Your Account Information is NOT Safe with Clearwire
May 24th, 2007 | by Tim |EDIT: Help spread to word - DIGG the story!
Hi everyone,
The title of this post seems a little drastic, I know. But, bear with me and I’ll explain to you how I know this.
I started this website in January of 2006 because I needed my voice to be heard. I didn’t expect it to be as popular as it has become. I’m glad that I’ve been able to provide a place for victims of Clearwire’s service to come together.
This has come at a price.
I have become a target for Clearwire. I know that this site might be offensive to Clearwire employees, or fans of the service. But, that doesn’t warrant what has become of it.
I typically stay away from sites that I know will offend me. So, why would Clearwire employees come here in the first place? To defend their company’s honor? Take a look at the forums, and see the Clearwire employees at their best. It’s disgusting.
Clearwire employees have anonymously posted personal information from my Clearwire account, onto the user forums. It started with a fellow who posted what street I lived on, and posted information about my billing history. It was difficult (rather, IMPOSSIBLE) to figure out who this person was, as they didn’t have an e-mail address on their user profile. Since then, I required a valid e-mail address to be used when registering for the forums, as well as only registered users being able to post. I tried contacting someone in Clearwire to hopefully have my account information removed, but my calls were never returned.
Earlier this month, another fellow posted information about me. He posted my parents phone number (which was the number associated with my Clearwire account)[citation (edited for obvious reasons)]. He claimed to have gotten the number from one of my “Myspace friends”. Being that he had my parents number, and thought it was mine, it was easy to see his lie. Later on, I found out that my parents received 2 calls from Clearwire in Jacksonville FL asking for me. I assumed it was another anonymous Clearwire employee, trying to look like a “bad-ass” by reciting information from my account. Problem for him, he wasn’t fully anonymous.
After a few google searches, I quickly figured out who this fellow was. I found out he is a devoted sales associate working in Jacksonville FL (Soon to be Seattle WA - probably their corporate office). I e-mailed the Clearwire PR department, and the Board of Directors telling them what happened, and how this needs to stop. Less then 12 hours later, I was on the phone with their corporate lawyer.
At this point, I thought I had finally gotten some much needed assistance with this ongoing issue. Boy was I wrong.
I spoke to the lawyer and sent him links of the Clearwire employees breaching the privacy agreement I had with Clearwire. The lawyer did a good job of acting concerned for my privacy issues. After I gave him all the information, he asked me for a favor. Happy that I got a hold of someone to handle my privacy situation, I agreed. He then asked for user information for forum poster “thecleartruth”. I was caught a little off guard. I knew of what “thecleartruth” had been posting, and I knew that it was something that was going to hurt the company. I was hesitant, but ended up giving them his IP address that had been logged on the server.
Big mistake.
I have come to the conclusion that the only reason I was contacted was to so that they could get more information on “thecleartruth”.
I e-mailed the lawyer asking for follow-up results on what happened to the Clearwire employee, but he said he would be unable to share that information with me. You would think that a company like this would have strict rules on sharing private information. Well, they do. They’ll hunt down and sue someone who shares inside information, even when they don’t know the person they’re after, or their name. But, when an employee who was positively identified posts sensitive account information on a former customer, they let it slide.
Maybe it’s because of who I am. But, who I am and what I say here doesn’t change the law. Clearwire has allowed their employees to break the law at my expense. I expected the employee to be fired! But, this person still has his job with the company, and is working his way up the corporate ladder. The company is aware of this. I was told by the lawyer that they’re “well aware” of this site. Even after bringing to their attention the misuse of my customer information, I’m only left to assume that everything has been worked out.
I feel like a chump for ever signing up for this service, and even more of a chump for believing they would handle people who breach the privacy agreement I had with Clearwire. It was all a ruse, to get information on “thecleartruth”.
You want to see the company your dealing with? Look throughout the forums on this site, do searches on the internet. There were a few Clearwire employees on the forums who were nice and tried to be helpful (like “Ray Hatch”), but there were many more who were insulting and rude. That’s what you can expect if you get involved with this company and their service.
The main issue is that they do not uphold their own privacy policy.
The following is from their privacy policy available at http://www.clearwire.com/company/legal/privacy.htm:
“Clearwire is committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We use a variety of security technologies and procedures to help protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. For example, we store the personal information you provide on computer systems with limited access, which are located in controlled facilities.”[…]”We have implemented strict internal guidelines to ensure that your privacy is safeguarded at every level of our organization.”
But, not only are they not upholding their policy, they’re breaking the law.
Personal information is valuable in our world today. With identity theft on the rise, it’s important to make the right decisions about who you trust your personal information with.
The bottom line, this company can NOT be trusted.
42 Responses to “Your Account Information is NOT Safe with Clearwire”
By Fred on May 24, 2007 | Reply
Clearwire fucking sucks I signed up for a 2 year contract on this lousy ass crippled internet, i can’t download shit everything goes dial up slow, NEver got my 75 dollars in e money that i was supposed to get been 7 months now, I’m so gonna cancel this shit once i get a hold of 175 extra for termination.They already charged me twice during my 3 month 20 dollar period.this company blows stay away from clearwire
By Shawn Richeson on May 24, 2007 | Reply
Hey Tim,
I know exactly what you are talking about. I was a former clearwire sales rep. I had to bring a suit to get them to quit using my trademark. They hired a big time law firm out of Houston to defend them in this action. I traced an IP address: 206.173.47.7 that is a static IP of a seattle Clearwire employee. I have pulled the audit trail from our DNS servers. Because of this law suit, they tried to hack into one of my clients secure areas. If anyone wants to track my progress in the now federal cause of action against clearwire, please visit: http://www.clearwireipo.com. I posted on your forum under the username: TheTopNerd
By Shawn Richeson on May 24, 2007 | Reply
I forgot to mention in the posting above: http://www.clearwireipo.com was formed as an assistance site to help the victims of Clearwire when they have their credit card illegally used by Clearwire. I have been capturing names and facts and passing them on to my Attorneys. I am expecting a class action suit soon. I am also expecting the Government to file on Clearwire as well. Don’t let Clearwire get away with your money. Visit the web site or call me at (254) 690-6373. I will help you get the information you need to get your money back … Disclaimer: We are not attorneys or collection agents, we are consumer advocates …
By Mark on Jun 3, 2007 | Reply
Clearwire
By CLEARWIRE SUCKS SO BAD on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
I found this website because I wanted to buy the domain for myself. Clearwire is the worst ever and Im still gunna make my own site to make sure no one else uses their shitty service. Keep up the good work!!!
By Mark on Jun 4, 2007 | Reply
Sucks
By Shawn Richeson on Jun 5, 2007 | Reply
Here is an update to my lawsuit against clearwire. They offered $5040.00 to pay me off for trademark infringement for illegally using my trademark Computer Nerds. They want me to take down the Clearwire complaint site. I am a big advocate of free speech, so I have a problem with the rest of their conditions. If you want to read clearwire’s settlement offer sent me by the Clearwire lawyers - http://www.clearwireipo.com
By JACKIUE on Jun 10, 2007 | Reply
THANK FOR THE INFO. I Was going to get this shitty service. not now
By Justin on Jun 20, 2007 | Reply
Clearwire has to be the WORST internet out there. Actually its not even internet, cause more than half of the damn time its on 1 bar and cant connect To the internet. Now theres no point of downloading, because it goes average of 20/kbps and disconnects out of nowhere. Clearwire DOES NOT SUPPORT PEER TO PEER and WILL DISCONNECT YOU IF YOU DOWNLOAD OR STREAM PAST A CERTAIN LIMIT. Im paying $45.00 a fuck’n month for this show ASS SHIT, and im stuck with a damn $180 cancellation fee and i am ONE PIST OFF MOTHER FUCKER!!!
By JFinger on Jun 21, 2007 | Reply
I have had Clearwire for nearly a year now, at the 1.5Mbps $45 level. I have found the service less than adequate, especially since I am paying for the premium service.
For ten bucks more a month - something I really didn’t want to do and why I went to Clearwire - I could have gone with the evil empire Comcast and probably would have received 5Mbps service that was always on and reliable. But I just couldn’t go with Comcast because I hate them. They overcharge and are monopolistic, being the only cable game in town. Sure, there’s satellite, but they don’t offer broadband, etc…
I was expecting a whole lot more from Clearwire, I must admit. I was perhaps too optimistic. Plus, the “wireless” crap is crap because I am tied to a monolith modem like the old days. With one-band service that putters out, I am experiencing the same frustrating internet experience I had back in the 2400 modem days.
Torrents: Actually, it is working with Clearwire, however my speed for downloading is something like 4.7kbps, and as you all would know, any kind of torrent that is around 350MB takes about one to two or sometimes three weeks to download. I am not joking. So while it works, it sucks. Clearwire sucks.
By patricia on Jul 19, 2007 | Reply
We wanted to cancel but everytime we tried we were put through to a tech- thinking that they wanted to “help” but what it was them putting us off til it was past the “7 day trial” time. Although we called numerous times They were quick to say that we would now have to pay to get out of the contract aggreement and that we have come up with $220.00 unless I have a friend that will take over our agreement. LIke Yeah I’m going to let that happen. Oh yeah, Funny thing is that We never got a copy of a contract aggreement.
So I’m letting everyone know that clearwire sucks- First thing I’m asking folks is if they have internet service with whom and then I let them know about clearwire’s unfair consumer practices. By the way Thanks for having this site. Yeah clearwire sucks.
By jsbnisdf on Jul 31, 2007 | Reply
clearwire fuckin sucks!!! it is almost as bad as dial-up!!!! when i play online on xbox 360 i lose connection in the middle of a game for no reason at all!! AND IT LAGS HORRIBLY!!! NEVER GET CLEARWIRE!!! IT COSTS MORE THAN MOST CABLE/DSL ISPs THAT ARE WAYYYY BETTER!!!
By clearwire in 32216 is a joke on Aug 2, 2007 | Reply
1- idiot low level employees
2- horrible if any signal quality
3- same extra fees and scam charges you would expect from a tele comm
4- moronic techs that really dont care
DONT BUY CLEARWIRE
YOU ARE BETTER OFF WITH DIAL UP AT LEAST YOU WONT HAVE SIGNAL FADE
By Cindy Carroll on Sep 19, 2007 | Reply
I wish I had only done some homework. Thought I was going to save a few bucks, but it has ended up costing me and my high school student additional hours (I mean HOURS) of time. This is like using dial up service. If there was anyway I could rip down all their signs in Florida I would. I was so scammed by their sales rep. They have very deceptive advertising. I have even sent Craig McCaw (President) copies of all my e-mails and complaints. His E-Mail address is craig.mccaw@clearwire.net. Please tell everyone to file their complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. Just another source for getting this information communicated.
By Lori on Oct 3, 2007 | Reply
I too have had nothing but problems with this company who I may say I have never had an account with, my daughter did with the understanding should she move where she could recieve signal they would cancel her account as they did for her boyfriend at no cost. They didnt they continued to take payment out of her account she put a stop to that and when she called to cancel they told her she couldnt then gave her the ss#drivers license# and birthdate of the person who could which was her.they then informed her that I signed the contract her mother which I didnt and have never met these people ,and after informing them of this they have called me everyday from 5 to 15 times a day 7 days week even after I told them that I have filed a complaint with the attorney generals office of which they have countless complaints on file . My next move is to contact an attorney but am unsure of which kind to contact any suggestion from you would be welcomed.
By shane on Oct 4, 2007 | Reply
Damn, I am glad Ive found this site.
Been looking to get broadband at my new house and clearwire seemed a possibility. I dont want to go with comcast, and besides I have free cable from them anyway so fuck them, and theres not a lot of dsl choices here either.
Guess I’ll just go with verizon…
By Tammy on Oct 8, 2007 | Reply
Just try to get off the service……we moved, we dont have service any more. Clearwire WILL NOT shut off service, I have been a customer for 3 years……I am going to bring legal action. I have had to close my account that they bill me on. Now they are sending me mail threatening action…What the fuck?? I am way over the 2 year limit. Clearwire sucks….
By Shana on Oct 16, 2007 | Reply
That’s because they automatically renew your contract WITHOUT your permission! That’s just one of the many terrible business practices and if you’ve been a customer for 3 years, and they’re STILL treating you that way, it’s a sad, sad statement about how much they care for their customers. It may be making them money now, but mark my words, people will come to know about this company and they will bankrupt themselves!
By Elvira Wood on Nov 4, 2007 | Reply
I cannot believe I found this site, I have been litterly fighting with clearwire for 1 month about my weak signal and dealing with their absolutly rude customer service. I have alittle over 1 year on my contract and I want out now but the $180.00 to get out is more that I can afford at this time in my life. There so called technmical support “sucks” and thewy will do anything to keep you from talking to a supervisor. They keep insisting I should have a signal where I live but I don’t, I have one lonley light lit up and sometimes I get kicked off the internet right in the miiddle of whatever I am doing at the time that was important to me. I hate, hate this company and cannot wait to get away from them. My hope is they go under and lost it all.
By Karen on Nov 27, 2007 | Reply
I just got off the phone with clearwire again! I cancelled my service over 6 months ago to which they still continue to bill my checking account $45 mo.
I moved and couldn’t find my modem, so I told them to just bill me for the modem, they said that in addition the the $360 they have charged me for service I have not had since April, I would have to pay a $180 cancellation fee and $200 for the modem. On top of the $360 I’ve paid for NO SERVICE. They gave my e-mail accounts to other customers, they have proof that the modem has not been connected since April 07 and are still charging me. I told them unless they can provide written proof with my signature that I signed an extended agreement past the one year I originally agreed upon that they can forget about charging me the $180 cancellation fee. Make them show you written proof. They can’t and they know it and they will drop it. I am looking to file a lawsuit against them. I asked for their corporate office information and all they would give me is a fax number. Funny! Let me know if you know of any class action law suit because I am in!
By John Marshall on Jan 3, 2008 | Reply
I thought Clearlysucks was going to be decent at first. I play halo alot online and the firstweek was ok. After the first week my ping went through the roof after 8-9 am,thats when I found out about the shared bandwidth.
Maybe you could put the profit towards legal defense! These people are as crooked as the day is long and its not hard to prove, they need to go down in flames.
Even with 5 bars it isnt much better than dialup when the towers clogged and theres 3 here. I looked up complaints against clearwire,printed out 17 pages and took them to the local office. They said ” We’re only sales people we dont know all that” Where upon I said now you do and if you sell clearwire without telling folks thats out and out fraud” Course that didnt stop them. Well mo’s later I’m recruiting for a halo clan and i cant play after 8-9 am and forget the evening. So I go back to that office,” we’ve been told to refer you to this 888 #, We cant do anything”. So I call
tell them well how much to cancel? 180 bucks of course. I told them I’d lose as many customers for them as I can and join a class action suit as soon as I could find one. 11 mo’s left on the contract.
Also in this town theres a very good comp shop. I talked to the owner about clearwire. he said that he’d had it for 6 mo’s, It sucked and he’s just paying it till the contracts over. he went back to charter cable. He also said the sales people dont know what their doing, One guy wasted 2 of his customers comps trying to install clearwire,he knows he fixed them. He also said saleing clearwire would ruin his reputation as a honest shop.
So I’m going to display this website on the back of my truck if thats ok with you. And I can say with certainty it will be seen everywhere in this town. Hey if you had bumper stickers I’d sure buy one
By Jamie on Jan 10, 2008 | Reply
I moved to an area when I no longer got service and they wouldn’t let me cancle without paying the $210. I moved in with my husbands parents, I WAS BROKE! Then we moved to an apartment where the service just never worked when I wanted to use it so I called and said since it sucks and doesn’t work cancel it and DO NOT charge me a fee cause I believed it was their fault that it sucked so I shouldn’t have to pay. They said I had to so I did. Then I sent the modem back the following month…which they billed me for AFTER I had already canceled my service. I called and JENNIFER told me they received the modem and the payment would be reversed and put back into my bank. A week later it’s not there so I called back and now they say it took too long for the modem to get there so I’m not getting my money back. THEY CHARGED ME FOR THE MONTH AFTER I CANCELLED AND THE $195 TERMINATION FEE! This has to be illegal. I’m willing to be involved in a lawsuit against them. Who’s starting it? We’ve got to bring this company down and make them stop dicking people out of money for no reason.
By aman on Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Clear wire sucks, those fuckers automatily renew my account without telling me , and now want 200 dollars for it
By imCaKeBoY on Mar 5, 2008 | Reply
i used too have clearwire for about a lil more than a year but luckly i only got a one year commitment becuase when i played online with my xbox360 it lagged crazy were i coulnt even play i had to wait until like 1-2am so i can play that was the only time were the connection was ok to play but till sucked and what i did every month is called and complined and almost always got adjustments on my acct. but i did get a few reps that were dicks and would tell me its where you have your modem and i told him that i had it on the roof of my home and it had five bars and connection was still slow i had built a plexy glass box and stuck it in there and it worked better than having it in my room with 1-2 bars i upgraded to the 2mb and still sucked finally i cancelled it and i used to get 2mb download and about 90kb upload and it still sucked but i changed providers to at&t yahoo and i pay only 14.00 a month and i get only 325kb download and 320kb upload and it still works way better than clearwire even the moddem is better mine comes with wifi and router
By mmr on Mar 6, 2008 | Reply
We’ve only had clearwire for about a month and already the speeds have slowed down significantly. there are also many times when we can’t connect to our email server, even though we are connected to the internet. this is beyond ridiculous!!!! Has anyone considered a class action suit for billing violations?
By Ken on Mar 10, 2008 | Reply
CLEARWIRE SUCKS
i play some CAL CSS and my ping to our server less than 50 miles away ranges from 20 - 2000
speed has been anywhere from 5kps - 3000mps
unfortunately im bound by a 2 year contract that thankfully is almost up.
By arrrrgghhh on Mar 16, 2008 | Reply
slow slow slow slow slow.. fu cking fu ckerss aarrgghh
By G. Chance on Mar 25, 2008 | Reply
Firstly, I am opposed to cellular phone and WiFi technology as the radiation perpetrated on us from this technology is harmful to health (which will be proven down the road when it is too late for us and our children). I called the local Clearwire office to ascertain the locations of their towers - I was told, “we don’t have any”. I called what was given to me as the corporate office - which turned out to be Las Vegas - and talked to a tech person who told me that there are too many towers here to list. I asked for their locations and was told that that information is “proprietary”! When I advised that this information is public domain and asked for the name of the CEO so that I may write a letter, that information was also refused. I advised that if a Clearwire’s CEO is so ashamed of his business that he forbade employees to give his name in response to a business call that the company was probably shady. It’s a good thing that I have no interest in doing business with this company if this is how they handle one or two simple, straightforward questions.
In the meantime, inform yourselves of the hazards of these technologies before you are irreparably damaged.
By Joann on Apr 4, 2008 | Reply
I am so sorry i have clearwire. one minute I have internet then I dont and they tell me To move modem still didnt work. but now I have it on line
By Hayley Britt on Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
Don’t be sorry, get out of it. Clearwire isn’t providing you the service you signed up for. File a complaint with the BBB and cancel the card you signed up with so they can’t get your money anymore. This company needs to be stopped, be proactive not reactive!
By Hayley Britt on Apr 7, 2008 | Reply
File a complaint with your local BBB, you aren’t getting the Internet service you were promised when you signed up. Clearwire steals your money and doesn’t care if you have a slow or no connection, they just want your money, so, cancel the card you signed up with so they can’t get any more of your money. Do not let them take advantage of you, don’t be scared of them, honestly I don’t think they will be around much longer with all the negativity I have read on them. They should call themselves Clearchit =)
By David on Apr 14, 2008 | Reply
Go to the BBB website, it appears clearwire could careless about your complaint which is why they have such poor ratings in almost every area they are in, and may no longer be a member in some areas due to their lack of efforts to satisfy customers.
You can also cancel your credit card but they will ding your credit…if you signed up prior to social security numbers you will be safe for a little while, but dont be fooled they will get the information…
Honestly do you think they care? They dont they even threaten employee’s that they FIRED with an early termination fee!!!!!
By Sergio on Apr 19, 2008 | Reply
Ya I’ve had Clearwire for about 6 months and it is ok for my computer although the guy from clearwire that sold it to me demonstrated how fast it was on his laptop before i bought it and it was lightning quick he watched a video on youtube and it took no time at all to load, and i was like ok I’ll take it excited, but unfortunately it is a little slow for my computer but not horrible but it SUCKS FOR XBOX LIVE!, i cant wait to switch my ISP and whoever wants to play games online it is STRONGLY reccomended you do NOT get this service
By Anthony Rotino on Apr 20, 2008 | Reply
Clearwire sucks big time, i just cancelled my credut card, and i’m sending back there modem along with a nice heaping pile of my dogs shit in with the modem
By D on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
Clearwire didn’t get my money, and I even kept their modem.
Oh they tried, that piece of sh!t company kept trying to bill me for unused service, 3x a day for months. The service sucked so I didn’t want it anymore. Even more importantly I was moving out of their service area and they wouldn’t even let me cancel! Well unfortunately (for them) I cancelled the credit card they had on file. And as a final f*ck-you to Clearwire for not wanting to be decent and do the right thing, I kept their modem I rented and have no intention of returning it.
When a REAL WiMax service comes out, I’ll just reflash the firmware in the clearwire modem to use it with a reputable company. I suggest others take the same approach as I did here.
CLEARWIRE CAN EAT MY SH!T, make them eat yours too!
-d.
By D on Apr 23, 2008 | Reply
oh one other thing.
im sure you have seen those clearwire signs on the side of the road (typical crummy way of advertising by an obvious scammer company).
anyway, pull them up whenever you see one and throw them in the nearest dumpster.
save the planet of this trash!
By Angela on May 5, 2008 | Reply
I called today to see if I can get service to where I’m moving & the answer was NO…So now they want me to pay an early termination fee of 180.00 because they can’t give me service, Well that’s the way I see it….I said I could show proof of my new address and that’s not good enough, they want ME to post on Craigs list that someone can take over my payments for the remainder of my term…that’s BULLSHIT!
We shouldn’t have to pay an early termination fee if they can’t provide the service!!!
I recommend to EVERYONE: DO NOT USE CLEARWIRE
By R. on May 21, 2008 | Reply
I haven’t had the same crazy billing issues with Clearwire yet.
I’m planning on canceling my account soon, and canceling my credit card too…I just don’t want them to screw my credit (which I get the feeling they will.)
They have pretty much all of my information on file. I’m willing to pay the termination fee as long as it doesn’t exceed the $180…I basically just want out before it gets too bad.
I’m super worried they’ll screw me over, and they should NEVER EVER bully anyone into business. What are they, the freaking mob? Better Business Bureau will DEFINITELY hear from me the second they pull anything.
Any more advice? Comcast or other cable companies given anyone else any more trouble??
By lena on May 22, 2008 | Reply
I just wasted my money on this garbage ass service which only worked for one day. I couldn’t even call me house to get my boyfriend to pick me up cause there was only one bar on this raggady ass modem box if thats what they want to call it. my dam cell phone works better then this shit and I’m going to cancel my service and dear them to try to charge me a service fee. Plus if they think they are going to use my prepaid card they can have fun cause theres never nothing on it anyway.
By lori on May 30, 2008 | Reply
Contact the better business bureau and tell them your situation how you are being harast and lied on .
By Kim on Jun 23, 2008 | Reply
I like many of you have had poor service but was putting up with it due to my contract. My service rep never told me anything about month to month and recommended that my office sign up for two years so as to not be charged fees. He misled me from the very beginning for which the company issued me a $30 credit. Now a year and 3 months into my contract I am moving to a location where they don’t provide service and they want to charge me that cancellation fee. They said I sign an electronic document and agreed to their terms, no actually I listened to their representative and trusted what he was saying. Will have to pay the cancellation fee and will cancel my card so they don’t try to keep billing me. I WILL NEVER RECOMMEND CLEARWIRE TO ANYONE!!