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Report: #42397

Complaint Review: Earthlink, inc - Atlanta Georgia

  • Submitted:
  • Updated:
  • Reported By: Endicott New York
  • Author Not Confirmed What's this?
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  • Earthlink, inc 1375 Peachtree St., Level A Atlanta, Georgia U.S.A.

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I switched to Earthlink from Time-Warner Road Runner some time last summer. When I got a second computer, I wanted to put the second on the Internet, so I approached Earthlink about their advertised Home Networking Gateway ("HGN") solution. Unfortunately, due to inept customer service, Earthlink lost me as a cable Internet customer and now as a wireless Internet customer.

The first service rep I contacted said they could have the HGN within a week of ordering it. When I was ready, I ordered it, leaving some three weeks before I needed the setup for a demo to a client.

After two weeks transpired, I had heard nothing, so I called Earthlink customer service. They reported they saw the order but no action had been taken on it. I explained the situation with the client, and they got started on it. I paid for expedited shipping to receive the unit in time.

A few days later, the HGN arrived. I immediately tried hooking it up, but the unit I received did not match the instructions for the type of HGN I called and asked for help. After two hours on the phone, the analyst at Earthlink determined that the unit was the wrong kind. They had sent a DSL unit instead of a cable modem unit.

The analyst reported Earthlink could ship me a new unit in place of the first, and since I had paid for expedited shipping, they would ship the replacement in that manner. Independently, they said, they'd send me a UPS return tag to return the first unit.

Two days passed, and I had nothing. I called Earthlink again. Customer service reported that they could not send the new unit out until they received the first unit back. That was difficult since I was waiting on them to send me the return tag.

I escalated the problem, to no avail.

I contacted my client and won a deferral of the demo. I then contacted Time-Warner Road Runner and cancelled my Earthlink account. I asked them what kind of HGN setup I needed. Theirs did not support Win95, which is what my older computer runs, and they weren't sure their software was compatible with WinXP Home Edition. Actually, this turned out to be a fortunate turn of events.

I contacted LinkSys, the people who make networking routers, and took advantage of a free technical service line LinkSys runs to explain what I wanted and needed. I already had Time-Warner Road Runner back.

The knowledgeable LinkSys rep said I should tell Time-Warner and Earthlink to go away, if I had a cable modem Internet link. She told me which LinkSys unit to buy and that that would work fine, although it would probably be a good idea to run firewalls on both machines. Later that day I bought the unit from Circuit City across town. The next day I did my demo for my client.

Back to Earthlink: The Customer Service reps said all I needed to do was give them the UPS Tracking Number on the ticket I used to ship their HGN back and they would initiate the refund process, including the double expedited shipping charges I paid. They knew I had cancelled my Earthlink account and that I had an Earthlink wireless account as well. Well, guess what, the customer service reps now said they could not initiate the refund process until after they had received the HGN hardware back. I was getting pretty angry by this point.

A week later, I used the UPS site to confirm Earthlink had received the HGN hardware back. I called Earthlink asking them to be sure to initiate my refund. They said they would, and the refund would arrive in my account 5-10 business days after approval.

A week later, I checked with Earthlink again only to learn the refund process had not bee n initiated or approved. I started threatening legal remedies, although it probably wasn't worth it for the $200 involved unless I could do it in Small Claims Court.

A week yet later, I checked with Earthlink again to learn that the refund had been approved in full, but it hadn't gone to the department which needed to cut the check. I asked them to expedite it. That was last week, the week ending 17th January 2003.

I have not seen my refund yet.

Both because of my unhappiness with the company and because I need to cut some costs, I have cancelled my Earthlink wireless account as well (formerly known as Omnisky). I will probably have to pay a $100 early termination fee, but that will be cheaper than waiting until the end of the year's service to do it. I wonder how long it will take them to process that?

Jan
Endicott, New York
U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on EarthLink

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 01/22/2003 08:03 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/earthlink-inc/atlanta-georgia-30309/earthlink-inc-delinquent-refund-of-non-working-home-networking-gateway-atlanta-georgia-42397. 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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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
2Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#2 Author of original report

I don't believe it: Earthlink actually WORSENED the situation

AUTHOR: Jan theodore - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, January 27, 2003

Earthlink did -FINALLY- refund monies for the Home Networking Gateway but where their representative specifically said they'd refund $188.85 on 2nd December 2003 and even as late as today, 27th January 2003, after I reported the discrepancy between what was deposited in the bank, $143.90, and the $188.85, they claimed that shipping fees are not refundable, irrespective of what Earthlink had said before, and despite the fact that the expedited shipping was to overcome an error on their parts.

I SHOULD HAVE CHECKED WITH badbusinessbureau.com
first!

Below is an e-mail I recently sent to fraud@corp.earthlink.net

Attn: Management

I was once an Earthlink broadband customer and
an Earthlink wireless subscriber. But because
of my experiences with your Customer Service
Department, which I believe is guilty of fraud,
I will no longer have anything to do with
Earthlink, I will recommend to friends and
customers they have nothing to do with Earthlink,
and I will advertise as widely as I can that
Earthlink lies and cheats to keep monies.

Your Customer Service has recorded the situation
in Case Numbers 49926557 and prior. I will
summarize.

I switched to Earthlink broadband last summer,
from Time-Warner Road Runner. I also switched to
Earthlink wireless after Earthlink bought
GoAmerica.net. I had little trouble with these
services and was pleased until I bought a second
computer.

At that point I wanted to get an Earthlink Home
Networking Gateway so I could support both
machines. Before the new computer arrived, I
checked with your technical support to determine
what I needed and how to go about ordering it.

The computer arrived and I contacted Earthlink to
order the Home Networking Gateway. They gave me
an expected time of arrival of the order. A
couple of days after it was supposed to arrive, I
called Earthlink Customer Service ("ECS"
hereafter) to check on the status of the order.
Apparently, the order had not yet been placed. I
expressed my concern since I had an important
customer demo coming up in a week and a half and
I wanted to be sure everything was ready
for that, needing time to preview the demo prior
to showing it to the customer. I asked them to
please place the order.

Because they could not guarantee the arrival of
the order, I paid for expedited shipping on it.
The Home Networking Gateway ("HNG") arrived but I
shortly discovered, after checking with Earthlink
technical support, that the unit was a DSL unit,
not a broadband unit. I explained about the
customer demo, and the Earthlink folks said they
could send me another HNG of the right kind. I
paid for expedited shipping on that unit. I told
Earthlink I would contact my client and delay the
demo to accomodate the replacement.

The next day I checked with Earthlink on the
status of the HNG. I earned from them that
despite my willingness to carry the cost of
the new unit and pay for ANOTHER expedited
shipping, they would not send the new HNG until
they got the old one back. This contradicted
what I had been told earlier by ECS. It
jeopardized my delayed presentation to my client
and risked making me look incompetent.

Thus, I cancelled the entire HNG and have since
switched back to Time-Warner Road Runner because
they could set me up quicker, being across town.

ECS initiated a recall of the box through United
Parcel Service and said that I would be refunded
the cost of the HNG **and** of the expedited
shipping cost once I called them and reported the
UPS tracking number to them, indicating the item
had been picked up by UPS.

When it was picked up, I called ECS again. I
learned that I could not be refunded the amount
until they actually received the HNG back. At
this point, I was getting pretty angry with ECS
and the inconsistencies in what policies were. I
saw no choice but to follow the procedure.

The UPS reported the item returned to Earthlink
via their tracking Web site. I called ECS again
to have my refund processed. They indicated they
had no evidence that the HNG had been returned.
I called a week later, and ECS reported, yes,
they had received the unit but that the request
for refund had to go to an accounting department
for approval. At this point they still agreed I
would be receiving the cost of the HNG **PLUS**
the cost of the expedited shipping. I called a
week later and ECS said that $188.85 had been
approved in full, and they gave me a confirmation
number of 51379203.

I waited a while, as I was instructed, and
checked my bank account, as the purchase was
through a debit card. I finally noted a refund
from Earthlink but only in the amount of $143.90.
I called ECS today, 27th January 2003, and
confirmed that $188.85 had been approved. The
ECS agent said that if the bank did not credit
$143.90 instead of $188.85 it was a problem with
the bank because that's what was approved.


I called the bank to check on the transaction.
The bank looked into the matter and said $143.90
was all they were authorized to credit from
Earthlink and that if Earthlink said different,
they should send both the bank and me a copy of
the documentation by postal mail.

I called ECS again reporting my findings with the
bank and requesting the documentation asked for.
I learned from ECS that only $143.90 had been sent because they would not refund the expedited
shipping. The shipping was $44.95.

This is severe misrepresentation of policies and
procedures. I could not have made proper
judgments about what was fiscally prudent with
the purchase because I was given inaccurate
information.

Worse, ECS agents have never expressed regret or
been apologetic about the manner, treating me as
too small an account to be worried about or be
concerned with.

In my book, this is fraud, and it is
indistinguishable in appearance
and result from deliberate deception. I'm not
the only one who thinks so: See

http://badbusinessbureau.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=Earthlink+&q6=&q7=&submit2=Search%21EarthLink

I have submitted my reports to the federal
consumer protection agency, and to the office of
consumer protection for the State of New York.

I have cancelled my Earthlink wireless account
because I will not be associated with your
company any longer.

The other pertinent case numbers for this
situation are: 443659 (pertaining to wireless),
48259541, 48302121, 48807591, 49926557, and the
UPS Tracking Number was 1ZAV81089040643855. The
so-called refund confirmation number was
51379203.

--Jan Theodore Galkowski,
Endicott, NY.

Respond to this report!
What's this?

#1 Author of original report

I don't believe it: Earthlink actually WORSENED the situation

AUTHOR: Jan theodore - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, January 27, 2003

Earthlink did -FINALLY- refund monies for the Home Networking Gateway but where their representative specifically said they'd refund $188.85 on 2nd December 2003 and even as late as today, 27th January 2003, after I reported the discrepancy between what was deposited in the bank, $143.90, and the $188.85, they claimed that shipping fees are not refundable, irrespective of what Earthlink had said before, and despite the fact that the expedited shipping was to overcome an error on their parts.

I SHOULD HAVE CHECKED WITH badbusinessbureau.com
first!

Below is an e-mail I recently sent to fraud@corp.earthlink.net

Attn: Management

I was once an Earthlink broadband customer and
an Earthlink wireless subscriber. But because
of my experiences with your Customer Service
Department, which I believe is guilty of fraud,
I will no longer have anything to do with
Earthlink, I will recommend to friends and
customers they have nothing to do with Earthlink,
and I will advertise as widely as I can that
Earthlink lies and cheats to keep monies.

Your Customer Service has recorded the situation
in Case Numbers 49926557 and prior. I will
summarize.

I switched to Earthlink broadband last summer,
from Time-Warner Road Runner. I also switched to
Earthlink wireless after Earthlink bought
GoAmerica.net. I had little trouble with these
services and was pleased until I bought a second
computer.

At that point I wanted to get an Earthlink Home
Networking Gateway so I could support both
machines. Before the new computer arrived, I
checked with your technical support to determine
what I needed and how to go about ordering it.

The computer arrived and I contacted Earthlink to
order the Home Networking Gateway. They gave me
an expected time of arrival of the order. A
couple of days after it was supposed to arrive, I
called Earthlink Customer Service ("ECS"
hereafter) to check on the status of the order.
Apparently, the order had not yet been placed. I
expressed my concern since I had an important
customer demo coming up in a week and a half and
I wanted to be sure everything was ready
for that, needing time to preview the demo prior
to showing it to the customer. I asked them to
please place the order.

Because they could not guarantee the arrival of
the order, I paid for expedited shipping on it.
The Home Networking Gateway ("HNG") arrived but I
shortly discovered, after checking with Earthlink
technical support, that the unit was a DSL unit,
not a broadband unit. I explained about the
customer demo, and the Earthlink folks said they
could send me another HNG of the right kind. I
paid for expedited shipping on that unit. I told
Earthlink I would contact my client and delay the
demo to accomodate the replacement.

The next day I checked with Earthlink on the
status of the HNG. I earned from them that
despite my willingness to carry the cost of
the new unit and pay for ANOTHER expedited
shipping, they would not send the new HNG until
they got the old one back. This contradicted
what I had been told earlier by ECS. It
jeopardized my delayed presentation to my client
and risked making me look incompetent.

Thus, I cancelled the entire HNG and have since
switched back to Time-Warner Road Runner because
they could set me up quicker, being across town.

ECS initiated a recall of the box through United
Parcel Service and said that I would be refunded
the cost of the HNG **and** of the expedited
shipping cost once I called them and reported the
UPS tracking number to them, indicating the item
had been picked up by UPS.

When it was picked up, I called ECS again. I
learned that I could not be refunded the amount
until they actually received the HNG back. At
this point, I was getting pretty angry with ECS
and the inconsistencies in what policies were. I
saw no choice but to follow the procedure.

The UPS reported the item returned to Earthlink
via their tracking Web site. I called ECS again
to have my refund processed. They indicated they
had no evidence that the HNG had been returned.
I called a week later, and ECS reported, yes,
they had received the unit but that the request
for refund had to go to an accounting department
for approval. At this point they still agreed I
would be receiving the cost of the HNG **PLUS**
the cost of the expedited shipping. I called a
week later and ECS said that $188.85 had been
approved in full, and they gave me a confirmation
number of 51379203.

I waited a while, as I was instructed, and
checked my bank account, as the purchase was
through a debit card. I finally noted a refund
from Earthlink but only in the amount of $143.90.
I called ECS today, 27th January 2003, and
confirmed that $188.85 had been approved. The
ECS agent said that if the bank did not credit
$143.90 instead of $188.85 it was a problem with
the bank because that's what was approved.


I called the bank to check on the transaction.
The bank looked into the matter and said $143.90
was all they were authorized to credit from
Earthlink and that if Earthlink said different,
they should send both the bank and me a copy of
the documentation by postal mail.

I called ECS again reporting my findings with the
bank and requesting the documentation asked for.
I learned from ECS that only $143.90 had been sent because they would not refund the expedited
shipping. The shipping was $44.95.

This is severe misrepresentation of policies and
procedures. I could not have made proper
judgments about what was fiscally prudent with
the purchase because I was given inaccurate
information.

Worse, ECS agents have never expressed regret or
been apologetic about the manner, treating me as
too small an account to be worried about or be
concerned with.

In my book, this is fraud, and it is
indistinguishable in appearance
and result from deliberate deception. I'm not
the only one who thinks so: See

http://badbusinessbureau.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=Earthlink+&q6=&q7=&submit2=Search%21EarthLink

I have submitted my reports to the federal
consumer protection agency, and to the office of
consumer protection for the State of New York.

I have cancelled my Earthlink wireless account
because I will not be associated with your
company any longer.

The other pertinent case numbers for this
situation are: 443659 (pertaining to wireless),
48259541, 48302121, 48807591, 49926557, and the
UPS Tracking Number was 1ZAV81089040643855. The
so-called refund confirmation number was
51379203.

--Jan Theodore Galkowski,
Endicott, NY.

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