Shady Dealings with Clearwire – User Submission by Isaac

Dear Clearwire SUCKS,

I’ve been battling Clearwire for some time now. It all started a little more than one year ago On Sept. 22nd 2007. I had to relocate to Richmond while in the middle of a huge project for work on short notice. It was hard enough making time to find a place to live, let alone handle setting up utilities and I knew I needed to get internet fast or I’d be spending a lot of time at cafes with wifi. As luck would have it, the day I signed my lease I spotted a Clearwire tent setup in the parking lot of the neighborhood 7-11. I was told by the seemingly nice guy running the stand that I could have internet up and running by the time I could walk back to my house and for only $24 a month with the first month free and the second and third at only $15; the best part was they were waiving the activation fee just for that day at that location and the service is available without any contract! “Great!” I said, “sign me up!” And it was true, I put the modem in the window and was on the internet; the only good thing about Clearwire.

I found out after my first deduction from my bank account that the salesman’s pitch was all a lie. First, there is the $5 fee for renting their proprietary modem. Then I found that not only was I charged for the first month, but that it was a $34 charge. The lack of a statement in the mail was also unsettling. I finally got through to someone at Clearwire on the phone and found that they didn’t have paper statements and my statements were being sent to my email address, not my gmail account, but a Clearwire account that I had not setup nor did I have login information for it (I was able to eventually get that from the guy on the phone). I was also told that the promotion did not apply to my plan, so I was not going to get the discounts on the first three months and my rate was going to be $29 plus the $5 modem fee. “The hell with this!” I said, “Cancel my account!” That’s when I was told I was in a two year contract.

I logged into the Clearwire email account with the information I got on the phone and found that I had been sent a reciept from the day I signed up that indicated I was in a two year contract and that I would get the discounts (at the very least I wasn’t going to let them screw me out of a free month). I was furious. Another call to Clearwire and I demanded that they send me proof of my agreement to the terms of a contract (knowing I had not given my agreement to anything). I was told that I clicked “Agree” on the website the day I signed up. I, in fact, did not do this as I signed up at a tent and never clicked or signed anything. I then demanded account credit for the first month citing the email receipt and they actually refused.

That prompted a call the Better Business Bureau where I gave the information for the sales guy from that day in the tent (he had given me his card). The case was eventually closed when Clearwire refused to respond. I did finally manage to get my free month and discounted 2nd and 3rd month and an apology. The actual service wasn’t too terribly bad (although I would have rather gone with a different service for the price) so I stuck with it rather than go through the hassle of fighting it. I’ve now finally had enough of paying cable modem prices for DSL modem speed and I tried to cancel the service. After an hour on the phone, it seems that they decided it was within their right to deny my request to cancel my service.

At this point I’m looking around for a class action suite to join.

-Isaac