The IT Nerd

I am so glad that I didn’t have anything planned for today as the saga of netTALK’s Canadian customers not having phone service due to their phone numbers being held “hostage” by Iristel continues to evolve. netTALK has seemed to have fired the latest salvo in this dispute by sending the e-mail below to all their users a few minutes ago:

Dear netTALK Canada Customer,

As promised, we want to provide you with regular updates regarding the issues with your incoming phone service, as previously noted in several communications.

Following an outpouring of criticism of Iristel from you, which we greatly appreciate, Iristel finally relented early yesterday and agreed to reactivate your numbers rather than holding them hostage in their dispute with us. However, since agreeing, Iristel thus far have failed to reactivate the numbers. We continue to attempt to force their hand as quickly as possible, but we ask once again for your support in communicating to them your ongoing frustration with their tactics.

As previously noted, we cannot express enough our frustration with and apologies for the interruption in your service, and greatly appreciate your continued loyalty and trust. We look forward to resuming full service very soon.

Sincerely,
The netTALK Team

Hmmm….. From where I sit, all sides are getting criticism, but the lion’s share appears to be aimed at netTALK. But that may just be how I perceive things based on my observations of Social Media. Be that as it may, it’s interesting that they claim that they had a deal with Iristel, and then Iristel backed out of it. Since there’s two sides to every story, I’ve reached out to Iristel for a comment. When I get one, I will update this story.

UPDATE: I just heard back from Iristel and here’s all you need to know:

Iristel is working with the CRTC for a solution and made no such statement to netTALK. 

I am in the process of arranging an interview with a representative from Iristel. Expect an update soon.

The ongoing saga of netTALK and how their Canadian customers have lost their phone numbers along with the ability to receive incoming calls is starting to resemble an episode of House Of Cards. I’ve continued to look around to see if there’s any further dimensions to this story, and I’ve found two things.

The first comes from the fact that the CRTC who is responsible for regulating telecommunications in Canada asked netTALK to join the CCTS which is the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services as they are a group that mediates disputes between telcos and the public back in 2013. They are also the group that I recommended that users affected by this fiasco complain to. But that apparently never happened. So the CRTC sent a very nasty letter to them threatening “enforcement action.” Here’s part of the letter for you to read:

This letter is to inform you that it appears to the Commission that NetTalk.com, Inc. (NetTalk) is not a participating service provider of the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services Inc. (CCTS) as required by the Commission.

As described further below, NetTalk is required to respond to the Commission by 22 November 2013. Failure to respond could result in enforcement action against NetTalk.

Further digging has indicated that on the CCTS website, netTALK is currently listed as a “Non-Compliant Provider” that has been referred to the CRTC for enforcement action. Now joining the CCTS is not an option, it’s a legal requirement. Thus, this brings to the forefront two points.

• It appears that netTALK has been breaking Canadian law for some time.
• Whatever “enforcement action” that was threatened by the CRTC in 2013 appears not to have happened. At least there’s no evidence that I can find that it has happened. I will keep looking though. Thus one has to wonder what the CRTC was doing between 2013 and now, and if they could have stopped the pain that netTALK’s Canadian users are going through at present. It also makes me wonder what the CRTC can do for users who don’t have phone service from netTALK today seeing that the metaphorical horse has already left the barn.

In light of the latter, I have sent out this Tweet to the CRTC:

.@CRTCeng It seems that you have threatened @nettalk with an "enforcement action" because they didn't join the @CCTS_CPRST . Why no action?

— The IT Nerd (@The_IT_Nerd) January 19, 2016

If I get a response, I’ll let you know.

The other thing that I came across today is the Twitter account of Samer Bishay. You might recall that he used to be the president of netTALK and is now apparently running the show at Iristel. He was also mentioned in the SEC documents that I posted yesterday. I took a look at what he has to say and…. see for yourself:

You have no idea how much trouble you are in @netTALK . I'm CANADIAN and I'll make sure Canadians get their #'s back but not with @netTALK

— Samer Bishay (@SBishayIRIS) January 19, 2016

Wow. That’s really professional. I’m not sure what message he was trying to send, but it doesn’t exactly cast him in the most positive light.

Expect more updates to be posted as this is a story that seems to evolve quickly.

If you’re one of the many Canadians who are without phone service thanks to this war between VoIP provider netTALK and Iristel who is holding Canadian phone numbers “hostage”, here’s how to do it. You need to file a complaint with the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services. Doing so is easy as all the information to do so can be found here: https://www.ccts-cprst.ca/complaints 

You can also phone them and their number is 1-888-221-1687. You can also email them at response@ccts-cprst.ca. But I would use the web form if I were you.

So, who is the Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services? Here’s a snippet from their website:

The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is an independent organization dedicated to working with you and your telecommunications service provider (TSP) to resolve complaints relating to your telecommunications services. The best way to deal with a complaint about your service is to contact the service provider and try to resolve it directly. However, sometimes that just doesn’t work out. If you need help, we are here to assist you and the service provider to get the issue resolved. If possible, we will help you reach an amicable resolution acceptable to both you and the provider. If not, we will analyze the complaint and provide our views about the merits of your complaint and the best way to sort it out. We aim to resolve disputes independently, fairly, efficiently and effectively.

My advice would be to file a complaint and see where things go. Though my feeling is that netTALK customers in Canada are not going to get a satisfactory outcome given my most recent news about the situation.

In every story there’s a good guy and a bad guy. After all, that’s how the planet is used to having things work. When it comes to the ongoing dispute between netTALK and Iristel where consumers are being caught in the middle and the CRTC is now apparently involved, consumers who are in the middle are looking for a good guy and a bad guy. I decided to do some digging and found some interesting info that may begin to explain this situation. That same info also seems to cast a negative light on netTALK. One person who is upset with the loss of his phone service had this to say via Twitter:

@netTALK are you guys bankrupt or what???

— AI (@ismail_arif) January 16, 2016

According to this story from September of last year, that may not be far from the truth:

Struggling telecommunications business NetTalk.com Inc. is being sued by a lender that says the business failed to convert part of a note into company stock, and thus violated a contract and certain antifraud provisions.

And:

The business had liquidity problems before the lawsuit was levied, saying in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that recurring losses from operations and a dependence on outside financing created substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern, or without the threat of liquidation. 

Finally:

NetTalk warns that its current cash resources combined with anticipated future cash flow may not be sufficient to fund operations, and that it is looking for additional capital, in the company’s latest quarterly filing with the SEC, filed Aug. 19.

You can read the SEC filing that is referenced above here. But I would also point you towards their most recent filing from November of last year. In it, the company does express the same concerns about staying afloat.

Suddenly the fact that Iristel says that it is owed money is beginning to sound plausible. In short, netTALK may not have the cash to pay up. Now after learning this, I put out a request to netTALK via Twitter to see if they had any comment about this:

@The_IT_Nerd Yes, someone will be contacting you shortly

— NT CONNECT (@ntconnect_) January 18, 2016

So assuming that this happens, I’ll be sure to ask them about this and I will let you know what they say.

For the record, I did the same search for Iristel. The only thing that I could come up with is a review on Yelp that is not flattering. But lets face facts. On the surface, one unflattering Yelp review really doesn’t mean much when the people on the other side of the fence are facing a lawsuit plus they have a bunch of SEC filings that they themselves have filed saying that they’re bleeding cash and may not be a going concern for much longer. It also will likely make netTALK customers look for other options for their VoIP needs as the optics for them aren’t good.

UPDATE: A closer examination of netTALK’s most recent filing from November of last year reveals some interesting details. First there’s the mention of the lawsuit that I linked to in my story:

On or about September 2, 2015, KBM Worldwide Inc. declared default under the convertible promissory note dated December 15, 2014 in the amount of $53,500. The default occurred because the Company failed to maintain sufficient shares of common stock reserved for issuance upon conversion of the note and failed to timely issue shares of common stock upon receipt of a conversion notice under the note. The Company failed to maintain sufficient shares of common stock reserved for issuance upon conversion due to a court order. 

Furthermore, there’s this that relates directly to the dispute between netTALK and Iristel:

On October 10, 2014, the Company received a termination letter from, Iristel, (owned by, and with its CEO being the previous President of netTALK), a previously primary vendor, which provided telecommunications service and phone numbers (“DID”), with respect to two contracts between Iristel and the Company, one dealing with carriage and one dealing with DIDs. Upon being informed of the termination, the Company ported its carriage to a new carrier, and informed Iristel that, pursuant to its rights under the DID contract, it would port the DIDs promptly to a new provider. On October 17, 2014, Samer Bishay, previous President of the Company and CEO of Iristel, purporting to act on behalf of both the Company and Iristel, without conflict waivers of any sort, attempted to agree to rescind the termination of the DID contract, which neither Iristel nor the Company had the power to do. The Company attempted to shift the DIDs to new carriers, but Iristel, through Samer Bishay, the previous President of the Company, refused to allow these customers to be moved to new DID vendors.

From this we learn two pieces of information. One is that the person who runs Iristel used to be the president of netTALK. Second, and most importantly is the fact that this fits what Iristel said to me in a statement last night. Keep in mind that I am quoting both of the above from the documents that netTALK has to file with the SEC in the US as they are a publicly traded company. In other words, they come from the keyboards of people who are in responsible positions at netTALK. Draw whatever conclusions you will from that.

This story is one that seems to be developing quickly. In the last few minutes, a release has been put out by Iristel who is the company who is holding the phone numbers of netTALK customers “hostage” due to alleged non-payment by netTALK who provides VoIP services to said Canadians. This has resulted in an outage that leaves said customers unable to receive inbound calls. I have reprinted the release in full below:

Iristel working with CRTC to ensure netTalk customers get phone numbers back

MARKHAM, Ont. January 18, 2016 – Phone service provider Iristel Inc. is working with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for a solution to ensure netTalk customers in Canada do not lose their telephone numbers.

After two years of collecting fees from Canadians but not paying Iristel up to $2 million owed, service was denied to Florida-based reseller netTalk on January 15. About 75,000 Canadian consumers have been affected.

“We apologize for this and we do not feel comfortable putting Canadian consumers in the middle, but we ran out of options and had no other choice,” says Maged Bishara, Senior Vice-President, Iristel Inc. “We’re working with the CRTC to ensure customers can get their phone numbers back and also to ensure netTalk cannot do this again in Canada.”

Under CRTC rules, a telecommunications carrier like Iristel is not allowed to communicate directly with resellers’ customers without special dispensation from the regulator. That is why the CRTC must be part of a solution.

“The netTalk customers’ numbers are reserved pending resolution of this matter. We would like to remind the Canadian consumer that Iristel is a victim of netTalk’s unpaid bills for services rendered and that we will do everything in our power to ensure that the Canadian consumer is not penalized. We apologize for the delay and recommend consumers get a new number from a reputable Canadian provider and once this is resolved they’ll be able to get their original phone number back,” Mr. Bishara says.

The tone in this release is one that is clearly designed to allow Iristel to take the moral high ground. Basically they are saying “we realize that we’ve caused you grief, but we had no other choice. Plus the real bad guys are the ones who haven’t paid us. Plus we’d like to make this go away, but without the help of the CRTC, we can’t because we’re legally not able to.” It’s an interesting strategy. I’m not sure how well that will play. But I do know one thing. Iristel is being far more communicative than netTALK at this point. That I am sure will play well for them as the side that has more fulsome and robust communications tends to do better than the one that doesn’t.

More on this story as it develops.

One of the things that I do when a situation like the one where the phone numbers of Canadian netTALK customers are caught in the middle of a dispute between netTALK and a company called Iristel is to check out social media to see how it is playing out. To properly do this, let’s start with the first Tweet about this issue which came from netTALK:

Alert! We're currently experiencing technical difficulties w/ Canadian phone number incoming calls. Apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks!

— NT CONNECT (@ntconnect_) January 15, 2016

That was late on Friday. Seeing as phone service is important to people, and no resolution was in sight, plus the communication from netTALK was non-existent, you can completely understand that people took to Twitter to find out what the deal was:

@netTALK are you guys bankrupt or what???

— AI (@ismail_arif) January 16, 2016

https://twitter.com/tammy_78/status/688237117873364992

Some went further:

PLEASE NOTE THE CUSTOMER SERVICE AND BEWARE OF @netTALK purchase, YOU CAN'T GET SERVICE OR EVEN A RESPONSE ANY MORE! https://t.co/rMfMbL0sfC

— Camille K. Parent (@CamilleParent1) January 17, 2016

All of this happened before netTALK put out their e-mail on Sunday revealing the dispute between them and Iristel, as well as netTALK recommending customers get new numbers to get incoming calls. When that e-mail hit inboxes, this story became bigger as that’s when the media including yours truly started reporting on it. The reactions to that were fast and furious:

@CRTCeng Can someone look into the problem for Canadian customers being cut off by @iristel because of a disagreement with @netTALK

— Mike (@Davidd419) January 17, 2016

Interesting email from @netTALK. Doesn't sound like Canadian customers will have phone service anytime soon and we might lose our #'s?!?

— Jason Wigmore (@JayWigmore) January 17, 2016

Now I likely inflamed matters by doing my job. Which was to get both sides of the story and report on it. So when I got Iristel’s side of the story and reported on it, this was the reaction:

@The_IT_Nerd @iristel @netTALK Thanks for investigating… Hey NetTalk, pay your bills!!

— John Walter 🇨🇦🇲🇽 (@johnwalt) January 18, 2016

https://twitter.com/leakithere/status/689052805638782976

But out of that was this suggestion:

@The_IT_Nerd @netTALK For those unfortunate netTALK customers, lots of options here: https://t.co/eMRVPpj9AP

— Jeremy Cooperstock (@jcooperstock) January 18, 2016

Thanks for that suggestion Jeremy.

Fast forward to today. netTALK has finally decided to respond to angry customers via Twitter. But I really don’t think they thought it through before doing so. First let me show you a response that I got:

@The_IT_Nerd @iristel We apologize that Iristel continues 2 use u as a pawn in its dispute with netTALK. You'll be able 2 get new# & FREE yr

— NT CONNECT (@ntconnect_) January 18, 2016

If you look through their responses to their customers on Twitter, they are using the same cookie cutter response for almost everyone that they deal with. That sends the message that they don’t care enough to address their customers as individuals. That won’t go over well. Plus, the fact that netTALK continues to push the new number option still rubs people the wrong way:

@netTALK You also missed @The_IT_Nerd's point: asking your customers to choose a new number is a non-starter. I'm speaking with lawyers.

— Jeremy Cooperstock (@jcooperstock) January 18, 2016

Asking customer to choose a number is a non-starter because people’s phone numbers are basically part of their identity. Sure it makes the immediate problem go away for netTALK, but it guarantees weeks or months of pain for their customers who have to update everyone from their bank to the brother in regards to their new phone number. That’s a #fail.

Now while netTALK seems to be the one who’s getting thrashed on Social Media over this, Iristel isn’t getting off Scott free. Just take one look at their Facebook page to see what I mean:

At least Social Media is being fair.

I will continue to monitor this situation and provide any and all updates on this situation. But It’s clear from the reaction on Social Media that many more eyeballs than mine are watching this situation very closely. Both netTALK and Iristel should keep that in mind.