Horrible VOIP service almost cost me my life! - Signed for 1 Year Contract, but they put me on 2. - User Submission

I was actually looking for something else when I ran across this site and thought I’d take a look. Amazingly enough, I’ve had nothing but trouble with clearwire for quite some time.

Our original trouble started in June of this year when I needed an ambulance. I was having difficulty breathing and having severe chest pain. I thought I was having a heart attack. Since we had signed up for Clearwire the previous September (and we’d also signed up for their VOIP phone service, too) we really hadn’t had too much trouble with them but it seemed way too frequent that we couldn’t get Internet access no matter what we did. A long wait on hold to access Tech Support would usually set us on the right path, however. Of course! What dummies we were! Unplug ALL the equipment and wait 3 minutes. Amazingly enough that always did seem to work and we’d always get right back online. Unfortunately, no one thinks of that kind of thing when they can’t breath, are having chest pains, and believe they are having a heart attack!

I made my way across the hall outside to the next apartment and asked them to call me an ambulance. As it turned out, I wasn’t having a heart attack - the chest pain and difficulty breathing had been set off by the extremely dirty and smokey air here in Reno, NV because of all the fires in Calif. I do have some lung problems, but this just literally scared the crap out of me.

The following day I called Clearwire and told them I wanted my phone service canceled because it wasn’t reliable service and then went on with my story. I was calm and simply explained myself and expected that would be the end of it. Until I was told I would have to pay and early disconnect or cancellation fee or some shit like that.

At that point I was no longer calm. I insisted that I speak to a supervisor immediately. I was put on hold but fortunately didn’t have to wait all that long. She finally got on the phone with me and after finally threatening to get a lawyer on their butts (I am disabled and do require reliable phone service). Then she backed down, canceled phone service, and that was that. They didn’t charge me any further and I was told that there was no need to return the equipment.

I am still having trouble with Clearwire though. Toward the end of last month (Sept 2008) I called Clearwire to let them know I would not be renewing my contract with them. When I signed up the previous year, I signed up for a one year contract. And in June when I was able to cancel the phone, I asked the manager when I would be able to cancel my Clearwire Service altogether and she told me on or by Oct 5. And that was it.

So I call to let them know I’m leaving their happy family only to be told that I’m locked into a 2 year contract. I told the gal on the phone that I’d signed up for a 1 year contract not 2 and then repeated to her what the supervisor had told me in June. I asked her the obvious question. Why did the super tell me I could cancel on or before Oct 5 (implication being since Oct was still a few months ahead, I would have to wait till then to cancel. Wrong. I’m stuck with this 2 year contract now.

The person I was speaking with offered me the next month of service free of charge “for all my trouble.” That never materialized either. But I let that go. I just didn’t want the hassle.

Finally, we come to just a couple weeks ago. I went on their website and ordered some stuff. I ordered 3 items which eventually came in 2 separate deliveries. The first package eventually got here but only after UPS called me and asked what my current address was. I didn’t think too much of it, just thought they were double checking for some reason or that maybe they’d tried to deliver to the wrong apt. number here. Anyway, the package arrived the following day and I received only 2 of my items. But the third item wasn’t in the box.

What was really weird about all this is I checked my bank a couple days after placing this order and my account had 2 debits pending each for $167. I called them and bitterly complained about this. Frankly, at that moment I wasn’t too sure of how much my order came to but I knew it wasn’t $167 and that amount was showing TWICE! That really freaked me out. And I let them know it. Meanwhile the poor girl on the phone is at the receiving end of all my wrath. All she could find on my account from her end was one debit in the amount of $102 which was more like it. Still, she had no explanation as to what the $167 charges were though she did say they may “drop off” after a couple of days.

Maybe this was simply poor judgment on my part but I simply thought my 3rd item never got ordered. So I got online again and re-placed an order for that missing item. I went through all this pretty quickly and just as I hit the submit button, I just barely noticed that the shipping address was our OLD address. After the order went through, I went back in and “pretended” to place another order but didn’t submit the final page and yes, the destination address was our old address. We had moved at the beginning of July and I had both gone online to change our mail and billing information as well as called Clearwire personally to make sure they had the new address.

Anyway, right away I got on the phone with them — not even 10 minutes had passed between the time of my submitting that order and my getting in touch with someone. I briefly explained to her what was going on and told her she needed to cancel that order. She asked me to hold and I did and maybe 3 minutes later she comes back and tells me that the item has already shipped.

Yeah right. I asked her how it could have been shipped already when not even 20 minutes had gone by yet. Anyway, she put me on hold again for a few minutes and came back and told me the order was canceled.

Then she told me that she’d looked up the UPS records or whatever they’ve got there and said the package had been delivered and signed for by someone named Ellise. So I told her I was going to call my old apartment managers and see what was going on. Ellise had also told me that the package had been address like this:
XXX Kietzke Lane #44
Apt. 115
Reno, NV

Upon calling my former apartment managers I learned that no one had lived in apt. 44 since Aug and that the package must have gone on to Apt. 115.

I told them I was coming to get my package and I was coming with the cops. I said that whoever lived in 115 had illegally signed for my package and I was going to have her arrested. I hung up the phone and headed over.

After I got there, I went into the leasing office and was greeted by smiles all around. They told me that someone in the office there had signed for my package.

Well, okay. I’m still not sure I believe that. I don’t live there anymore and I don’t have an active lease and everyone working there is new. Well maybe that explains it. I would think that before they accepted a package, they would have to check against their tenants’ roster sheet or something.

So to make a long story longer, I got my package and went home and called clearwire again. I told them what happened and I told them that they were responsible for all this mess. They denied it of course.

In questioning them further, though, I asked them why my old address was even on that order page. I was told that address was my “service” address and was different from my “billing” address. I asked why the service address didn’t just automatically change when I updated my information? She told me that needed to be done separately so I asked her where I needed to go on the website to change that information.

“Oh,” she said, “You can’t do that yourself; someone here needs to change that information.”

This is where I went “postal” if you will.

Do any of you see the total ill-logic of all this? I HAD called when we moved. I told them again that we were moving and that I’d updated our new address online and added our new phone number. I asked about moving the equipment and what to do if it didn’t work. I asked if there was anything else I needed to do!

No, I was told. That’s it.

I was pissed. All that happened a couple days ago and I’m still trying to get the refund on the second package I mistakenly ordered (they took that money out of my checking account real quick).

And guess what? UPS delivered that second package today!

And they want me to pay to ship it back to Vegas!

Creeps.

I wish there was some way, any way, I could get out of this mess.

If anyone has any ideas for me please let me know. You can reach me at [redacted]

I know this was long but thanks for hearing me out anyway.