HughesNet is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar. At the end of Jan, I responded to an email regarding HughesNet for Business, as I was moving my office to a location not served by cable or DSL. After speaking with the sales representative, Kevin Jackson, and explaining my service needs, I was informed that the GEN 4 product provide up to 15 mbps download, which he indicated would more that service my business needs. Although HughesNet has a poor reputation, their entrance into the business arena and the new services, along with assurances that the service contract could be cancelled within the first 30 days if it did not meet my needs without penalty, made me feel comfortable enough to take a chance. I entered into an agreement and service was installed in mid February. With the installation of the wiring and my server and networking by my IT person, we initiated our use of 2/25. Storms on 2/25 and 2/26 delayed calls for poor service until 2/27. At that time our speeds were far below the advertised 15 mbps. After multiple calls to their technical service department, with conflicting statements about the efficacy of our equipment, we were told on 3/4 that our equipment was faulty and it was replaced on 3/5. With continued problems on 3/6, and HughesNets %u201Cpolicy disclosure%u201D, I decided to cancel service during the first 30 days. The policy disclosed was that HughesNet only had to provide 60% of the advertised service. This would seem to suggest speeds between 9 and 15 mbps. However, this means that if at any point in the day they can measure an average of 9 mbps, or close (7 or 8 mbps) that is close enough for them to providing the requisite service, even if you frequently experience speeds of 2 to 4 mbps. I informed them of my decision to cancel on 3/6 and was told to submit this in writing and someone would be in touch in 2 to 3 days. Two days following the letter, I called 5 times and was disconnected when attempting to cancel service. After reaching a CSR, I was told I had to wait until the end of the billing period to cancel (not in the agreement). I was also told I would receive a return kit to send back the equipment to receive the $200 credit for return of equipment on the $450 equipment lease termination. This was to arrive in 5 to 7 business days. Multiple contacts and faxed letters later, having been assured that these items had been mailed, on 4/2, the day after the 4/1 billing date for the $450 lease termination fee, I was informed that no such kit was to be provided. I insisted on an address to mail the equipment and did receive this. Not only does this ISP have deceptive practices in advertising, they use delay techniques to charge consumers seeking to terminate services as agreed in the contract fees that would not otherwise be charged (ie failure to prorate cancellation, attempt to keep customers on service until end of billing and therefore end of 30 day right to rescind, and failure to provide information on return of equipment under lease termination agreement. This constitutes unfair and unethical business practices and demands investigation by a regulatory agency. I am not alone in this, and hope that others will also provide you with their experiences and lend strength to a movement to investigate this unethical corporation. If you have this problem, file a complaint with the FCC and the FTC. Let's get some attention from some of the government regulatory agencies.
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