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PS: Send your letters directly to some of the top executives, as well.
PS: Send your letters directly to some of the top executives, as well.
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Tell your bank you will no longer accept charges from this company to your account. Cancel the card if necessary and get a new number. Send your cancellation in notice in writing along with your story to Hughes and CC it to your state attorney general and the BBB. Be prepared to retain a lawyer if they attempt to then send you to collections, and read up on your FDCPRA rights in case they try to sue you. They cannot legally stop you from leaving.
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Bah! Breach of contract, threaten a law suit in small claims. No company wants to bother with a day in court. If they still refuse, cancel your service and sue them for the termination fee, legal fees, plus any fees you rack up switching to a new provider. You'll win. Also, write the BBB and the FTC right now. If they're doing this to you, they're doing it to everyone.
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I hear that Hughes is increasing the chocolate rations to perhaps 25 bars...
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Rolling 24 hours?
Rolling 24 hours means that for every hour, it goes back the previous 24 hours to determine your overage or underage.
Wow! I ran into this at my dad's remote home end of last month...we were installing a couple of new machines downloading software and updates when suddenly his connect slowed to a trickle. Seriously, his backup 56K dialup was faster than what they throttled him to, as if the speed the sat delivers NORMALLY isn't pathetic enough.
When he called to check on the problem and had the bandwidth cap explained he was shocked, having never been notified of ANY bandwidth limitation and not having encountered it in his approx. 2 years of use. The way they explained it was that this policy had been in place all along. Interesting to hear that it was an undisclosed change of policy a week before.
Well, a nicely written letter but he blew it by saying \"sans termination fee.\" I bet they interpret that to mean \"Double termination fee\" and maybe tack on a \"translation from French fee\" as well!
Bonne Chance, my friend!
I've got HughesNet and its a love hate gig at best. They ahve the worst customer service combined with script reading techs, oh and when I signed on for the \"Pro Plan\" I was told my tech calls were US based only, yeah only until three months in and then poof, off to well you know where.
The author is lucky he was able to get to beyond the second leve, they usually just discoonect you accidentally on purpose. The last time I tried to deal with Hughes billing it was regarding their enhanced service plans where they guarantee a truck roll in1 or 2 business days, too bad you have to call before 5pm to get it the next day. If you sign up for that \"exhanced service\" forget canceling without a fight. You see Hughes Corp (not Hughes Net) bills Hughes Net and they bill you, but Hughes Net cannot cancel the contract only Hughes corp can. So you have to call and call and call to get it done and I even threatened to get the NYS AG on their butts before they finally fixed it.
After dealing with Hughes Net customer service I realized that a vacation at the 7th circle of hell was a really good time to be had, at least you get a tan.
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They can ask for the damn termination fee all they want. You have a contract. I hate how companies feel that in any dispute with a consumer that they automatically win.
Mark has everything on his side. The company should know that if they changed the service in any way that gives any person the right to get out of there contract, but i guess the company wants this to blow up.If i were Hughesnet I be getting out my check book.
I can't wait for the day when everyone has the choice of 2+ broadband carriers. Then they will have to compete for our business, unlike now where most people only have one choice, sometimes with a drastically inferior alternative.
Once everyone can go from one 10mbps connection to another company's for the same or lower price, we'll finally win.
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Did you try downloading a linux iso or something big to confirm that they are in fact trying to cheat you and not just bad typists? I mean, you didn't state in the letter how you determined that it went from 4 to 24 hours. At least not that I saw, but I tried to skip the witty parts.
Just a comment on the letter. I completely understand the pleasure derived from being clever in such matters, and it was. However, it is important to remember the purpose of the correspondence. The first four paragraphs of this letter should have been only one, which clearly and briefly stated the fact that the service had been changed and how.
Nobody who received that letter cares how clever or sarcastic the author is in describing the \"wrong\" of the situation. If I read complaint letters for a living, I'm done with this letter by the end of the first paragraph.
Remember to keep it focused. Here's what's wrong, here's why it is wrong, here's what I want you to do about it.
Just some thoughts.
I am caught in this nightmare with HughesNet now too. I live remotely on a mountain in Vermont, so a satellite internet service is my only real way of getting online.
I am a subscriber on the Professional plan. The service has always been bad. Daily I am disconnected and the speeds are never what they should be. But satellite is my only way of getting online where I am, and I had not had a problem with downloading to much until April 18.
375 kb per hour is no way near enough to live on. Since April 18th I've been on \"punishment time\" several times, bumped down to a speed below 56k, more like 24k for 24 hour periods! At this point my HughesNet satellite is useless. And with out a real connection to the net, I may have to move.
I've been on the phone with them , and they told me I was getting MORE bandwidth now , and that the 375K -24 hour limit was always the policy. They also never said anything about the new expanded 24 hour FAP \"punishment time\".
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Unfortunately, for the typical HughesNet customer, there is no other broadband alternative. I used to be a subscriber. Actual download speeds vary greatly from what was advertised. They get around this with only 4 letters: UP TO. I ditched their service the moment cable broadband became available in my area and never looked back.
I agree with the previous poster. Send a professional and courteous letter straight up to the top. Don't just complain about the problems you are having with their representatives and your disagreement with their contract changes. You should also clearly specify what it is you want from them.
350MB changed to 375MB.
4 hours changed to 24 hours.
Don't you you see? Both numbers are bigger, so to their way of thinking you should be happy. Everything is bigger.
On a serious note, as is the new creedo around these parts ... if you're not satisfied with the CS dept. Escalate, escalate, escalate.
If you still don't get satisfaction, escalate to your AG, the BBB, and your local media.
Wow. I didn't know satellite could be so slow. I'm really glad I'm in an area with cable and possibly fiber soon. I like to install Linux and that sort of thing, so I'd wither up and die on that. If they won't let you cancel, at least twist their arm to up your speed or something so that you won't sue.
Just one FYI - Hughes Networks is no longer owned by DirecTV, hasn't been for over two years, so cc'ing DirecTV on the complaint isn't going to help you much. The company is Hughes Communications, ticker is HUGH.
I didn't CC the letter to DirecTV. Not sure where you gathered that. But at any rate, HSN received my letter and a kind, intelligent soul in executive customer service gladly relieved me from my contract without penalty, and even refunded my last two months of service.
FAP details from HughesNet website now reflecting the change
http://go.gethughesnet.com/HUGHES/Rooms/DisplayPages/Layou...
The real issue here is the increased window of time before hitting the threshold from 4 to 24 hours. I just ran into it for the first time today. The info on the web site is still unclear and incomplete. I had to dig around and finally had a 1/2hour online chat with customer service. I had to restate my question several times before the rep finally confirmed the change. Quoting myself from the chat- \"If so, this is not an increase in any practical sense. It's like being told your pay has increased from $17.50 per hour to $20 -- but not per hour anymore... instead it's now per day. In reality the threshold is much more limiting than before.\"
Very frustrating to say the least. My only guess is that they lack adequate infrastructure to provide adequate service.
We are limping along again after the 24 hour punishment.I still dont understand all the bandwidth talk and dont think anyone ever told us that we had limited use.
At $60 a month too.
I called Hughes(India) and requested a paper bill. That will cost $5.00 more a month. Then I called my credit card and they said they would back me if they try to access my card. I was advised of a $300 fee if I cancel.
Im lucky Comcast has just set up shop here in TN and I will go with them.
I am appalled at the service and now I have a sattelite dish that I paid for.
Well I have been having my share of all the horrific experiences of being a hughes customer. I signed on when Direcway first came out with broadband. Paid about $800.00 for my equipment. I have tried to keep my modem upgraded because if I didn't I began to have problems with the aged modem. Now, since my last modem upgrade I signed up for the Pro plan. Needing the extra speed in the evenings in order to take care of a lot of the paperwork from my business on line at home. Well no such luck. Their peak hours are from 5:00 pm to 2:00 am. My plan should be providing me up to 1500 kbps per second however, during these peak hours I am lucky to see 300 kbps per second. My dial up was faster than this. I have argued and argued with tech support and even pay monthly for home repair. Well this evening after about 4 hours on the phone trying to explain to them that this has been an ongoing problem for the last year since I had upgraded (with speed test results continually indicating this and a home repair only about 3 months ago) I was told that they don't gaurantee any speed during peak. Well for my speed to drop from 1497 kbps to 98 kbps because of peak it makes me wonder if they intentionally cut the bandwidth during these hours. I could understand a drop in bandwidth but, I cannot understand, not being subject to their FAP, l only getting 90 to 300 kbps. They informed me that even though I had numerous speed test results already that I would have to take several speed tests at various times for 2 consecutive days before they would consider any equipment problems. Oh okay then that means that I come home from work (40 miles round trip) a couple times a day run a speed test, run a speed test in the evening a couple times then get up after 2am and run speed tests. This is total lunacy. The supervisor was willing to send a technician if I would pay the full price. What the **** do I pay monthly for repair coverage for then? I have to admit that when Direcway did own the service they were a lot easier to work with and more than happy to solve your problems. I realize now it was because they were building their customers to a point of overload and then sold it to Hughes. Well if that isn't a bend me over and don't even kiss me job. I guess they think I should get up after 2am or get up before 6 am in order to do any work because the rest of the day and evening i get my bandwidth almost completely cut off. I am furious with this company and have the same problem, they want to stick me with a lot of money to get out of the contract even though I am not getting the service. Almost $100.00 a month and I still have to stay at the office until 10 or 11 to work so that I can use the dsl because Hughes can't give me any kind of bandwidth during the evening and just make excuse after excuse for this daily behavior. Funny thing is shortly after I blew up on them I had bandwidth up to 1497 in another speed test. However, this will be gone by tommorrow I have been here several times before also. Hmmm !! I WILL FIND ANOTHER ISP or I won't have internet at home. I am not renewing the contract and am telling every one I know what a screw job Hughes is doing to everyone. Thanks for letting me blow off steam. If anyone has any suggestions on how to get the hell out of this contract now I am open for suggestions. Like I said I could understand a small drop during peak but to lose 1200 to 1400 kbps of your 1500 plan is .....%ull&hit !!!!!! Any suggestions email me at cindyholt@hughes.net. Thanks again. :)
As a Hughes.net customer, I can confirm all the above. Hughes is the most DISHONEST large company with which I have ever dealt.
They pulled the same crap on us with the so-called Fair Access Policy switch. I obtained a list of the board members and sent them a letter of protest, but mostly got back boiler-plate responses. The administrative offices did respond with a \"free\" upgrade for one year, from 1.0 mbps to 1.5 mbps. They didn't tell us that part of the \"free\" was rolling over our contract for an additional 16 months so we couldn't get out of it without paying the termination fee.
For the last 4 months, the speed has slowed to a crawl every evening: less than 250 kbps on download and 0 on upload. I called repeatedly and every time was read responses that had nothing to do with the question/complaint and sounded like they came off of 3x4 index cards in Jakarta. Finally, I reached someone up the chain who admitted that one of their satellites that served our region had dropped off the system, so there was a hole in the service every night when the moon, stars and geostationary orbits no longer aligned. When I asked if customers were going to get a partial refund on reduced service the answer was \"no.\" When I asked how long this was going to last, the answer was \"when we can get another satellite up.\" The loss of service continues four months later.
Part of the problem is that Hughes.net knows it has it's rural customers by the short and curlies. Don't like it? Tough. Go back to dial-up. Then they have the audacity to appear on television telling new customers how lovely their service will be, when they can't even deliver to the customers they already have.
Like I said, they rate as the most dishonest company with whom I have ever done business.
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Sure they shouldn't title it, \"Customers and the Companies Who Hate Them\" ?