We'd been with PeoplePC for quite a few years now and had never had a problem with them until recently when we tried to upgrade our dial-up with them to the DSL that they started to offer earlier in the year.
I called in September to upgrade and all went smoothly - or so we thought. Apparently, everytime we moved and changed our address with them, it was never updated even though we were assured that it was taken care of each time. (Being college students, their price was right for internet and moving to better apartments was just part of our college experience, hence the moving a few times in the last few years.)
So imagine our surprise when we tracked the shipping of our free modem and set-up equipment to an old address of ours from 4 years earlier in Texas. We lived in Washington State and they knew that. What was going on? We also saw that it had been "picked up". All we could think was that the current tenant was keeping the equipment and selling it or something. So we quickly called PeoplePC and explained what was happening and that they still had a very outdated address of ours in their system. This continued on about 5 or 6 times! Everytime we called to tell them that it happened again, they assured us that their system was updated and that we should finally be getting our DSL modem shipped to our Washington address. Mind you, it was the end of November by now and we'd been charged for DSL this whole time and had never been able to use it. My husband left for active duty at this time and I have been trying to handle this on my own since. (He's the computer whiz, not me and usually handles our internet stuff too).
I admit that I gave up on all this mess for December and January because of the holidays, travel and birthdays. On top of all this I'm pregnant too. We moved in February to where my husband is now stationed and called to cancel with PeoplePC. This is when things got really ugly.
At first, the first customer service rep I spoke to was understanding and very re-assuring that she understood the situation and would convey the story on to corporate and that we "would not be charged the $149.95 early cancellation fee" for cancelling our DSL before the year agreement was up which is what would happen under normal circumstances. I agreed that that sounded fair since we never actually got to use the DSL service that we were being charged for and at their fault. She did ask if there was some way we could retrieve the missing modem and equipment and I said "all six?" I then explained AGAIN that we lived in another state and could not possibly get something like that back and that we knew no one who lived at our old address even if we could try. She said to call back in 24-48 hours to make sure that the 'non-charge' request had gone through and been "approved" by corporate. I did this and was told by another CS rep that everything looked fine and we were okay.
I then saw to my astonishment that no, we were indeed charged the $149.95 and it went through to our checking account a few days after I had just been told that we would not be charged. I am angry that I was told one thing twice and then the opposite happened anyway. So, on the phone again, I asked what happend and why when I had already been assured that we wouldn't be penalized since the service had never been rendered. The 3rd CS rep that I spoke to said that since we "chose" to keep the DSL equipment, we were being charged the customary fees for them and for the early cancellation.
I explained the whole thing over again to this guy about the old address mess with the shipping and that we never actually had the equipment in our possession EVER, so how on earth could I send back or even keep something that I never had. And that we never used the service as a result. So, again, why are we being penalized for a service that we NEVER HAD? I love that they can charge us for the service and then not know that we were unable to use it when their shipping records clearly show the address descrepency and several CS agents acknowledged the descrepency prior to all this. The CS guy said he'd put the notes in and to call back again in few days for corporate's answer. I did so and was told the SAME THING all over again about how they had no way of tracking who uses the service and that it was our responsibility to contact them and let them know that we were not using the DSL. At this point, I almost threw the phone across the room I was so frustrated with the lack of communication and the lies that I was being fed. I had been trying to do that for the last 6 months and told him that!!!
So, I thought that emailing them might be an alternative and that maybe I'd get someone in the U.S. Who could more clearly understand the situation because I really felt that I was not being heard and understood. So I wrote a letter explaining everything AGAIN and demanding my money back and why I should get my money back. I got an automatic reply that said I needed to contact the DSL tech support line for DSL problems.
I, at this point, am really trying not to freak out and emailed back a response stating that if they had actually read the letter attachment, they would see that it was a customer service issue not a DSL tech problem. I got another reply from someone who was sorry about my problem but that I had to call the CS line because reimbursement issues were not taken care of through email, despite my leaving my home phone number for them to have the oppurtunity to try to make it right with us. They gave me a different CS number and I thought that maybe, just maybe, this line was different and that I'd get someone who could make something happen.
I called on a Monday, and was told to call back another day because they're too busy for the rest of us. I called back anyway and got yet another CS rep and told her the story, she said she could see all the notes on our account and also the attatched letter that I emailed days before. She was nice and seemed empathetic, however when I asked for a supervisor, she said that no one was available and that I had to talk to her. I questioned her on this but she just repeated herself.
So, AGAIN, she supposedly "corrected" the notes on our now closed account and would clearly explain the situation to corporate again and ask for the reimbursement of the $149.95. And I was, again, told to call back for the reply from corporate.
Today is March 18th I called, hoping for the reimbursement permission and was told that since we didn't cancel our DSL service within the 10 day "grace period" that we forfeited the $149.95 and that we were stuck with our decision since we didn't deal with the situation in a more timely manner. I yelled at the CS girl and told her that we didn't cancel the service in the 10 days because we kept being reassured that we would get the DSL equipment everytime I called!!! And, it takes 10 days to get the stupid equipment shipped in the first place.
I demended to speak to a supervisor and again, was told no one was available and that she couldn't do that. I demanded a phone number to corporate headquarters and she actually had the gall to tell me that they didn't have a phone number. Really? How, as a major company, do they function? I told her that I didn't believe her and to give me a number, any number to somewhere and she said the same thing over to me like I couldn't understand the words she was saying. I hung up. I found a corporate number online as posted here with this report, and will try it.
So, now I'm on here telling my pathetic story and hoping that somehow, I'll get my $149.95 back that I was told twice that I wouldn't lose. DON'T use PeoplePC, they'll just find a way to screw you over eventually and it will be for something really stupid like the other folks on this website have told their stories about.
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