Voom increases illegally collected sales tax.

[The Stone Man]

Vurbano--you asked about equipment owners...here is the detail from my monthly bill. I own one STB and have VaVaVoom.

NEW CHARGES
Monthly Charges
08/02 - 09/01/04 Va Va VOOM $79.90
Fees And Taxes
08/03/04 FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM $5.16
Total New Charges (including taxes) $85.06

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total New Balance $85.06


Save Time and Postage by Enrollingfor Auto-pay at www.VOOM.com



I have no idea what FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM $5.16 means, other than they want $5.16 more for something.

And I won't enroll in auto pay. Voom sends an invoice, and I send them a check.

 

[tdillon]

My bill went up this month. From the online accounting I now see this:

[FONT=Courier New]NEW CHARGES 
Monthly Charges 
08/15 - 09/14/04 VOOM IRD Rental           $9.50 
08/15 - 09/14/04 OLY-SDW                     $0.00 
08/15 - 09/14/04 OLYMPIC                      $0.00 
08/15 - 09/14/04 Va Va VOOM               $79.90 
Fees And Taxes 
08/16/04 FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM      $7.37 
Total New Charges (including taxes)         $96.77 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
Total New Balance $96.77 [/FONT]

Last month the line that says $7.37 was less.

 

[SmiGump]

Vurbano,

In Virginia, we can not be charged Sales Tax for VOOM: "Exempt transaction: a transaction that includes the electronic transmittal of current stock market quotations via a terminal. The object of the transaction is to obtain the information; the tangible personal property included serves only as the medium for securing the service. See P.D. 91-190; See also P.D. 96-361, involving the sale of discounted cellular phones in conjunction with a service contract, for an example of a situation where the service and sale elements of a transaction were treated independently of one another, and P.D. 97-47, involving equipment leased to customers in connection with the provision of satellite television services."

However, VOOM is telling me that I am being charged a "Use Tax" because I rent the STB and that I would not be taxed were I to own the equipmnet. IMO, they are misreading the Virginia Tax Code.

Any tax lawyers wish to comment...

riffjim4069, I agree... I'm up here a couple counties north of you and am getting a $1.80 tax. Problem is it doesn't make sense...

Voom: $39.90
Box Lease: $9.50
Total: $49.40

Let's see $1.80 is 4.5% of $39.90 - so they're only charging me tax on the service? Isn't that the opposite of what some are saying - that only the rental will be taxed?

Hey, at least you guys don't have the stupid $3.00 per cell phone bill tax up here in Fairfax County!

 

[vurbano]

riffjim4069, I agree... I'm up here a couple counties north of you and am getting a $1.80 tax. Problem is it doesn't make sense...

Voom: $39.90
Box Lease: $9.50
Total: $49.40

Let's see $1.80 is 4.5% of $39.90 - so they're only charging me tax on the service? Isn't that the opposite of what some are saying - that only the rental will be taxed?

Hey, at least you guys don't have the stupid $3.00 per cell phone bill tax up here in Fairfax County!

LMFAO they are charging me 4.5% on the TOTAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[vurbano]

Vurbano--you asked about equipment owners...here is the detail from my monthly bill. I own one STB and have VaVaVoom.

NEW CHARGES
Monthly Charges
08/02 - 09/01/04 Va Va VOOM $79.90
Fees And Taxes
08/03/04 FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM $5.16
Total New Charges (including taxes) $85.06

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total New Balance $85.06


Save Time and Postage by Enrollingfor Auto-pay at www.VOOM.com



I have no idea what FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM $5.16 means, other than they want $5.16 more for something.

And I won't enroll in auto pay. Voom sends an invoice, and I send them a check.

My monthly paper bill says sales tax. The online account says FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM like yours.

 

[ram1220]

I just went to the Voom site and found out that my bill went up this month also. From $95.99 to $96.77. They are collecting $7.37 for a franchise fee and taxes. I'm in Texas. Does anyone know if they can legally collect taxes in Texas? If not I'd be very glad to join a lawsuit with the rest of you.

 

[occammd]

where did the franchise fee come from?

 

[txcruiser]

I have 3 STBs. (my boxes are being picked up/finally disconnected this coming friday 8/20)

My last paper bill

39.90 Voom Exclusive
28.50 Voom Equipment Charge
10.00 Multiple TV Service Charge
3.74 Sales Tax (looks like a 4.7% tax on the Entire Total!)
-------
82.14 --- same amount i've been paying the entire 3 months i had Voom

My latest bill on-line shows

NEW CHARGES
Monthly Charges
08/17 - 09/16/04 Marquee HD $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 2 additional Marquee HD @ $0.00 $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 VOOM IRD Rental $9.50
08/17 - 09/16/04 2 additional VOOM IRD Rental @ $19.00 $19.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 MULTIRD $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 2 additional MULTIRD @ $10.00 $10.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 OLY-SDE $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 2 additional OLY-SDE @ $0.00 $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 OLYMPIC $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 2 additional OLYMPIC @ $0.00 $0.00
08/17 - 09/16/04 VOOM $39.90
08/17 - 09/16/04 2 additional VOOM @ $0.00 $0.00
Fees And Taxes
08/18/04 FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM $5.88
Total New Charges (including taxes) $84.28

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total New Balance $84.28

Looks like an unexplained price increase of $2.14...

My opinion.... RUN FROM VOOM / DON'T WALK..

 

[red ufo]

I'm still thinking about quiting Voom.

I'm getting tired of this nickle and diming. Thats why I quit cable and Voom is already desperate for money and they going to boil our wallets until we quit or nearly do. I'm at that point already. I'm certainly not paying even more come Jan 1 on top of what they are charging me. I don't see this company lasting another year on just 25,000 customers.

In the end I think Voom will fold and pull and Enron and screw all the customers with price increases up to the moment when they pull the plug.

If my bill goes up another 50 cents they can kiss my ass goodbye.

 

[riffjim4069]

I noticed VOOM is now taxing both the programming and STB rental here in Virginia (4.5%). This is simply wrong, wrong, wrong:

Monthly Charges
08/16 - 09/15/04 Marquee HD $0.00
08/16 - 09/15/04 VOOM IRD Rental $9.50
08/16 - 09/15/04 OLYMPIC $0.00
08/16 - 09/15/04 STARZ! PlusPack $14.90
08/16 - 09/15/04 VOOM $39.90

Fees And Taxes
08/17/04 FRANCH FEE EQUIP/SMT/REM $2.90
Total New Charges (including taxes) $67.20

Ugh!!!

 

[alandail]

I would imagine that if they are charging taxes in cases they shouldn't by not getting the service vs lease vs equipment issues right for all of the states, that they are just paying the taxes to the state and not using that flawed software as a revenue source. It's also amazing to me how worried some people get over a couple of dollars.

 

[vurbano]

Voom sent me an email stating that since I dont have a contract with them, then the equipment isnt leased and they can charge sales tax. lol they didnt explain how they can tax the programming as well. I suppose since I do not have a lease agreement with them their equipment could just walk off too and they have no legal recourse to collect from me if I changed my cc number?

I rent the stb's but I have no lease agreement? What kind of convoluted logic is that?

 

[LOBO2999]

What would you use it for ? You cant resale it, could you still use it for OTA?

 

[Bruce]

What would you use it for ? You cant resale it, could you still use it for OTA?

No.

 

[rkr0923]

paperweight

 

[vurbano]

Im paying a rental fee but im not leasing. Just trying to get that one to soak in.

 

[red ufo]

If you want to screw voom just plug all your STB into high voltage and blow them up. Tell Voom you got hit by lightning or all there crap just stopped work and to come pick up the garbage.

 

[riffjim4069]

If you want to screw voom just plug all your STB into high voltage and blow them up. Tell Voom you got hit by lightning or all there crap just stopped work and to come pick up the garbage.

Wow, and people wonder why we have so many lawyers, prisons and stalking laws in this country! Just because some of us are unhappy about being charged an ill-begotten tax doesn't mean we're going to resort to mindless violence and wanton destruction of property. While we're at it, I supposed we should find all those who have ever dumped us and give 'em what fer.

 

[kawdog]

Im paying a rental fee but im not leasing. Just trying to get that one to soak in.

This reminds me of why I left Dish Network. I signed up for a year and they said I could get a Dish PVR for $100. So I called back after a year or so had passed to turn my service off for a few months and they said they would send a box out for me to send my PVR back. I told them I bought it when I signed up and they said, "no, you are leasing it". I replied, "then how come there is no lease fee on my bill for my box, just programming". She said it is included in the programming fee. Whatever Dish....I told them to forget the whole mess and just cancel me.

kaw

 

[red ufo]

Wow, and people wonder why we have so many lawyers, prisons and stalking laws in this country! Just because some of us are unhappy about being charged an ill-begotten tax doesn't mean we're going to resort to mindless violence and wanton destruction of property. While we're at it, I supposed we should find all those who have ever dumped us and give 'em what fer.

Your an idiot. So I just just let Doom rape my CC and take it. Oh, write my congressman that will fix it.

"mindless violence and wanton destruction of property" of what. How do you commit violence against hardware? Wantom destruction. Please drop the cop lingo and get real. If they screw me I'll screw them back.

The service will never get better because of apologist like yourself.