Clearwire says that my stereo system broke their modem – User Submission by Lance B.
January 7th, 2009 | by Tim |Is your cable box, TIVO or satellite TV system within four feet of your stereo system? If you are like most of the people I know, it likely is.
Has your cable box, TIVO or satellite TV system ever malfunctioned? Did you end up calling the company involved to figure out why it wasn’t working?
That is exactly the scenario I just had the displeasure of experiencing with my Clearwire modem. I was told after a 45 minute phone call last night and a 30 minute phone call today that the modem was likely broken and could be replaced.
“Great!” you might think. Why is this guy complaining?
I was told that my wireless router may have broken the modem. I was told that my stereo system might have broken the modem. I was finally told that a Clearwire modem needs to be more than four feet from any other electrical device or it could malfunction. What a crock of S***!
The ethernet cord that comes with the Clearwire modem is 3 feet long. How can you possibly keep the modem more than four feet away from another electrical device with the cord that Clearwire provides?
Also, I was told that usually they completely turn off the malfunctioning modem while the new one is in transit. This takes 4 DAYS!
However, the technician said he would add both modems to the account so we could continue to receive at least the meager 300 MBS. At no point was there an offer of a free month or discount due to the week and a half of poor connectivity.
At the end of the call, I was told how to send the modem back with some pretty hefty monetary penalties if it was done incorrectly.
The modem, power supply and ethernet cord needed to all be present and accounted for. If any of these were missing there would be a $99 charge to my credit card on file. That is a really expensive Ethernet cord!
In addition, if there were any damage to the malfunctioning modem my credit card would be charged $200. This same $200 charge would apply if the modem did not arrive at Clearwire within the 14 day window they stipulate. Also, The UPS label they send by email is only valid for 10 days from the receipt of the email it is attached to.
Remember. There is also a $200 + charge to your credit card if you want to cancel your 2 year contract with Clearwire. It does not matter how poor your connection is or if you modem completely malfunctions.
I took a cable box back once and forgot to hand in the remote. They charged me $5. This seems reasonable. They also gave me a month window to return the equipment. This also seems reasonable.
Does anything about my story with Clearwire sound reasonable to you? You decide!
7 Responses to “Clearwire says that my stereo system broke their modem – User Submission by Lance B.”
By passing by on Nov 5, 2009 | Reply
This is an old post, but I’m going to add my 2 cents here anyway!
What I’d do if I decided to cancel the bad services is that I would send them their mess back, pay for a confirmation receipt, then report my credit card as lost or stolen and ask for a replacement card, which will have a different account number so that they can’t bill the $200.00 cancellation fee to the original card’s account number.
Cellular and satellite service companies are too damned important acting for my money! They are far too expensive and with all those tacked on taxes, and then the nerve to charge cancellation fees, they are highway robbers, robbing people without even using a gun!
I’d rather have a gun stuck in my face and the man holding the gun to demand I give him my hard-earned money because that shows more guts! These inept companies are unarmed robbers, stealing with software and the stroke of a pen. If they’d give good service to their customers, they wouldn’t have to worry about people canceling their services before the contract is up.
By passing by on Nov 5, 2009 | Reply
I forgot to address the question of has Clearwire ripped me off. The answer is “No!” They have not ripped me off. I’ve read too many negative accounts of their service and the problems so many people say they’ve had. Yes, some people have had good experiences with Clearwire, but they are outnumbered by the ones who didn’t, so with my pitiful luck, I just won’t take a chance right now. Plus, I don’t have $200.00 to give to a jackass selling services that so many people are complaining about. $200.00 is a lot of money to have to pay a company for trying to cancel bad service. They sound just like the idiots at DirecTV! Maybe in the future, when Clearwire’s customers who are having good experiences will outnumber the ones who aren’t, I’d definitely consider them. I’d love to have a service that works the way theirs is supposed to work.
By susan lebow on Nov 19, 2009 | Reply
clearwire has decided without notice to turn off the tower in my area
they gave me no warning
and will not refund me for the modem or phone modem
that i purchased
at any time now i will be without a phone or internet
and it takes 3 weeks to port my phone number to another service
i am going to comcast
i am so angry
and am thinking of what i can do to expose this
By FORMER DEALER on Jan 27, 2010 | Reply
I sold Clearwire Service for months. The Company blows, almost every customer would try to return the modem or pc card. We’s have to send a teck to everyoness house like clockwork. Heres the big kicker the company is so broke we had to hire attorney’s to get paid. Months and months went by with no commsion and no one would return our calls. This company has one manger per region and no other employees. We still didn’t recieve all our money owed to us. The worst company by far every dealer I know has ever tried to work with. The demo lines wouldn’t even work in the store and we had them mounted in the window. What more does it take some rabbit ears??? Needless to say rumers iv’e heard is that there gonna fold up like amp’d mobile or get bought out by a competitor. Hope this Helps
By Brian Scott on Jul 6, 2010 | Reply
Ok from the get go I have had nothing but screwed up service. I bought it on a Thursday afternoon, I went home installed what I needed to install and that’s where it all began. Wouldn’t connect, so I called the “oh so friendly and helpful” customer service. We went thru the steps of everything and first was told that the software I installed was out-of-date, and that I needed to to get on their website to download the new software……..did you get that…..I can’t connect but he wants me to get on his website and download the new software. So finally out of nowhere and 1 1/2 hours on the phone with this moron, it connects just long enough to get the download, I mean just long enough as in that I got disconnected seconds after the download completed. So now I have the new software, shouldn’t be a problem right? WRONG! Still nothing. I get spurts on connection. I get on and before i can get to the website I want i get booted so unplug and reinsert and press “try again” and then after I click on the tab I want to go to I get booted and have to go thru it all again and again and AGAIN!! Even typing this I’m not connected just had the page up before I got booted so decided to write all I had to before connecting and submitting. Called Customer Service and talked to a level 2 Tech and again NO F***ing help. Computer is next to a big bay window and tower is about 1/2 mile from my house, no other electrical devices within 10 feet of it (maybe my toaster is too close, I should move it huh?) So anyways, after 4 days of this bull I had to think of other ideas so let me tell you what I’ve done…
I took off my broom handle, taped the modem to the end of it, attached a 25 ft. usb cable to it, ran it out the window, stuck it in the flag pole holder mounted on the building and tried to connect……guess what…….NOTHING!!
Now you would think that maybe something is wrong with the modem, but according to them there is nothing wrong with it, it’s me and my set up. I got so pissed off at this crap that I took a video of what I’ve done and put it on YouTube for everyone to see. I asked the CSR to send me another one but they want to charge me for it, are you f***in kidding me. Finally they did something, they gave me $25 credit to my account, which does a whole bunch of nothing for me. The “authorized dealers” don’t take cash on any of the s**t and can’t use the credit on the account towards the equipment so now what good does a credit do? Give me credit towards a service that I can’t connect to. I have spent countless hours and time trying to get the internet connected and on the phone and dealing with stupid uneducated CSR’s. I could have had AT&T sooner then this s**t for alot cheaper. I could have paid $50 and had an AT&T guy come out in 2 days and been connected at all times. I’m fed up with this crap and ready to send them this crap back in about 100 pieces and let them go ahead and charge my pre-paid credit card their outrageous cancellation fee. I’m tired of calling and waiting…if I hear them say “do you mind if I put you on a brief hold?” one more time I’m going to bitch slap someone. I hope this company goes down in a ball of flameing hot bag of dog s**t. The service sucks, the CSR sucks, and I’m going to AT&T.
By Steve on Jul 13, 2010 | Reply
You guys sold me. I always look at reviews before I believe the hype.
Clearwire… I’m out of here!!!
Thanks guys.
By Clearwire Pointless on Jul 22, 2010 | Reply
I signed up for the Home Office and Static IP Address package, since I run my own mail, DNS, and web servers in my home office. I specifically read every Clear FAQ I could find and asked them before I bought it, multiple times, whether this would work. Yes, I was assured, and nowhere on Clear’s site did I read that Clear blocks inbound port 80.
They block inbound port 80. A web server will not work. I have no idea what the purpose of a “Home Office” option and a static IP is if you cannot run a web server, but at least they refunded my money and paid for shipping.