Wildblue Communications The Worst Consumer Experience I Have Ever Encountered Internet

After the satellite installers arrived and set up the service, and I paid a $300 installation fee, they then brought a 20-page contract for me to execute. Obviously, ready for them to leave, I did not take the time to read it, and relied on our verbal contract. Before you purchase this service, be advised that their contract states that they are not obligated to provided uinterrupted service, and there is no limit to the amount of time the service can be down, and you are required to have another service for internet access in the event their service is not working. I had this service for a year, only because I was stuck in a year contract and was trying to get a return on my initial investment or purchasing the satellite. Because the connection hardly ever worked, I was forced to give up certain accounts (I work from home) that required faster speed. My speed was slower than dial-up, and the service either did not work, or worked slower than dial-up, and on very often ran as fast as "6" - which is not a typo. Despite repeated conversations with the company, who insisted it was an equipment malfunction, the local installer refused to fix the equipment (after his second trip), stating that this was typical of their service. They would insist that he come, and he would refuse. When they quoted the fast speeds when I inquired into the service, they will only report one-way speed - and they fail to mention that the upload and download speeds are not the same. I am not overstating it when I tell you that in the last year I spent over 100 hours on hold with this company attempting to inquire as to when the service would be on, as I had clients waiting. I would hold for hours at a time. Their repeating audio message would state there were no outages, but of course there were. The service did not work if it rained here, and did not work if it rained in Laredo near the gateway, or in China for that matter. The last month of my contract, my service did not work at all. I told them to cancel the service a month early, because the service did not work at all due to their severe outages. For some suspicious legal reason, they refused to cancel, but did state they would refund a month. I tolld her I was disconnecting the equipment and to please cancel my service since I was under no further monetary obligation, and she refused, stating I still needed to call back on the week my contract was up. I sent a faxed and certified letter asking them to cancel. They did not cancel the service, and continued to bill me. When I called, they said they could not accept my legal letter stating they "did not know if it was from me" and could only cancel via telephone to make sure it was me. Obviously that did not sense as the signature on my letter and the signature on my contract matched, and I canceled on the phone anyway in a recorded conversation and I asked them to review their records, which I am not aware that they did. It took about a week of conversation for them to accept my cancellation. It is now seven months past my cancellation date, and they still bill me. I had to close my credit card to avoid the charges. At first I called every month upon receiving a statement and sat on hold for hours at a time, and they assured me they would cancel it out of billing so I would receive no more invoices and there would be no more attempts on my closed credit card, and yet each month I continue to receive invoices that they are still attempting to charge my closed credit card. The "gist" of this complaint cannot possibly tell you the agony I went through with this service, the lost wages, sitting on hold 10 to 15 hours a month, not able to work because they were running diagnostics (allegedly) in the early morning hours west coast time, meaning I could not work sometimes until 9:00 east coast time, literally sobbing on the phone because I was losing work and sitting on hold for hours. It continues to amaze me that there has not yet been a class action suit against this company. There was one point I even upgraded my package to achieve a higher speed, and it actually dropped and ran at a lower speed; therefore, I had to go back to the slower package. I absolutely cannot possibly express to you via this note how awful this experience was in my life; it is a wonder I did not suffer a coronary. I would have been much better off with dial-up for the 11 months - which I use (dial-up) now at higher speeds and no interruptions. This will not work for anyone with a business, and if you are on the internet simply for fun, and DSL is not available to you, you are better off with dial-up, which you can cancel at any time.

S.L.
Mobile, Alabama
U.S.A.