attempting to route your inbound calls as calls that originated from you to a long distance number. Should Pioneer Telephone discover this type of activity, the responsible account will be terminated without notice and charged for such activity at $1.00 per minute for all calls billed to the responsible account.
Payment Policy: Customer understands that payments are due in full upon receipt of the billing statement unless an additional period for timely payment is required by law, in which case the full period required by law shall apply. A late fee of $5 or 1.5% (18% per year), whichever is greater, will be added if payment does not arrive within 30 days after the billing date. Customers with local exchange-only or Intrastate-only overdue balances will be subject to the appropriate late fee allowed by their state law. Service may be terminated if full payment is not received within 35 days after the billing date. For customers paying their bill by credit card, service will be suspended immediately upon notification that the credit card on file is declined or otherwise unchargeable due to expired information, fraud, chargebacks or other such problem types. If termination is required, ALL services will be deactivated and a termination fee of $15 or 10% of the total account balance, whichever is greater, will be added to the balance due. Customer further agrees to pay any and all costs associated with enforcing this agreement, including but not limited to reasonable attorney and collection fees, court costs, and costs of appeal. An administrative fee of $75 will be added to the balance to place the account into collections. In the event that any payment is returned, disputed, insufficient or otherwise unpaid by the customer’s bank, Customer understands Pioneer will charge up to $40 plus the cost of the processing fee from the bank. Customer must provide Pioneer with notice of any disputed charges in writing within 30 days after the bill for such charges is rendered. Customer remains financially responsible for all charges incurred until such time as service to any telephone line(s) has been removed from the Pioneer network by Pioneer’s underlying carriers, and until written notification of the removal request from customer has been received by Pioneer. Once Pioneer is designated as Customer’s Primary carrier, customer must contact their local exchange company for cancellation and will be responsible for payments of all charges incurred prior to activation of a new primary carrier. Customer holds Pioneer blameless and assumes full responsibility for any and all calls, authorized or unauthorized, that are placed on customer’s lines. Customer is also financially responsible for all data customer enters into the sign up form, e-bill site and verbal or written correspondence to Pioneer, including incorrect information and telephone lines. Customer understands that their local telephone company may assess a service charge for each line changed to the carrier selected by Pioneer for which customer will be responsible. Customer understands that all rates, plans, billing increments, taxes and service fees are subject to change without notice. This includes federal and state Universal Service Fund (USF) surcharges, mandated by the FCC and subject to quarterly changes. Pioneer charges a Telecom Infrastructure Fee (TIF) and a Regulatory Recovery Fee, both of which are also subject to quarterly changes. Federal and state taxes may change at the discretion of the taxing authority and without notice. Pioneer makes every effort to update its website with regard to such rates and fees when changes occur; however, this information is not always current. Customer understands that if they encounter an increase in rates and fees that are in conflict with the information posted on our website, our current internal price list, government notification or state tariff, if applicable, will govern rather than the website information. A current price list for all rates is always available upon written request. Long distance-only customers will incur a fee of $2.49 to receive a paper bill. Such customers can avoid this fee either by providing a valid e-mail address and agreeing to allow Pioneer to bill by e-mail (eBill) each month or when their long distance usage exceeds the minimum usage threshold per month. Should a Customer’s e-mail address be determined to be invalid, Pioneer reserves the right to immediately change the account to receive a paper bill and charge the appropriate fee(s). Customers with toll-free numbers will incur a monthly recurring fee of $2.99 per toll free number that is charged in addition to usage. For accounts paying by credit/debit card, Pioneer will charge a Customer’s credit/debit card $10 upon account activation to verify authenticity, then credit the Customer $10 on their first invoice. Should the Customer switch away from Pioneer prior to using any or all of the $10 credit, Customer shall forfeit such credit due to processing costs. Commercial and residential accounts may be required to pay via credit/debit card if such account is deemed a credit risk. Pioneer performs credit checks on residential orders that do not opt into automatic bill payment by credit/debit card. Should a customer change their method of payment, Pioneer reserves the right to perform a credit check at that time. All business orders will be subject to a credit check. Should a Customer’s order be rejected due to negative information received from our credit agency, the Customer will receive written notification. For accounts (business or residential) that place credit/debit card or via ACH/bank account information on file with Pioneer for payment, Pioneer will use any and all such credit/debit card or ACH/bank account information to charge any and all outstanding balances at any time. Additionally, accounts using the online billing website may be charged a site maintenance fee. Terms and conditions will be posted on the e-bill website. Pioneer may charge Customer a reasonable fee for research and any resulting paperwork involved in requests for copies of past bills or other documentation. Accounts that are terminated with a credit balance will be charged a $10 fee to recover processing costs associated with closing such accounts.
Toll Free Numbers: Customer holds Pioneer blameless and assumes full responsibility for any and all calls, authorized or unauthorized, that are charged to customer’s toll free line(s). Any special fees or charges charged by Pioneer’s underlying carriers related to TFN services shall, in turn, be charged to Customer, including, but not limited to: area code or exchange routing changes, short duration calls to TFNs and penalties assessed by Pioneer’s underlying carriers associated with such calls, call allocation, and On Net/Off Net route advances.
Long Distance Calling Cards: Customer assumes responsibility for security of their assigned card number(s) and access codes (PINs) and is responsible for any calls made using their card(s). Pioneer reserves the right to change access numbers and codes upon notice to customer. Customer must report lost/stolen cards to the customer service department immediately. The customer assumes all liability for fraudulent usage of any Pioneer product. Calling cards are limited to $40 per month and a credit review is required to increase the limit.
International Long Distance Service: Customer understands that the calling card lines are not activated for international calling, except for Canada & USVI. Customer understands that their telephone line(s) are activated for international calling. Customer further understands that if either calling cards or telephone lines are tampered with, compromised, lost or stolen, the customer assumes full responsibility for usage on such lines. It is the customer’s sole responsibility to notify Pioneer of any changes in international status regarding telephone or calling card lines. Customer agrees to maintain proper security on customer’s residential and/or business/PBX phone lines and system, including passwords and features such as call forwarding. Customer holds Pioneer harmless for any fraudulent calls made on customer’s lines and assumes full responsibility for such activity. International Call Types (for example: mobile, landline, rural or NGN) are rated by foreign, non-U.S. phone companies and Pioneer has no control over such ratings. International Call Types and rates are subject to change without notice and a complete list may be obtained from Pioneer upon request. International Call Types are not disputable by the customer nor will Pioneer re-rate international calls. All calls to Mexico are billed in 60 second increments.
Local Service Repair: When contacting Pioneer for possible repair issues related to your local service, Pioneer will ask you to complete certain troubleshooting steps in order to determine if a service repair is needed at the physical location of the phone line. The steps you need to follow to diagnose the situation vary depending on the nature of the problem you are experiencing on your phone line. Once all troubleshooting steps have been exhausted and Pioneer determines your phone line needs a repair visit to your location, Pioneer will schedule the repair visit and explain the repair costs that you may be responsible for paying. Pioneer is not responsible for any losses or damages arising as a result of the unavailability of your service.
Limitations of Liability: Customer understands that Pioneer will use commercially reasonable efforts to provide services; however, Pioneer makes no guarantee that services will be provided and assumes no liability directly or indirectly for interruption of service. Pioneer reserves the right to limit the length of calls in order to protect Customer and itself from fraudulent activity. Customer acknowledges that Pioneer shall not be liable for any consequential, indirect, special, incidental or other damages whatsoever arising from any failures, interruptions, delays, errors or deficiencies of services, facilities or equipment provided by Pioneer’s suppliers, vendors, affiliates, partners and subsidiaries pursuant to your order for service. Since damages would be difficult to determine if your service is disrupted or otherwise negatively affected, Customer agrees to accept as liquidated damages, ten dollars ($10) for each month in which service is disrupted or otherwise negatively affected.
Pioneer’s service and its terms and conditions are governed by the laws of the State of Maine and shall be interpreted, construed and enforced in accordance with such laws.