This is what I posted and sent Hughes. I have never had any issues with any other internet/phone/company period. Our experience is beyond insane.
Imagine not having internet for 2 months AND being charged for it! Imagine making over 30 phone calls (all between 1-2 hours each) and getting nowhere.
Imagine taking 2 half days off of work to wait for HughesNet repair people and then having them not show up!
Imagine having multiple HughesNet representatives GUARANTEE that your account will be credited, that you only owe such and such amount, that you’ll be getting a box to ship back your equipment, only to have the next person tell you something totally different.
Imagine wasting HOURS on the phone thinking you’ll get help and that you are dealing with a normal company—like ATT or Verizon, only to find out that you can NEVER talk to anyone higher up, you can’t hear the recordings of conversations (luckily you took lots of notes), and that you, the customer, were “misinformed” by other reps.
Where to begin with our HughesNet saga...
*Let me begin by saying that it is almost impossible to get someone in customer service from the States (nothing against any other country, but many of these people have canned lines, have no authority, and can offer no help.)
*Getting a guarantee from someone in customer service means nothing. Hughes does NOT stand behind its word. It is a shady and dishonest company.
*Customer service reps (many) will not listen to past case #s and will hang up on you.
Here is our story:
1.) We signed up with Hughes in January 2017. For the first month, our service was decent. It was slow, but usable. We were able to send emails, go on social media and were even able to watch 2 Netflix movies that month.
2.) Fast forward to month two. Service stated to slow WAY down. Calls were made, lots of time spent on phone messing with our equipment and troubleshooting. Netflix streaming wasn’t working great—even at low resolution, and internet started to slow way down.
3.) We were frustrated. Got busy with life and called customer service on and off. Month 3 we cancelled Netflix. Checked into other options and just dealt with it. Speed stated to resemble dial up. Everything was slow to load. We were eating through data simply trying to connect. We had frequent error messages saying we had no internet connection.
4.) Fast forward to our repair. Our original installer came out told us that our old satellite was terrible, that there was no way we could stream on it and yes, our current speeds were like dial up. (Mind you, he contradicted everything he told us at original set up: speed, streaming, etc.,. All lies.) He talked us into getting the new Satellite which was supposed to be amazing.
5.) We took the bait. Signed up. Extended our contract for another year. It worked better for the first few months. Then the Hughes slowdown occurred. ALL of the time—even at start of a new cycle.
6.) Calls were made. Lots of wasted time troubleshooting. Nothing got resolved long term.
7.) At this point, reps were helpful, but most couldn’t do much except read from a script.
8.) Fast forward to June of 2018. We couldn’t connect. Period. Spend hours and hours on the phone. Got nowhere. Got moved to tier 3 support—these people appeared to know their stuff.
They had someone scheduled to come out and repair our service.
9.) We were told for our inconvenience we would be credited for the time of no service.
10.) A month goes by. In the meantime, our credit card continues to get charged on autopay—for the INCORRECT amount. Hughes continued to charge us at a higher rate—even after many phone calls and admitting their error.
11.) Repair day. We took a half day off. Confirmed appointment via text. Waited. No one showed. Called Hughes. Hughes blames repair contractor. Contractor blamed Hughes—he was out of state at a HughesNet conference and told them he couldn’t do the repair. Hughes denied it.
12.) We rescheduled for the following week. Took off ANOTHER 1/2 day. Guess what NO SHOW AGAIN. Hughes suggests I call the repair contractor. They give me his number, I call, the number is “no longer in service”. Beyond frustrated, I call Hughes again, spend hours on the phone constantly retelling the same story over and over again. I accrue yet another case number.
13.) Hughes has no idea when a repair person will be out. Credit card is charged again—wrong amount, still we have no service.
14.) July/August: talk to numerous representatives—the ones who are patient and don’t hang up on me—guarantee that we will get two months credit for all of the time we’ve had no internet. Promise that someone will be out at end of August to get us hooked up again.
15.) Our account is credited for $66/per each month but charges for $86/per month still keep going though. Rep tells us they can’t stop charges, but we are being credited. She blanes our credit card company. I call back numerous times and am told we are getting the credit and that Hughes will reverse credit card charges. They don’t.
16.) The nonsense and confusion and phone calls and wasted time continue. Rep tells us to contest chargexeuth our credit card.
17.) We contest the charge. I spend hours on the phone to get Hughes to credit on on our VISA the $88-. Finally in August it goes through.
18.) We still are being charged $88 for July-August and still don’t have Internet...we contest it, drop our autopay. Hughes guarantees us that we will be credited again.
19.) End of August. Internet is restored, but it dial up slow after 2 days of decent use. September credit card is charged for $88-. Charges become confusing. Hughes does NOT put usage dates on its bills—super shady—no other service provider dies this. They make it intentionally confusing.
20.) We contest charge again, but are exhausted! Hughes somehow gets charge to go through, so the promise of having July-August credited was a lie. At the same time, I get numerous paper bills all with different amounts owed on account.
21.) I talk with more reps who either hang up on me or tell me we’re WERE credited or should have been credited.
22.) At my wit’s end, I’m sick of being told one thing and then having it not honored. I also discover that I can get the same level of slow internet on my phone while not on WiFi. I call Hughes in early October and ask how much it will be to cancel. I’m told that I will only owe $175 to get out of contract which expires on Jan 12, 2019.
23.) I call back, cancel and am told I need to return equipment in 45 days or we will be charged for it. Box is set to arrive in 1 week.
24.) I call back a week later. No box. I worry about Hughes not honoring what they’ve told me. Rep cannot tell me what I owe. She now says box won’t arrive for another 2 weeks.
25.) Bill in mail arrives saying we owe $700(!!!)
26.) I call Hughes ONCE again. Hours on the phone. Give all the case numbers again. Ask them to play recordings of various case numbers to prove that we were supposed to be credited for months of no service, that we were told we only owed $175 to get out of contract, etc.,. I was told they can not access those recordings. Rep is unable to tell me who can access them. I’m out though to a supposed manager, who also cannot access recordings. I am told by him that he does see where we were told we would be credited AND that we only owed $175. He also tells me that our contract isn’t up until JULY! I pull out the contract on my end and read it to him. He says he has July on his end! Again insane!
27.) I learn that our credit card was charged for $88 for the July-August billing cycle. The time in which we HAD NO INTERNET!
28.) I tell him that we have no issue paying for Sept-Oct and Oct-cancel date, but that we should have the $88 applied to it. (We were told that would happen by previous reps.) We also asked him to explain charges.
29.) He explains charges, that we were credited (on Hughes end—which means nothing when your card continues to get charged) AND that the box to return equipment isn’t coming until the END OF DECEMBER!!!
30.) I explain (as per the cancellation rep and our physical contract) that we only have 45 days to return equipment. That date will be well past the 45 days (ANOTHER SCAM AND LIE?). After trying to explain that for 15 minutes, he says that Hughes has a reinstatement policy where after you cancel you have 3 months to sign back up with no installation fees(!?) WTH?!??? Mind you, this is the first I’ve heard of this and contradicts what other agents said. Again, scammy and dishonest.
31.) I explain that we are done with Hughes, will not sign up again, and that to send box now.
32.) He says box cannot be sent yet. I ask for physical address to send equipment and get it after he talks to higher up person. Without a name to send it to, it seems unlikely that it will get to the right person.
So this is where we stand:
I refuse to pay for the equipment and would like to return it ASAP, I would like Hughes to honor their credits and $175- termination fee and most of all, I’d like to be done with Hughes.
The time, stress, and lack of normal customer service, billing practices, and ethical practices are concerning.
