EarthLink / Windstream Services
Reviews and Complaints

Someone used my phone number to gain internet access from People PC. People PC charged my Embarq phone bill $17.40 for 7 months. When the problem was caught, People PC would only refund a small amount of the fraudulent billing. After being passed around to several different people, I finally spoke with "Shane" at People PC. He claimed to be the head of customer service and he told me that I could not speak to anyone higher than him. He told me they could not do anything else for me. He said I needed to dispute the charges within one month... and because it went unnoticed for 7 months, that was my problem. I don't know about you... but I don't sit around scrutinizing every penny on every bill every single month. I trust a big company like Embarq to bill me correctly. I also figure if a mistake was discovered by either of us, they would take of it. I know that's not how fine print works, but come on! We're talking fraud!

Here's the problem - I was charged for something I had never asked for and was refused a proper refund by People PC. Every person I had talked to at People PC (8 different people) asked me for my telephone number, name and address to verify the account. Every single one of them confirmed that my name and address did not match the name and address on the account. I said... "I know. That's the problem. Someone is fraudulently using my phone number." I don't understand why 8 different people (including Shane... a.k.a. the head of EVERYTHING) checked this information, but no one checked to see if the original phone number and name matched the billing account when the criminal had originally signed up for internet access using my phone number.

Now, Embarq is partially to blame for this problem. They could have attempted to confirm the information provided from People PC when they began to bill me for the internet access. The difference is, Embarq admitted the mistake and fixed the problem. I now know that you have to request a blockage of outside parties having the ability to bill your account. I admit that it is possible that Embarq asked me about that service when I first signed up for phone service 4 years ago, but I never imagined that someone else could charge my account without my permission. I would think that at least one or both companies (Embarq and the outside party - this time being People PC) would take the responsibility of verifying information when a new service is established.

Conclusion: People PC - Absolutely disgusting.

I've had peoplepc.com for about 2 yrs now. The last 8 mos it had gotten pretty bad. Slow dial up. Trying to get to my e-mail took any where from 10 min to 45 min. Too often got knocked of the inter net while i was reading my e-mail. So called tech support, got no where there. I tried to tell them all the problems i had login on. They started with a set of instructions in what to do while on the phone with them. After about an hour they tell me i have to shut down my pc and all will be better. OOOk.

The pc seemed to run a bit better, but still too many steps to get to my e-mail. To make a long story short, I had to call 3 times to fix my pc's problems.But the problems came back as bad as ever if not worst.
So today i tried to log on, no internet server, can not display, to much traffic on lines. Every excuse they can find to tell you you can't get on line.

Sooo I call tech sup twice, each time i was transferred to a tech and each time music came on while i wait then click. Yes they hung up on me, with out me even telling them what i think about them.How about that?

Well I'm going to get to them soon and i will let them have it and i am going to cancel. To think that they want us to recommend them to our friends.

Since November my PC Crashed and I had to reinstall all my programs. I use brighthouse as my internet provider only and only for internet access. I pay bright house $45 monthly for the past 3 years with no problem. until my pc crashed. I explain to bill me later I am not suppose to be getting this bill since November 2007 and still have not gotten it resolved. They are still billing for service I do not use. I told them I contacting brighthouse and Earthlink and reporting it but still not getting any result. I refuse to pay for a service I do not use or need and informed them to fix it. Til this day they are still be billing me and I am spoke to the supervisor for bill me later, I spoke to brighthouse and earthlink. Earthlink was suppose to inform bill me later and I am still getting billed. I will be filling a report with the BBB. They are messing up my credit. if you see anything that said Bill be later, stay away. they are quick to bill you and destroy your credit and not fix a mistake.

I hate Earthlink. During an upgrade they put a long distance phone number in for my dial up and replaced my local access number. $800 later in long distance charges I discovered the problem. I tried to go in to the latest and greatest version of Earthlink and edit back to my local access number and could not do it. Even their own customer service people could not do it and agreed with me. Until I could get broadband installed, I went back to an old computer and used the old version of Earthlink and did fine...I will never use dial up again. NEVER! I turned them in to the better business bureau in Atlanta, but they denied the problem time and time again...and blamed me for not watching the number I was using to dial in with. I had been an Earthlink customer for more then 3 years and never saw the need to check my local access number each time I logged on...I had not moved and I was not notified that my local access number was changing. My local access number had not changed after checking, it was still the same old number it had always been...so why during an upgrade did they go in and change my local access number to a long distance number? It was unknowing to me. Also, my long distance service AT&T wouldn't do anything to help me out either. I thought they might at least notify me when they noticed an unrealistic problem going on at my home phone that had never occurred previously. They had to see I was building up a large phone bill to the same phone number and I had never done it before. They wouldn't even cut me a deal for the error that I unsuspectingly created for myself. So needless to say I do not have AT&T long distance service on my home phone anymore. Unfortunately I do have a cell phone through them because I had Cingular and AT&T bought them out. I don't plan on renewing my contract at this time since it has expired, I just go month to month with them, but I do like their cell service, so I haven't closed my mind to renewing their cell phone service as yet. As long as I don't need a new cell phone I will continue going month to month. But I absolutely refuse to ever use Earthlink again. I pray they do not buy out broadband or I don't know what I will do. If anyone knows any other company Earthlink is associated with let me know so that I do not buy any of their products.

I signed up for a 30-day free trial of PeoplePC back in November. I had gotten points through a reward program for signing up. I never once even installed it on my computer. I have internet through my cable company.

So I canceled after 3 days. I was told that everything was canceled and I would no longer be billed. So 4 months go by and my credit card had been compromised and was canceled. A few days later I get a call from PeoplePc telling me that my monthly fee could not be processed. so I called them and they tell me that when I had never canceled their service. Apparently, I had been billed every month, unknowingly. I told them that I had canceled after only a few days during my free trial and that I wanted the account closed.

PeoplePC refused to close the account until I paid them the balance on the account due to my card being declined. I continued to explain to them that I have never even used their services and that I had been fraudulently billed for the past 4 months. So that call got me nowhere.

So every day, their billing department calls about 5 times a day to collect the balance on the account. I have spoken with 14 reps and 5 supervisors. All of which have claimed they could not help me. They claim that they cannot close an account that has a balance on it.

So the harassing calls keep coming every day. Eventually I had enough. I typed out a nice letter to the California State Attorney General. I made one last attempt and called them to rectify the issue. I got some Indian guy on the phone named Bob (yeah... ok). Bob connected me with a supervisor. I explained to the supervisor the situation and informed him that if the matter could not be addressed while I was on the phone that I would be mailing my letter out to the California State Attorney General in the morning. I then proceeded to read my letter to him to let him know that I wasn't just bs'ing. Amazingly enough, he was able to go right in and zero out the balance on the account and close it. So you would think that would be the end of it, right?

WRONG! Every day I am still getting at least 3-5 calls per day from their billing department. When I ask why they are calling, they start to say "There is a balance on your account of...um...zero dollars." I then proceed to tell them to stop calling me or I will file a harassment suit. I have spoken with several reps and several supervisors SINCE my account has been closed (again) and NOBODY can tell me why I am continuallt being called. So today again (at 8am) they are calling me again.

So I am writing this complaint to warn everyone to STAY AWAY from PeoplePC. It is a horrible company. I will be sending out my letter to the California State Attorney General's office later today, as well as filing a complaint with the BBB. Not that the BBB really does anything. If you have similar issues with PeoplePC, I recommend contacting the Attorney General in their state. If they receive enough complaints, they will go after them. The BBB really can't do much other than send them a letter telling them they have a complaint. So the BBB is pretty useless in my opinion.

On February 14th, PeoplePC charged me $104.40 for Internet access that I never purchased or authorized. I do not know how they secured my credit card information. We did not purchase anything from this company. I contacted them at 8:00 am PST and spoke to an agent. They asked for my phone number (it was not in their records) and then asked for my credit card number, address, my name and then wanted my social security number and the name of my first pet. I refused to provide my social security or first pet and asked to speak to a supervisor. They stated that they could not pass me to a supervisor until they could verify me as the account holder, which required providing my social security or the name of my first pet. I told them that I was confident they did not have that information because I did not authorize the purchase in the first place and that my sense was they were collecting the information so they could supply it to you as “proof” of my approval.

They said the only way I could get assistance was to write a letter to:

PeoplePC
1375 Peachtree, Level A
Atlanta, GA 30309

After calling my credit card company and receiving feedback that I should at least attempt to have them confirm they will not charge any future charges. I went through the same process and asked to speak to a supervisor 10+ times (honest!) asking them repeatedly if they were refusing to let me speak to a supervisor. Finally, they transferred me to a supervisor, and then to two additional supervisors upon which the woman provided me a 17 digit cancellation number, which I have supplied to my credit card company, in the event they charge me again.

In looking on-line, this company appears to be disreputable; there are literally thousands of complaints related to unauthorized charges, not turning off the service – even with repeated requests. It is a shame that my time and energy was wasted.

Approximately last November I signed a contract with Peoplepc.com agreeing to pay for DSL service for 24 months. I fully intended on keeping this service for some time as I'd been happy with their dial up service. On February 26th my DSL service quit working. It worked fine that Tuesday morning and upon coming home that night, it was offline.

My account was current so I called tech support and worked with the techs even though he was very difficult to understand at times because of accent issues. He was unable to resolve my problem and I was told to call back at a later time I believe and given a 'trouble ticket number' and wished a goodnight.

In the next week that followed I called every day and attempted to correct the issue with the service. The techs that I talked to told me they would check on something and call me back in about 30-60 minutes. I never received a phone call in return, even after furnishing my personal cell phone number.

In my attempt to contact tech support I have waited on hold for an hour one night and never reached them. The next night I waited for 20 minutes and the night after that I was transfered from customer service to tech support again and was on hold for 40 minutes.

I've never once been rude to their customer service but found that they seem to read from a script and do not listen to my complaints other than to state every break 'I understand your concern'.

I informed them that I'm paying for a service that is not being provided and would like released from my contract. They then informed me that since I'm asking to be released from my contract I would incure the early termination fee of $145.00. PeoplePC is billing me for a service they are not providing.

I have determined that the error is not on my end of the wire after following all instructions from tech support to a 'T', asking associates that work as tech support for other companies and also doing a complete system restore to a point when my DSL did work, all at my own expense.

I have upheld my end of the contract by paying my bills, but still I continue to have no service and Peoplepc refuses to dissolve a contract that they obviously cannot deliver on.

I have now filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau regarding Peoplepc. All I wish, is to be able to return the modem and have my contract dissolved due to noncompliance.

Subject: Earthlink DSL internet and phone service *Earthlink is guilty of unfair business practices: Earthlink misrepresents the ability to provide high speed (or any speed) internet access.
-Provides inadequate internet and telephone service. The Internet service was intermittent at best. The telephone went out when I needed it most. The last two months, the internet was usually non-existent.
-Technical Support is fraudulent and useless: they refuse to direct me to mac support; enforce beginners troubleshooting even though everything has been tried many times; transfer to someone else who can’t help so you have to start over again; claim “that department is closed” to get rid of you for the day; put you on hold and either hang up or never come back.

-When I try to cancel my account (stop paying for non-service) customer service refuses to cooperate: claim they can’t cancel; try to talk me out of it; refuse to transfer to a manager or supervisor or transfer to a person who claims to be a supervisor but can’t do anything at all; transfer to anyone else just to get rid of you; threaten absurd cancellation fees; put you on terminal hold. Earthlink alternates between threatening a $150 for canceling a service that they do not provide and refusing to cancel my non-service contract. I was forced to cancel my credit card and ask Comcast to take the telephone line. I have tried to cancel my service for about 3 months. The last attempt was 2/4/2008. I am writing a formal cancellation/complaint letter to 16 Earthlink officials on 2/14/2008.

1. Cancel Account.
2. Please send confirmation number.
3. Send Earthlink supplied return shipping address to return equipment.
4. Do not charge cancellation fees. (Earthlink broke contract by not providing service.)

Their internet service kept freezing up so I decided to cancel service and go with a new internet service provider. Soon after my computer went down and I had to get it serviced. After receiving my computer back, I decided to go with AT&T internet service. I was checking my checking account transactions online and noticed I had a withdrawal from people pc which shouldn't have been there due to my canceling their service. I researched my account and found that I had several different withdrawals and all for different amounts. 10/08/07 for $7.97, 11/08/07 for $10.25, 12/07/07 for $17.42, 1/08/08 for $18.23, and 2/08/08 for $18.90. Every month it went up! And for what? Internet service that I had canceled! I called and talked to a representative to see what they were going to do about this problem. After canceling my service, ONCE AGAIN, they would not give me a refund for all those months of unused service! Get this, after all that, because I didn't call them before the next billing cycle, I'm still being charged for their services until March 08,2008! GO FIGURE! This company is whack and should be put OUT OF BUSINESS!

In December 2006 thru May 2007. I placed an order to Earthlink.net to be my internet service provider. During this period of time, they canceled my service. They said I called and canceled the service. I was charged $175.00 three times and I was not able to get my money back. I would appreciate someone helping me in this. Thats a lot of money they stole from me.

I spoke to an online rep for Peoplepc and was told my account was canceled in October. I knew this couldn't be right since I didn't even sign up until November. I called and was told the same thing, that my account was canceled in October. I spoke to an online rep who canceled my account and gave me a confirmation #. I canceled before my billing date and guess what... I was charged 10.95. When I called and spoke to rep Rose, she told me she didn't see where I was charged, well I was looking right at in on my statement. She told be to call back in a few days for a refund. She would not let me speak to a supervisor. She put me on hold for several minutes. She would not give me an answer as to why they fraudulently charged me AFTER I canceled my account. Two reps have assured me that my account is canceled although I still have access to my account and it shows me as having my next billing date 1/18/2008. I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND PEOPLEPC TO ANYONE, NOT EVEN THE 30 FREE TRIAL.

I tried to cancel service - it took me 3 months. Letters, e-mail, and phone calls to customer service.

* It takes too much time to get through to customer service
After sitting on hold for quite some time I was not allowed to speak with a supervisor regarding regarding an overpayment.
* They had overcharged me for a number of months. I canceled the service I signed up for at a rate of $6.95 per month. Somewhere along the line they changed this charge to $10.97 a month. The charge didn't come thru monthly but all of a sudden I had a $32.91 charge on my credit card statement. When I asked for a refund in December I was told that I was paid current through January and no more charges would be made to my account.
* The service is poor.

I would recommend any other service than PeoplePC. Nothing is good about peoplepc.

I ordered earthlink satellite thinking i was going to get really great service for my area. They came out and installed my satellite immediately. My service was slower than dial up. I called up cust svc. I spent 6 hrs on the phone being transferred from dept to dept with no resolution.

We ran various speed tests and still they could not help me. So i asked if they could send out a technician. Their reply was your system is working fine. I told them it wasnt fine and i'm not paying 115.00 a month for no service. The customer service agent hung up on me. I called back requesting to speak to a manager with no luck. The manager transferred me to a technician that could barely speak a word of english. I again explained my situation and i asked if he could set up an appt. For a technician to come out to see what the problem was. He said there was no satellite service in my area then he said in a very rude manner just cancel the service and transferred me back to the automated system. When i finally got another rep on the phone they said there was nothing i could do about cancelling unless i paid the early termination fee. I explained that i never had any service but still nothing i could do but pay. Nothing was ever resolved for me. This is by far the worst company i have ever dealt with.

And of course im still being billed.

RE: Account Number [protected] Invoice Number [protected]

People PC Inc. *40415 *10962 $7.99 08/30/2007 6VXD1-QLPZK Paid

Check #99xx71 from your *xxxxx account was mailed to People PC Inc. on 08/27/2007. Funds for this payment will be withdrawn from your account when the biller cashes the check.

If you have a question about this payment, you can send us a payment inquiry .

9/7/2007 WAL-MART 7 ECA/PURCHASE Check Number: 8452 RICH TX $14.00 $1,711.01

9/6/2007 CHECK 99xx71 $7.99 $1,725.01

9/5/2007 CHECK 8439 $30.00 $1,733.00

The above shows where I issued through my bank an electronic payment and then where your company deposited the same, which was for the September to 15 October 2007 period.

On 09/27/2007 I called your CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT, and advised them that when I had reached the last of the month and it was used up that I wished to drop your Service. The CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT advised that on the 18th of October the service would be terminated and I agreed that would be fine. Your company sent me a Customer Survey and I explained that I had decent service for a Dial Up but was going Fiber Optic with Verizon.

On the first of October I received a bill from People PC, which I ignored because I was not going to continue and had informed your CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT of this.

On the 15th of October your Company pulled the plug on my connection which was as expected.

On the 29th of October I received a bill for the months of October and November, which I obviously can't use because the service had been previously turned off at my request.

On the 29th of October 2007 I called your CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT and talked to Kris (Obviously of foreign descent) and was informed that I owed for September and October and would I like to pay him by credit card so the service could be continued instead of SUSPENDED.

Talking to this person obviously was a waste of time so I asked to speak to a Supervisor and was passed to another person (obviously also of foreign descent), who operated on the same principle that I should pay the bill so the service would not be SUSPENDED including the November portion that I have no way of using, as I HAD IT TURNED OFF MYSELF.

This lady assured me that this was all straightened out and said the magic words No Problem.

Now here in Texas when some person of another race says that to us we know that they don't have a clue. Need I tell you that at this point I am far from pleased with your OUTSOURCED CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENT?

SUMMARY

1. On 27 August 2007 I paid the September to October balance. (See Copy of Coupon)

2. On 6 September 2007 Check 99xx71 was paid to your company for Service from September to October 15.

3. On 27 September 2007 I called and advised CUSOTMER SERVICE to close my account when the payment had expired and was told this would occur on the 18th of October 2007.

4. On 28 September 2007 I received an invoice for October 15 to November 15, 2007 service which I ignored as I was through with the service.

5. On 1 October 2007 I was sent a customer Survey concerning why I was terminating the service, which I filled out and sent back.

6. On 15 October 2007 this account was closed as agreed by your company.

7. On 29 October 2007 I received the attached invoice for October, which had been cancelled and now November.

8. If you can show me where I owe your company money, I will gladly pay, but I have not had access to Peoplepc Service since the 15th of October 2007 and was left with the impression that was the turn off date determined by Your Company. I most certainly do not have any obligation for November to December by any stretch.

I surely hope that this reaches someone who cares enough to solve this problem, because if it doesn't I can see problems in the future for everyone involved.

P.S.

I just got a dunn phone call from your OUTSOURCED CUSTOMER SERVICE. Be advised that I have already filed a complaint with BBB.11/19/07 9:45AM.

Complaint ID#: [protected]

Business Name: People PC

Thomas

Dispute Resolution Specialist

Tel: [protected]

Fax: [protected]

elsie AT bbbemail.org

Ms. Thomas:

Your office and the Atlanta office can't seem to make up your minds who will be handling this situation. Since you were handed the ball last here is a couple of updates.

On November 19th at 9:20AM I received a call from the PEOPLEPC OUTSOURCE PEOPLE in Indonesia or India. This man tried to convince me that I owed them some $25.00 for service that I have not gotten and canceled. He quite obviously does not understand that I am through with this company as he informed me that he was suspending my service untill the outstanding was paid and that I had gotten a free month service, which I had not. I am not sure where he came up with that. As the conversation was only going where it was a waste of my time I excused myself and hung up after he told me that this could be turned over to Collections.

On November 26th at 1:50PM I received a call from the PEOPLEPC OUTSOURCE PEOPLE in some foreign land. This man told me that he had my letter that I had written and that it showed that at the end of October I had called and cancelled the service and that because they closed and billed on the 20th of the Month from the 20th of September till the 20th of October I owed $12.50 for that month and that I also owed for the next month because I had not called till the 29th of October I owed till the 20th of November for another $12.50. I explained to this person that I had called and cancelled on the 27th of September and he asked if I had a confirmation number, which I had not. However I told him that I had been sent a email survey which I had filled out about their service and why I was leaving and I told this one that I had left to go to Verizon FIOS which had just came to my neighborhood. He then informed me that I had been signed up for a year contract and had received a months free service, which he was immediately informed that I had not and did not and had no need for this service and that I had no intention of paying for something I had not received. He wanted to go back over the same trash again and I informed him that if he believed that I owed them something that the most it could be was for prorated 7 days from the 20th till the 27th of September. He was then informed that I was through discussing this with him and he said I will have to send this to Collection and I told him to please do so.

Fact: On the 27th of September just before getting the next months bill I called and talked to a person who told me that it was fine and they would close the service to me on the 18th of October. (They Actually Closed on the 15th of October)

Fact: On the 29th of September I got a bill for the month of October which I had cancelled so I did not pay it. (During this time period I received by email a request for a closing survey to see why I had left, which I filled out and returned)

Fact: I have never contracted with peoplepc for any free month service or annual contract. My contract was with Everyone's Internet who closed their Dial Up Service and moved us to peoplepc.

Fact: I checked the Dial Up service daily to be sure it had been terminated.

Fact: These fools are trying to collect from me for a service I cancelled and they turned off and think I am still using and can not access.

Quite frankly Ms. Thomas I am dealing with a third world mentality and people who obviously don't know what is happening. Please help me.

On 8/14/07 I called Earthlink to cancel my e-mail account with them. I spoke to someone there who took my information and he gave me a confirmation # of [protected].

In Sept. of 07 I received a bill from Bill Me Later of $21.00. I mailed a denial of payment along with my confirmation number. In November I received a letter stating that Earthlink had denied that I ever canceled. I was told that I must pay the bill. I called Earthlink and was told that I had never called to cancel and that there was no such confirmation number and that I must pay the bill.

I cancelled my earthlink dial up account, they made it difficult. There is no way-on the internet, to cancel. Once I told them I was copying the text in the chat and would post it online, they found a way to get a supervisor to cancel it.

Then they asked for a security word, which they had wrong. They use a family member name and they told me I did not have it right. Umm...I think I know it. YOU got it wong.

What really stunk was after the intro price period they jacked the rate up to $20 a month-except for about another $5 they added on for a "family pack". Some bundle of crap they sell with junk I never asked for nor wanted. It took me a couple months to catch the extra $5 and then when I did they would not credit me the full amount they ripped me off for. They could tell I never used it.

But the worst thing was-since I had to give them my home phone number, these jerks actually went and sold it to telemarketers. What nerve. I won't use the language I used, but this is the reason you should never use this ISP. They WILL sell your number to telemarketers, without your knowing consent. I'm sure somewhere in the terms of service they may say they have that right...BUT if you knew it up front most people would opt out.

This is dirty and sneaky.

They also tried not to stop billing me for another 2 weeks or so, even though I had another ISP.

Earthlink is terrible. I wanted to know if anyone could help me in doing something about them.

This is my story:

I signed up in July 2007 for the bundle service (Phone and Internet, the first month was a free trial). One week of having the service I could not receive incoming calls. If someone called they would get a message saying, "The number you have reached (my number), is not excepting incoming calls". I have never heard that message from any phone service except for cell phones. Then, right after that my DSL connection drop. The DSL would connect sometimes, but the connection would not last long. I called tech support and the representative blamed the problem on my phone lines and/or my computer. I had just switched from Verizon, and there wasn't any problem then. Also, I had just replaced my hard drive.

So, I decided to cancel my service with them in August 2 days before my trail period was over. The rep. then offer me all kinds of deals and credits to stop me from canceling. I turned them down and requested a cancellation. Then the rep told my I had to pay an early cancellation fee, and I owed a payment for one month of service. I asked to speak with a supervisor, I was then put on hold. When the rep return I was told my cancellation was processed, I would not receive an early cancellation fee, and in fact had a negative credit on my account (in which they gave me). I told them I was going to re-sign with Verizon. The rep assured me that there would be no problems from Earthlink. All I had to do was let earthlink know when Verizon was coming to install my new service. They also informed me, once Verizon install their service it would automatically knock Earthlink off my line. The rep. then explained because of the one month credit I was given, I would be able to use Earthlink free for a month or until Verizon was installed (which ever one came first) if I chose to.

On September 14 my Verizon installed. On the 17th or 18th I tried to install my Verizon DSL, it did not work. When I called verzion the rep informed me that Earthlink was still on my line. I called Earthlink and they told me that Verizon had to call them and request the number. I explained to the rep that Verizon had my number, they just needed earthlink to get off my line. The Earthlink rep still insisted on have Verizon call. So, I called Verizon and informed them of what earthlink told me. Verizon called and earthlink gave them a conformation number that the transaction was complete (this did not go through until Sept. 27). I then received a bill from earthlink for the month of August and September.

I called earthlink once again and they told me that my account had been active from my start date in July to September 27. I explained the entire situation to them, and that is was not my fault earthlink took a month to drop my line. At the end of the conversion they were suppose to re-give me the one month credit, and give me a second one for September. Come the first week of July I received another bill from earthlink. This bill was from a bounce check fee in August when they tried to take from my bank account one month of service. I never knew this had happen, and why didn’t they bring this up before? I refused to pay because, they should not have taken anything being as though I was in my free trial period.

On October 30, I received a bill for the bounce check fee and an early cancellation fee. I am not paying anything, I want to go over their head.

There are a few complaints here illustrating Earthlink's incompetence. I'm pretty sure that I can top them all with this story. Let me preface this story with the fact that we had never contacted Earthlink for any reason and have most definitely never set up an account or service of any kind. In June 2007, my husband and I began receiving unsolicited mail from Earthlink to the name “Test Test.” On June 12, Earthlink sent “Test Test” a box. We assumed it was junk mail and/or an error, so other than being amused we thought little about it. Turns out it was a router/phone adapter related to their VOIP product.

Not long after we received the box Earthlink began demanding payment (from Mr or Ms Test, of course). Callers from Earthlink call our home phone number and ask to speak to “Test Test” or the “Accounts Payable Department.” If we don’t answer the phone, we get messages for “Test Test.” In the last 6 weeks we have gotten at least 30 calls from Earthlink. After a few early Saturday morning calls, waking up everyone in the house including visitors, what started as funny became much less amusing. We recently received another box to “Test Test” which remains unopened to this day.

This is 100% unsolicited and came completely out of the blue. Though it may seem obvious that there is no one by the name of Test Test, Earthlink remains undaunted in this quest to get payment (approx. $100 now) from an imaginary customer. My husband and I have spoken several times to confused and completely untrained customer service representatives in India, and their managers. They explain that they are powerless to help. Given the lack of success on the phone, I have now written two letters to everyone at Earthlink I can think of and a copy to my local City (San Francisco) Supervisor. Through all this we are amazed, but no longer surprised, that the calls and mail keep coming.

Most recently, we started getting calls from a collections agency (yes, really, for "Test Test"). Yesterday, we got a call from Earthlink's Customer Service asking us to call this number, use that password, use a certain "father's middle name" (apparently Test Test's father's middle name is QWERT) to speak to a supervisor. Then we would have to explain the situation and then we'd get some help (maybe). I'm refusing to do this because it is their error to fix, not mine. I am now filing complaints everywhere I can think to, and waiting for them to apologize and stop calling/mailing us. It's nothing short of harassment and really just bizarre. They clearly have serious organizational problems, so would recommend avoiding any of their services at all cost. I can't imagine how much they have spent trying to track down "Test Test" to get about $100.

If anyone has any recommendations of how to get these people to pay attention and deal with this issue with us (short of calling that number and using all their magic passwords) I'd be very appreciative.

People PC
www.peoplepc.com

To whom it may concern:

I have been trying for a 1 year to cancel People PC. I have called several times to cancel and you can never get to the proper department. I have sent e-mails to cancel and the say I have to call. I understand it only $15 a month but when comes out of your checking account each month it is frustrating. Then for me to stop payment it is another $35.00 and a hassle to go to the bank and file the paper work. So I have paid this rip off PC provider for something I have not used in over a year. I only have internet access at work and do not need the People PC. I am not even sure what my password is all I know is me e-mail address for pepolepc is nfm35 AT peoplepc.com. I am sure that there a several thousand e-mails I do not even go and check because I do not want there service. If you could please help me in this situation I would appreciate it.

Frustrated non user

Deanna Benson

I paid July, earthlink internet bill on july 26th. Earthlink received and deposited to there bank on August 7th. The due date of the bill was August 8th.

Earthlink has contacted me by mail and internet interruptions stating this bill is past due. Ive contacted them five times trying to resolve this issue. They apologize for the problem then state it will be taken care of. Its now three weeks later and I still receive mail stating the payment has not been received and continue to have my internet disrupted.

What can I do, where do I go from here with this issue? Advise smb!