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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 never did receive the email stating I was at 80% usage for my downloading like their web site says. Was told that regardless, we will have to wait the 2 weeks (or so) for the internet usage to come back up or cancel and pay the $75 that is still owed to cancel the account for the 3 months left. They are rude, none of the customer service people gave the same information and continuously contradicted themselves. Dish network said I am a superior customer and I am going to contact them immediately with this information since they are the ones who referred me to Wildblue. During setup, the technician was working from 9:00am til 4:30pm. This took our whole day off. I din't receive my contract until he had already killed one of our trees and cut a hole in our foundation and was ready to leave. He told me what the contract said but I didn't read it. We were both too tired to read the whole thing. I can't wait to get rid of this service. I would rather do without than extend this contract.
OMG- I am soooo agrivated at this company-people be fore warned- absolute worts service ever! first off, every time it was even cloudy outside- the service stopped. as for an answer to some quetions- i did get out of the contract-my service completely stopped for not 1-not 2, 3, 4 but 5 yes 5 days in a row. of course over the course of 2 entire days of them telling me it must be computer, i hooked up out labtop-guess what still not working, so went though a crap load of bs with them, and guess what, still not working. after yelling and yelling-which i never do, because i understand they are at work, but they were soo rude and not helpful, they agreed to let me out of the contract-and to top it off, they wanted to charge me for the days that my service was not working. finally after talking to supervisor after supervisor-they agreed to give me the full amount. it should have refunded to me in 15-60 days. long time right, but okay. so 60days goes by, still no refund..call back and someone didnt put it though...but of course..then i have to go through the entire thing about being refunded the full amount..yet again..so i was told it will take another 15 days...fine.. 20 days go by, and STILL NO REFUND! so i call back, guess what?! someone didnt process it, then I have to talk to a Ssuperviser yet again about being refunded the whole amount! He agrees, lol, yet again and i should have it in 2-3 days..FINALLY I get the refund, and guess what hahaha not the full amount. So I call back and they are now saying all the others were wrong to tell me that I would be refunded the whole amount, so I ask him if he is trying to tell me that I paid for services there were in fact not rendered, and he says yes. The absolute, without a doubt, most scheming people on earth! Total waste of money. I also had to pay 150 dollars to have them put it on a pole, away from the house, because it wasnt getting a signal from the roof. It went out all the time folks, and it was soooo slow. Everytime you call them about this, you have to wait on atleast a 30 minute hold, and then everytime you are on the phone with them, they ask if they can put you on a brief 2-3 minute hold...which ends up taking atleast 10 minutes. thank god I was able to get out of the contract-how i did this folks-if your service stops working when there is no lightning storm, or if it is not a peak hour-they are in fact in breach of thier contract, so thats how i pulled that one off. As for new service- I havent had any problems with them...yet, but they are 10 bucks more expensive- they are much faster, and i love it! it has never gone out on me, and we have been through a few bad storms. never even slowed down. It net hughes, which is the only other company I could get.They are such a breath of fresh air though.
oh, and I am also doing complaints against them at the fcc, and bbb online websites-thanks to all who have commented about doing that!
I would recommend anyone who has had problems with this company to contact the Attorney General Office in Colorado and file a complaint - John W. Suthers in the Attorney General and the website is http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/
This company is clearly has some type of fraud going on- and the customer service people have no power to resolve customer complaints. It's like your speaking to someone from a foreign planet.
Our wild blue service started off just as impressive as the rest of the complaints here. Our install technician was a no call no show 3 times in a row...then we finally got some who showed up at 10pm and stayed til after 1am...he got everything hooked up using an exidsting satellite that was pointed right into the trees. The day after we were hooked up we left for vacation only to receive a phone call from wild blue saying our speeds were running at what they would expect so they set up a tech to come out again after we got back...
They sent another tech who aborted that satellite and set one up in a "better" location...we had no servicewhen we came back and there conclusion was that we exceeded the usage amount. Pretty amazing considering when they hooked it up we left the very next day andwhen we came back we had no service! So the tech put in a new modem, ran the line to the new satellite which was left on the ground running to our house, I guess we were suppose to burry it! Again after all this speeds are slower then dial up, which they claim speeds are 50x'shigher. So I called them and again was told another story that we were not signed an IP address! But we could get online! Our speeds are so slow I get completely angry trying to open anything, anythign at all! Im very disgustedwith the service and will be terminating it and purchasing a wireless card through sprint...They get 3/4G's and I ve tested it so I know it works, and its $75 cheaper a month! If they wont do anything about the bad service andget it running what they say it should be then we cant be held to a contract!
I had WILD BLUE service for three years. The company does indeed suck. And the jerks who are telling you to not sign the contract and go elsewhere are [censor]S. When you pay for a service and are told that you WILL be properly serviced then it's the company's responsibility to do the right thing.
Same problem with the installer not showing up 3 TIMES, same problem with the lies from the company, same problem with the service being molasses slow when I paid for the highest service ... and on and on. After about a year of complaining about the rotten reception we discover that the installer they sent had done a crappy job -- putting up the dish in the wrong spot on the house and using substandard wiring.
Having now moved and canceling their service, it has taken them a month and a half just to "process" my measly refund. I am still waiting for it to actually show up in my account.
LOUSY SERVICE and they are not to be trusted!
I live in Oklahoma near the Arkansas border. I have similar complaints regarding WildBlue. Finding out who was the installer, having since found out it was a sub-contractor, has been next to impossible. It was a company in Fayetteville, AR, yet not one of the 2-3 I've called admits to having done the installation. Then WildBlue charged my credit card before I even had service! I've also asked repeatedly for a copy of my installation agreement and they tell me I can't get one! Then how in the world can they continue to charge fees to my credit card? If a cloud passes over, I lose access to the Internet. WildBlue sucks and needs to be investigated!