I called first and said nicely: “no, nope, just forget it and please don’t send mail or call me”.

You know where I’m headed: they continued to harass me by sending me the same,
big, stupid piece of green mail every two weeks with no end in sight.

Finally I called again and said “I want OFF of all your databases, your address list,
your email list, and your phone list — ALL of it. If I haven’t responded for a year,
you can jolly well leave me in peace and quit already!”.

And she goes “OK, I just need to get your social security number (which of course I had
never given them before) in order for me to do that.”

Huh?? WTF? #%*%()^)$#!

How stupid and illegal is that??

“In order to remove you from our databases we have to add more sensitive information about
you to our databases”. NOT SO FAST.

What a narrow miss. I’m so lucky. I could have been sucked into their nightmare
had I not sampled their customer service up front first.

I’m normally considered a gentle and mild-mannered person, so for me to get so
angry…. well I was VERY direct with her, pointing out the irony of her requesting
additional personal information, and she finally said yes she’d remove me, and she then hung up on me.

When I see them hawking their so-called services on the sidewalks around Seattle,
I cross the street and say a prayer of pity for the minimum-wage, starving students there trying
to sell Clearwire “service”, probably never having tried it themselves.

Sincerely,
Bewildered in Washington.

Chris P

Another sort of, side story is, when I got my Xbox360 back from Microsoft, I had just hooked up a router that I could plug into my xbox. After getting the ethernet cord, ($17.89) and an Xbox LIVE card, ($21.04). However, upon receiving my xbox, I decided it was time for a new game as with LIVE capabilities. Modern Warfare 2. ($63.34) Oh, and LoTR: Conquest. ($22.97). All this was purchased in one shop-through. The worst part: This was all money I got for christmas. I wasted $125.24. All for some BS ISP whom I thought supported Xbox LIVE. Why did I think that? Oh yeah! The sales rep who sold me CLEAR said he had xbox LIVE and it worked exceptionally well. Unless you want to jump on LIVE to find people jumping across maps, voices you can’t understand, and lagging so bad you want to punch CLEAR’s modem harder than Chuck Norris’s mass punch. The moral of my story is, CLEAR needs to be stopped, because people like me who place trust in a god damn sales rep at Car Toys, gets screwed over when we can barely afford Gas for the month. Clearwire has scammed enough people, and I have not met a SINGLE PERSON that said clearwire was worth it. Not a single god damn person. Everytime someone asks, “Why haven’t you been on facebook recently?” I respond, “Because CLEARwire doesn’t allow me to.” That’s it… Instead of paying for CLEAR, do something productive, and give to a charity that actually gives you some form of self satisfaction. CLEAR is nothing but a free-loader charity.
THE END. ]]> http://clearwiresucks.com/blog/2010/03/03/clear-sucks-period-user-submission-by-kelby-f/feed/ 2 http://clearwiresucks.com/blog/2010/03/02/clear-sucks-obviously-user-submission-by-kelby-f/ http://clearwiresucks.com/blog/2010/03/02/clear-sucks-obviously-user-submission-by-kelby-f/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:06:55 +0000 Tim http://clearwiresucks.com/blog/?p=862 Hello fellow CLEAR-Haters. Just thought I would share my, ever-so-wonderful experience with CLEAR and the inspiration they have given me. I just received my SECOND “new” modem because BOTH of the ones before would deplete in signal then lose the signal all together, and I would eventually have to manually reset the modem by unplugging it, then plugging it back in… many times, over and over…. all for ONE bar, if that. So anyway, I just plugged this “new” modem in, and at first, after finding the sweet spot for signal. YAY! 3 bars, steady too! Then, Yayyy…….. 2 bars, 1 bar, 2 bars, 1 bar, scrolling. Wonderful. Time to call CLEAR, and figure out what they are going to charge, and tell the bank that its time to close the card. Bye-bye CLEAR! Burn in false industry hell!

Jaime

Now for starters i hope everyone at Clearwire is having a nice day living off of my money that you did not give hardly any effort in return. I have come to the mind set that you are now a Charity?

For me, however i am confronted with an email from your marketing department (I’m guessing) showing that communications between your divisions does not work, hence some of your bad customer service issues. As a manager i would be checking into that.

If someone at Clearwire took the time and read my file before you sent me this email, they would see why i closed my account, the reason is right there because i was told on the phone (more than once) by one of your agents that what we were talking about and my reasons for canceling were noted in “my records”.

For the last and final time, the reason is because we moved (military related purposes) from Jacksonville Florida to Huntsville AL. You do not provide service in Huntsville AL (35741), but because my contract was signed in Jacksonville i had to honor that for 2 years. We moved to relocate for a new job due to the economy down turn, but not that Clearwire would notice due to collecting funds from people who no longer use your service.

Yes i am very upset and i told a few hundred of my closest military friends and used my vast military network to tell how much you do not support the military. No there is no changing my mind, you lost and you had your chance.

There should be no question – account canceled due to no service availability in your new area – come-on do the right thing, support the customer and the money he gives you. Take a lesson from this and provide better customer service for all your customers, help them out if they moved and you dont supply service in that area, that’s smart business and you could get a customer for life.

Thanks for the service in Florida and NO thanks for the money i HAD to sent to you because you could not cancel my contract. FYI, i made over 14 months of payments and received no service. If I canceled before the end date of the contract and as you know i would have to pay a heavy fine that was more than my monthly payments totaled.

Have a nice day and wish you well with your slowly reducing military and retiree clientele. Boy did that feel good to get that off my chest…..

Respectfully

Tom M
Dissatisfied Customer

Three months ago I ran into a Clear rep at a best buy. The product was cool and the opportunity it offered of being able to have mobile and home internet for slightly more than I was paying for Dsl was a winner. After some research, I called and was sent the modems – a home and a usb modem – very quickly. I plugged them in and within minutes I was on both.

Initially the product was great. I was achieving speeds up to 10mbps with an average speed of around 5mbps. If I had questions clear was available all the time and very helpful. I cancelled my Dsl and thought that was done.

Two weeks ago my speed dropped considerably – the year 1996 considerably. My download went from 5mbps to .30 mbps as measured by speedtest dot net (which is the stick they measure by). It was so bad that my daughter could not even watch a 10 minute episode of Kipper the dog on netflix without the service dropping out completely. The connection was completely unusable from my home.

The problem was not with my computer. The service worked great anywhere outside of ten miles from my house. Inside that area though it was impossible to use either the usb modem or the home modem. I tried moving the modem – which you will get used to doing if you get clear – unplugging it, and even tried getting on my roof to get a better signal. The modem was showing that I was receiving almost a full signal but the speed did not produce.

By the way, I purchased both modems instead of signing a contract which is a little bitter sweet. I now own two usless clear modems but at least I am not suck in a contract for two years.

The first time I called clear they offered to replace my modem after re-provisioning it did not work. I described the problem as being with both modems again, but the tech assured me that replacing the home modem only would solve the problem. It did not. Lets keep a running tally of time spent on the phone with them: so far 2hours on the phone – half of which was spent on the phone moving my modem from room to room and running a speed test so the rep could be assured I was not lying.

After the replacement modem failed to correct the problem I called back. I was sent around my house again running speed tests to prove I was not lying and that I was not a buffoon who could not grasp the issue. The tech re-provisioned the modem again despite my description of the first call. I was again asked if I had tried moving the modem before calling. After an hour of trouble shooting, the tech gave up and kicked me up to tier two tech support. The tier two tech again asked me to walk around my house (seriously) and do speed checks – I politely refused. She told me I needed to reset my computer – I told her that I probably would not be talking to her if that would solve the problem but hey, what the heck. It did not work. We played with the computer for another hour and I was asked to create some log files using the cmd prompt and send them to her. After I completed this worked she assured me that she would be on top of this and that someone would be calling me to set up an appointment to come to my house. Finally some progress right? Nope. No phone call no truck. Log: 3 hours on the phone with nothing to show and no explanation.

I called a third time to check on the status of the open ticket for the truck roll (clear speak for what was supposed to happen). I was told that the ticket had been closed with a note that said to ask me – I am really not making this up – if I had tried moving my modem. My frustration was building and my internet was not helping. I asked to be transfered to tier two tech support and was after the prerequisite moving of the modem and speed checks. I told the tech that I would do the dance as long as the tier two tech did not mention it when he transfered me. The tier two tech asked me if I we had tried to re-provision the modem. At this point I asked the tech – politely – to read all the noted on the account before we proceeded. After a five minute pause the tech that he was not sure why the “truck roll” had not occurred but that he would make sure I got the phone call and the service. No phone call and no truck. Log: 5 hours and no progress.

I called again to check on the status of my truck. The tech told me that she was not sure why I had not received a phone call and offered to call tier two and ask them what the deal was. They would not take my call directly this time. I was just told through the tech that I was on the phone with that there was nothing wrong with the tower and that there must be some sort of interference in my house. Mt house has not changed. To her credit the tech tried everything she could to get the problem resolved; however, the lower techs are limited to re-provisioning and trouble shooting. We left the phone call with a promise to have someone call me within 24 hours. No phone call. Total to date: 7 hours and no resolution or phone call.

I called AT&T today to have uverse installed on Friday. I am amazed by the lack of initiative from Clear. I gave them nearly three weeks to address a problem and no one above regular techs even bothered to follow up.

To be clear – pun – everyone I spoke with at Clear was very nice. I don’t believe in yelling or being rude to phone techs so every conversation was polite, but not productive.

So now I am stuck with a clear usb modem and a clear home modem. I am going to cancel my service with clear tomorrow afternoon. I am really disappointed. I really wanted this to work out but things just turned out bad – very bad. I went from being a very vocal advocate for Clear and wimax in general to being whole heartedly against it. It astounds me that the service and speed that I was getting just fine for two months can drop off so quickly without reason.

So to sum things up – Unless you are prepared to spend almost $200 for modems that may not work in two months; don’t get clear. Unless you want your life to be consumed by walking around your house with a modem to see if you can eek out one more bar; don’t get clear. Unless you want to deal with 1996 isp speeds without reasonable explanation; don’t get clear. However; if you are looking for the long way to getting uverse internet; get clear. I will see you soon!

But then they top it with incredibly bad customer service.

About 4 months into my bad service I’m realizing its dramatically worse and staying bad all the time. (I use my phone internet primarily, so I’m a little slow to act.) I call tech. service & get stuck going in circles for literally two full hours. Two hours of unplugging, re-plugging, etc. They left it at they’ll call me back.
They don’t.
So I call them. They put me on hold for 10-20 minutes. Then they say they don’t need to talk to me.
Then they call me, & leave a vm to call them.
So I call them. Put me on hold 10-20. Then they say they don’t need me.

A few months later I call to cancel. They give me 2 free months to wait to see if the ‘changes they plan to make to the tower’ will change my connectivity speed.
January comes. No change.
But they manage to start charging me again.
So I cancel, demanding a refund for January. They say Ok. But I have to return their lame modem, & to wait for the tags. They don’t send the packing slip tags, then they charge me for February.

Good stuff.

I demand another month (or more) of refund since they wasted 4-6 months of my time. Impossible, they say.

Clear sucks bad.

I was told that UPS labels would be sent to me to return the equipment. I never got the email or UPS labels in the mail however Clearwire insists they sent them. They continued to charge me even though I was not using their service. Due to other issues I was not able to address the issue until after the holidays. At that time a few months had passed during which I had been paying the bill for a service I was not using. When I got the labels I stopped payment on my credit card and sent the equipment in.

Now Clearwire is attempting to collect another $50 dollars from me. Apparently I have to pay a fee for stopping payment. Ultimately I have paid more for their service I never used than I would have paid for their cheap antenna but the company insists on trying to get some last money out of me.

My advice to anyone considering Clearwire is this;

First of all their service is “broadband” in name only, the service is slow, the antenna does not work well if you have a wireless router and is easily overwhelmed if you have several devices that connect to the Internet.
Second; The customer service at Clearwire is worse than Comcast… and that is a real achievement.
Third; Clearwire will do whatever they can to get the last penny they can out of you. They will charge ridiculous fees and insist that you pay them.
Fourth; the whole seven days to cancel the service is a lie. You have to cancel it within the seven days AND have the equipment back to them within that same time frame. So if you cancel service the same day you get the service and have the return labels sent to you there is no time left to ship back the equipment. In effect you are set up so they can charge you the monthly fee plus a fee for canceling your account.

Maybe there is someone out there in the world who actually likes the Clearwire service however all I have heard since my experience are numerous stories similar to mine. Do yourself a favor and don’t even try Clearwire. They will figure out a way to get more money out of you than it is worth.

Alan B

I signed up February 2009. Since then, I have had NOTHING but problems. When I say problems, this is what I mean: No signal, poor signal, horrible signal, signal outage, no internet, slow internet, REALLY slow internet, lagging, HORRIBLY slow upload/download speeds, connection problems.

I have two accounts. The one that I signed up in February 2009 was for me && my husband. Then I signed up for another account for my in-laws I believe in March 2009. Now, over here in Seattle, they have been busy switching Clearwire over to Clear. For free. Promising faster upload && download speeds, better connectivity, etc. So, I got an e-mail for MY account, saying that in order to receive my upgrade, I needed to fill out a form on their website, because if I didn’t, my internet wouldn’t work. So I filled out the form, then they said they would be sending me a new modem. I got the new modem a couple days later, (This was back in October or November 2009 btw) && plugged it in. NOTHING. I didn’t even bother calling, because I’ve called before, && they happen to have some of the SHITTIEST customer service that ever was, so I just didn’t see a point, plus my Clearwire modem still worked, so I figured they hadn’t switched over yet. Then, a few weeks ago, my internet totally just stopped working. I couldn’t figure it out for hours, until I remembered about the new Clear modem. So I plugged that in, voila, internet again. I find it interesting that I didn’t get any sort of e-mail or phone call or even just a mailer saying they were going to switch over, or what date, etc. Then my father in-law tells me that he hasn’t had internet for like three weeks. WTF?? So I call Clearwire to figure it out. Then some jackass proceeds to tell me it’s MY fault that they don;t have any internet, because I didn’t do the process right. He said that I filled out a form, && got the back legwork of switching over completed, but I didn’t finish filling out the form to get the new modem. He says that it looked like someone on my end didn’t complete everything, or else a new modem would have been sent out. So, he tells me to call Clearwire, that they’re open from 6 AM PST – 8 PM PST. So I call. Tells me they are closed. He tells me to call back, try different extensions. I again tell him it’s not working. He tells me that I guess I’ll just have to wait until 9 AM to call. I am now late to work, as it is 8:45 AM. I spend 30 minutes waiting for a damn rep, then spent 30 mins talking to a rep who didn’t know his ass from his face. So when I get to work, I call Clearwire. The new rep I am now talking with, tells me THAT IT IS NOT MY FAULT, that it is CLEARWIRE’S fault I never received a new modem. HA! I ask for a credit. He says he will see what he can do. I end up getting a $20 credit.

So, about an hour && a half ago, my internet goes out again. For like the 4938573947523947549574th times since I’ve had the piece of shit. So I hop onto someone else’s UNsecured wireless network in our apartment building, so that I can speak with another idiot who thinks he is a CUSTOMER SERVICE rep. – eye roll.

Here’s the conversation:

Hello Gia. Please wait while we find a CLEAR specialist to help you.
Your question was: My internet is NOT working. This happens to me about 3 or 4 times a month, always between the times of 1 am – 5 am PST. My internet will usually be gone from anywhere to 2 – 4 hours. This is when I work, && it really pisses me off. I am not paying you to NOT have internet service for any period of time.
You have been connected to Michael Jordan.
Michael Jordan: Hi Jinna! I’ll be happy to help you today!
Gia: Michael Jordan?
Michael Jordan: The reason this is, is because the towers are having mandatory updates applied to them which disconnects the service.
Gia: Ok, well I think I should get a credit on my account every time this happens.
Gia: && I was NEVER told this when I signed up.
Michael Jordan: We only give credits if it lasts for more than 24 hours at a time.
Gia: That’s bullshit.
Gia: I’m supposed to be working right now.
Gia: But guess what?
Gia: I CAN’T.
Gia: I’m using someone ELSE’S unsecured wireless network to talk to you right now.
Michael Jordan: I apologize for the inconvenience.
Gia: && I can’t cancel, because I have a stupid 2 year contract with you.
Gia: You can say that you’re sorry all you want, but how does that fix MY problem Michael Jordan?
Gia: Do you have ANY idea, how much this interferes with my work schedule?
Michael Jordan: I would advise that you speak with tech support from 9am to 10pm for further assistance at 888-888-3113.
Gia: You bet I’m going to. AGAIN. This isn’t the first problem I’ve had with Clearwire, && I’m willing to bet my life, it won’t be the last.
Your session has ended. You may now close this window.

Wasn’t he helpful? NOT. I am SO pissed off right now. My husband works graveyard, so I do all my work then as well, so we can keep the same sleeping schedule. Right now, I can’t work. I CANNOT use UNsecured internet for my work…

So, don’t get Clearwire. It’s not worth it. The hassle, the fight. Ridiculous. Yes, they are cheap… FOR A REASON. I will be heading back to Comcast when my contract is up, && I will also, be blogging, e-mailing, anyone, && everyone I possibly can, that will listen, all the reasons to NEVER get Clearwire, && why they suck ass.

- GIA. Seattle, WA.

Here is a few things they have told me/did to me:

1. “You have too many base stations nearby / Your signal is too good so that is actually jamming your speed”
WTF. I might not be a tech wizz but I think that is one of the lamest attempts at techno babble I’ve ever heard. Too good signal?? Not only should this signal ensure a stable connection at all times, the availability of so many stations should ensure a maximum band speed at all times as they should be able to share the load.

2. A tech was around, fiddled a bit with the modem, saw that it was all right, told me “There is nothing I can do.” And he left. While my speed problem stayed the same.

3. Upon wanting to downgrade my subscription to the lowest one (seeing as my speed is infinitesimal as it is) I was told I can’t do that unless I sign another year-long contract.

4. On a rare occasion, coming home in the evening and starting a download, the speed was decent for a few minutes (300 kb/s). It soon dropped back to 6 kb/s. I immediately called them, suspecting they are simply blocking me and I was told that is normal for this time of day. So I should try at night. Great, I am paying hard money to use this 4 hrs per day.

I am considering legal action but I don’t really know how to gather proof. If you could advise me to that I would be very grateful…