A "friend" of mine recommended "Clearwire Wireless" Internet service to me when they first came to town (Portland, Oregon) last March. I was with Comcast Internet Service at the time and because I recently had been declared disabled and was now living on Social Security I was trying to reduce all my monthly bills. Because I am disabled and not able to get around much I HAVE to have internet service to pay bills, do shopping, etc.
They advertised $30.00 per month for wireless internet and phone and this sounded like a great deal and I would be saving alot of money. Too good to be true, in fact, which was definately the case.
So I called Clearwire and switched over my internet service and phone service to them. Nothing about a "paperless billing service" or a "contract" was ever mentioned in my phone call. The ad said that they would mail me all the hardware I would need and all I had to do was hook it up and I would be up and running in "minutes".
First of all they did not tell me that I would go without phone service for 2 weeks while my "phone port and phone number" was being transferred from my current phone service.
I gave them my debit card information and they charged me approximately $90.00 and this was for "all the equipment I would need to get set up with their wireless internet and phone service".
They mailed me what they said was "all the equipment I would need" and I could not get their internet service to work. They finally sent out a technician and he told me that I needed to purchase a modem from Radio Shack (to the tune of another $50.00) to get their internet service to work.
They then, without my permission or knowledge, kept my debit card information and took money out of my checking account the next month for my montly bill. Because the $30.00 monthly fee made my checking account short, and I did not know this, it escalated and ended up costing me $175.00 in bounced check charges, and you must note, that I had never bounced a check before.
When I called to complain, this is when I was informed that they were a "paperless billing company". This is the 1st time they had ever informed me that they would be taking money out of my account each month for of this and had I known this I never would have switched service from Comcast to Clearwire.
The phone service was terrible. There was always a "crackling" sound in the background and alot of my calls just got dropped.in fact, at least 2 of my calls for technical support were dropped, and because I could no longer sit at my computer, because of my disabilities, I had to wait and call them back when I was able to sit for another "hour" to trouble shoot with their technical support personnel.
The internet service was terrible. For some reason, I could not get a signal half the time at my home. I spent many hours on the phone working with them to get both these fixed. Each phone call took at least 1/2 hour, but usually longer. They would get it working, but it would never last long.
In August, when I could not get online, once again, I called and told them I gave up and mailed them back their equipment. I had called them so many times, and they would say "move the modem" and then it would work for a little while but it was never consistant.
At one point they did give me a $30.00 credit because of all the trouble I was having.
I tried my best to work with them, and did not want to cancel and go back to Comcast because I could not afford another $100.00 set up fee, but I HAD to have reliable internet service.
After I cancelled their service I starting getting harassing phone calls at least five times per day. It was Clearwire and they said I owed them another $150.00 because I terminated our "contract". This was the very 1st time I heard of any contract!!! I told them I did not sign a contract and to send me a copy of this so called contract. They could not do so, because I did NOT SIGN A CONTRACT. They told me that "when I plugged in their hardware, I automatically signed a contract". I do not believe in contracts and I never would have switched over if I had known this. I have been all over my paperwork and no where can I find any so called "contract".
I don't want anyone else to have to go through what I have gone through so I have filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau requesting a complete refund because I paid alot of money for a service they could not provide. They refuse to refund me any money. I also wanted the bounced check charges refunded to me, because it was their fault my account was short.
I have also filed a complaint with the Oregon Attorney General's office because they took money out of my checking account without my knowledge or permission and kept my banking information in their files, even after I called and told them to delete my banking information. At the time they promised to do so, but it never happened.
The last complaint I filed was with the "do not call" registry. Alot of the harassing phone calls were automated calls and this is against the law when your number is on the "do not call" registry.
DO NOT SIGN UP WITH CLEARWIRE! They just set up service in the Northwest and obviously are not ready for business otherwise all these mistakes would not have taken place.
Obviously the person I talked to when I called to switch over my internet service was new and did not know that she was to explain about 1) wireless billing and keeping checking account information in their files so that they could take money out whenever they pleased and 2) could not provide a good signal in my home for both internet and phone service and 3) that you would have to purchase your own reuter for their internet service to work and 4) that when you plug in their modem you automatically sign a contract, of which I still don't even know how long this supposed "contract" was for and 5) they did not inform me I would go without my home phone for 2 weeks while the "port" was being transferred from my previous phone company.
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