Forum Discussion

stevef's avatar
stevef
Junior
6 years ago

First billing?

 Ok, now I'm getting worried.   I switched from Gen 4 to Gen 5.   Reason: I read on the Intenret, that it's going to be 5 dollars cheaper / month to go from Dish to Hughes.   At Dish, no one ch...
  • GabeU's avatar
    GabeU
    6 years ago
    stevef wrote: 

    I'm also worried because of the rental fee thing. I read it's $4.99. Is it though? I'm not sure, as the salesman didn't tell anything about it.

    The lease fee for Gen5 equipment is $14.99 per month.  And yes, the lease fee is every month.  It appears, however, that you may be getting a $5 discount every month.  A rep will have to verify that.   

     

    stevef wrote:

    Wher do I turn off auto-paying? Why is it even turned on now? Obviously if they charging my card randomly, then I can't have it turned on.  

    You have to call to request invoice billing.  866-347-3929.  Please be aware that there is a $5 fee for invoice billing. 

     

    stevef wrote:

    Can a company collect Property Tax? Isn't that a local government's job? I never seen any company collecting it. Sales Tax is different. But I see even that got callected, so what is "Property Tax" that companies collect? 

    HughesNet must collect the taxes that are required by law.   

     

    stevef wrote:

    I seen 49.99 for the cheapest one, yet it's 59.99 on the website. So, if it's $59.99, and the Lease is $14.99, + paying sales tax, then how is this going to be cheaper than paying $72? 

    Judging by the breakdown, you may have a $10 credit per month off of the Service Plan cost.  

     

    stevef wrote:

    But no contract to read and sign? Terms of service? User agreement? We read of signed nothing of those. No one sent us any paperwork, not even a PDF file or a link. 

    You can see the legal info, including the Terms of Service and User Agreement, here.  Additionally, agreeing to the service and utilizing the service constitutes agreeing to the contract.  

     

    stevef wrote:

    I still can't find turning off the auto-payment. I will pay with Credit Card each month, but I don't want any company automatically charging me on random days, not telling me what for, and MAYBE putting it on a bill, that is a mess and shows no details.

    Again, to change to invoice billing you need to call.  The company doesn't randomly charge you.  When you first upgrade there will be prorated charges.  Once your first month of normal charges begins, that's what it will be every month, on the same date, unless and until a promotional discount ends, you purchase data tokens, you upgrade your service or your state and/or local taxes change.  

     

    A rep will have to verify specific charges and your other specific questions regarding fees, like the property taxes.  The reps are on M-F from 8AM to 5PM EST.  They usually answer within a day or two.  

GabeU's avatar
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV
stevef wrote:

I don't need paper bills, the invoice is online and I found it. However that's not right if they charge me witout my approval.

There are only two choices for billing.  Automatic billing or Invoice billing.   Automatic is without a paper bill.  Invoice billing is with a paper bill, but it also enables you to choose when to pay, as long as it's by the due date, of course.  Invoice billing incurs the additional $5 fee.  

 

Though I'm sure many people, including yourself, would like to be able to choose when to pay, but not pay $5 for a paper invoice, that option is not available, unfortunately.  

 

I'm sure when you call they'll be able to verify those two monthly discounts (the $10 and $5).  A rep on here may also verify it for you.  

 

Regarding the taxes, to be honest, I'd wait to find out what the reps on here say.  Sometimes the phone reps can be a little rote and difficult to understand.  You can certainly ask them, though, of course.  

 

Edit:  Regarding the automatic billing, it's the default.  I'm not sure if it's part of the scripted speech that they rattle off toward the end of the sales call, but I think it is.  

 

Regarding the contract: though I'm not positive of this, as I read it online beforehand and just signed the phone when the installer handed it to me, they do have it available for you to read before you sign the phone, but you have to ask to see it, which you have the right to do before you sign.   

stevef's avatar
stevef
Junior
6 years ago

"Regarding the contract: though I'm not positive of this, as I read it online beforehand and just signed the phone when the installer handed it to me, they do have it available for you to read before you sign the phone, but you have to ask to see it, which you have the right to do before you sign."

 

That's the problem. There was a sign, for "starting the install" and there was another one for "finishing it right". So we signed something that we never seen? No one told us that we are signing contract on phone.

 

And as no one told us, then we cannot ask to read it. We were just surprised that no contract was anywhere provided to us.

 

I don't know if this practice is legal, but it shouldn't be.

 

The person on the phone should provide a link to the contract, to the agreement, to the ToS. Then we would have about 20 hours to read it, as the person who installed showed up in 20 hours. 

 

I kinda think that it's not an accident.

 

Either way, if there is the -$15 and we get that each month, then it's going to be alright. Even though I think not letting people know about the contract and not letting them to read is pretty much illegal or at least morally 100% wrong. 

 

(One thing to mention, he did an excellent job, he spent like 2 hours outside, almost in 0 Farenheit, his pants were literally frozen. As the service is so expensive, I hope these employees are getting paid well by the company.)

  • GabeU's avatar
    GabeU
    Distinguished Professor IV
    6 years ago
    stevef wrote:

    Even though I think not letting people know about the contract and not letting them to read is pretty much illegal or at least morally 100% wrong. 

    It's not illegal, and it's actually fairly common.  Contracts are "able to be read", for lack of a better term, but not "required to be read", so providers, of whatever type, normally don't provide a contract during installation, or when signing up for the service, unless the subscriber asks for it.  The contracts and any other subscriber related documentation, like the Terms of Service, the Subscriber Agreement, etc, are always available for the subscriber to read, and I believe that companies feel it's the subscriber's responsibility to read it before signing on the proverbial dotted line.  

     

    It's not perfect, but it is what it is.  :(

     

    I'm not sure about the lease fee discount, but when it comes to the Service Plan discount, it may be that it's only for a specific amount of time.  Discounts from the plans are usually for a 12 month or 24 month period, at which time the price goes up to the normal plan price.  This may or may not be the case with your plan discount, though.  I'm sure the reps will verify how long the discount(s) lasts, as well.  :)

     

    I'll tag the reps so that they will be sure to see this thread and reply to answer your questions and concerns.  

     

    Liz 

    Hardy 

    Jay 

    Amanda

    • GabeU's avatar
      GabeU
      Distinguished Professor IV
      6 years ago

      I'm hoping that they'll reply soon.