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Report: #1085431

Complaint Review: ViaSat - Englewood Colorado

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  • Reported By: Dennis — Western MD Maryland
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  • ViaSat 5790 Greenwood Plaza Blvd, P.O. Box 4427 Englewood, Colorado USA

ViaSat WildBlueExede Possible fraud related to Data Allowance Policy Englewood Colorado

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Content of my email to ViaSat (WildBlue, Exede)

September 18, 2013

 

ViaSat Communications, Inc.

P.O. Box 4427

Englewood, CO 80155

Attention: Customer Care

 

To Whom it may concern:

 

We would like to register a formal complaint for two purposes.

1)     On Tuesday, January 1, 2013, I called ViaSat/Wildblue/Exede to place our service on vacation suspension while we were away from our home.  I was told by the representative “Alex,” that this was not possible and that we were not able to do this.  The Content of the chat session is below

2:23:50 PM C

Initial Question/Comment: suspend service

2:23:55 PM System

Welcome to ViaSat’s Chat Support. Please note that chat is an un-secure communication, which means our communications could be intercepted by others.

2:23:55 PM System

If you would like to reset your username or password over the phone to avoid these security issues, please call us at 1-866-WILDBLUE. ViaSat isn’t responsible for security issues resulting from obtaining your username or password via chat.

2:23:55 PM System

If you are chatting from a computer outside your home, please ensure that you have deleted the cache and cookies from the computer after this session. After we end this session, you should immediately login to your account and change your password.

2:24:00 PM System

Please hold and have your account contact phone number and your account security password ready for our next available agent. Thank you.

2:24:15 PM System

Alex has joined this session!

2:24:15 PM System

Connected with Alex

2:24:19 PM Alex

Hello, thank you for contacting ViaSat provider of WildBlue and Exede services. I will happy to assist you with your issue. May I please have your phone number and security password (usually the account holder's mother's maiden name) so that I may access your account?

2:24:41 PM C

Hello Alex :) Happy New Year! (Information deleted to protect privacy

2:25:15 PM Alex

Thank you for that information, C. Please allow me 2-3 minutes to access your account.

2:25:18 PM C

ok

2:26:00 PM Alex

Who is the account holder?

2:26:05 PM C

D

2:26:06 PM Alex

Also, how are you related to them?

2:26:10 PM C

He is my spouse

2:27:05 PM Alex

Thank you, C. I understand you want to suspend service. I am not able to do this as you are within your 24 month contract.

2:27:19 PM C

We will not be using the service for 3 months

2:27:30 PM C

Can it not be added on?

2:27:50 PM Alex

What I can do is transition you to the 10Gb plan for that time. This is the lowest plan we offer.

2:28:05 PM Alex

I am sorry, we can not extend the contract.

2:28:19 PM C

Hmmmm.....

2:28:25 PM C

Are there any other options?

2:28:44 PM C

Is it possible for us to use our service while we are on the road?

2:28:50 PM Alex

The only thing I could do would be to place you on the lowest plan for that time.

2:29:10 PM Alex

We only provide service to your service address.

2:29:59 PM C

It is terrible that we can't extend our service for the time we are not using it :( We are then, in essence paying, what.... $50 per month for the privilege of having Wild Blue?

2:30:23 PM C

I'm trying to remember how long we have had Wild Blue

2:30:40 PM Alex

I am sorry, C. You are in a 24 month contract.

2:30:57 PM Alex

Would you like me to switch you to the 10Gb?

2:31:06 PM C

How many months have we had our Wild Blue service?

2:31:20 PM C

How much is the 10Gb?

2:31:27 PM C

with taxes and all?

2:31:55 PM Alex

Your service started on 4/19/2012.

2:32:10 PM Alex

I can not calculate your taxes. It is $49.99 per month.

2:32:42 PM C

What is our disconnect fee if we just discontinue our service?

2:33:20 PM Alex

You would charged $15 for every month left of your contract.

2:33:45 PM C

Ok, well it looks like we're just going to have to pay for the 10Gb month

2:33:53 PM C

Never hurts to check the options...

2:34:17 PM Alex

I will go ahead and transition you. This may take up to 1 hour to complete. Please power cycle your modem in 1 hour. This would involve unplugging your modem from the power source and waiting 2-3 minutes to plug it back in. You will see prorated charges on your next bill.

2:34:29 PM C

It is a shame though that there aren't any plans for people who travel...like us

2:34:32 PM C

:(

2:34:46 PM C

I can not power cycle anything.

2:34:57 PM C

All the electric is off at our house and we are 500 miles away

2:35:35 PM Alex

Its fine.

2:35:40 PM C

Ok...

2:35:41 PM C

:)

2:35:44 PM C

Thank you, Alex

2:35:47 PM Alex

Is there anything else I can help you with today?

2:35:52 PM C

Have a lovely 2013

2:36:05 PM Alex

Your welcome, C. If there is nothing else at this time, I would like to take the time to thank you for contacting us at ViaSat Customer Care, and hope you have a great day. It's been a pleasure assisting you today. Feel free to check your billing history and update account information at WildBlue.net.

 

2)      We have been curious about how the billing cycle – especially related to the FAP works.  Today one of your very helpful and courteous representatives, Angel – Employee Number 40167 – explained it to us

It seems that while our usage is re-set at midnight – in our case, on the 20th of the month (although this time isn’t 100% reliable), any usage that we may have incurred on the 19th (the 24 hour period between 12:00 am on the 19th and 12:00 am on the 20th) could potentially roll over to the new billing cycle – even though our usage was to have been re-set to zero.

If this is indeed the case, we not only lose any unused data we may have had up until midnight on the 19th but also ‘lose’ data on the 20th for data that was used on the 19th due to the way their monitor resets.  It is explained as such – Usage may take up to 24 hours to be reflected on your usage monitor so what we use on the 19th may not show up until the 20th.  In effect, our usage is not truly reset!

 

My work is all online and I am completing a PhD online.  My professional life depends upon having internet access.  We have spent, for us, a substantial amount of money purchasing not only our regular package but also additional “Buy More” GBs of data.  When I find out that I am losing – not once, but twice – at the end of the month, I must say that I am both distressed and annoyed.  

 

Your current practices seem to constitute fraud, at least by this definition

“Fraud is generally defined in the law as an intentional misrepresentation of material existing fact made by one person to another with knowledge of its falsity and for the purpose of inducing the other person to act, and upon which the other person relies with resulting injury or damage. Fraud may also be made by an omission or purposeful failure to state material facts, which nondisclosure makes other statements misleading.

To constitute fraud, a misrepresentation or omission must also relate to an 'existing fact', not a promise to do something in the future, unless the person who made the promise did so without any present intent to perform it or with a positive intent not to perform it. Promises to do something in the future or a mere expression of opinion cannot be the basis of a claim of fraud unless the person stating the opinion has exclusive or superior knowledge of existing facts which are inconsistent with such opinion. The false statement or omission must be material, meaning that it was significant to the decision to be made. “

Your statement on your Data Allowance Policy sheet states, “

“At the end of each monthly measurement period, your data usage resets to zero. Any unused data or additional purchased increments of data do not carry over to the next month.”

 

I understood that unused data did not carry over – what isn’t stated (or even implied) is that data used on the last day of your cycle can carry over to the first day of your next cycle due to the “up to 24 hour” time lapse in your monitor’s registering of the data.  Angel’s (your representative) encouragement was basically “don’t use data on the last day of your billing cycle” (my paraphrase – you can check the recording for the actual wording).

 

I request that we be

1)     Refunded the amount that we paid for service while we were on vacation since, according to your terms and conditions, we could opt for a seasonal suspend plan for this time.  We were gone from Dec 31 – about March 15, 2013.  Funny, I didn’t even think to look at the agreement – taking YOUR REPRESENTATIVE’s word on it.

2)     Refunded at least part of the amounts that we have paid for additional “Buy More” usage since we have not only lost data allowances at the end of each cycle, but also at the beginning of the next cycle.

 

I write this letter in an effort to satisfy our agreement with you under the “Dispute Resolution”   section, “

“We will first try to resolve any Claim informally. Accordingly, neither of us may start a formal proceeding until at least 60 days after one of us notifies the other of a Claim in writing (“Notice”). You will send your Notice to the address on the first page of this Agreement to the attention of the ViaSat Legal Department and we will send our Notice to your billing address”

 

Please be advised that we will be out of the country from October 1, 2013 until around November 1, 2013 and request, regardless of the aforementioned clause, any correspondence be directed to XXXXXXX and XXXXXXXXX as this will be our only means of official communication during this time.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

 

With best regards,

 

 

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 09/18/2013 08:06 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/viasat/englewood-colorado-80155/viasat-wildblueexede-possible-fraud-related-to-data-allowance-policy-englewood-colorado-1085431. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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