It does indeed suck – User Submission by Liz Y.
February 17th, 2010 | by Admin |I signed up for Clear in Portland, OR in July 2009 – I had recently moved and needed internet, but not cable. I had heard the buzz around town about Clear, but no one was really sure about their service. I figured – how bad could it be? Well…it took awhile to surface, but I now see how bad it really can be. This past December, I received a call from a Clear sales rep that was offering to combine my home internet with their mobile 2-go (or whatever it’s called) service for the monthly (for life!) price of $45. Now, I consider myself fairly savvy and very wary of any sort of “hurry up now before it expires” sort of offer…but for some reason, I agreed to tag on that extra mobile service. (The sales guy was pretty smooth). Since I’m a student and frequently taking my laptop with me, this new mobile service would ensure a fairly good signal wherever I am in the metro area.
Well, I realized it’s 2010 and most coffee shops, libraries, and schools (the places I frequent) have free WiFi, and I really didn’t need to tack on this extra service. The problem is, at this point I was past my 7-day grace period of cancelling the mobile service and I would have to pay an early termination fee for equipment I’ve never used. The USB is still in its box, never activated. Why can’t I send it back?? I can accept some sort of processing or return fee I’d have to pay, since I was past the grace period…but it’s as if they won’t let me cancel this portion of the service! All I want is to go back to the way things were, when I paid $34.99/mo for my internet, instead of paying $54/mo (due to taxes and who knows what other fees). I foolishly thought that I would be allowed to downgrade – or at least figure out another solution – since I’ve been a customer for 6 months and never late on a payment, etc.
When I talk to customer service, their solution is to go on craigslist (!!) and try to find someone to “take over” the mobile portion of my account (or the whole damn thing). Is it me, or does that sound shady?!
- Liz Y.