About southernsierra

I was charged a $175 termination fee. Please advise. ... View more

Hello community,   I have encountered significant service issues since joining Hughesnet as a customer in early September. Since then, my internet has been operational for less than 50% of the time.. For background, I live in an unincorporated area in the Southern Sierra at 7,100 feet elevation and the cabin is located 5 miles down a dirt road requiring passage of 2 locked gates and a 1 hour drive from cell phone service and public services such as gasoline/convenience stores. To complicate things further, the cabin is located about 3 hours from my main residence and I can only drive up on the weekends due to work (Sat/Sun availability). Below is a diary of the issues that I have faced and current issues that I am facing. INITIAL INSTALL 9/2/17 2pm-5pm: After repeatedly calling installer's office and getting a busy signal, I finally got through at 4pm and was told installer was unable to reach me. RESCHED INSTALL #1 9/9/17 11am-2pm: Called the installer's office all morning and was assured the rep was on his way, finally at 3pm was told he had a traffic acccident. RESCHED INSTALL #2 9/16/17 8am-11am: Called the installer's office all week and all morning to ensure rep would come out, spoke to rep, but he never showed up. RESCHED INSTALL #3 9/23/17 10am-1pm: Called all week and morning to ensure rep would show, he finally did at 4pm but stated he drove 4 HOURS one way to reach me.   Keep in mind that for each of the four install appointments above, I specifically drove the 3 hours north to the property and back to get the internet set up. I did this for four weeks (3 hours x 2 for each direction of travel x 4 weeks = 24 hours of driving to get my internet installed).   The rep that actually installed the system literally drove from Anahaim, CA to my location which is a four hour drive. He stated he was doing a favor for another tech and that I was his only appointment the entire day due to the distance. Soon after leaving my residence, he would drive 4 hours back down to Anaheim. He installed the dish on my roof, replacing the location of a pre-existing non-usable DirecTV dish.   All was great for about 3 weeks. You can likely imagine my frustration when I visited my cabin and found that the internet was not working. I quickly called Hughesnet and spoke to a rep in Indonesia for 2 hours attempting to troubleshoot the system (inclusive of putting new GPS coordinates into the installer configuration, etc). Soon she stated that the only option was for a tech to come out to service the cabin as the issue was likely satellite dish misalignment. I sighed, knowing the challenges the likely lay ahead, and scheduled a tech to come out the next weekened for the system to be fixed.   I called the installer's office all week, literally each day of the week to let them know the issues I faced previously and to please schedule a tech to come out that lives nearby or atleast 1-2 hours away instead of four hours away- otherwise the tech would likely not show up at all and I would waste 6 hours driving. I was ensured that a tech would be coming out to fix the issue and that I need not worry. Nevertheless, I called back each day that week and was continuosuly assued that the rep would be coming out and that my service would be treated with "priority" due to the previous installer complications.   TECH SERVICE: 11/18/17 8am-11am: Called installer's office all morning, they connected me to the installer. Installed said I was "too far" and that he could not drive that far. I called the installer's office and told them what the installer told me. They called the tech and reported back that what he told me was incorrect and that he would be coming out. Nevertheless, he did not show up. I drove all the way down the mountain and continued to call him and the installer's office and there was no answer.   I immediately called in to Hughesnet corporate requesting to cancel my service and for a full refund EVERYTHING I had paid. I wanted to try Excede as this was ridiculous. I was told by the phone rep in Indonesia that before they could offer a refund they would need to call the installer and verify that they were not willing to service the satellite and that I would be getting a call back.I told them I am ONLY available to drive up to the cabin on Sat and Sun. On Tuesday (despite my stating that I could only be available on SAT or SUN), I get a call from a tech that he will be coming out. However, I am in Jamaica. I tell the tech that I am on the other side of the world and that I will need to schedule for Saturday or Sunday. He agrees and states he will be coming up on Saturday.     RESCHED TECH SERVICE #1: 11/25/17 8am-11am: The same tech that drove 4 hours to install my system originally shows up. Says he was not the same tech as the last tech that didn't show up. He gets out the wrenches and tweaks the direction of the satellite. Soon I am back to 115 SQF.   Having said all this, you can imagine my frustration when I visited the cabin last weekend 12/23/17 and the internet is not working with a 15 SQF reading. I have not called Hughesnet to service the satellite yet. You can likely imagine my hestiation. There is a very good chance that if I do call, I will drive 3 hours to the property, see and hear from no tech, and drive back w/o working internet. I have now wasted 30+ hours of driving to/from the property get the internet installed and working properly. And here I am, venting. ... 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