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10/31/06 ORIGINAL COMPLAINT:
I've waited a few months to write this because I wanted to be certain my rage and hostility had settled down. My WildBlue experience is one that lawsuits are made of. If I dared to want to waste my time filing complaints about them, I would. Aside from lodging one complaint with the state of GA, I'm done with WildBlue. Instead, I'm telling everyone I know to stay away from this company.
My installer no-showed for the first, second and third scheduled appointments. WildBlue subs out installation through DSI who subs out through somebody in the local area. In my case, this was American Communications. They, in turn, sub out to somebody even more local. I had to go through this chain-of-command to track down who it was that stood me up. The whole process is ridiculous. Eventually, the installer phoned me and managed to show up. I'll skip all the small talk he made and get to the point: when he couldn't get "all green lights" on my service, the guy left! He told me that I had to call WildBlue and tell them to send me a new part. That was that. I was left with no service, out $60 for the pole, staring at $299 worth of equipment and wondering WTF I had just paid for.
It took TWO weeks to get another installer scheduled to replace the defective part. When he arrived, he told me the part was recalled 3 months ago and that the initial installer would have known that. He then realized that my cable was not approved by WildBlue and would have to be replaced. Afterwards, he was still unable to setup email or other online WildBlue services (such as viewing my bill). I gave WB one more week and then called up to cancel under the 30-day money back guarantee.
Three weeks and two phone calls later, I get credited for my equipment. That still leaves the $80+ for service that I never had. WB says they credited my bank account $20 and $40 (still not $80) back in September. My bank says that isn't true and WB says now that I have to send them my bank statements to prove they didn't refund my monthly service fee.
None of that compares to the final blow, however. Just last week, I got an email from WildBlue stating that they had billed my credit card (debit, actually) for $791. I phoned WB and got the biggest attitude and run-around you can imagine. Eventually, the rep told me that WB did "attempt" to get the money but "since we didn't get it, you don't need to worry". I lost my cool for the first time in a long time but nobody there cared.
A trip to my bank, a talk with the bank manager and one fraud warning later, WildBlue is locked out of my accounts and finds themselves at the top of my list. Crappy service is one matter. Attempted bank fraud is another.
Even if slow dial-up is your only option, avoid this company. Unless, of course, you can afford to miss 3 or 4 days of work (without pay) waiting for an installer that never shows, want to pay for equipment you can't use and can afford to have a random $791 sucked from your bank account.
11/08/06 UPDATE
Well it has come down to me deciding over a BBB complaint, a state of GA complaint and/or legal action. The staff tells me that this matter is "over their head" and they can't seem to fix the problem. If they need help with that, I'll step up. More updates to follow. As of now, I have filed a BBB complaint and asked for my $87.92 back for the monthly fees, 1/2 of my lost pay, 1/2 of a monthly cell bill and a letter stating I do not owe WB anything.
Today, I received this email:
Dear: NICOLE
Our records indicate that payment on your account is overdue in the amount of $791.43. If the amount has already been paid, please disregard this notice. If you have not yet made a payment, please contact WildBlue at [protected] (option #2) to make a payment while this reminder has your full attention.
Failure to make full payment within 10 days will result in suspension or termination of your service. In addition, we will take other actions to enforce our rights under the Customer Agreement, including reporting your account to a collections agency.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
WILDBLUE COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
P.O. Box 4427 Englewood, CO 80155.
I contacted the BBB and here is my report Now it is time to contact My State Attorney General. This worked for me when I had problems with Direcway / Hughesnet.
Filed against :
Johnston Communications
320 E. 3rd Street
Villisca IA 50864
&
WildBlue Communications, Inc.
Greenwood Corporate Plaza, Bldg. 1
5970 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Suite 300
Greenwood Village, CO 80111
WildBlue Communications, Inc
P.O. Box 4427
Englewood, CO 80155
1-866-WildBlue [protected])
Complaint Description:
I signed up January 5, 2006 and the automatically took the money out of my account for the dish. I have been waiting over a week for an installer. I contacted them on my installation date which was set for the morning and they later changed it to the afternoon. Then later that day I called in and they said they would not make it due to weather. So they rescheduled me for the following Monday. If it takes this long to get an installer out here how long will it take if I have technical problems!? I later called them and told them I wanted to cancel and they told me they would not refund me the money for the dish which they took out of my account the day I signed up for $299.00 and I would still have to pay for a full year of service which is another $264. I have a problem with a company that takes your money and takes there time installing and telling me that I broke the contact. They never lived up to their end of the agreement. WildBlue is another Directway HughesNet. Now I am stuck with a dish and no service since they will not refund me the money. I would never do business with WildBlue or HughesNet again. I called in yesterday and they said someone would get back to me. I was never called! I called today January 16th, 2007 and they told me the same thing. I paid for this service and now I am obligated to pay for another 12 months when they never lived up to their end of the deal. I am tired of the run around. They told me when I first signed up that if it is scheduled on a certain date then the company they have doing the job will be out because they hired them to do so! Thank you.
Wild Blue is not a good company if we had any other choice we would go back to dial up this instant.
This is the WORST company I have ever dealt with by far! 45 minute to an hour hold times to be told there is nothing they can do. I have waited for a month now for an install. Canceled 3 times, the last by an installer that wanted $75 cash " for the cost of my gas" to come to my home and install. Today they guaranteed installation and guess what? No installer! I am beginning to think this company is some fly by night outfit based in a basement somewhere. Their guarantee is nothing because they offer nothing in return for breaking it. Their service is sub-par at best and who knows if the service even works, since they will not install the equipment. Today they even told me to call a local dealer and see if they would come out and install the equipment for me. Of course I would have to then pay for my "free installation" and Wildblue made no offer to pay or reimburse my cost to me. I already have a complaint with the BBB against Wildblue and I guess the Attorney General will have to be next, since they will not even give me my money back for their worthless equipment!
Wildblue Communications is a scam operation. Their service to their customers is in reality no service at all, but in fact a disservice! I have been toleration this company for a year now. The Wildblue disservice has cost me $49.95 a month for the year, as well as the $299 equipment charge. I would have been better off with dial-up internet, and it couldn't be any slower.
Now that my year is up, Wildblue is giving me the runaround as I try to go through their channels to disconnect the disservice. I have had to go to my bank to put a STOP on the automatic withdrawal. I am sure that they are used to that so they probably have figured a way around it -- we will see. Maybe this stops here. If not, I have already wasted a lot of money on Wildblue so I might as well wast some more on a lawyer!
I agree with all these complaints - i just had wild blue installed here - and its virtually useless, along with the installation, speed, support - i cant cancel, so i'm stuck with what i consider garbage for the next 18 months - you got dial-up? - Do yourself a favor and stay with it if thats all available - i really i could get a lawsuit going for a refund, they CANNOT deliver what they preach.
Wild Blue is awful! I got hooked up about 3 weeks ago and it is off more than it is on. If anyone knows a way out of this contract, please let me know.
Chris.
2 years of this nonsense SCAM!
Hi, I am a wild blue installer in northern michigan outside contractor, have installed over125 systems with only 3 service calls bad trias when I leave the customers home, they have my card with home phone# and cell# they call me not wildblue, I also have wildblue and have not had any problems I have the val pak and get 525kbps down load and 125 kbps upload thats running through a linksys wireless-G router with 4 computers running, if your installers are not using the wright cable swept tested to 3.3 gherts or improper fittings did not peak dish right this well slow you down not sure what states you are in but they must be in need of some good contractors.
I to have had alot of problems with the wild blue service, outages, slow I pay for their best package and today 9/15/07 I have had very slow speeds for two days, they say it Loredo Texas thats my GATEWAY storm ect. They have sent out service people at my exspence to fix what was poor installation by their so called certified installers, that not right. I will not suggest this service to anyone. poor to say the least I will find somthing that works. They should at least compensate you for the times that the service is down I will send a complaint to my BBB and my states attorney office rip off...
Alan ST. Louis
Wildblue sucks! They do not deliver what they promise and their contract is so tight that that they are covered in every possible way. The contract even says they do not guarantee the service that you are paying for! What they hell kind of outfit is this? You would think customer service would be a priority but apparently not. I so wish we could start a class action lawsuit, get our money back that is due to us and save hundreds or thousands more people the heartache that is caused by Wild Blue.
I agree that Wild Blue totally sucks. I have had the service for about 6 months and it has been slow or no connect the entire time. During the first month i tried to contact them 4 times over the phone with 30 to 45 minute wait times. I eventually abandoned that idea and tried to e-mail them several times with my complaints and my return phone number. No calls were ever returned but i did get some replies to a few e-mails stating that I need to call and speak with a representative before any action could be taken. Today 6 months into the service plan I went to my bank that represents the credit card I am using for automatic billing for Wild Blue and told them about my dis satisfaction and they called Wild blue and actually got through, the rep that my bank was talking to immediately got an attitude and said that they had no record of me ever contacting them and I said of course you don't because I could never get through. Now they gave me a different number to call than the one on my contract or in the e-mails that they had replied to and assured me that if I called there that they would resolve these issues. I had 6 issues that I wanted to resolve and their answer was that my computer is the problem and I need to take it to a repair shop. I WILL WIN THIS BATTLE and they will still s*ck!
You know that you people are pathetic. I work for wildblues tech support and I agree that there service sucks. BUT you read the contract that EVERYONE has to sign, you knew that the service was not guaranteed, and yet you signed the contract anyway. How stupid is this. Even if you didnt read the contract, as iv had so many people claim, what kind of idiot signs a binding contract without reading it. If you want to think of it this way wildblue has many many times more satisfied customers than dissatisfied ones. The idea of a class action lawsuit is ridiculous because even if you did get it in to court one of 2 simple things will kill your case and it would more than likely be the first. 1. THE CONTRACT YOU SIGNED, you know the one that stated that WB could not guarantee your service due to the uncertainty of a sate light connection. If that fails you dont think that WB has some bad ### lawyers that would shred anyone you could get to take the case like an old paper bag. Im not saying that you cant rant about ### service, by all means do. Im just suggesting that before you go off on a ranting rampage threatening to file lawsuits, think about what your saying.
The history of service with Wildblue is a painful one and I will be leaving this company as soon as another option is available and any contractual agreements are fulfilled. The issue now, past many others, is that the bandwidth limitation is so severe as to be impractical. I have done some computations after being shut down to 100K speed because of bandwidth limitations.
Calculations show that only 1 full day of downloading per 30 days of service is available with this company. This equates to approximately 250MB per day (7500MB per month total is available), which is nothing nowadays in the internet world. I am unable to carry on simple and ordinary functions with financial software over the net, and it affects my livelihood.
I am whittling my way back into the accepted range-it will take me at least 2 weeks with severe restrictions on my software use. There is nothing extraordinary about the software that I am using. This limitations is completely unreasonable. In addition, Wildblue choked my service without any prior notification even though their Fair Access Policy states they will notify you at the 80% level.
This company is completely unsatisfactory for many many reasons. But now it is at the point where are they are essentially non-functional. Avoid this company if at all possible if you have serious or business needs for internet service.
This company is a FRAUD. Watch out for their installors to. Don't sign anything until you are satisfied with the equipment and service. If you sign even the work order and not the contract, the servicemen will forge your name to it. Wildblue will deny and won't let you out of the contract. File with the BBB and anyone who will listen. Write your news station that helps people settle disputes with consumers right. Write an article in the your newspaper and send it to Wildblue. Even see about if anyone will help you pay for a billboard to get the word out on this company. Get creative and use the internet to get the word out. I would have never went with this company except Dish Network was the one who referred me to this company. Dish Network also
installs the satelite for this Wildblue. The company that sent the men to install my was from DSI.
I belive Wild Blue must be run by arabs who hate americans being that they are all you ever talk to when calling for problems. I to have Wild Blue and crappy service. On a side by side comparison with walmart dial up vs wildblue I was able to play an entire clip from you tube quicker with dial up. When I called WB about this they were rude and unhelpful. I called again to speak with a superviser and they sent a technician within a week to look at our connections. Here is what happened: They increased our connection speed to make everything look fine. It was almost like DSL amazing...then 4 days after the tech left they dropped my speed and now same old same old crap that takes forever to open yahoo email. Or 80 percent of the time connection fails. DO NOT EVER PURCHASE THIS SERVICE. I thought it was all that was available to me... there of course were other alternatives... sprint mobile broadband 59 a month and same with verison... its not the fastest in the world but compared to dial up and wild blue its GOLD. Dial up verses WB... I would definately choose dial up. The cancelation fee for a crppy service is 600 bucks with wb... STAY CLEAR STAY CLEAR WB is a fraud company out to screw its customers.
I am just floored with this so called broadband company.60 bucks a month for something I can get from a 5 dollar dialup. A contract should not protect a fraud against the consumer . You don't even see the damned contract untill after they take your money and send the equipment. What really gets me is my directv will go up 10 bucks a month if i do cancel service with WB. I'm telling everyone I know to avoid it. Has anyone evergot out of the contract?
First I dont know who you are calling becouse all of wbs techs are in america. Once again you read the contract and you still sighned the damn thing. Get some brains or shut the hell up. Just becouse they brought the contract dosent mean you have to sign it. If you dont like the terms do what every other senceble person would do and not sign it. Also dont think that WB is bad for everyone just becouse you screwe yourself by signing an airtight contract. Yes wb sucks for some people there is no argueing that, but saying you got screwed becouse of the contract is you own fault. Simple words of advice, WISE UP AND SHUT UP.
Some one needs to do something about Wild Blue and the way they treat their customers. We need to start taking a stand against dishonest companies. These people need to be shut down, tar and feathered and ran out of town. Funny how no seems to know who runs the company, much less their so call lawyers won't allow the employees to have access to their phone number. The same people that you talk to work in customer service also works in the so called "retention department". There's something wrong here. They to be investigated. I am plan on filing with FCC because BBB surely is a joke!
I don't about you but I not going to let these people rip me off. And by the "John the Butcher if you want to get your point across, maybe you need to SPELL!
Hooked on phonics worked for me!
Deanne Marso,
Aparently hooked on phonics didnt work for you. I admit I cant spell but if your going to critisize someone else you should check your own posts first. I spotted at least 5 grammer errors in you short post. By the way everything in my posts are true.
I count myself extremely fortunate bc I asked about internet service when I had my DISH network installation. Luckily, the installer told me that WildBlue is VERY slow and that there have been many, many problems. I might be in the shoes of the people here who have been burned had this man not been upfront and honest. Good luck and thanks to all of you who have shared your horror stories. It can be such a pain to log them, but you save others a lot of hassle.
The installer was rude beyond believe. He told me right up front that he didn't have a wall face plate because he didn't want to stop at Home Depot and spend $.20 on it. Then he insisted that he drill a hole threw my carpet to run the cable. I insisted that he would NOT do that because I was afraid that his drill would snag on the carpet and pull the threads out. So after some firm discussion he drilled the hole in the wall. He left an opened hole in my wall. I asked him three times if he sealed the hole on the outside and three times he said, yes. I have called [protected] three times and they have assured me that he would come back and fill the hole. I too ws charge $349.00, it came right out of my bank. I thought it was going to be $299.00 less $140.00 rebate/sale. I can't get anyone to e-mail or mail me a copy of my bill. Tonight I'm writing my letter to send to the Texas attorney General office, to AT&T , DSI Systems,Wildblue, The Better Business. Wildblue does not care that you don't like them or their service.
What a horrid experience I've had for the past two weeks, after WildBlue decided to "partner" with Google, around 2/27/08. WildBlue is blaming all the problems on Google, but hey, I didn't ask for this partnership. I've had no e-mail, intermittent, e-mail, inability to Send, inability to Receive, Sent e-mails going into my Inbox, a continual popup box asking me to Enter Network Password, which no matter what I do, keeps coming up. After waiting on hold for first, 45 minutes (after which a tech worked through my settings and said everything was fine), then 1 hour, after which I was disconnected, their voice-mail message now apologizes for heavy traffic and suggests calling back in "a few hours"--and it's been doing this for about ten days.
Today, finally, I got through to customer service department and demanded a one-month credit to my credit card for my monthly bill for satellite service. Jackie (she would not provide her last name) said that was impossible--that they do not issue credits. I've complained to the FCC and the Better Business Bureau.
Any other RECENT complaints about WildBlue?
Janine
P.S. After paying over $600 to install the dish, I'd rather not switch to another satellite provider, who will only make me buy their equipment. And I live in a rural area, so no cable or fiber optics.
I have had Wildblue service for almost a year. We recently moved to another state and four months ago I called to downgrade the service in order to fullfill my contract for a year. Each month after being on hold for a very, very long time, they assure me that my service has been downgraded and that they are going to give me one month of free service. THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED YET and as of today I am still being billed $69.95 instead of the downgraded price for the lowest package at $49.95 for a service I don't use anymore. I recommended WB to a friend and they are not satisfied with this company either. If you have a choice between WB and any other company I highly recommend going with the other company. WB has the worst customer service of any company I've ever dealt with and although they make you think they are helping you, apparently they were not even compentent to downgrade my Wildblue service. At our new home we have Time Warner and they have been so wonderful. My contract with Wildblue is up next month and I will discourage anyone from ever using them again. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EQAULS BAD BUSINESS.
I've had Wildblue for about 2 years now. I've switched between the basic pack and the pro pak several times to avoid hitting the FAP limit(17gb sucks ###). Unlike most of these people here, I can't complain that much about the service as I've almost always had 'as advertised' speeds. The thing that really pissed me off is about 8 months into my contract they introduced the 'traffic shaping' protocol that completely turned the service from awesome to WTF! Pings before this were outstanding(for satellite) at 5-600ms avg for me. I could do a ### load of things, even game with this latency.
After though is a whole nother story. Pings jumped from the great 5-600ms to an abismal 1300ms STANDARD! We'd see spikes like that before, but this is now the NORM for WB. Web pages take twice as long to load than before and secure sites are gawd awful slow! I can surf faster on dial up than I can with WB. The only real thing that WB provides me now is a mediocre download and upload speed. SO I pay 4x the amount "REAL" broadband users pay for a service that is 4x slower in most cases. If you are out of the loop this is $79.95/month for a 1.5mb/256kb connection. With society relying more and more on high speed internet solutions and websites cramming a ton more content on their pages, It only seems fair to raise their 17gb/5gb download/upload FAP limits to compensate for the changing times but they aren't. This amount simply isn't enough for me. I work in the IT industry and completely rely on the internet to do my job and research about jobs. I am currently sitting at 83% usage from just doing everyday normal internet browsing and occasional game, software, or system updates.
I do not feel my $79.95 is paying for much. If you paid this much where cable/dsl is available you would have a 5-10mb plan with no FAP limits(there may be limits but it sure as ### isn't 17gb per 30 days, more like 100gb+) All in all I am happy I have some decent download and upload speeds but for someone who doesn't use P2P services or download dvd movies, It sure feels like I'm being ripped off.
i agree 190 % eith all these complaints . wildblue is nothing more than a scam. last week in december 2007 i called direct tv about internet service -was told wildblue was only service available in my location. upon inquiring about installation cost, iwas told total cost would be$368.95 + tax . i asked at least 3 times and was told the exact same thing. not a word was said about standard installation. i was told i'd have to pay for installation by credit or debit card right then if i wanted the service. i gave them my debit card # (direct tv) for the $393.85. the equipment arrived about 10 days later. i called a #direct tv had given me to call when equipment arrived which turned out to be DSI. they set appointment to install about a week laterbetween 8am and 1pm. at 12:50 on planned install date i got a phone call from DSI stating they were not coming and wanted to rescheldule for 1/10/2008 8am to1.pm. i agreed on this.
INSTALLER ARRIVED walked around home and said he was going to plant a pole in side yard; run cable to home ;run it under home (crawl space) then up into room. i told him to do whatever he has to to hookup. he already had pole planted and cable run in home when he suddenly asked if i was paying the remainder of installation charges by check or cash. i told him i'd already paid for total installation; so what was he talking about. he said i'd only paid for standard installation and i owed him $215.00 more
i told him that something is wrong here .he just said do you want the internet or not. said if i didn't pay him i'd be out of the $393.85i'd already paid plus i'd have to pay for 12 months service that i would not have.i wrote him a check 9$215.00. about 4 hours later the computer lost internet explorer connection. i called wildblue and after 1 hour twenty minutes of on hold i finally talked to a person. he asked me what modem lights were doing. said he could not do anything; if not back on next day to call again which i did and again and again . service man from DSI came out said there was nothing wrong. i asked him what about the calls to wildblue and the codes that i printed off from computer stating code errow3001- computer could not get an internet connection.he told me that the printouts dd not come from my computer ther's nothing wrong with your installation.
if there has ever been a scam this sure one with w/b; DSI;and direct tv . i never gave wildblue my bank card # but on or about 2/3/08 i found that wildblue was charging my monthly service to it anyway they will not tell me how they got account # to begain with. dial up is faster than mine i lose connection on a daily basis and wildblu will not fix it. what am i supposed to do? any suggestions greatly appreciated. i truly believe wildblue and dsi should be made to compensate each and every customer and then close and never operate in N.C. AGAIN. this is a total nightmare to me.. how does companies like these stay in business?
I hope this situation i'm in stops someone else from falling victim to the WILDBLUE- DSI SCAM. THEY ARE THE WORST COMPANIES I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH AND I'M 63 YEARS OLD AND DISABLED.
THANKS A MILLON; JAMES
Hello Fellow, , none w/b surfers,
I just thought i would also list our dissatisfaction with w/b, i wont tell my story as it is the same as everybody else’s, poor service, no connection, slower than dial up, on and on and on and on, need i say more, in one month our contract is up, we cant wait to get rid of it, like everyone else has found out, it is all a big con, once they get your money you are expendable and they don’t care to lose you, as there are many other suckers waiting to sign on the dotted line with the money up front (that they demand), i for one, , was a sucker, soon i will pay for a big advertisement in my local paper explaining my genuine reason for sale of the w/b equipment, better still i might set fire to it all just for a laugh, Hey! I have just had a thought, if i did set fire to it, people would see the message quicker than w/b customers, like beacons across the land, should you receive this message, it was pure luck! Dave.
Yup.. Ive seen this all too many times. I've been a WB customer for close to 3 years and they do have some issues. FAP And Bandwidth monitoring bieng the Biggest. Its Bogus and does NOT reflect actual values period.
Contact Scott Kamber period. (Just google it)..
He may be able to help as its not My problem as I'm reverting to Hughesnet and their new bird if they have the problems straightened out.
Good luck!
Ken
Also Im.. www.ikenfixit.com in case youre wondering ;)
DO NOT sign up for Wild Blue internet service. I have been on about a month, and it sucks in every way. Speed varies from dog slow to a dead halt, their web site is useless, and fails to support Leopard on the Mac! I just got my first bill, $79 for their so-called top tier service, and can't even log in to view it or manage my account. They failed to disclose their lack of Leopard support before roping me in to a 2 year contract. I am investigating my options for cutting them off cold.
When I began to have problems with my Comcast internet service, such that they were totally unresponsive (even after I wrote several letters to their president), I began looking around for an alternative. From reading the WildBlue promotion materials, they sounded like they might be what I was seeking.
After reading their stuff which said 94% of those surveyed were happy with WildBlue, I went searching across the internet to see if there were any complaints. I was overwhelmed! They must have surveyed all their relatives! From the number of similar-sounding complaints, it appears that WildBlue is a company out of control.
Since I’ve experienced such treatment, I can quickly sympathize with those who are locked into contracts for less than satisfactory service. I’ve been there and done that. So, I did a bit of research and I’m going to share it with you for whatever it is worth.
When you get lousy service, begin filing complaints. There are some organizations you can use to file complaints. The first might be the Better Business Bureau where the company is headquartered. But don’t expect much from them because the very people you are complaining about are those who pay for the organization to exist. It’s a very clear circumstance that they are not likely to bite the hand that feeds them!
There are others including your state Attorney General and the Attorney General in the state where the culprit is headquartered. Then, there’s the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in Washington, DC. If there’s outright fraud, contact your local District Attorney and perhaps the local U.S. Attorney. If they are using the mails to defraud, contact the US Postal Service’s Postal Inspector service. Of course, there's always the FBI.
There’s also the avenue of attacking the beast directly. That means contacting the senior executive and asking him/her to assist you. Keep in mind that your message to the executive must be civil with no bad language. You can be angry but not abusive.
Okay, here are some of the names and numbers of the players at WildBlue. These are all from publicly available sources. To install WildBlue service, you can call [protected], but you can also complain to them. Sure, they’ll try to ward you off and transfer you but be persistent. If they get enough complaints, to tie up their lifeline (new sales), they might get the message.
WildBlue Customer Service (or is it Disservice?) is [protected]. Call at odd times when they are having their siesta…like the hours from midnight to 6:00 a.m. If they get enough calls, they might get the message.
Now, here are some critical names and numbers (but I have to admit I have not tried any of them; I’ve just gathered publicly-available information):
David J. Leonard, CEO, WildBlue Communications, Inc., Greenwood Corporate Plaza, Building 1, 5970 Greenwood Plaza Blvd., Greenwood Village, CO 80111. Phone: [protected]; Fax: [protected].
Mark D. Carleton, (Chairman of the Board but notice that this guy is at another company) Senior Vice President, Liberty Media Corporation, 12300 Liberty Blvd., Englewood CO 80112. Liberty is the largest shareholder (owner) of WildBlue. Liberty also owns Discovery Channel, USA, QVC, Encore, Starz, and Expedia among other holdings. And, for the record, here’s Liberty’s senior executive: Dr. John C. Malone, Chairman, 12300 Liberty Blvd., Englewood, CO 80112. Phone: [protected]; Fax: [protected].
Another major shareholder of WildBlue is the National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative. Here’s the senior executive there: Bob Phillips, III, President and CEO, 2121 Cooperative Way, Herdon, VA 20171. Phone: [protected]; Fax: [protected]. They also have [protected].
And yet another major shareholder is Telesat Canada. The senior executive is: Daniel S. Goldberg, CEO, 1601 Telesat Court, Gloucester, Ontario K1B 5P4, Canada. Phone: [protected]; Fax: [protected].
Maybe if senior executives of shareholding companies begin to get deluged with bad customer mail, they will get through to WildBlue management and get some positive changes made so the mail stops. It’s certainly worth a try.
Needless to say, I am NOT going to start doing business with this organization, thanks to reading what all of the previous writers have said. I just wanted to return the favor and help the writers and future victims try to get some satisfaction. Keep in mind that customer satisfaction has been bent, folded, stapled, and mutilated so much that it is no longer in existence in most corporations these days.
Good luck in getting some satisfaction!
Iam a Satellite business owner, and we offer Wild Blue service to our customers. The only positive thing when a customer orders Wild Blue, we do our own installations and actually show up on time of the scheduled appointment. 80% of my Wild Blue customers have complained about the service with Wild Blue. The down load speeds are pretty close to what is advertised, but Wild Blue's upload speeds are slow as dial up. When Wild Blue is questioned about the up load speed issue, all they do is blame the installer for not installing it right instead of admitting they are at fault. A word to the wise is all satellite internet company's are no good and never worked all the bugges out.
I would have to agree with this complaint. I do believe I know one of the posters here. He was my installer. He did his job to a T and went over and above the call of duty. Jeff, if you are he, I thank you. My problem has not been with you, but rather inferior equipment.
As for Joe The Butcher, who is so quick to point out 'read your contract', there is such a thing as moral obligations and ethical obligations. I don't believe any contract would hold up in court if the equipment was found to be inferior or defective. For example, my modem came from a defective batch that the power cord falls out of the back. WildBlue knows this and refused to replace it. Second example, I have had this system for around a year, and in that time have had a total of 3 Trias. The tria that came with the original setup, a tria replaced by the field engineer out of Atlanta, and a tria replaced by my tech/contractor. It is a known fact these trias are defective and do not hold up, and I am well aware to hold money back for more trias and installations. You will continue to have them replaced. For those on Dish Network and DirecTV, when is the last time you have had to have work done on your dish? They have Trias.
Hence; I don't care what contract you have signed, there is a law in most states, including the one I live in, called 'Failure of Disclosure'. If this had been an automobile, there would long since have been a recall. Also there is the frivolous use of the word 'Reliable'.
I will guarantee you if enough people with the same complaints get together and file a class action suit with a decent attorney, they WILL win.
...And Joe, you said yourself the contract does not arrive until the installer does. Many of these people who have complained on this board and other boards did not get that far as the contractor never showed up and still Wildblue refuses to refund them. WildBlue supplies the contractors and as a result has an inherited responsibility for the successful completion of their work. Frankly, Joe, I expect more from my internet provider than I would a seedy used car lot who hides behind their contracts.
I have had severe problems with WildBlue, but I was blessed with a contractor who is above board and ethical. He has shot straight from the hip of the shortcomings of WildBlue. My heart goes out to him and the other contractors who are stuck servicing these accounts at a loss in order to save their reputation. Remember this is rural internet service, which means many know their installers/contractors. What a position to be in! Just to save the rest of their business they have to follow through and help those they installed their system; As Jeff stated, 80% of his installations are complaining. This is not just a few unhappy consumers. When mine was installed, my contractor did a standup job and has been there every time I have needed him.
it is slower than dial-up
I currently have clearwire and it is a hit and miss show on having service. It use to be pretty good but is dead dog slow most of the time anymore. We have been considering Wildblue since we can't get DSL or Cable. I was looking into getting my own equipment on Ebay. But after reading all the issues with Wildblue I'm very scared about taking a chance with them.
Wild Blue Sucks Everyone go to your Bank Have Wild Blue automatic Withdraw removed Iam so tired of there Poor Service LONG WAITS ON PHONE NONE Engish Speaking Towel Heads
First of all to Jony... in the United States, just because someone signs a contract, it does not make that contract a binding document. For instance, if a law exists to control rent in an area, the landlord cannot legally put something in their contract to override the state or federal law so that the landlord can charge more money and say "but they signed the contract saying it was okay!".
So basically if Wild Blue's internet services do not work and someone has already signed the contract, that person is not bound by the contract because Wild Blue has not been able to provide the service in which the contract is being signed for.
chris,
I thought the same way when I first read the contract. I was so sceptical I asked a friend of mine that is a judge and becouse of the wording of the contract basiclly what it comes down to is, you sign it you are screwed.
We had Wild Blue in California for over a year, same slower than dirt some time service, but we lived with it because we signed that contract from hell and we lived in the boonies. OK, so buyer beware and don't sign the sucker! BUT, then we decided to move to another state. We called to cancel our service and had to pay for the remaining contract at $25 per month. K, so we did to get out of the contract. We felt good about leaving them behind as we start our new life. Now, they advised us they would send a box to return the equipment when I called 2 weeks BEFORE we moved. K, so we waited for the box. On the day we were moving, and still no box, I called them. They advised me that the box IS SENT TO THE NEW ADDRESS! How dumb! So I sat on hold and talked with 3 people over an hour to find out instructions for the equipment we had to remove FROM UP ON THE TOP OF THE HOUSE AND THEIR ANTENNA to take with us to our new address and put in the dang box they were sending WITH THE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO REMOVE THE EQUIPMENT! If I hadn't called, we would have been 1500 miles away and no way to return for the equipment to put in the dang box! Sooooooooo, fast forward to our new address, we received the box a couple of days after arriving, put the equipment inside, slapped the label on and took to UPS to return it within their 10 days allowed so that they wouldn't charge us for the equipment. That was mid October. Now, 30 days later all of a sudden we get a charge on our credit card for equipment $370! When we call they say we didn't return it! We say we did, and ask that they track the package. They don't have the tracking number, and tell me it's OUR responsibility to track it. Ummm, yeah. WE didn't print the return label, so we have no way of getting that number. They don't have the number either, or thats what I was told the first 3 people I talked to, before I finally frustrated the hell out of them by insisting that they DO have the number. I was FINALLY transferred to the office that actually requested and printed out the labels and was able to talk with someone that could see the number. Phew! 1 1/2 hours, not real great customer service. Then I was told they don't have internet access to track the package! Holy crap. So responsibility back on us to track it. Tracking shows the package never sent, UPS denies receiving it, long story short, we are out the $370 and somewhere, someone has the equipment. We've been with Dishnet over 10 years, they referred us to Wild Blue. We have decided they also can't be trusted with our business and will NEVER have either company service again! And they NEVER will have the right to just charge something on our account. IF you sign up with Wild Blue and give them your debit card for even just the first sign up THEY HAVE YOU! We never had automatic payment, but they had our debit from the first and when we cancelled service they used it again for the remainder of the contract and the equipment billing even though their customer service told us we would be billed for both. DON'T BELIEVE THEM! If you move, when returning the box, get a receipt from ups with the tracking number on it.
Wild blue is a scam! I am stuck in a contract. I got my service turned on 3 weeks ago and i had the stinking dish and equipment in my house for a month! I was supposed to have a tech at my house and he no showed not once but twice. Finally, pissed off that i was losing wages every fricken time that i had to sit at my house for some guy to show up, I called wild blue and notified them of this issue. They wouldnt do a thing for me. Outraged, i went to the local hardware store and picked up my own cabeling and set the POS up myself. Then i called thier so-called technical support to give me the azmuth and the rest of the aiming directions. They would not give them to me since i was not a "Lisenced Tech". So after spending 6 hours on the phone with these [censored]s, i finally got ahold of a local tech to come over and turn my equipment on. But wait, although the tech came out, that was after i bribed him with 50 bucks to just show up! etherwise i was going to have to wait another two weeks!
WILD BLUE IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER HAD TO DEAL WITH. IF YOU JUST RECIEVED THIER SERVICE. CANCEL NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!
There is a way to get this company. Go to bbb.org look 'em up and press the link to file a complaint. Hit 'em where it hurts. They've logged 1307 complaints in the past 36 months and they lost their BBB Accreditation in April '08. They freaked and got it reinstated in Sept. '08. They're under strict monitoring now by the BBB. If they lose their accreditation with the BBB, then they lose their lucrative partnerships with Dish, etc. These companies won't go near a company who has lost this. The more complaints that come in, the better. It's easy as hell, a couple of mouse clicks. What the BBB is looking for are complaints.