Hughes

First, I have been charged for all data I am already paying for. Direct TV, Verizon phone data, even though I was told it is only the time you spend on the computer, which is FALSE. This double dipping. I can't do that with my retirement and disability, why can they double charge me for a service they are not providing. I also specifically asked about this when I signed up for this service.

The service was so slow, the month that I kept it hooked up, we could not watch one movie because it would buffer continuously. While it was buffering, it was using data. I could watch it deplete on my phone app and I had my app turned to TV MODE.

Our data would be gone within the first week of being renewed.

I asked the company for a statement to show me how my data was being used so fast, a daily timeline, and was told they did not provide such a thing.

At night, we would turn off every device in the house, and still lose data by morning, how was this possible?

Worst customer service ever! I asked to speak with a supervisor during a call and was talked in circles by the representative. Every time I have called the representatives talk in circles and become so rude, I am certain they get training on this technique prior to answering the first call at HughesNet, as all phone calls go down this same path.

Today was the last straw, I have completed my contract of one year.

But was told I owe $320.00 for cancelling early, the representative said they don't do any contracts less than 2 years. This point in the call the representative was useless, rude, ignorant, nasty and typical of what I expected and there was no longer any use for the conversation to continue or for that matter to have any more contact or business with this company.

I decided that I will proceed at the lowest level first, with a formal complaint to hopefully rectify the situation. I believe that the law will be on my side, as this is NOT the first time Hughes Net has had these allegations brought against them.

I paid over $1668 for unused service, over the past year to a company that has done nothing but give me a headache and make me upset every time I have called them.

They completely MISREPRESENT the nature, characteristics and qualities of their goods and services, with false statements and fine print.

They are quick to refer you to their "contract page", when you cancel your service. IVAN #[protected]

PROCEDURAL UNCONSCIONABILITY: Downplaying significant contractual terms to the disadvantaged party

SUBSTANTIVE: excessively inflated price for the product

I feel that HughesNet has misrepresented themselves on numerous occasions. They knowingly operate using unscrupulous business practices solely for their own benefit and of no consideration for the customers.

On March 2nd this year I had Hughesnet installed. It has not and does not provide high-speed service. (Slow loading websites, dropped websites, will not support streaming of Netflix without numerous delays and start overs, etc.) I began calling about this issue on March 3rd or 4th, very soon after installed and have called 3 times prior to today. Each technical support person did all the same tests, made suggestions, and convinced me I could fix the issue on my end. I also learned that unlimited data is "hard data" and not what any laymen would assume is meant by the advertisement. I'm a marketing major and your ads are at best deliberately and ethically misleading; at worse false! I didn't know that until an installer came to th house today in response to my complaints, "to move the router." He did not move the router because it would not have solved the problem. He showed me his work order and it didn't describe accurately the issue. I learned quite a lot and came to the conclusion that I cannot get what I need where I live, in spite of your ads saying otherwise. Just as I wouldn't pay for broccoli if the store didn't have broccoli; neither will I pay for a service or quality of service you do not provide.

Each call I've made was to cancel service but with all the talking points I was given I began to feel like an idiot (also deliberate). So this morning I called for the forth time, prepared to avoid any more traps to maintain service, and cancel. The representative's circular arguments, lack of comprehension and repetition made my head spin. (By the way the hold time is outrageous and the music is awful). Today's experience alone resulted in 3 reps hanging up on me, 2 reps nicely camouflaged their angry but passive-aggressive comments, several hours of my time, 2 near refusals to get a supervisor, and no resolution.

What I want is what I pay for - the same thing you advertise; "fast" per legal standards speed and unlimited data. I hav neither and haven't ever in the month and a half I've had your service.

Today, I had the displeasure of speaking with Steve Hauser. The point of contention is this: as I stated earlier and as the law requires, I will not pay to get something you claim I'll get but do not. Hughesnet insisted "there's nothing we can do about the ETF". That is simply not true. It isn't you "can't" - its that you won't. Mr. Hauser also refused to get me to a supervisor but finally agreed and disconnected the call. He did call back unlike the others to hung up. Mr Hauser also argued with me about my having called the times prior, claiming there was no record. I have the case numbers but he was so busy yelling "you'll have case numbers" that he couldn't hear me. I finally raised my voice and asked him to stop interrupting me. He was upset because I wouldn't accept his "solutions" so he "couldn't waive the ETF". He did not offer me solutions because there aren't any- he works for a company that has horrible reviews and numerous complaints of very slow speeds.

Here's the bottom line. I'm cancelling Hughesnet - period. Here's the messy part - I'm NOT paying an early termination fee for 22.5 months! I believe that's fair because I called immediately and continued to document my calls and Hughesnet provided solutions - but the truth is - you don't have a solution that allows me to enjoy fast loading webpages and Netflix streaming? The installer told me as much. He said he gets calls about slow internet on Hughesnet all the time and that Hughesnet can "barely call it fast per regulations." Although I appreciate having my thoughts confirmed by him, I didn't need to be affirmed because I live here! I know how "fast" Hughesnet is not; regardless of all the lovely talking points from you staff and your advertising.

Several of my neighbors feel the same way and complain but go through the same BS I got. I feel so strongly about being taken advantage of by you that I'd rather get together with all the others who feel the same way and file a class action suit against Hughesnet than pay an ETF. I'd rather spend 40K on an attorney than allow you to charge me for 22 months of services after I've cancelled. Dun me! Sue me! I'm NOT paying that fee because it's wrong.

If you think I'm a nutcase alone in this, just put Hughesnet in any search engine...you'll find noth8ng but bad reviews, complaint blogs and Corporate contacts. I tried those and they don't work either. As I write this, I am waiting for a promised call "within the hour" from Mr. Hauser's supervisor. It's been more than an hour. We both know he/she isn't calling me.

In summary? Cancel my service and waive the ETF and we're good. You'll never hear from me again. Maybe you'll win in a courtroom but I'm willing to take that chance because of the principle of what you're doing to people. You have 3 days to break a contract for a house or a car in Indiana. I, in good faith, took every measure I could to protect my right to get what I pay for and you've denied me that. I look forward to your effective and ethical response.

I purchased a service from them over a year ago. I was assured by the sales agent that the package we were getting "was more than enough for what you are going to be doing online" I clearly explained that we are amazon subscribers and download books regularly and my husband watches tv on his kindle. Again I was assured that the data package was "more than enough" liar! After 1 month, I cancelled the service. I paid my bill and thought I was done with these people! I forbid them from touching my bank account on a damn recorded line and they did it anyway! They then charged me for another month 3 days after I paid the bill and cancelled the service. Then they charged me the $400.00 3 days after that! I told them they were not permitted to touch my account ever. Who do they think they are that they can draw money from your account after you very very clearly told them you did not give permission for this. I even called the corp office and the woman there told me they would refund the $400.00 but it would take some time. I told her they had 24hours to return the money to my account. She documented in her system saying that I declined a refund... Are you kidding me. Why would I have wasted several hours on the phone to freaking decline the refund that I called them to get in the first place? I filed a complaint with the bank, and they contacted hughesnet and this bimbo sent over a "transcript" of her notes on my call and stated right in there that I declined the refund! Unbelievable! The 2nd monthly payment that they had drawn out prior to the $400.00 was determined to be fraud and they had to return the money to me. Low and behold one year later I get a collection letter from some company saying that hugesnet turned me in for the bill that they charged me for and was determined was fraud! So I get back on the phone with these stupid incompetent foreigners in some god for saken country who barley speak english and they tell me there is nothing they can do! Bull! I told them, they turned it into the collection agency, they better figure out how to get it out and they have until monday end of business because tuesday I am filing a complaint with the attorney generals office and calling a lawyer. I have had it with these crooks! I told them I didn't care if they had to have the president of the company get it out of collection and off my credit report but someone better figure out how to do it and do it now! Anyone interested in becoming part of a class action lawsuit against this company, please email me at [protected]@yahoo.com I am dead serious about this, someone has to do something and they just pissed off the wrong person!

I inquired about their service over the phone because I had moved out into the middle of nowhere, like most people who inquire about their service. The sales tech told me on the phone that, while they do throttle connections after a certain data limit is exceeded, since I got the highest tier plan they offer, my speeds should never fall below 7 Mbps, even while being throttled. Being a cord cutter, I stressed multiple times that I do everything on the internet, from gaming, large file downloads, and pretty much watch Netflix for 15 hours a day between all the people in my household. The sales person confirmed many times that my connection would be fine for everything I do and that my speeds would never fall below 7 Mbps, even if I were throttled. I signed up with HughesNet. The first month went by fine, albeit laggy as heck (my ping would shoot up to around 2600 quite frequently). I used the internet like I normally do with no drawbacks. It was great. So, for the entire time I was able to cancel my account, their "trial period", my internet usage was not metered, monitored, or penalized for over-use. I was mislead into believing that my internet service was truly un-metered. I even checked on their website multiple times over the course of the first month and at no point did my internet usage decrease. All of this to mislead me about their fair access policy and how slow my speeds would actually be with my level of usage. Eight days into my billing cycle, subsequently also after the "trial period" has ended. I begin getting speeds of 80 Kbps. I immediately get on the phone with tech support to find out why I'm getting almost dial-up levels of speed. I am then informed about their Fair Access Policy and how, after exceeding my allotment of data (50 gigs) I was placed into this permanent shame-zone of absolutely unusable internet. So, now that my trial period was over, my usage was being monitored and heavily penalized. I informed the sales tech that I had their highest tier package and that I was informed by the sales team that I my speeds should never fall below 7 Mbps, even while being throttled. He then told me, word for word "I cannot speak for what the sales team told you, but your current connection speeds (100 Kbps) is the speed you are supposed to have while under the FAP (being throttled)." I was outright lied to by the sales team just so they could close the deal. Had the sales person told me the speeds I would actually receive I would never have bought HughesNet. I was furious.I immediately told the tech I wished to close my account because there was another ISP in my area (That is literally 5 times more expensive for half the speed, but no "FAP" or data limits). I was then, much to my surprise, notified that I would be liable for over $500 worth of fees for cancelling my contract. This was surprising news to me. At no point in this was I ever informed of a contract. At no point had I ever signed a contract. And yet, I am now informed that I had apparently agreed to it in some form and was bound by it. I was also informed that both the Fair Access Policy and the User Agreement are plainly available on their website, which I had absolutely no accesses to or knowledge of prior to having their service. I requested a copy of my contract, with MY signature on it, and a copy of the recordings with the sales tech to prove that at no time had I agreed to a contract and that I was also lead into this service under false pretenses. I was denied on both accounts.

I called hughesnet to get service and paid 158. 98 for activation fee and the next day checking my account i found a dole charge, i called hughesnet and they sid they did not show it so i went to my bank and they faxed my bank statement to them. Called to hours later and they said it would take up to 7 days to get through the system. So i canceled the install they telled my bank we refunded that money. I had to write another letter and to explain the double charge and filed another dispute. Now when i call hughesnet they tell me we found the money but it will take 5 days to process it. This has been going on since the 7th of jan 2015. When i call them they say it will be another 5 days and they give me a new case number. They do not care that i live on a fixed income and need that money back. I guess they need the money to play gulf with obama. I filed a complaint with the better business but even they wont call me back. Do not ever use this company they are a bunch of thief's.

I was referred to their service by DishNetwork. I had the internet installed on Friday January 20. I tried to use the internet the next day & was cut off due to over limit. I called and cancelled the service after spending about an hour on the phone asking for a supervisor. Was told they would send me a box to return equipment. February 15th I called them again because I had not received the box to return the equipment & was told they were back logged & I should receive it shortly. March 30th still no box, received a collection letter for $324.00 called billing [protected] spent 44 minutes on the phone & was told I would receive return boxes in 4-5 days. On April 2nd I started receiving calls from the collections department, 6 on my husbands phone and another 2 or 3 on mine. Told them they need to read notes before calling that I am waiting on boxes. That I have no problem sending their stuff back just send me their authorized return box. Two different people called today & I am tired of explaining. I called them back tonight spent 1 hr 27 minutes on the phone & was told because of my modem type they never will send a return box, that I should not have been told they would & that I needed to send the merchandise back on my dime & get a refund from them in about 6 weeks. This is wrong, I have filed a complaint with the Texas Attorney Generals office and my next step it to call their corporate office.

As a customer for Hughes Net satellite internet for over three years I was a happy customer until my house burned down and destroyed the equipment. I was of course no longer under the minimum contract requirements. I called up to cancel my service and the outsourced help desk folks talked me into suspending the account. Before I got the house rebuilt (it took nearly 11 months) Hughes Net reactivated the service. I argued that they should cancel the account and that I wasn't going to pay them when I could not use it as I had not yet repurchased the modem, etc. They told me they would discount from 100 to 80 dollars. I refused to pay even 80 dollars for no service when I was not under contract. I had my credit card company request nonpayment, and HughesNet refunded the money. Then they sent me to collectioin and had the collection agency hound me for two months before I gave in and paid them the 100 dollars. This comes at a price to them however as now I will spend time over the next two years complaining about their abuse of consumers. Was it really worth the 100 you stole from me Hughes Net?
I plan to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the new Consumer Protection Agency, etc. Any other suggestions would be welcomed.

Regards, Scott Larkin
[protected]@hotmail.com

I have been told I am exceeding my down load limit, and spending 5.00 on restore tokens, and for example last Thursday I was on the computer 1 hour and had not down loaded anything at all, I called the help desk to be told my AVG was causing this which I knew better as I download any updates manually between 2 AM and 7 PM, and this has been happening very often.They schedule a service call and I was told the warranty has run out on my equipment, however I pay 9.99 a month to lease the equipment, that was installed on 8/3/2009 not even a year. My service has been very slow for months, and now I was told I would be charges 125.00 service call for equipment I lease. I have made it clear that I am enrolled in school and attended my class on line, on May 14.2010 their technician arrived at 12.PM and I could at least get on the internet even if a low speed, and after 5 hours at trying to fix this I was told the trees blocking was the problem, it needed to be on a pole and last a part needed replacing and also was told he replaced every part he could and I had no service at all when he finished, I was told the technician lived 2 hours away and could not come til Monday, and I told them my class started on Friday the 14th. I called back and told the site office I did not want this guy back at my house and I received a call stating someone else would be there on Monday, Monday morning I was informed as such that is not going to happen, again I called and was told it would be 3 to 5 day before it could be fixed and again I made it clear that I paid for this class and was already behind because of this issue. Why should I have to pay a service call on equipment in which I pay 9.99 a month to lease I cant figure this one out, I was told the issue would be escalated to resolve the issue with another company, and yesterday the same company called and left a message after I told them I do not want this tech who spent 5 hours accomplishing nothing at all with my service, and left all his cut ends in my yard along with paper towels he had ask me for in addition to leaving the siding loose from my house. It is apparent the fact that I am missing class due to not being provided the service I am paying for while being charged service call fees and not even having service to get on the internet, I have paid numerous fees for restore tokens and since this service started the exceeding download limits have become very frequent. They are not providing the service I am paying for.
Today is Weds May 19, 2010 and I still have no service from these people .

Hughes Net Internet Service Provider exists to legally “hook” customers in a two-year contract and force the client to upgrade their service. Hughes Net advertizes to a clientele that has no other possible ISP in their area except 56k dialup service. They promise, through false advertizing, to provide 1, 000k satellite service for the standard fee.

Once you are a committed customer who has signed on the dotted line and invested your up front fees, you find out quickly that you can not operate in the Real World on the internet because of ridiculously low bandwidth restrictions. As you do what normal people do on the internet, you quickly exceed HughesNet’s unrealistically low “Fair Access Policy” (FAP) that monitors you use of the internet, laying in wait for you to exceed the remarkably low utilization of 2MB total during any 24-hour period.

My personal bandwidth declined from mid-800 mbps to between 12 and 17 mbps. That, my friends is a B-I-G reduction. If you are unfamiliar with the FAP you will continue for days trying to figure out what is amiss. As you do this your 24-hour “Penalty Box” time is extended. I couldn’t regain my speed for nearly 4 days! Next you will call the “Help Desk.” The Indonesian employees will explain with remarkable composure how you have violated HughesNet FAP. However, they will not resolve your dilemma.

HughesNet has six payment plans. The one advertized is the Home Plan, 200MB, 1.0 Mbps/128 Kbps, at $59.99. That is the hook. The Switch is next; Upgrade your plan.

Next is Pro, 300MB, 1.2 Mbps/200 Kbps, $69.99. 50% more use which will not resolve your usage problem. Pro is still inadequate. Or, try #3, ProPlus, 426MB, 1.6 Mbps/250 Kbps, $79.99. Perhaps one of the remaining Plans: Elite, 500MB, 2.0 Mbps/300 Kbps, $119.99; ElitePlus, 500MB, 3.0 Mbps/300 Kbps, $189.99; ElitePremium, 500MB, 5.0 Mbps/300 Kbps, $349.99.

Try to find a human being that is not sitting at the Help(less) Desk in Indonesia to speak with. I wish you luck. Even the HughesNet Corporate HQ in Germantown, PA will transfer your call to the Help Desk.

If our Federal Trade Commission was worth a hoot in a whirl wind HughesNet would be called to task on this obvious “Bait & Switch.” Your best course of action is to extract all the anger out of your voice and written communications, contact your State Attorney General’s Office and file a complaint. Only after many, many complaints will they take action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughesnet

I to like everyone else have been having problems with Hughesnet service for a very long time. I have been a customer since 2005 and I would do anything to get out of contract. I finished my first 24 month contract and I get a call from customer service telling my if I upgrade my modem my speeds will be faster and like a [censored] I do it but I also had to sign a new 24 month contract. Now keep in mind there is no other high speed internet services out here. My download speeds have been around 200Kbps and my upload speeds have been around 24Kbps. Hughesnets policy is to start trouble shooting after your speeds are under 800Kbps download and 100Kbps upload. Now that’s for the pro plus plan $79.99.

I tried calling basic Tech support many times over a few months time and after an hour or so they exulted my case to Advanced tech support level 4 every time. Then I have to wait up to 3 days to get a call from ATS (Advanced Tech Support). ATS always thinks they have fixed the problem and my speeds will be back to normal around 1200Kbps/down and 145Kbps/up for a few hours then they are back under 200Kbps.

Keeping mind Hughesnet states it offers high speed broadband internet service and According to the FCC, the term “broadband” now means 768Kbps, up from the previous definition of 200Kbps.

So after months of speeds under 768Kbps and over ½ of the time under 200Kbps I called Corporate office at [protected] and pressed 0 for the operator and asked for Executive Customer Care and I talked to a woman by the name of Rebecca and told her my problem with my very slow internet speeds and that I have had talk to Tech support many times and they can’t fix the problem for whatever reasons. I told her that I need to be let out of my contract or I needed a refund for the services that your company promised in the contract I signed and was not getting. She placed me on hold for about 4-5 mins she came back on the line and ask if I have taken the speed test on the hughesnet website and I said yes. I have about 3 pages of speed test done and over 95% of them our under 768Kbps. After she looked up my speed test on the website she told me that she would let me out of my contract. All you out there trying to get out of your hughesnet contracts Remember that the FCC defines Broadband as 768Kbps. You signed a contract for broadband internet service and if Hughesnet is not providing you with that service they are in breach of contract and have to let you out of your contract with no penalties or face a lawsuit But you must have proof that your speeds are under the 768Kbps and the only proof that they will accept is a speed test done on their site and you can take that speed test at http://consumer.performancetests.hughesnet.com/ you must perform this test 3 times in the morning, 3 times in the afternoon and 3 times in the evening and do this for 3 days or more. I personally had 7 days worth to show them. You must have already tried to resolve this issue with ATS.

Now like I said before there is no other high speed internet service around here that offer the speeds hughesnet offer well nothing over 1000Kbps. So what Hughesnet did for me is cancel my contract and came out and installed a new Dish and gave me a HN9000 modem for free. So now I have a new system at no cost to me and with no contract so I can cancel at anytime and yes the speeds are what they should be now. Now if we could just do something about customer service.

If you want out of your contract because of slow speeds then this is the way. It worked for me and it will work for you.

None existent technical support, the people you talk to in India don't know what they are doing . FAP is Hughes excuse for overselling there
system. They hide behind 3 legal side pages of contract agreement,
that you must agree to or you don't get to use there slow, overpriced system. But if you live in the boonies there the only game in town.

HughesNet
Not a quality internet option.
Below is the detail for the parent company: Hughes Communications, Inc. (HCI) and for Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HNS) . After a large investment of my time on the phone with customer support and a larger monetary investment with what I consider to be an extremely over priced, poor quality internet option, I am sending letters of my dissatisfaction to the attention of the companies Executive Officers and Directors. It may be a waste of a couple dollars worth of postage to express my opinion, but it will satisfy me to know that I did not stand by idle and do nothing in the face of what many online have called questionable business practices. It may interest some of you to open the link on Hughes Communications, Inc. Investor Relations website titled "Code of Ethics".
I will keep my letters to the companies Executive Officers and Directors precise and respectful, while expressing my concerns about there products quality and functionality as compared to what they advertise. I welcome any feedback from those of you that have experienced HughesNet personally. It is of great frustration that a company targets those who have no other high speed internet option in the manner that they have. I hope this is of use to you in the wake of this company's lack of customer satisfaction surveys and the fact that they do not advertise any representation of the satisfaction of their current customer base to those would be new customers.

Hughes Corporate Headquarters
Hughes Network Systems, LLC
11717 Exploration Lane
Germantown, MD 20876 USA
Phone: [protected]
Fax: [protected]
Twx: [protected]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hughes Communications, Inc.
Executive Officers and Directors >>

Pradman P. Kaul – Chief Executive Officer and President of
Hughes Communications, Inc. (HCI)
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HNS)
Grant A. Barber – Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
T. Paul Gaske – Executive Vice President
Bahram Pourmand – Executive Vice President
Adrian Morris – Executive Vice President
Dean A. Manson – Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary
Thomas J. McElroy – Chief Accounting Officer
Deepak V. Dutt -- Vice President, Treasurer, and Investor Relations Officer
Cleo V. Belmonte – Assistant Secretary
Andrew D. Africk – Director
O. Gene Gabbard – Director
Jeffrey A. Leddy -- Director
Lawrence J. Ruisi – Director
Aaron J. Stone – Director
Michael D. Weiner – Director

Corporate websites:
http://www.hughes.com/HUGHES/Rooms/DisplayPages/LayoutInitial?pageid=HUGHES_IR&Container=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[092E4AF424667C42B1314DC142902941]]

http://www.hughes.com/HUGHES/Rooms/DisplayPages/LayoutInitial?pageid=PAGE00000101&Container=com.webridge.entity.Entity[OID[1CB43DD04D1F544C8E82CC423F2F8FD1]]

http://www.hughes.com/HUGHES/Rooms/DisplayPages/LayoutInitial?Container=com.webridge.entity.Entity%5BOID%5BF555B16B57D5B140924859D7AA656C96%5D%5D

My husband got tranfered to Texas from Illinois. We are curretly with hughes Net Internet service. We Told them we couldn't have a satalite service where we are they don't like satalite dishes in the home accociation. Cable only. We asked hughes net to waive the shut off fee. And they told us if we shut off our service that they will put a $300.00 shut off fee on our charge card.

We have 11 months left on our contract. Iasked them if they could waive the fee wwe can not help it if our company has transfered us out of Illinois to Texas we had to go if we want to pay our bills. Basically they told us tuff.

HughesNet Fair Access Policy is anything but fair. It is not defined, to the user, in any useful way, but may be triggered by the simple act of normal web searches. I can only guess that opening a new web page, before their slow system has opened the current one, is a violation, as that is all that I was doing, this time, when FAP activated. Updating software, viewing a news video, and many other normal everyday web activities activate FAP. Apparently HughesNet is an Email, (no attachments), service only.
Since more of us in rural America are going online, HugesNet’s solution to bandwidth is to reduce service to subscribers. The more subscribers that are made afraid of activating FAP or are essentially at Dialup speed due to activation of FAP, the more subscribers HughesNet can sign up.

I am ALL OVER filing a class action suit against Hughes Net so if anyone is seriously interested in doing so and knows how to go about it, please let me know ASAP. I'm serious. Really serious. I won't go into every detail of our experience with this company but I'll just hit some 'high' notes. Total pun because seriously, this situation couldn't have gotten any lower.

We live about 5 miles outside of a city. Due to that, for whatever reason, we have NO options for internet besides dial up. My husband just got a new job which requires him to have a very fast internet connection. So, we finally decided to bite the bullet and look at getting satellite. We found our options to be Hughes Net and Wildblue. After some research, it appeared that Hughes Net was going to be the only way to go due to the fact that Wildblue's ONE tower already had the max on customers.

So, here we go with the nightmare. We had the service installed by some good ole boys from about an hours drive away. They came, put this enormous, Star Trek looking contraption on the side of our house, ran cables to our office, hooked everything up and told us it would probably be about 48 hours before the service would be up to speed and running fast.

We waited for that to happen and it never did. We started the customer service route after about a week of dealing with slower than dialup speeds and this was the beginning of the true nightmare.

We never spoke to ANYONE who spoke English, our hold times for even talking to someone was on average, at least 45 minutes, we were promised call backs by Tier 4 reps and never received them, we were told we had 30 days to cancel the service with no penalty and it turned out to be a lie (they're trying to nail us for $390 and some change), we would be on the phone for 3 hours with someone--taking up an entire evening away from family time---only to discover that the problem still wasn't fixed... the list goes on and on.

Finally, I got so furious that I was literally screaming at this woman---who by the way, probably didn't understand half of what I was saying, what with her broken English and all---and I DEMANDED to speak to a supervisor. To which, I was told that they basically didn't exist. When I pressed, and I do mean, PRESSED, the issue, she told me he was on the phone with someone and couldn't speak to me. WHAT?!

I emphatically told her to cancel our service and that she had better not be sending me any bill whatsoever because they would never see one cent from us. She told me they WOULD be sending a bill for the aforementioned amount and that it would be my responsibility to get the contraption off the side of the house or else they would charge us even more. She told me if I really wanted to, I could try to call back and speak to the technical support people and maybe they would send someone out to remove it. I told her they better just get someone out here to get this piece of ### off my house. I rarely curse at reps but I have HAD IT!

All in all, I have NEVER, EVER in my LIFE dealt with a company so unprofessional, mickey moused and ridiculous... in all my days, never.

And I have a bill for almost $400 from them. Which I won't be paying a penny of. My only question is where do I start on remedying the situation legally? Because I am JUST that kind of woman... I am ready to go on this. My husband lost work time---he had to go to hotel parking lots to do his work on his laptop so he could have the speed he needed---and we spent countless hours trying to fix this with this company and got absolutely no resolution. Just a big fat bill and some alien, teaser looking crap stuck to the side of our house.

Anybody ready to take some action? Please get back to me. I'm definitely ready...

I have had Directway then now Hughes.net. I am constantly getting FAP'ed even though no one was home for 4 days. I am on a wireless network, but out in the country. Unless cows have gotten laptops then no one is close enough. Calling them is a 3-4 ordeal. You have to deal with their "English" names although they are in India. They have no clue to how to troubleshoot. After a major problem on their end my 6000 just suddenly quit working. I suspect they disabled it so I would have to upgrade. Then after the 7000 was put in, now they tell me I have to be repointed to another sat. I found the signal meter on the modem and repointed the dish for a stronger signal. I suspect they have a transducer problem on the sat and are trying to force customers to another sat to take this problem bird out of service. And all this at the cust expense. It is funny how every time they have a problem I have to raise Holy H**l with them for two days and suddenly the service is working again. I have been working for over two weeks since the last problem they had. I have written corporate and they have refused to answer my letter. They hide the corporate E-mail for customer service from you and refuse to give you corporates phone number. If I had anything else available I would drop this ISP in a heartbeat. They simply do not want to deal with customers and customer complaints, but they do want our money for shoddy service.