Clearwire Sucks - User Submission by David in Lewiston Idaho

This is my experience with the corporate greedmongering of Clearwire.

Last year, in may or June, I signed a one year contract with Clearwire to provide internet service. I was told by the local clearwire rep that as a bonus, I would receive a $50.00 VISA online credit card by signing the contract. This was, in fact, false, as I later found out. The $50.00 VISA card was only for two year contracts, and I made it clear I was only signing a one year contract. This usually wouldn’t be a major concern, other than the fact that I’d borrowed the money to pay the sign-up fee, and in exchange I was going to give the card to whom I’d borrowed the money from. So I was lied to right out of the gate by the “licensed clearwire rep.”

Well, one year comes about and expires, even though I hadn’t even been using their service for the last two months of it, and I was in the process of moving, so the modem was packed away. I come to find out after a time, that they’re still charging me. So I call and request a cancellation, they say sure and we’ll send you your handy-dandy shipping label to your email and you just send us the modem back and we’re done.

Well, after several days of checking my email, no shipping label came. I was very busy around this time, and the existence of the modem in the trunk of my car fell from my mind. Two months or so passed, and I was going over my finances and discovered I was about $100.00 short. I determined Clearwire was still charging me, so I called them up and demanded an explanation. They checked into it, and said that I hadn’t sent their equipment (modem) back. I explained that they hadn’t sent me the shipping label, which would thereby allow me to send their modem back in the first place. Multiple clearwire reps verifiied this over the phone. So, I demanded my money back for the two months they kept charging me, and after multiple phone calls and jumping through multiple flaming corporate hoops, I finally got one nice rep who credited back the *next* month they had charged me. By now, I had disabled my debit card anyway, so Clearwire was not going to see another penny from me, and I explained this to him. He then said he would write a request for my $96+ some odd cents to be reimbursed on the return of their equipment. So, I explained to him that my doubts that I would be reimbursed if they got their modem back, to which he replied it was pretty much the only chance of getting it back. Without really any other option, I retrieved the shipping label that they had *finally* sent me from my email, and sent their modem to them. After which, of course, they refused to refund me.

So, I called Clearwire, and spoke to a lovely individual whose name was, I believe, Joe. Joe, if any of you have spoken with him before, is quite the condescending little fellow who has no customer service skills to speak of, and probably thinks he is the Keystone of Clearwire. After I explained everything to him, he had the audacity to tell me that a refund was “not warranted” and I’d already been graciously credited the $48+ some odd they’d wanted to charge me afterward. So, I say, even though you people stole $96 from me (by all definitions, stole is the correct word), I was not at fault for this, AND I took all the steps i needed to in order to get my money back and they determined my refund was not WARRANTED? After listening to about one full minute of dead silence on his end other than furious, angry typing, he yells into the phone “IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I CAN HELP YOU WITH TODAY SIR?” I told Joe where to stick it and hung up.

Today I am going to call Clearwire and attempt to get a manager or something, and explain if my money is not refunded I will file a complaint with the better business bureau.

Thanks,
David in Lewiston, Idaho.

Posted in Customer Service, Performance, Tech Support, User Submissions | No Comments »

Clearwire Beware! - User Submission by Daniel

Stay as clear away as you can. They will promise you that should you move out of their service area you may cancel the contract but what they fail to tell you the cost of doing this: YOU sell the contract yourself, YOU pay a cancellation fee or you continue to pay for services they are unable to provide until the contract is over. One might think good customer service would look like PROVIDING the service and since they are unable due to you moving to an area where the service is not available this would be an acceptable and just plain good customer service to let one out of this contract? Reasonable thinking? Hum well obviously this company does not have the interest of its clientele and maybe this is one company we in the USA can do without.

Posted in Customer Service, User Submissions | 1 Comment »

Clearwire is a NIGHTMARE- incompetent and GREEDY - User Submission by Martin B.

I was an enthusiastic early adopter of Clearwire here in Seattle. At that time I lived on Queen Anne, and the reception was great- 5 bars everyday. Last April I bought a new condo in Burien and called before moving to be sure that the service would work there: NO PROBLEM I was told. They are eagerly signing up new folks in Burien I was told, and the service works great there. They were even in the process of upgrading the service in that area. (I should have realized that was a red flag, but didn’t).

SO, I moved.. and it has been a nightmare ever since. One hour the wireless modem has 3 bars sitting on my desk, then none. So I have drape an extension cord and put the modem on top of the (top!) cabinets in my kitchen to get a signal.. for a half hour, until the signal moves.. then I have to use suction cups to mount the modem to the window pointing sw.. for an hour, until I have to move it to the back bedroom… I have started dreading turning the computer on because I can’t handle having to search for a decent signal. I’ve worked with their tech depts several times, and I finally have just had enough. I called to cancel my contract, and dear God… what a nightmare.

Let me tell you right now- there is nothing they won’t put you through to prevent you from canceling. I had to speak to 5 different people as they “escalated” me through different “levels” of .. escalation?? Every person kept telling me that they felt horrible for my nightmare, but they couldn’t help me… they would have to escalate me to the next level. Why waste my time and theirs with someone who CAN’T HELP ME? Corporate bullshit to the max. Every game played by every nasty corporation out there. A horrible experience. There was no way to simply cancel.. I just finally had to say send me the damned UPS return label for the modem and charge me the fee and hung up. I’ll take my fight to the Washington State Attorney General’s office, the Better Business Bureau, and here… to the internet. I will do all in my power to prevent anyone else from signing up for their horrible DIS-service.

If you have to deal with them, ask to be sent directly to “escalations” in the Acct. Services Dept. I got this guy named Matthew, who kept telling me that my request was unreasonable and if I would listen to him and allow him to get what he wanted from the conversation that things would just be dandy. After over an hour on the phone, I hung up. I don’t WANT to reach what Clearwire feels is a fair solution- I won’t my darned service canceled. Period. NOW. No more talk.

I am making a sign to put on my car that says:

DON’T USE CLEARWIRE- EVIL CORPORATE GREED!

~Martin B.
Seattle metro

Posted in Customer Service, Performance, User Submissions | No Comments »

I HATE CLEARWIRE SO PASSIONATELY - User Submission by Carly B.

STUPID CLEAWIRE
Taking money out of my account AGAIN when I canceled the service more than a week ago.
Not only did they say they would NOT bill me but the lady promised a refund of last months charges. I tried in vain to return their stupid modem and she kept asking me to help the military and post my account on cragislist. And if I did that she would refund last months.
She said all I had to do was created a password for craigslist when I received the email.
I did as she asked. She promised I would not be charged any future bills.

Clearwire has now changed my bank account for Sept. There are no refund charges.
And clearwire wont send me the stupid return label for the modem.
I am so sick I could cry. They make it so difficult you are stuck with them.
LET ME OUT OF CLEARWIRE

Posted in Customer Service, User Submissions | 6 Comments »

Finally Vistory - User Submission by Matthew N.

So I read a lot of material on your website after I had a blowout with Clearwire’s customer service. Extremely frustrated, I filed a complaint with the better business bureau and after a week got a response that they would cancel my two year contract if I would pay the activation fee they waived, $50. This is much more acceptable than the almost $200 they wanted. Pass this on if you want, clearwire is running scared, they are realizing how terrible service and customer care is going to sink them… And I hope it does.

Posted in Customer Service, User Submissions | 4 Comments »

User Submission

Just found your site! I am experiencing the same as everyone else……..but I have been with them for four years I think! No problems until a few months ago. Thought my issues were with my PC. NOT! I finally got their technician to admit that the towers were overloaded and that’s why I am slower than dial up! He said to wait until October because they are making HUGH improvements! I will believe it when I see it!

Need to switch to something else. Any suggestions on someone more reputable? I’m in Boise Idaho, and really hate Cable One, and Qwest…………but I’m thinking anything is better than Clearwire!

I am telling my Clearwire friends about your site.

Thanks so much

Posted in Tech Support, User Submissions | 1 Comment »

Crappy Customer Support As Well - User Submission by Ian Q.

I’ve been ‘clearwired’ again! It’s a new phrase I’ve coined.

I sent a submission back on May 22nd, you can look it up, it was about their inferior isp and the difficulties I had quitting. Well, I’ve had to deal with them again, you ask, but Ian didn’t you quit their service? Yes I did, but I never received their shipping label in my email box and became extremely busy and figured they would contact me about the modem I still had in possession. I’ve finally moved and got settled in to my new place and I was looking at my bank statements. I noticed they were still charging me $50 a month!!!! Had I received a phone call? No. Had I received an email? No. Had I received any mail regarding the unreturned modem? NO! And I can see why, they were happy to just take money from my account even though I had called and canceled.

With that said I gave them the benefit of the doubt when I called their billing department. Here we go… ready?

The first representative.

He/She was very nice and said they would transfer me to someone in billing (I will explain the why I said he and she in the next statement).

The second representative.

This lady didn’t give me her name and proceeded to tell me straight up that they would not refund my money! I gave them the benefit of the doubt, because I understood that I had the modem and companies such as Time Warner will charge you for the hardware and then credit you on return of the equipment. I asked the lady if she was going to help me get my money back and with no explanation was told no. I asked to speak to a manager and show told me to please hold.

As I was waiting I could hear this woman repeatedly pick up the call as I was waiting and curse while I was on the line. Then finally she hung up on me! Incredible! It was all to familiar from my last experience with them and I was so upset, trying not to make things worse by yelling, because they had my money!!! So I calmed down, called them back and a nice lady helped me out and transferred me again (of course). I got transferred back to the same rude woman who had cursed at me just earlier. She told me she would transfer me to a manager! If you are counting along, I’ve been transferred 4 times now and hung up on 1 time.

The third representative.

Gave me his name Tim White. He was nice and tried to help me, but would only credit me 2 months of charges even though I had 4 charges. So that is $100 I gave to clear wire for no good reason. I said, but I’m returning the equipment as soon as I can get this shipping label, don’t I deserve all my money back, it’s not like I’ve been using their service(you won’t want to use it either, that’s why I quit back in May). He hid behind their return policy or something arguing that he was doing me a favor and that they usually don’t refund your money.

I’ve got to say. I would report this kind of treatment to the better business bureau if I thought it would make a difference. I don’t feel comfortable that they have my credit account numbers in their system either. I think I’m going to apply for a new card.

The fact is, I was charged for 4 months of service that I didn’t use and I clearly said I wanted to quit back in May. They would have been happy to keep charging my account forever I’m sure, without giving me a phone call or mail or anything! Really?!?!

I know one of their VP’s reads these because I was contacted a while back. He was a nice guy and tried to understand what had happened and listened to my horrible experience. He gave me his name and number which I lost or didn’t plan to keep, because I thought I was done with Clearwire. If you are reading this one, give me a call again. I’ve spent probably a good 3 hours of my life on hold with Clearwire, if a call from you sir will get me my remaining $100 Clearwire owes me I would be happy to spend another hour on the phone with you discussing how I’ve been walked on by your company.

I hope anyone reading this finds comfort in knowing there are others in the same boat you are in.

Ian Quattlebaum

Posted in Customer Service, User Submissions | 1 Comment »

Another Clearwire screw job to report - User Submission

Hello. i am so beyond mad i had to post this. (my repost from clarkhoward.com) - i intend to call him tomorrow and get him on this actually. i would NEVER EVER do anything like that normally but Clearwire deserves this.

i moved recently from OH to KY. signed a “contract” (which is nothing more than an electronic “check here to agree” box on a small monitor - you don’t even get a print out) back last January for their service.

service using their modem has been slow - i don’t think i ever accomplished 5 bars at any time - HOWEVER, the technical staff was more than great. i have to say that, if nothing else, about Clearwire.

well i get to KY and guess what - they don’t provide service here apparently because my modem doesn’t pull in any. so i call to cancel. not only will they not debiting my bank acct (because i have no credit card on file, i’m told - but they’d just charge that too i’m sure) but i was told it was my fault that i moved to an area they didn’t have service in and if i wanted to cancel the termination fee would be $180. AND they were STILL going to debit my bank account!!!-even though i told them don’t because there’s nothing IN IT. the lady i spoke with said in effect it didn’t matter. so now, i am going to be faced with OVERDRAFT charges because THEY cannot provide service (their part of the contract), not to mention i am slapped w/ an 180 fee for early termination. they told me to put my service on craigslist and have someone buy it out so i could avoid the fees.

this is unreal. i wrote Clark Howard bout it but haven’t heard back yet.

they will not stop charging me now for up to a year - unless i pay em the 180, which in my opinion is BS because they are not providing the service. it’s breach of contract. they GUARANTEE service (that’s their hype.)

i further understand from others that their contract is automatically renewable every year, so if you don’t get them 30 days before yours expires, it automatically renews and you’re still in the same boat. in effect, it’s ad infinitum.

please, people - be warned. tell others NOT to get this service.

any help / suggestions? i told them i was filing bankruptcy and i asked for a supervisor or manager’s name. got the run around and the usual “don’t have a supervisor”.

Posted in Customer Service, Lawsuit, Tech Support, User Submissions | 1 Comment »

Clearwire Sucks :P - User Submission

First off, some of clearwire’s practices should be illegal…

Coming from a location where I cannot gain access to wired internet, I found out about clearwire and decided to give it a shot. Biggest mistake of my life. Order was placed on July 24th. July 31st, I’m already calling in because I havn’t recieved my modem yet. They say it was sent out on the 25th via UPS. Apparently a 0.3lb package was shipped out with my modem. Responded in kind, and they agreed to send out another modem. Another week passes, and so I make the call again. They say the same thing, and inform me that there were no notes about a modem being shipped and basically had the exact same conversation but with a new representative.

Decided to be patient, thinking good things come to those who wait (Not this time…). Modem finally came in on August 13th. Plugged it in.
Doesn’t connect. I call up customer service and they tell me they havn’t activated my account. They do so and I can connect. I connect in with a 2000ms ping and under 1KB a second for loading google.com.Spend 3 hours with their supposed technician who didn’t have a clue what he was doing. I decide to give it a day and call another technician. Same result, so I try to cancel the next day.

They inform me that I’m over my 7 day trial period and in order to cancel I’ll be charged 240 dollars in cancellation fees. No only that, when I try to cancel I spent 30 minutes with a sales representative trying to get her to AGREE to cancel my account because she keeps offering me 50 dollar gift cards under American Express if I can find another “victim” to transfer the services over to. She later tells me that my bill date is on Monday, being that it’s friday they cannot cancel my services before my bill date and another month will be charged. I talk to them about not recieving my modem and the fact that my services didnt start until the 13th, they even had to activate my modem on the 13th. Basically the response came down to a too bad. They offered a 30 dollar credit for the next month (even though Im trying to cancel) and still charged 70.60.

Right now, Im still under their contract while looking at this matter from a legal approach. But word to people who are considering this provider.
Stay away and save yourself the stress and hassle. As I read from another person’s post, this technology is supposedly new and doesn’t have all the kinks sorted out, but even still. Customer support isn’t a new concept… yet you won’t find any here.

Posted in Customer Service, Performance, User Submissions | No Comments »

Hidden Charges - User Submission from Oana E.

Please be aware of hidden charges!

I canceled my service after 6 months due to inability to use a wireless PC Card outside the city (they do not offer coverage in majority of Texas), and agreed to the early cancelation fee ($200).

I canceled the service on August 6th, and I was charged $59 for another month of service on August 7th. Now the customer service tells me that they will not refund this charge because the equipment was not received in 7 days from the date of cancellation. What I have been told at the time of cancellation is that I have 10 days to return the PC Card from the date Clearwire sends me the return label. I received the return label on August 7 (thru email) and returned it after the week-end, on August 11th. Their records show the equipment received on August 19th!!! It does not matter that you are not able to use the service and equipment from the date you send it back.

Just stay away from this company! Poor customer service and limited coverage areas!

Oana

Posted in Customer Service, User Submissions | No Comments »