HughesNet Internet Service Provider was the only service available at my residence in Northeast Texas when we moved there in 2007. They advertised 108 Mbps download speed for about $80 monthly. Upon installation, you were locked into a 2-year service agreement. They would send notices through a download that your account needed to be paid, but I was never able to pay via this notice.
In March and April I was not able to pay for the service, but little did I know that HughesNet cancelled my service agreement. They claimed to have notified me of the cancellation via the Internet posting, but once I knew my service would be interrupted, I had no reason to log onto the service. Thus, I never received their notices and they never tried to contact us by telephone.
The claim to 108 speed was way short, as a download test showed the speed to be below the older technology of 54 Mpbs. Their modem would lose the connection almost daily and it would have to power down, reboot then wait for the service to come back up. It was very frustrating because of the location of the modem.
In May I was contacted by a collections agency and informed of the $911 balance due to HughesNet. I contacted HughesNet and was put only hold intermittently over a 1.5-hour time frame with no answers as to why my service was cancelled. My work finally required that I drop the call.
A week later, I called back and became more and more frustrated as the information on the account had to be verified with each person you spoke with. The customer service number on their web page does not reach HughesNet at all and the sales number cannot connect you to Billing. The number given for Billing reaches Technical Support who has to "document" the conversation before they can give you a case number and transfer you. No one ever asked me for the case number. I first reached a male representative that spoke almost no English. After several minutes of him telling me I owed $911 to re-instate my service, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He said, "I can give you a supervisor or the president, but they will tell you the same thing." With his sarcism, I asked for the president and gave him a piece of my American mind. He hung up on me.
I called back. I was grilled on my information again, given another case number - which I did not understand due to the lack of English being spoken - and eventually transferred to Billing. Once in Billing I received a more cordial girl but again had to answer several identity questions. She told me the service had been cancelled to due non-payment, which I knew, but she could not re-instate the service without me paying the $911. I told her that would not be re-instatement due to me paying for the equipment and a cancellation fee. She said their policy is to clear the current account balance, re-issue another account number, the patron agrees to fulfil the terms of the original agreement, then the account is turned back on. Hughes will then turn around and cut you a check for the cancellation and equipment fees and send them to you at their convenience.
I informed her that I would not pay them $911. They could come get the equipment and she told me the equipment is mine. I informed her I had a fee in the $911 for the equipment and I could not pay for something that was mine. She had no answer for that response. I also told her I did not wish to cancel the agreement, but instead to pay the past due balance and continue with the agreement, but she declined. I again asked for a supervisor, but she told me they would say the same thing.
I sat on hold for over 20 minutes before I reached a supervisor. She was apologetic but still demanded the $911. There are no options for a payment arrangement and their policy will likely die with their company, but I eventually hung up the phone because they were unreasonable and uncooperative. If I did not pay the $200 owed, did it make sense that I had $911 to loan them until they decided to send me a check to reimburse the $300 concellation fee and the $400 equipment charge. I asked both girls to loan me the $900 and they could get reimbursed but both refused.
They will not damage my credit. I will not have Internet access and I will not pay them $911. I will take their equipment to the HughesNet dealer and drop it at the front door, otherwise they will say I kept the equipment and must pay for it.
They will never get another dime from me, no references and all the complaining I can release. This was a ripoff from the start.
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