UPDATE - April 20, 2009

Well, you can't operate like this and expect to survive. With a Better Business Bureau "F" rating, rampant online ranting, and a recession, Cybersurf seems to finally be crumbling under their own "suckiness".
According to the latest press release (available from www.sedar.com, it seems that Cybersurf is selling to Distributel Communications Limited for $5.5 million.

This will likely give the Mercia family a nice chunk of change for their years of dedicated thievery.

They've also removed their Cybersurf investor information, so the company bio link down below doesn't work anymore. However, this is the internet, where NOTHING is forgotten.

Here's the company bio page thanks to the good ol' internet archive.

So long crooks!

UPDATE - Jan 25, 2008

CIA.COM has seeminly BLOCKED MY PHONE NUMBER from being able to call any support lines. If I dial #67 to keep my number private, I can now get through to the CIA.COM support lines.

I have cancelled my existing internet service with them (as of 1:48pm, Jan 25, 2008). I will update with my cancellation experience.

UPDATE - Jan 24, 2008

Support lines:

1-866-330-9511
1-866 Get 3web (438-3932)
403-777-2000
1-877-743-8242

I've attempted to send support requests to help@cia.com without any response as well.

I also notice that my monthly rate has increased with no warning or notice (I still use the high-speed internet service).

Unbelievable... There has to be some kind of legal recourse for this atrocious non-support.

Their headquarters' fax number (403-777-2003) does seem to be working, however. Perhaps this will be the only means of sending legal action documents....

See the links at the bottom of this page for Better Business Bureau report and other people's experiences.

Original Complaint

As VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) does not fall under CRTC regulation, we are at the mercy of companies like this one and have no apparent recourse when we experience terrible service.

I had my phone service disconnected unexpectedly one evening with an email sent 3 hours prior claiming that I had requested the cancellation. I want to stress that I had not missed any payments and had not requested that my phone be cancelled. In fact, Cybersurf / CIA.com / 3Web support personnel indicated that it was their mistake.

After finally getting in contact with a support representative, I waited 14 days (seriously !!!!!) without phone service before they resolved the problem.

In that time, we missed calls from family who had no idea where we were, calls from the doctor about results of tests on our unborn child, friends, etc.
As you can imagine, I was livid that this kind of thing could occur. The only helpful support representative that I had found (hdagent1091) left the company, but indicated the following to me via email:

“…I have also forwarded your account and all notes attached to it to our Vice President of Operations (Mr. Marcel Mercia) to both make him aware of the issues you have faced, and to request that he contact you in order to regain your trust in this company…”

Thanks to this one helpful support agent, I did receive a 2 month credit to my account (2 months usage credit, not back to my credit card).

However, I have heard nothing from anyone at this company about these, or the numerous other issues I am currently having (caller ID date/time not coming through, second line is disconnected because I can't assign my device to it through their web-admin page. I'm using 2 ports on the device but you assign a number to a single device, not a single port).

At this point, I am paying thesqueekywheel.com to post this complaint simply to warn others of the terrible experience I have had with this business’s support.

Company information:
* Cybersurf is traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the trading symbol "CY".
* Information about the directors, along with contact information can be found at http://www.cybersurf.ca/company/bios.html

Here is the complaint that I sent to the CRTC:

Company: CIA.com (Cybersurf Internet Access)
Location: Calgary, Alberta

Yesterday, my phone service was disconnected without my permission, with only an email notification sent 3 hours prior to the disconnection. This is the most recent of an increasing number of complaints that I have against this company.

The customer service is horrendous! If the support line (1-877-743-8242) doesn’t tell you that “all representatives are busy, please call back later”, waiting on hold for a support representative has taken 76 minutes at the most and 15 minutes at the least.
Also, several of my support calls have gone unanswered and when I call back to check the status of the call, there is no record that I even called! Based on my experiences, the company's internal processes and communication levels are abhorrent.

This company’s obvious lack of regard for customer support and satisfaction, coupled with the increasing number of mistakes regarding my phone service setup is the reason for this complaint.
I am attaching a record of all of my support email correspondence with CIA.com support over the past 9 months to demonstrate the types of issues one is faced with when trying to receive "support" from this company.