When you pay an Internet provider for a year's worth of service in advance, you would expect that would mean you'd wind up paying less. But one reader recently discovered that using Earthlink's prepay option worked out to a much higher rate than advertised. "I live in the country and, unfortunately, we only have dial-up on this side of the digital divide," the reader wrote. "So I recently signed up for Earthlink When you pay an Internet provider for a year’s worth of service in advance, you would expect that would mean you’d wind up paying less. But one reader recently discovered that using Earthlink’s prepay option worked out to a much higher rate than advertised.“I live in the country and, unfortunately, we only have dial-up on this side of the digital divide,” the reader wrote. “So I recently signed up for Earthlink. Earthlink’s webpage said (as it still currently does) that my options were to pay $9.95 for three months and then the regular charge of $21.95 for month-to-month, or $14.95 per month with a $30 Amazon gift card for a one-year commitment, or $13.75 per month if you prepay for one year. I called and signed up the annual prepayment of $13.75 per month, $165 total, because the $14.95 offer with gift card was not available in my area.”The next week the reader found an e-mail statement from Earthlink in her new account. “Instead of $165, they had billed my credit card for $252,” the reader wrote. In other words, Earthlink was charging her $21 a month without any of the sign-up discounts advertised on their site and with no credit for her paying in advance. The reader tried e-mailing Earthlink to get the charge rectified but received no response. “Then I called Earthlink and they kept stating that they were ‘sorry you were misinformed about the package.’ To which I promptly replied that I was not misinformed – Earthlink falsely advertised. I told them I am canceling the account and refuting the charge.” As we know, canceling dial-up accounts can be hard once the ISP has your credit card number, but in this case the reader’s pure outrage at what she perceived as Earthlink’s bait-and-switch tactics seems to have carried the day. “When I told them I was canceling, the supervisor told me she would refund the full amount, but it would take 7 to 10 days. I told her, well, if I have to wait 7 to 10 days for a refund when it took them less than 24 hours to charge my credit card, that only adds a third complaint to the Attorney General’s Office for usury. She asked what the other two complaints were. I told her deceptive trade and consumer fraud through false advertising. I also told her that if they continue their current practices, some of the executives could find themselves sharing jail cells alongside the guys from WorldCom, and that I was one of the people that reported WorldCom. A half hour later, she called back, just as I was headed out the door for vacation, to tell me the refund was being processed.”The reader says her experience with Earthlink only reinforces her feeling that you can’t trust any online deal anymore. ” I am not sure what is happening online, but I have gone from buying almost everything online to buying nothing online. There is just too much dishonesty going on, and when you try to get it straightened out, it appears the companies are manning the phones with the truly incompetent.”Have you run into an online deal that turns out not to be as advertised? Let us know about it by calling the Gripe Line at 1 888 875-7916 or write me at Foster@gripe2ed.com. Read and post comments about this story here. Technology Industry