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Only had service for 3 months and went to the max amount you can purchase and it still isn't enough!!

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tlnordaker
New Member

Only had service for 3 months and went to the max amount you can purchase and it still isn't enough!!

I was told based on the usage we had in our home that the Plus package would be enough.. it wasn't... so I increased it, and within 5 days we were at 57%.  When I called customer service that showed me my internet usage.. Yeah, I know that we consume allot due to what we do for work and games that we play.  Now after just 60+ days I am trying to get out of my contract as this is more expensive than the other plan I had with another company.  Granted it is faster, but if I only get 10 days out of a billing cycle, that isn't going to work.  I think waiving the charge for the disconnect is reasonable as what I was sold was not what I got!!  Customer Service was no help and referred me the the legal notice I signed about cancelling before the contract expired..wouldn't even let me talk to anyone else.  I smell SCAM here big time...!!  If you are not willing to work with me on cancelling what other recourse do I have?  Anyone in the same boat?
34 REPLIES 34
Terri Wilbur No
New Member

Chris, I am trying to patient here... But we are at zero now on the data side and we need to get your service cancelled and equipment removed. I am not asking for the world here, just to have the cancellation waived.
Chris11
Alum

Hello Terri,

Thanks for your patience. I did receive the call and was able to listen to the call myself. I'm going to summarize what I found:

When you called in, you were transferred through another party, the voice of the lady transferring you was low but I think it was our chat support. All other audio was clear. The agent then took some basic information from you including zip code and address. Our agent then checked to see if you had any TV service installed, in which you confirmed with Dish as your current service. Having Dish or DirecTV gives us confirmation of a clear view of the southern sky. The conversation then moved to any prior internet providers, and you told the agent your previously had Century Link. You were unhappy with the service because the speeds were around, if at all 3 Mbps. Our agent explained how you would be directly linked to our satellite which would provide you much faster speeds. 

Then you were asked about the users in your household. It was only you and your spouse. Verbatim our agent then asked," is there anything in particular that your spouse would like to use the service for daily?"

Customer Answer: No, he's just constantly on the internet.

Agent: got it got it. well what you are going to greatly appreciate with the service, is that we have great plans that are structured for multiple users. So you could do one thing and your husband can be doing another.  

Now of course, nowadays on the internet we like to use it for paying bills online, email, social media, and school work. What are some of the things you would like to do online. 

Customer: Pretty much all of that.

Agent: How about video streaming,  Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime.

Customer: Yea we need that for Netflix

The agent then asks you how much do you thing you'll be streaming a week in hours. Based on that, the agent read our streaming disclosure which states:

Agent: Our most popular plan comes with 10 GB's of data, which will allow you to watch up to 15 hours of standard definition videos each month. Based on your internet usage, this plan could work for you. However once you reach those 10 GB's streaming will no longer be possible. Your simple tasks like surfing the web and email should be fine. We have multiple plans available to you that I will go over, so that we make sure we put you in the best position. 

Gaming is brought up, but no one was going to be playing any according to your answer

At this point in the interaction, half of the call is gone through. After a bit more info was shared, you stopped our agent and mentioned that you had told the lady who transferred you that you had a meeting at 8pm? Not sure exactly but you were in a hurry. Your asked the agent if he could speed up the process and he agreed. So most info regarding our other plans was not gone over. You confirmed and allowed us to subscribe you to our 10 GB anytime Prime Plus plan. However the agent did still go over all Terms & Conditions. Read all disclosures which can be found on the legal section of our website. 

All in all our agent did a great job and honestly did not leave anything out. Other than being unable to go over higher data plans that could have been better suited for you, there was nothing misleading about the interaction. Especially given the time constraint half way through the call. You mentioned needing to work and gaming in your original post however as stated before that was not specified in the call. If so, the agent would have given information pertaining to that. VPN's would not be mentioned unless you gave an indication that you need to work from home. I listened to the whole thing twice and did not hear anything. We want our agents to be proactive and ask as much questions. I feel there was plenty of chance given to allow you to provide us with what activities are important for your daily tasks. 

In conclusion, the results of my review do not show a misleading sales interaction. A realistic depiction of the service was given, even the limitations and what happens once data depletes. So any fees being waived when cancelling would not be warranted. If you have anymore questions or concerns, feel free to let me know.

Thanks,
Chris 
Terri Wilbur No
New Member

Thanks Chris for your research and dictation of our conversation. I will forward this to my attorney for next steps. I will also file this with our state representative and the Better Business Bureau so that others are aware of your practices. While it appears that you believe your are in your right, I think after less than 3 months of service, to come to you and state this was not working for us, that we would have had some adjustment on the early termination. I guess you have to make money somehow, very fortunate to have other provider options. I will call in the morning to get the cancellation process going.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Honestly, if you have ground based internet available then should not have gone with satellite. State Representative and BBB won't fix things when it comes to capabilities of satellite internet.

Nowadays most States also require a customer educate themselves before entering into a contract.  
Terri Wilbur No
New Member

Thank You for your feedback. I am uncertain why you are commenting on my post, I can only assume you are an employee of HughesNet or a stockholder if you believe that this is good business practice. Obviously I made an error, I am human. I cannot believe I am the only one who went down the rabbit hole, and I feel my voice needs to be heard regardless if I may not have 'educated myself' on what I agreed to before entering into this contract.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Not an employee, just long time customer. I went to the library 12 years ago and used the computers there to educate myself on satellite internet since I had no internet at the time. No ground based internet where I live either.

I look at sales people as con artists no matter the product. Cars, houses, internet, cell phone,.......you name it.

Note berating you at all. Only saying over my 60+ years on earth I have learned to research extensively before entering into a contract. Hope you have a better experience with your next ISP.
Randy1
New Member

I was told that I could watch standard definition video after the high-speed runs out.
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

Watching video is a very data intensive activity regardless of resolution, that being a matter of degree.

With a capped service you are contracting for a set amount of data. Once that amount of data is exhausted your speeds will be throttled to about 150 Kbps. There are two exceptions to this.

One is to purchase additional data known as "Tokens". These are available in differing sizes and prices.

Second is that most plans offer a "SmartBrowse" feature that allows normal or near normal speeds for low intensity activity ... the viewing of simple webpages and checking of email.

If a high intensity activity occurs SmartBrowse will kick out and the FAP speed throttle will activate.

  

BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Randy, don't know who told you that but I have Netflix set to low definition and it needs about 1.5-2 Mbps to stream well without buffering.
Randy1
New Member

I was told by a rep that the speed after high speed is about 5-8 mbps ish
Randy1
New Member

How well would facebook on 2 devices at the same time work, after high speed runs out.
BirdDog
Assistant Professor

Randy, you should start your own post if wanting further help. Two devices on Facebook will not work very well once you run out of data, especially if you don't have automatic video playing turned off.
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

They would likely work but very slowly. Depending on settings, Facebook can use tons of data due to auto start video and other things.

You mentioned being told of 5-8 Mbps speeds ... there are some Hughes plans that top out at 5 Mbps.

There is a misunderstanding going on here somewhere,

Here in part are some pertinent portions of the Subscriber Agreement:


 How does the Fair Access Policy work?

HughesNet Gen4 service plans allow unlimited downloading and uploading. However, to ensure consistent performance for all users, a Fair Access Policy provides for a limit, based on your service plan as described above, on the amount of data which can be used before your service performance is reduced. The policy is implemented automatically by monitoring your usage, including data which is sent from or to your HughesNet terminal. Each HughesNet Gen4 service plan is assigned an Anytime Allowance. The Anytime Allowance is the amount of data, in bytes, which can be uploaded or downloaded within the month at full speed. If your data usage exceeds the allowance for your plan, the throughput (speed) of your service will be reduced


If I exceed my Data Allowance, when will my speeds be reduced?

During the Bonus Period, your service will operate without restrictions if you have Data Allowance available in either your Bonus Bytes or Anytime Allowance. Outside the Bonus Period, your service will operate without restrictions if you have Data Allowance available in your Anytime Allowance. If you do not have bytes available in the period, your speed will be reduced to approximately 150kbps. As an example, consider the following scenarios:

1. Your plan provides a 10 GB Anytime Allowance, a 10 GB Bonus Data Allowance, and a Bonus Period of 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., local time. You have used all 10 GB of your Anytime Allowance by sending and receiving data outside of 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., so you have 0 bytes remaining. Outside the Bonus Period, from 8 a.m. to 1:59 a.m. local time, your service performance is reduced. During the Bonus Period, your service performance is not restricted and your usage will be deducted from your Bonus Bytes.

2. Your plan provides a 10 GB Anytime Allowance, a 10GB Bonus Data Allowance, and a Bonus Period of 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., local time. You have used all 10 GB of your Bonus Data Allowance by sending and receiving data overnight from the hours of 2 a.m. to 8 a.m., so you have 0 Bonus Bytes remaining, but you still have 5GB of Anytime Allowance remaining. Outside the Bonus Period, from 8 a.m. to 1:59 a.m., local time, your service performance is not reduced, and your usage is deducted from your Anytime Allowance. During the Bonus Period, your service performance is not restricted, because your usage will be deducted from your Anytime Allowance.

Who is affected by the Fair Access Policy?

Some users consume much more bandwidth than the average user, and they will experience reduced download speeds as a result of exceeding their Download Allowance. You may be surprised to find that the top one percent (1%) of users download 9 times more the average user. By providing a Data Allowance, more of the shared bandwidth is made available for everyone to use. Most users will have a better experience as a result of the Fair Access Policy.
Online activities such as viewing Websites, checking email, watching video clips or similar short streaming media, and automatic software updates are unlikely to cause you to exceed your monthly Data Allowance.

Typically, on the Prime or Prime Plus plan, to reach your Data Allowance in a one-month period, you would have to download any of the following:

  •    Over 5,500 photos (at 3 MB each)
  •    Over 4,125 songs (at 4 MB each)
  •    Over 825 video clips (at 20 MB each)

What will my Internet access be like if I exceed my Data Allowance?

When your Data Allowance has been exceeded, you will experience reduced download speeds throughout the balance of the month. During this period, your HughesNet service can still be used for activities such as Web browsing and viewing emails, but speeds will be significantly slower than your standard plan rate.

If I exceed my Data Allowance, what should I do?

You might consider upgrading your service plan.

How do I verify whether I have exceeded my Data Allowance?

You can track your past usage and Fair Access Policy status by going to www.myHughesNet.com, clicking on Customer Care, then clicking on the Check My Usage link in the Resources section.

What do you recommend I do during the Bonus Bytes period (2 a.m. to 8 a.m., local time for consumer; 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., local time for business)?

We recommend that you automatically schedule your system updates during this period. If you install HughesNet Tools, your Windows Updates will automatically be scheduled for this period. You can also use a download manager software application to automatically schedule large file downloads to occur during these hours.


The Subscriber Agreement can be read in full here:

http://legal.hughesnet.com/FairAccessPolicyGen4.cfm


Just as your car will slow and then stop if all the fuel is used your Hughes service will slow dramatically when all data has been used.

There are three usage meters to use in tracking your data consumption.





Chris11
Alum

Hell Terri,

You have every right to proceed how you see fit. I also see that you've already cancelled the service. I hope everything goes well with your next ISP. 

Thanks,
Chris