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Hughes Complaints 642

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11:51 pm EDT
Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

HughesNet has homepage where ads appear that are disgusting. Most recently, there is an animal rights group called WSPA that has a photo of a bear being mauled my dogs. Click on the photo and it tells how in Pakistan "bear baiting" is common, where a bear, minus his teeth, is chained down and dogs are allowed to attack it. Every time I log on I have to look...

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4:20 pm EDT

Hughes taking too much money out of my account

I picked a promo plan where they charge me $79 a nonth for 24 months. $59 for service and 20 for equipment. They took out $479 all at once and overdrew my acct. No one would help me I called 8 times and they told me something different everytime. Would send me to a supervisor. Acted like they couldnt help me

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GeorgeandDeb
Morris, US
Jan 14, 2009 7:54 am EST

We also took the promo plan at first with GREAT DISSATIFICATION! After talking to a english speaking American sales person, and then a english speaking American set-up person it all was down hill from there. WARNING: DO NOT GIVE HUGESNET YOUR BANK CARD NUMBER, THEY WILL ABUSE IT! They have distroyed our bank account with mutible billings.
They have shut our service off because of a $ .54 balance and continued billing us on a service that we were not using.
We have mailed them a money order for $20.00 to cover the .54 balance and then was told by some [censored] some where that we had to wait seven to ten days for processing even though the did receive the payment. There excuse was that the computerized billing system is set up that way. After threatening to rip this system out and they can pick it up out of our front yard they some how managed to retstore our service. Amazing is'nt it ?
When contacting billing or tech service we always were speaking to some foreigner who could not speak or understand plain english ( I believe this is to frustrate you a just give up).
The only plan they have to come close to high speed internet is their ELITE PLAN at $120.00 a month for which we finally had to go with but the our monthly billing jumped to $190.00
a month plus.
Some how or some where there must be a federal communication agentcy that can and should investigate this scam!
We constanly check our usage and find that some how we go over our mega bite consumption even at the hours that our pc is not even on. We took to unplugging the HugesNet modem
( there is no on and off switch on it) when we are off line, but still we accumulate mega bite usage.
In short, HugesNet is not what they advertise, period!
Where we live we do not have cable service, we've had dial-up but as eveyone knows how slow that is and its worse for us becauce we live in farm country and the old telephone lines
makes it even worse. Cell phone reception is nil. If there is another satalite system available that is honest and dependable we certainly would like to know of it.

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3:12 pm EDT

Hughes fap ripoff!

We live in a rural part of the state that provides no other internet connectivity, and have been stuck with DirecWay's being swallowed by Hughes.net. Without appropriate notification, Hughes.net enabled what they call a Fair Access Policy, but there is nothing fair about it.

They SEVERELY limit downloads, and then LOCK your account to a useless trickle for TWENTY FOUR HOURS any time the restriction is exceeded -- and they count every bit of download data over a 24 hour period. So, when I needed to download a software update that was close to 300mb, not only could I not do it, but I could not do ANYTHING for the next 24 hours.

This restriction is waived between 3am and 6am - that is the ONLY time. How many legitimate users are downloading software updates or itunes music at 3am?

Calls to Tech Support are an exercise in frustration - I have NEVER spoken to a native English language speaker.

AS SOON AS a viable connectivity alternative is available in our location (I am not holding my breath, ) I can't wait to call Hughes.Net and request they remove their ugly dish from our roof.

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c a hall
Apr 29, 2008 11:46 am EDT

Hughes has sunk to a new low in service. They were upgrading the email this weekend. It turned into a downgrade. We still cannot send or receive emails form our Outlook accounts or from their horrible webmail account. It's now 3 days after we were to have new and improved service.
With their technical support so bad why did they attempt anything remotely technical in nature.
After failed attempts to fix a problem, their tech support guy told me to go to Google and see if I could find the answer myself.
The problem was as simple as a pop up blocker interfering with accessing the Hughes satelite. A Linksys rep helped me with that bit of info even though it was a Hughes issue.

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mrri77
Farmersville, US
Aug 24, 2010 6:03 pm EDT
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you folks got off easy when i had hughes net installed it was 7hundred dollars for the equipment and 175 dollars for the installation. I was forced to recently upgrade and within 1 year the system died a rep came out and repaired the dish wich then died 3 days later. I called em bk and the rep refused to even come out unless i upgraded again. So i was looking at another 125 service call 49.99 upgrade fee and an aditional 9.95 to my bill each month. So needless to say i am now waiting for dsl to become available or another sattelite company to take hughes place no i will not recomend hughes to anyone even if i dislike the person i wont lol

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ghoulish
Kirkwood, US
Oct 10, 2009 1:02 pm EDT
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The aircards have limited usage too, and have their own connectivity problems and overage problems...buyer beware!

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kobe1955
Warsaw, US
Feb 16, 2009 3:32 pm EST

I dumped them and got an aircard from Sprint that is as fast as DSL for $59 a month!

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That Guy
Garden Valley, US
Dec 05, 2008 1:07 pm EST

I don't necessarily say Hughes is a scam. I have had satellite internet for well over 5 years and since Hughes took it over the service and quality is much reduced. I am considering changing to Wild Blue. Even though there are problems with Wild Blue as well from the feed back I ahve had from neighbors who have it as well as a couple who have changed from Hughs to Wild Blue it is a step up.

Right now my transmitter is going out on the dish and it will have to be replaced. The cost exceeds the change over so it makes sense for me now to change.

What my main compliant is Hughes FAP. Until recently I had only once or twice went into the FAP prior to Hughes taking over. I believe they lowered the threshold. I do know now when I wish to down load some packets and software the files are larger though. But in the past when I exceeded FAP at least I could continue using the internet. Now however I am essentualy out of service for 24 hours.

This is my prime interest for going to Wild blue. The FAP on Wild Blue is based on a 30 day average and from looking at my usage I will never get to their FAP limits. I average 200-250 MB down each day, yes I am an high end users. But this means about 2 to 3 t imes a mount I exceed Hughes FAP and I cannot afford to be out for a full day.

The only thing I can see from my research into the differences with Wild BLue and Hughes is the FAP issue, both have problems, each are about the same cost, each is my only alternative but the FAP issue tilts in Wild Blues favor.

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yamilet Otano
Nov 29, 2008 5:20 pm EST

This is a big scam ... because the first thing that I asked to ( hughes net representative ) was that if it is unlimited high speed internet ...and he said ...YES! But the next day in less than 30 minutes I had no internet... or 99% more slower than dial-up! I tried to return it ...because I pay $420 for the dish and modem and $125 for the installation ...so the total was $545 for something that does NOT WORK! and I have to pay $59.99 each month! ... AND HUGHES NET SAID THAT THEY WILL NOT RETURN MY MONEY ! THIS WAS A BIG MISTAKE! and I will take this legally and try to sue you ! because when you buy a home you have AT LEAST 3 days to cancel the business and get your money back!
not only your lies about unlimeted high speed internet, ... also the right of the customer to return something that DOES'NT WORK!

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Cheryl
Nov 22, 2008 1:13 pm EST

My Phone requires regular updates through iTunes. Hughes pretty much suspends my service before even one update is complete. After that, not only am I unable to finish my update, I cannot even send an email to complain; I am pretty much locked out for the next 24 hours. I certainly cannot get anywhere talking to someone in India, either.

The sales pitch was that, being the only user on my computer, I would never reach the threshhold. This a blatant lie. I would NEVER recommend Hughes to anyone. If there is any possible way to get out of this contract I will do it.

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Trish
Oct 05, 2008 1:39 am EDT

Especially when you are paying over 70.00 a month I think it is wrong, and cheating the consumer as well. I just got hughesnet I was with aol and I do web design and alot of uploads and downloads, and wasn't aware of this FAP as they call it.

Fair Access Policy, and if I was aware of it, I would have never signed up and paid 181.00 plus another 133.87 to have the pole installed. Yes, its a bunch of unfair practices, when you are paying triple the amount for theirs when you can get the same service at aol, or netzero.

316.00 for tabbed access...really wrong and cheating ways to rip the consumer...now I cant do no work until 24 hours, boy is my husband going to be mad.

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2:54 pm EDT

Hughes beware of hughes net scam

Hughes net nightmare continues, this is actually my 3rd complaint about hughes net. Today I found out they have double billed me the last three months. After 3 ear breaking phone calls and being told somthing different each time, they stated they can not refund my money for at least 14 days. The mistake was made by this poor excuse for a company and they cant refund my money for 2 weeks, they can sure take it out within 24 hours. I would never recommend this service to anyone. We have had nothing but problems with this company, the customer service is awful. If you get someone that you can actually understand, they lie to you. Ive heard 3 different stories each time I called. I cant wait till another service is offered in our area. Hughes net makes me crazy.

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HUSGHESNETISASCAM
Neosho, US
Jun 26, 2009 2:33 pm EDT

Agreed, today is my 30th day for the "satisfaction guarantee" and I'm cancelling and I'm sure will get the runaround from Hadgi in India. The installer was a ### from the word go, couldn't even bury the cable properly and didn't tighten one single nut or bolt on the dish! Thier "basic" is a total SHAM! Standard modem with dialup is much faster. I called about "upgrading" and they said I would be double billed the first month of the upgrade...yeah right Hadgi, go steal your money somewhere else! DON'T GET HUGHESNET, TALK TO YOU SAT TV PROVIDER FIRST! Chances are you will get a local installer who is American and you will most likely always talk to english speaking AMERICANS for cust svc. HUGHESNET IS A RIPOFF! DON'T GET FOOLED LIKE MYSELF AND SO MANY OTHERS HAVE!

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Karin
Oct 09, 2008 4:32 pm EDT

I went from Starband to Hughes.net in hopes of getting better service. I am presently paying Hughes.net 130.00 a month for Business internet. Yet, my speed test just showed; 42.5.
I paid in the neighborhood of $1, 200 for set-up.
I think all satellite internet services are a sham. A joke! I have (2) choices where I live; a 26.4 modem or, a satellite connection that works part of the time. How can they legally sell business class internet. It isn't as if I work on and off through out the day to match my connection. I have set hours, so I expect my paid connection to work for me! It doesn't!
In fact, I did the old school download last night. I wanted to watch a youtube video so I requested the download and than drove into town to run errands, came home and watched a movie on my tv, took a shower and than waited an additional half-n-hour for the download to complete. It was a ten minute video I was waiting for...

They should be sued! Their service is worth at most $8 a month!

I am considering purchasing a laptop and driving to a location for internet service. The laptop, gas and alternative internet will still be cheaper than this crap!

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4:49 pm EDT
Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

HughesNet Fair Access Policy is anything but fair. It is not defined, to the user, in any useful way, but may be triggered by the simple act of normal web searches. I can only guess that opening a new web page, before their slow system has opened the current one, is a violation, as that is all that I was doing, this time, when FAP activated. Updating...

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10:35 pm EDT
Resolved
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Hughes fair access policy is a sham

On Sept 8-2008 I had HughesNet installed. The installer left no paper work or instructions. I can live with that. I noticed my computer was running a little slow 2 days later. I sent an email to HughesNet advising them of this but I found out what was the problem. This FAP crap! All I did was watch about 8 short videos on youtube.com and I was spanked on the ### for it. I didn't know it at the time why my pc was running so slow until I went to their website and started reading about their FAP and I looked up my usage. It stated that I was going to be penalized for 24hours because I went over 200MB or close to it. I tried clicking on a link and I swear I could get up and take a shower before the site would load up. I didn't know anything about this Fair Access Policy before I subscribed to HughesNet. This is a money scam. They want you to get mad so you will pay more for more MB's! I thought I could surf the net as long as I wanted to and go to websites that I wanted to. I've never heard of this mess in my life! What is it that we can do? They need to be sued because I never was told anything about any FAP nor was I told that I was only going to be able to download up to 200MB in a 24hour period or I would be punished for 24hours by restricting my ability to surf the net. If this isn't a fraud and a scam I don't know what is. All of this because of watching short little videos on youtube. I've been a customer for 5 days but after only 2 I saw what a fraud and scam these people are. DONT SUBSCRIBE TO HUGHESNET!

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Joe Blow
US
Mar 25, 2009 7:19 am EDT

If you want more download capacity subscribe to a higher package. This service has a specific application in rural areas where other forms of internet are not available. There is a free zone between 3:00-6:00 am to download whatever you need.

YOU STATED
'The installer left no paper work or instructions."
DID YOU READ THE CONTRACT THAT YOU AGREED TO WHEN YOU SIGNED UP AT INSTALLATION via the computer? IT OUTLINES THE FAIR ACCESS POLICY. HOW IS IT HUGHESNET'S FAULT YOU CAN NOT READ WHAT YOU SIGN?

I use HughesNet at my business in a network with 5 computers. We have never bypassed the Fair Access Policy. Subscribe to a higher package, or don't use the service. Obviously, you don't have other options or you would have DSL, or Cable.

Last, if you don't like the service you can always go back to dial up ;) -or- Get WildBlue...they will throttle you down for a month when you bypass their Fair Access Policy! And their service is slower, less reliable, and lower download capacity.

This is what you get when living in an area without cable, or DSL. Be happy there is some form of service available. Quit complaining, and move back to civilization if internet is that important to you!

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11:45 am EDT

Hughes download speed unacceptable

Todays date is Septmeber 10, 2008

Approximately 2 1/2 months ago Hughesnet had what they called an anomaly with one of their satellites designated 93west, we were completely without internet service for about 4 full days, then when we finally got the service going again is was severely crippled and nothing like it was before the incident occured.

I was assured by their impotent India customer service that Hughesnet was diligently working on resolving the problem and the service will be completely restored, after about 3 weeks of this promise not coming to light, I went back into the case # India support farce, to see if the issue could be resolved.

I tried to explain to the service rep, that sometimes our download speeds were just barely above a 56K dialup connection, and thats not what we are paying for, he assured me we would have the problem solved before the phone conversation was over, after an hour on the phone he came to the conclusion he wasn't going to resolve the issue, and I quoted back to him his statement assuring me he was going to resolve the issue before the call was over.

They then informed me I had to run speed tests for 3 days to give them a reference to decide whether to refer me to a higher source to resolve the problem, and after the 3 days of running the speed tests, they used those speed tests to tell me there was nothing they could do because some times in the entire 3 days of testing my download speed was acceptable and blamed the entire problem on the internet being busy at prime usage times, and that hughesnet gave no guarantee as to solid internet download speeds, which by the way is not disclosed on their TV commercials.

We had descent download speeds before the problem with the satellite occured, thus the reason for this complaint is we're flat being ripped off, we're not getting what we're paying for, and others that use this service need to know this before you jump into something believing the television advertisements that are just not true, and I have printed pages of their speed tests to prove it.

I want my download speeds restored, or disclose this on your new TV advertisements, not in superfine print if its there but bold print so possible new customers can evaluate that for themselves, it surely wasn't disclosed to my wife and I.

Also hughesnet customer support in India is a joke, its basically scripted support, and when they run out of scripted guidelines your support is over, whether your problem is resolved or not, and why are we calling India for support for people in the USA?

Heres some of my worst download speeds in kbs, 94, 87, 94, 92, 79, 83, 87, 88, now is that 25 times dialup as advertised, thats not even twice 56k, so think hard about this before going hughesnet!

Very angry, David Campbell

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10:16 am EDT
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Hughes awful internet

Unfortunately I've had this service for over two but I have no choice. (Well I do but). I'm running a eBay /web base business and dial wont cut it. The problem I have is that I pay $70.00 per month for browsing. If I wont to download any large updates I have to do it at 3am, and sometimes it hard to get up that early.

For the money I pay I only get 325mb per day and if and when I go over that my internet speed is less then 10k per min and I tell you you cant do any thing at that speed. I would try anything just for a better service. Its too bad they have me buy the short hairs and they know it.

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Craig Simpson
May 18, 2008 6:03 am EDT

Long Story Short. Paid for the service, too slow, upgraded to PRO... After months of paying $91.00 month. My son's dial up is faster. We will be canceling this service in the near future. What a joke... should be a law against selling a service that doesn't work...

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majes36
Lewisburg, US
Jan 29, 2011 9:04 pm EST
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

My problem is they told me it would cost 99.99 to have the service turned on. i go and check my bank records and the took 169.88 out! now they only want to give me 57 back because the 99.99 was to pay the installer! hell thats their problem they should pay him not me! they lied and stold money from me and now they wont give it back! wht kind of [censor] is that?! im pissed!

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Jpatrick1952
Newport, US
Nov 20, 2010 7:55 pm EST
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We have endured reduced or non-existant satellite services provided by HughesNet for a month. I have contacted their Technical services via telephone to reach a center in India. The first time said there was a problem with communications between the satellite and Germantown, Maryland. The second time they said I had a strong signal and it had to be a software issue. Never did they tell me what the transfer rate of data was. The third time I tried to contact tech support via their web page/e mail. Sadly I could not send it as service was not available. They sent me twoo surveys for the first time I used the telephone so I cut and pasted my e mail in the surveys. Yesterday (11/19/2010) I was called by an Indian. He asked if my service was better. I said no. It was intermittant still. Fails to work on a sunny day but is good in a snow storm. That is a question they like to ask. Is the weather bad? An easy cop out. I told him I was not going to pay for service I cannot use. HE HUNG UP ON ME! I had the satellite installed to get away from a phone line and very slow dial up. The usual dial up transfer rate was 19 KBS. The best was 26.5 KBS. As bad as that was, it was better and more reliable than HughesNet for $60 a month. A service call is $150. I will cancel my service and save the $150 plus $60 per month and HughesNet will lose a customer! And I will tell 10 people, and they will tell 10 people and word of mouth will get around that HughesNet is an inferior product with poor customer service.

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wes moorer
granbury, US
Jan 26, 2009 1:25 pm EST

we are a family of 3 ...1 son does on-line schooling ...1 is a teen with restrictions and Me (the father) does check mail and minor viewing. We apparently exceed our 'Free Space' (which slows down to nothing) even when we are ALL gone during the day w/work x2 and school for the other. Now dial-up is BETTER under these terms!...The good news -we have had it but for less than a week and already decided this was crap...and NOTHING like we expected. The teen was disappointed immediately when the tech told him he wouldn't be able to play real-time game with his friends! Clue #2 as to raising red flags was that ALL business and support and complaints go to INDIA where people work for $2.00 per day ...Some Service.huh?...W in Rural Texas

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Sherry
Oct 11, 2008 4:56 pm EDT

I totally agree with the Robby. We have 3 computers and 2 teens. They are on the internet a lot and we didn't realize that if they were on a little too much we would be able to do anything when we got home from work. It sucks! And like Ronny said, we are under contract so what can we do. I heard that Verizon has an internet that we can get out here in the country but now I have to wait til the contract is up. I hate seeing Hughes Net commercials now. They are such liars! That is why they have you do a 2 year contract. Beware!

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Lillie
Sep 04, 2008 7:40 am EDT

I have had nothing but problems with my email as well. To date I cannot get in and check my accounts. When I am in the formatting of the emails is so bad and broken that you can't read them. I have been trying to block unsolicited emails as well with no luck. I have over 300 spam emails in my box on any given day. I have made several calls to the help desk as well. I am really thinking about finding another provider although I am under contract, but this is not working for me. Hughes really need to make some major changes to its email system. I think we all are paying some nice money thinking we were getting a better service than dail up to find differently. It sad and we customers really deserve better than this.

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11:02 am EDT

Hughes the intire company

Well its a terrible same I did'nt read these thousands of conplaints before I became, another victim of Huges net hell.
Huges makes corp. america look like kindregarten.
God help us if corp.america ever get's that bad.
I think it's nothing but theift by deception, u never get a straight answer from their complaint department. They try to send you to their technical department. What a joke, I ask this tech if he really was a tech, well he hem hawed around the question. He ask me to to rediculess things and when I told him I'd already been there and done that, this bozo tell's me to run speed checks for the next three days and to do them three times a day, unlike the last tech person I had talked to the lastime I'd called who said to do it for two days. (to keep you off their back i guess). Oh I might add this person was not good with the english language, India I would guess his home, as all their techs and customer service rep's are. Some more out sourcing the gentle words would be ( cost effectiveness ).
These people that work for Hughes as rep's and tech's must have a degree in lying and word trickery...and must not have trouble sleeping at night. Amazing what people will shrink to to earn a dollar.
Well I would'nt say your a dummy if you read this and still fall for their many games of getting your money, and if you add it up in a two year contract it's a tidy little sum. Not to mention the brain damage that goes with it.
I won't go into the cost as many of the people that have already mentioned in this forum, as it sickens me to think about it, but if your the type of person that likes to get a slap in the face to your intelligents, then you need to sign a contract with the money hungry liars and thiefs. If their is a God these people are in danger of Hell's fire. (personally I don't think so.) Beware of Huges net. the owner is most likeky the anti-christ. :)
Oh and one more thing go to the web page listed here and read. there could be a class action law suit. Read this.
Your Welcome...last thing said on hughes comerical..lol

DirecPC must remove their "Fair Access Policy"

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Timandtina22
Cross Plains, US
Jun 03, 2016 8:23 am EDT

I have never been treated like this! These men that you have to talk to treat you like you are nothing because you are a woman, well guess what I am something! It took me 30 minutes just to pay my bill over the phone yesterday because the man kept saying that it did not need to be paid. Then today is even worse I have went over my download limit so now my computer is slower than dial up! So after an hour on the phone with some jerk that will not transfer me to a Supervisor, all he wants to do is let me use some TOKEN that will let me start over on my limit for TODAY ONLY, I tell him NO, I asked to just tell me how much it will cost to just cancel my contract so I finally get transferred to a woman. She is in the middle of fixing my problem ( without being hateful or treating me badly) and we get disconnected so I call back and they refuse to transfer me to her even though I have her information, they also refuse to transfer me to a Supervisor again, they argue that they can help you, they repeat the same thing over and over again and they act like because I am an AMERICAN that I am stupid. I asked again the cancellation price, So they put me on hold for over ten minutes before I am disconnected again, So I call back tell the woman she cant help me let me talk to a Supervisor, and again I am told no, she informs me that she is looking at my account so I should just let her take care of it, 15 minutes later nothing, for the third time I ask for the cancellation price, finally they transfer me to a supervisor and she can't do anything either. She tells me that I am able to use it today because I have USED my one free TOKEN because even though I told that first man NO he still used it. So For the forth time I ask how much it will cost to cancel my service, how much is the early termination fee, this supervisor is trying everything to just not tell me, she is giving me free tokens and everything, after i am so PISSED because no will tell me anything she finally tells me. The way that I went about buying my equipment used (so I could have the older model because I travel) that I HAVE NO CONTRACT AND THERE IS NO FEE! They didn't want to tell me because they wanted me to think I was obligated to keep this service. The plan I have is the bid plan over $100.00 plus I paid 275.00 the day of installation, and I paid for my equipment. These people are ### who want to take your money and not provide a relable service!

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tommy gardner
Oct 17, 2008 7:04 pm EDT

i think i will go back to phone modem.i never know from day today what the speed will be.it took me 5 min just to get to this site.what a rip off.next time i will try something that works

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K
9:07 am EDT

Hughes product not as advertised

They are ripping me off $100/mo for so-called High Speed satelite internet. Most of the time, we use 28.8k dialup modem because it's faster. Also, we get 'throttled' regularily after about 5-10 MB of downloads instead of the 500MB/day advertised.
The help people can BARELY speak english and simply thank you for calling.

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SedaliaMO
Sedalia, US
Apr 13, 2009 3:33 pm EDT

I absolutely agree. Hughes.net service is the pits! I've called twice now and I've gotten the same guy in India both times. What are the odds!?!?!?! I wouldn't recommend Hughes.net to my worst enemy!
Sedalia, Missouri, USA

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7:57 am EDT

Hughes slow as dial-up

Not Faster Than Dial-Up, Fair Use Policy is a Scam

Hughesnet is not faster than dial-up. But that is not the worst part of doing business with them. They will subject you to a FAP "Fair Access Policy" which limits your daily downloads. However, the page they have set up for you to monitor you usage as per their records has a 4-hour lag time! So there is no way to monitor your usage.

I am a computer professional who lives in the middle of nowhere. Hughesnet is my only option. I tried dial-up, but I was connecting at 20k. With Hughesnet I get closer to 56k and in the middle of the night, more like 100k. I regularly get suspend. I get suspend as much as once per week. At this point, I let it dictate my days off, or I do not internet dependant parts of my work.

It in inconvenient, expensive and I have lost money on deadline deals when they suspended me. They are the worst company I have ever dealt with. Can't get them on the phone--ever. I sent them over 50 emails complaining, every single response from them was either written by a robot, a drone, or someone who had never used a computer or the English language.

Finally, they offered me a download manager when I signed up, this would help my suspension problem, they told me having a MAC would be no problem.

But now they tell me they have nothing to offer MAC users and I can cancel my account with them for $480.00!

Not MAC friendly--do not even bother if you use MAC.

If you have any other choice--any at all--DO NOT GO WITH HUGHESNET

S.S.

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jay landen
Oct 28, 2008 4:27 pm EDT

Slow hughesnet, That is a understatement. I have had hughes for about 2 years, they are the worst thing I have ever done. The Truth about Hughesnet is that they are a scam. Selling slow speed net for crazy prices.. I wish I could sue for false advertising...

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B
11:21 am EDT

Hughes worst customer service ever!

When we first moved to an extremely remote area of Northern Arizona Hughes Net was about the only choice we had for internet service, even dial-up was not there! It took us almost a month of calls and complaints to finally get someone there to install (oh and we had to put in our own pole as the tech refused that made us wait an additional 2 weeks).
Then this year we moved to Eastern New Mexico. When I called to tell them I couldn't really understand the person, as he was NOT AMERICAN, but he did tell me it would take 3-5 days for installation. Seven days later I call Hughes Net back to find out what happened, again a NON AMERICAN tells me who the tech is and to call them. When I did I found out that it was the same RUDE tech from the year before in CENTRAL ARIZONA! He very rudly says I do not go to NM, you need to call Hughes Net and fix this! So once again I get yet ANOTHER accent, only this time we are disconnected, after he puts me on hold for the 3rd or 4th time. I call again, another accent, she says call our distributor, I ask why should I be calling them, THIS IS YOUR SERVICE! Then she says she can't help that I need to be transferred to ADVANCED TECH SUPPORT! OH so they have people who do not understand or speak English very well as REGULAR TECH SUPPORT, but guess what for ADVANCED TECH SUPPORT I got an AMERICAN! He however was a little rude as he told me he didn't know why I did not just call the Distributor, that he himself COULD escalate my problem/complaint but that it would take A LOT longer. So when I finally get all the info to call them myself (see I didn't have the info before, yet they all thought I SHOULD have) I find out that the person who had me on the phone for 30 minutes on my first call to set up the re-install left my FORMER address as the install location! That was why I got the AZ tech!
I am so fed up with the LACK of customer service with Hughes Net, they are a very POOR excuse for a company. For anyone who remembers way back when BELL was the only phone company and then AT&T took over, the customer service from them (which was HORRIBLE) is better than HUGHES NET!
As soon as I can cancel this service I will, and I will warn anyone I can NOT to try them EVER! NOTHING is worth the bad service they give both in customer service and with the SPEED the service actually gives! (a snail moves faster)

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madderthanmad
Huntsville, US
Jan 12, 2010 7:20 pm EST

This is the worst company we have ever dealt with. Had them for over 5 years because no other service available at the time. Paid over $600 for the equipment, then $60 per month on top of that for very very slow unreliable service! All the comments about dealing with non-english people is true. You can barely understand them! Then AT&T finally offered DSL in our area, so we tried to get off Hughes Net back in the summer. They would not cancel us on the date requested, told us to call back on the exact day of cancellation. DUH! Why couldn't a computer company cancel on the day we called?! We got on AT&T and kept getting bills from HN. Tried one more time to cancel and they charged us $117.98. We Finally paid it to get them to cancel and we were told that would be payment in full! Got another bill for 43.98 plus a $5 billing fee. We called again and let me mention that no one NO ONE is willing to work with you! Kept us on the phone nearly an hour each time on numerous occasions, could not find supervisors, etc etc. They are a joke. Today, I spent another hour and the idiot and the supervisor would not get the 48.98 taken off because they said we have to pay for the service even after the cancellation date because they will not and I mean WILL NOT completely cancel on the date they said we are paid in full---with the explanation of saying that we have to pay all the bill thru the last billing cycle! WHAT? So again they were charging us for service we did not need and had cancelled. DO NOT deal with this company. They are horrible and complete rip offs and have no intention of working with you. We are not paying them another dime because two people said it was paid in full with confirmation numbers and names. AWFUL AWFUL COMPANY!

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Durgency
Snowflake, US
May 01, 2009 5:27 pm EDT

Yep. I see I'm not the only one. HughesNet is the only internet available where I live in the high desert of Arizona and they take advantage of that. Everytime the wind blows, my satelitte dish stops working and they need to send out a tech to re-align it for $125 a visit! And that is if I'm lucky enough to get a call back from the service technician. Currently I have been calling everyday since April 3rd, when the wind blew down my dish. It has been almost a month and no one has called me back. Furthermore my bill is still charging me a internet service fee although I have called their hotline in India many times only to get their empty promise that I won't be charged a service fee. Is there any way all of us could do a class action lawsuit and at least get out of our contracts? It would be nice to get back all the money we put towards the crappy equipment too. I wish I saw this site before I ever signed up with those @$$#*!&s.

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Randy Roberts
Oct 27, 2008 5:26 pm EDT

We’ve been with HughesNet for what seems like an eternity. If I had another choice – any other choice I’d change in a second. I’ve had little or no service for the past 15 days and have waited, taken time off from work, lost business and more while waiting on “advanced customer support”. I’m not real bright but given the level of customer support I’ve gotten thus far “advanced customer support” can’t be better than mediocre. I have a collection of incident numbers and pseudonyms for people who have names unpronounceable in the English language. Eventually some company will come along and provide average customer service and the fine folks at HughesNet will be out of business and I’ll laugh as they go down the tubes.

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Scott W.
Sep 03, 2008 12:47 pm EDT

Absolutely correct, on all fronts, each and every complaint. I live very rurally as well, and until last week, thought HughesNet was my only option. It sickened me to think I was stuck with them. Well, when I ran headlong into one of those insidiously stupid Hughesnet tech support reps on teh phone because my modem crashed, I got fed up, and called an alternate satellite internet provider in the area. She told me they were backed up for three weeks, BUT, that I should give my cell phone provider a call, see if they offered wireless internet for the home, and that most did now. Soooooo...

For the record, I am cancelling my Hughes Net account (I was accidentally smart enough to not renew the long-term contract when it expired after 15 months), and switching to my cellular provider's (ALLTELL, in this case) Wireless internet. Not because it will be faster or more reliable - it won't be.

BUT, what it DOES offer is the following - and I am sure that any other cell phone provider wireless service (Verizon, Sprint, etc.) will do the same:

1 -- I can drive up the road for hardware replacement, if necessary.
2 - The Tech Support reps all speak English - and not as their 5th or 6th language.
3 - They actually CARE if your hardware isn't working. No begging for help required.
4 - When I called ALLTELL's Data Dept. to inquire about their home service, the guy on the phone was honest about the speed and connection issues they had. HE did tell me, however, that before year's end, as he understoood it, they were going to be increasing their speed 3 times over. I wasn't sure what that meant exactly (he was comparing their present speed to DSL), but, time will tell. I'm willing to risk it, if it means I never, ever have to talk to Hughesnet again. Ever. HA!

The pitfalls:

I have been "kicking the tires" on this wireless svc. from ALLTELL for a few days - I have a 15-day grace period to decide if it will all work ok. Here's what I have found:

1 - Just liked the dreaded "Dropped Call" issue with cell phones, you will get a "dropped connection" from time to time.
2 - It isn't much faster than Hughesnet, if at all.
3 - It basically works like your cell phone (see item #1), in that if your signal degrades, so will your connection.

Bottom line, I haven't had any real problems since Saturday, and when I switched the location of the USB access card to a different location, it has stopped dropping connection altogether.

If you live somewhere without DSL or cable access, as nearly all of us do if we were unfortunate enough to have to hitch our web-wagon to HughesNet, seriously, look for cellular provider-based alternatives, and, at the very least, sign the MINIMUM contract Hughesnet requires, then don't renew. Leave the door open so you can gleefully throw them - and their idiotic idea of tech support - right through it.

Good luck all. And Hughesnet? Good riddance.

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Randy Danner
Aug 21, 2008 7:11 pm EDT

I'm over in old Kentucky, I've had the same problem with them for two weeks, I get the entire run around from Tech Support. They wont transfer me to Advanced Tech Support, And I have to deal with all these non American speaking fools. Even went to Customer Support to try to get help but nooooooooo, THEY WILL NOT HELP THEIR CUSTOMERS! If your out looking for a Net company, DO NOT get Hughes Net, Their probably the worst one out there.

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Bonnie
Aug 19, 2008 1:58 pm EDT

This is the crappiest company ever. Your story could be mine exactly with just a change of location. We actually put in our pole per the specs from HughesNet and the installer came out and said the pole was the wrong size and charged us $150.00 to put in a pole. I have had several outages during sunny days and since I have two home based businesses I lost a a lot e-mails and some customers. I can't send e-mail with picture attachments or the recepients receive them 100+ times. They freak out because they think I have sent them a virus. HughesNet is the only deal in town for me right now because I live in a rural area. It is severly limiting my business growth and causing me unnecessary stress. During the last outage less than one year from the date of install a transmitter was fried. They told me the transmitter was covered under warranty but the labor was not. The guys that cam out to make the repair to me it was covered under waranty and that I did not owe them anything. Well HN took $125.00 out of my checking account for the labor! This was an unauthorized debit and when I called to give them he** of course I got someone that does not understand English. I truly hate this company. It is almost worth moving to be able to have DSL. I am so sorry that others folks have ahd to deal with the craziness.

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V
12:09 pm EDT
Resolved
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

Hughes worst product on earth

Do not use hughes satellite service! You will be better served and happier with dial up. And if you don't even have a phone line then just go without internet service.

It is a waste of money and time. They limit what they say to you and never hand you a real contract. All things are listed on their website if you can look at it. I got the phone off the front page of the site in a spare moment at the library so I could keep my job that I was lucky enough to transfer to home. Everything was agonizing and the cost, because of the troubles, really makes you want to throw up.

In the sales call they make it sound like there is no obligation in the 30 day trial period. Well...

The installation and equipment is $400.00 they do not tell you that you will only get $200.00 returned if you mail it back to them (In maryland, I am in california). Meaning I have to pay for the shipping... And this is the best part. Iiiiiiii have to un-install it! So what happens to older people, they let themselves get screwed out of this small portion because of the hassle and the danger. Should I risk my life going up on the roof to uninstall the equipment? What happens if I fall and hurt myself... Or die... Are they liable? Well... They stated to me on cancellation that they are not responsible for uninstalling, so I ask where can I find that on your website or in the disclosure I never received in paper or email? I had to keep digging and digging and eventually found it. But... It is not something that was "presented" at any time nor was there a sign off by me listed on the so-called "contract" that specified the disclosure it was on. Everything is vague in conversation and all they can do is apologize, which by the way is very often, perfunctory and annoying. Basically it says 'what a bummer' and 'nothings gonna be done'. So I just said give me case # to document.

Of course I will be pro-rated on the first month's service that I used about 10 times. Shoulda called sooner.

Oh yes. And as I got my return authorization number I realize she is giving me the info to handwrite on the returning equipment. They don't email you anything or send you what any business will officially send you. What a mickey mouse outfit they are. And of course I have to pay for the return shipping which I have estmated at $75.00

So let's review: I will get only $200.00 refunded less the $75.00 shipping I will pay, plus lost time of work, which leaves me $125.00 if I do not use that and more for any injury I may incur uninstalling their piece of sh — equipment. Is it worth it or can I get more out of it by creating a bonfire and watch them melt, distort and blacken.

It would probably make me feel much better. The other way may give ma a stroke or worse. I really feel sorry for the other suckers who dealt with this longer than I did.

Good news for me: I found a wireless dsl broadband connection that is underground. I have a pole on my roof and the connection is excellent! I am soooo sorry I didn't know about it before. I only want to keep my job and hughes should help people do that too! Not just their customers but their employees. Once too many people get dissatisfied they will lose money. Do not invest in this company either.

And one last thing, the way you have to dig to send them an email is really sad for an internet service provider. Even the idiot I cancelled with sadi i'd have to write to them for contact because she didn't know, had trouble finding it and never bothered to find out or just a real idiot!

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Update by Valerie
Oct 24, 2008 11:06 am EDT

My satellite broadband internet from HughesNet runs at two kilobytes every four second, or about two hundred times slower than dial up service providers.

Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.

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Sam Tubman
Apr 30, 2008 2:12 am EDT

Last weekend Hughes net took over the direcway site and I've had no email or use of email. They asked to wait but I'm loosing money because I can't get my email. I've called and called and been given case Numbers but I still have no email. One way for me to work is through agencies that contact me by email. Yes they use phones but the first to call back gets the job for that shift. I work Trauma and have for 31 years. It's my life and my email was fine till hughes took over. Now I have not been too work for almost 5 days. This sucks! I hate hughes.net. I have a contract for 15 more months because they said to buy the DW 7000 and it's supposed to make things better . Wrong! It's worse than ever. I hate Hughes.net and I don't know what too do?

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meagane
Dallas, US
Feb 13, 2010 12:03 pm EST

i was scam for 178 from hughes and not given account number my card was charge2 time with out me knowing i was lie to about my service toally does anyone know how i can get my money back please help me bust these liars =(

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Art Ward
Sep 02, 2008 10:44 am EDT

Well its a terrible same I did'nt read these thousands of conplaints before I became, another victim of Huges net hell.
Huges makes corp. america look like kindregarten.
God help us if corp.america ever get's that bad.
I think it's nothing but theift by deception, u never get a straight answer from their complaint department. They try to send you to their technical department. What a joke, I ask this tech if he really was a tech, well he hem hawed around the question. He ask me to to rediculess things and when I told him I'd already been there and done that, this bozo tell's me to run speed checks for the next three days and to do them three times a day, unlike the last tech person I had talked to the lastime I'd called who said to do it for two days. (to keep you off their back i guess). Oh I might add this person was not good with the english language, India I would guess his home, as all their techs and customer service rep's are. Some more out sourcing the gentle words would be ( cost effectiveness ).
These people that work for Hughes as rep's and tech's must have a degree in lying and word trickery...and must not have trouble sleeping at night. Amazing what people will shrink to to earn a dollar.
Well I would'nt say your a dummy if you read this and still fall for their many games of getting your money, and if you add it up in a two year contract it's a tidy little sum. Not to mention the brain damage that goes with it.
I won't go into the cost as many of the people that have already mentioned in this forum, as it sickens me to think about it, but if your the type of person that likes to get a slap in the face to your intelligents, then you need to sign a contract with the money hungry liars and thiefs. If their is a God these people are in danger of Hell's fire. (personally I don't think so.) Beware of Huges net. the owner is most likeky the anti-christ. LOL
Oh and one more thing go to the web page listed here and read. there could be a class action law suit. Read this.

DirecPC must remove their "Fair Access Policy"

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R
4:47 pm EDT

Hughes they ripped me off and insufficient customer service

I received a bill for $250 for a month worth of service when they sales rep. assured me that it would only be $60 I am a single mom and a full time student i need the internet to do my research for my papers i now i am sitting here trying to get a hold of someone to speak about my bill and all i get is an answering machine. Ever since i gotten hughes net i have only been able to talk to one person and i couldn't figure out what he was saying(tech dept.) The only contently have had problems with problems with my service. I haven't even been able to set up my email. If you want to be ripped off then hughes net is for u.

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12:40 pm EDT

Hughes rip off-dishonest, disgraceful company

I was with Hughesday back when it was Direct Way. I wasn't crazy about the company, but since we in Lamoine do not qualify for Al Gores remote area DSL program (sic) I was forced to pay the high prices of Hughesnet for my home business. I bought all my equipment, since in the winter I would have to shut down my service to visit my company locations.
I needed the faster speed, and in order to get that had to get the 7000 router. But it was close to $300.00 to purchase, so I looked into the free 7000 router as long as you committed to 2 years. I called the sales department, told them that I had planned on staying with Hughesnet, but shut down my service every winter for a few months, but then turn it back on. They said NO PROBLEM-just commit to 4 years. All this for the privlege of spending $100 a month for just ISP service.
Well, needless to say, after I shut it down for the winter months, I get a bill for $300. When I called them, they said not to worry, when you pay it when you turn it back on you will get a credit for $300. Yeah, right. Never happened. I spent HOURS on the phone, and told just today (8/9/08 by Marlon) that I will NEVER SEE THAT MONEY AGAIN wether I'm with them 2 years, 4 years or 10 years.
Hughesnet company LIES like a rug, they are rude, and they don't give a rats a$$ about their customers. Everything you read about them on this website is true.

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10:21 am EDT

Hughes wrongful debit

On or around June 25, 2008 I called HughesNet Commications, and ordered service for my home. My wife and I are on a very tight and very limited income I'm on Social Security and we made an effort to set aside $69.00 for service and installation, and the lady that took my order did not tell me of the hundreds of dollars that it would cost.
So lo and behold (15) minutes after the installer left my credit card sent me a message that $509.41 had been debited from my account. I ordered the special they were advertising and it states that (0) down and we would be charged $79.00 dollars a month for a period of 24 months. And installation was free as long as the installer did not have to put a pole in the ground for the dish, which he did not have to. Anyway after (39) phone calls and (39) headaches since July 1, 2008 when the service began I was promised by representative's of the company and Supervisor's that this matter would be taken care of with the utmost urgency, so what began was an innocent act of trying to simplify matters of cutting the high cost of internet service and regular phone service and just have one bill. But when you have to go through the embarrassing process of being degraded and talked to like we were the one's at fault, well I hope to make a stand, with the folks out there that try to live on $945.00 a month then someone decides to kindly help themselves to your money, then there is something wrong with our system. Oh just remember when you make phone calls and the recording says this call may be monitored for quality assurance, and ask them to play it back for you we tried but when they reviewed my initial conversation and they felt like they were Justified in their decision to charge me all the charges, but refused to play it back or send me proof., So as they say lesson learned. One last thing if you decide to terminate your service they charge $ 300.00 dollars for early termination and $ 210.00 installation fee. Do the Math and remember do Business remember to have your lawyer on retainor.

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kingofthestalk
Fremont, US
Apr 16, 2010 3:56 pm EDT

My company has had 3 Hughesnet accounts for 3 years(3 seperate offices). We have recently started using air cards and wanted to cancel our hughesnet service. I called on January 26, 2010 and after an hour (Yes, an hour to cancel service) and 2 service reps (the first rep didn't have the ability to cancel services) I was told it was done. Febraury no bill from Hughes so I figured I was good to go. March credit card bill comes and lo and behold 3 charges from hughesnet for service. So, today I called hughesnet and told them what happened and they claim I never called to cancel my service. They show a call was made for our account but they have no record of it being cancelled. After 2 hours on the phone and being transfered from supervisor to supervisor. I was called a liar and hung up on. They are so crooked that instead of dealing with a problem and apologizing and offering to refund money...they just hang up on you.

In my opinion Hughes is a crooked company to deal with. They have been a pain since day 1!

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Mike Bonner
La Grange, US
Mar 23, 2009 4:50 pm EDT

I have had Hughes.net for several years, with many service interruptions. Last Thursday I tried to call them to quit the service as I had it replaced with directv.net. Ive been unable to get through to have it canceled. I've been issued several caase numbers and then get transferred over and told to either call back in an hour or put on hold. I've held now for three hours on and off. It is now Monday afternoon and I find they have charged me for another month yesterday (Monday).
This is a disgustingly lousy company.
Mike Bonner

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Tom Shipley
Sep 30, 2008 10:29 pm EDT

Our modem died and we called to have it replaced. The installer said that they no longer used the old modem and we would have to pay for an upgrade. He needed a credit card and my wife gave him hers. The account had originally been on my card. That was in November. Nearly a year later my wife and I were comparing notes and noticed that was Hughesnet had been charging both credit cards for the same service. Upon calling we were told that we had two accounts and they were charging us for both. We were told that we had to have an upgrade and that it needed to be charged to our credit card right then and there. We were led to believe that they were transferring the charge from one card to another. I guess because they had the two credit card numbers they could charge both of them under the ruse that we hadn't canceled the account charged on the original credit card. In any other circumstance this would be call credit card fraud and that it how we are approaching it. Master Card, FCC, FTC, BBB, and our attorney. They nicked us for $600 and we are willing to pay a lot more than that to pursue the matter. They get away with this because they can because nobody is willing to take it to the limit, even if it costs them more money. Thankfully I have some bucks so I'll put it down to doing my part to help put a little dent in this online... there is nothing you can do about it way we have come to accept as business as usual.

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6:10 pm EDT

Hughes poor service

Internet connectivity is about 25% successful... sometimes days (sunny, clear ones!) go by without success. Numerous error codes, but mostly Web acceleration Client Error #515.2 New Deli Tech ends up with same remedies... unplug everything or... get new model!

Here in the outback, very limited alternatives, but even slow dial-up beats non existant service. Hughes billing service is excellent, however, hits that credit card on time every month!

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DevonB
Lake Mary, US
Jun 03, 2016 8:34 am EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I canceled my service with HughesNet as each time the weather was less than perfect, we lost all service. Plus, it is was slower than dial up. I had to make two calls and spent over an hour on the phone with an account manager on 19 March trying to cancel my service. They failed to adequately follow all the steps on their side. Whilst they acknowledge I canceled service on 19 March, and their account manager did not do their job correctly - they continued to charge my credit card over $70 per month. Each time I called to dispute the charge, they told me the account was NOT deactivated. When I went to cancel, ultimately after what is around an average of 15 minutes hold time with the account manager, my call would be dropped. At the point where I am beyond frustrated, I finally stick it out and manage to have them confirm the account is deactivated but as far as the $400 in charges that were unauthorized, they told me "tough luck". I asked why I should be penalized for their staff error and they simply said the most they would refund is 1 month to cover their mistake. I demanded to be in touch with upper management, they simply put me through to the most obnoxious and facetious "supervisor" who called herself Alicia. Alicia REFUSED to give her surname, she REFUSED to give me the contact information nor guide me to anybody higher than herself to address my concerns. She just sneered and said I should have just kept calling each month after they charged my account and that she refused to help further. I had to scour their website just to find any type of email address where I could take this up further. Judging by the comments and complaints on this site alone, I see I am not alone in the appalling treatment of their ill-mannered, ill-trained, ignorant and arrogant staff members. I would strongly warn anybody to seek an alternate service provider - their service is as lousy, unreliable and frustrating as their staff - and YOU will pay for THEIR inadequacies. It would appear that their strategy is to keep you on hold for so long or drop the call that you will eventually get too frustrated to call back, and then they will fall back on the excuse that you did not go through ALL of the channels required in order to cancel your service. Be warned!

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Bob Hennessey
Jun 05, 2007 12:00 am EDT

My complaints about Hughes net are too numerous to go into detail on all of them but one of the worst is that there is literally never a time day or night that you call them that you do not get the recording "due to abnormally high volume" and it will go on to tell you estimated time you are going to be forced to wait if you want to speak to them and it is usually anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours. This is unacceptable. Their FAP (fair access policy) is totally unfair if you decide to buy software on line and it is more than 200 mb you will be slowed down to about 1k speed for a day for exceeding their 24 hour limit of 200 mb download. What a sham that is. You cant even watch videos from YOUTUBE, etc. without getting hit with FAP. When I first got my 4000 system my download speeds ranged from 1mb to 2mb then they kept sending me emails asking me to "upgrade" to the 7000 system so I finally gave in and immediately my top download speed went from 2mb down to a mere 700k and they cap it at that unless you pay even more than the current 59.95 per month. One would say why don't you switch well I am in a rural area and my choices are limited but I think DSL is here now or coming so I will be switching soon. Hopefully there will be a massive class action suit filed against this company in the near future and it cannot happen soon enough.

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Bill R.
Keysville, US
Jul 26, 2010 7:38 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

We have Hughes net for approx.5 years. Four and a half of service was fine had no problems at all with service. Then we got the hn-7000-s its all been down hill since. Our webb surfing has been limited to about 4hours a dayof good service a day. thats not what we were told we were buying. after the four hours or so of being online the speed drops so low that you can't even get instant messenger to load, much less do anything on line. It's ovious to me that the hn-7000 is automaticly cutting my band with down when i reach 375 MB.
Making the service that I pay for worthless. By the time I get home in the evening It is useless. My wife uses it in morning. Not downloading just surfing internet. We never had this problem before they upgraded the receiver. It' no wonder they sent it free, because they plan on making their money on selling tokens!

WF Reinhardt

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Daniel Matthews
Henderson, US
Aug 19, 2008 4:58 am EDT

I have hughs net for 13 months. I have a problem with my hardware. I was a few days late calling so my warrnety is over. They wanted me to run "speed test" which took me 3 days and several hours of my time!
They said I needed a repair person at $125 for a diagnostic plus a repair person for work plus parts.
WILD BLUE is in my area now with local people, and a much better service.
For those who must have Hughes Net maybe you will have to do what we did-Pray and ask God for an alternative.
My advice: Do all you can NOT to have Hughes Net

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shawn wierck
Nov 03, 2007 12:00 am EDT

Ug. I have been violated. I closed out my credit card so they can't steal any more money from me. I just got it today and payed 125 buck for a 'non-typical' installation... a six dollar pole and a six dollar bag of quickcrete.

I use internet connectivity for online game playing. Forget. This product is useless to me with 2 second lag. The C.S. and tech's have been trained to call it "Latency". 'Sorry for the inconvenience of the latency, sir'... B.S. It isn't just inconvenient, its unusable. No downloading, no game playing, no video watching or music listening. CRAP CRAP CRAP.

At least they can't hurt my credit. I got no disclaimers about not being able to do normal internet things... they just came out and hooked it up. I got no disclaimers about having such limited service. Man, I thought broadband was supposed to be a decent service. Well, satellite broadband definitely IS NOT!

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Pamela Carr
Jul 06, 2007 12:00 am EDT

I too purchased Hughes for a mere $495.00 and haven't had a day without poor service. I ran 26 on my dial up and cant get dsl so this was my option. I really hate the poor service and having to talk to someone in India who cant understand me. I had my my service less than a month and have been on the phone with them six times. I was never told until it happened that there was a max you could down load. I am totally frustrated with this service going to have try and get my money back. We will see!

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Charlotte Thomas
Apr 29, 2008 10:40 am EDT

I suspected the worst when Hughes.net sent me an email explaining that email service would be down on 4-26-08 for a few hours while they "upgraded" their service. My suspicions proved
valid. It is now Tuesday, 4-29-08, and I can't even log into their site, let alone receive any emails. It simply will not load. I get the
ubiquitous message that they are experiencing problems.

I guess so.

We live it a rural area, and this is the pretty much the only option we have. Lucky us.

Will they prorate this month's service charges? Will they ever get things up and running? I'm not counting on it. What am I supposed to do, text message everyone?

The whole thing reminds of a couple of years ago when US Air bought out America West Airlines. Even after all this time, it isn't straightened out.

Personally, I hope heads will roll at Hughes.net. I am not a happy customer right now.

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lk241335
Marshall, US
Mar 10, 2009 1:44 pm EDT

In one day of service I discovered I had been scammed by Hughs net. The slick TV add telling me I was about to surf the net at light speed sucked me in. Living in the country with very limited options other than dial up I jumped on board. Somewhere deep in the contract was this absurd 200 megabyte fair access rule. Once I exceed this amount they reduce to me to something below my old dial up! 200 meg! That was huge in 1980. Today 200 meg is one down load. Even my hotmail account allows more space. Needless to I am livid. Hughs net will gladly increase the alotment if I double my payment each month. This company has no code of ethics they are heartless unproffessional rip off artist. I would suggest buying stamps before you buy Hughs net

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debswain
Keeling, US
Aug 17, 2010 1:15 pm EDT
Verified customer This complaint was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Update on my last post. A tech was finally sent to resolve my issue, and keep in mind before he got there I had very slow service but was able to check email, after he arrived he sat at my desk like he might have been lost the tech arrived at 12:30 PM and left at 5 or 5:30 PM which is 5 hours in that five hours he took the siding loose from my house went out side replaced connectors and threw all of this in my yard never cleaned it up, and I was told the trees were blocking signal, next he had dig a hole and install a pole, then I had defective equipment part, and by this time I have no service and was expected to pay 125.00 service call fee. I take classed on line and made this clear when I called for service, well by the time he finished on Friday I still had no service and it was going to Monday before he come back, however I told them I did not want this guy back as he messed up the problem I went from slow service to no service and they said they would send someone else, well when Monday got here it was the same tech or no one.
Now they are sending me bill for 854.00, billing me for service and termination fee, from my previous post up until June or July they billed me for monthly service and the 125.00 service call.
Well as I see it someone rally needs to put these people in a reality check, because it appears they do whatever to customers without and consequences, us poor people who have no alternative for ISP are at their mercy so it seems.
Bottom line is no service, service man did not know what he was doing, along with trashing my yard and taking my siding off my house and did not replace it nor clean up his mess, oh yes I forgot to mention he stayed on the phone with the office more than he did any thing else.

I do not think it is right they do customers anyway they want too .

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edward allen
Aug 24, 2007 12:00 am EDT

5 months ago I signed up for the hughesnet sat. internet. Not doing my homework I told them i wanted the fastest package available for on-line gaming. after the unit was installed i found out with the earth to sat to earth delay gaming is imposable. I called to have my package downgraded-who need 1.5 g per second on e-mails and she told me it would effect my home page - no problem. Effect was an understatement - not working at all. Call hughesnet for tech support - the guy worked with me for about an hour but the system would not work. he told me he had other customers and i needed to call back. I took it and waited several days and called back. The next guy went thru most of what the first guy did and then told me that i had a problem with my lan card and it needed to be replaced. I told him nothing had changed on my end other than the package speed - he would not proceed any further. I got a new lan card and cable at work and called back. same story - my lan card was bad. told him replaced with new and the cable as well. He spent 15 minutes and told me i needed to contact my computer manufacturer because it was defective. I was very vocal and dropping f bombs for several minutes - he said let me put you on hold - got back to me told me were to go on my comp. and it was fixed in less than 5 minutes. This is a scam - i am sure they get paid by hughes on a per call basis and the more times they have you call the more money they get. If you use hughes and start to get this kind of treatment put a stop to it from the start and save yourself multiple phone calls and being without service.

ComplaintsBoard
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8:11 pm EDT

Hughes dishonest representation

Hughes not only is expensive with poor service, they are dishonest. I recently upgraded by service to a new router after being told it would make my lousy response time better. A couple of hundred dollars later I have a new satellite dish, new modem. They left the old satellite dish at the top of my driveway. Unbeknownst to me, they created a second account and kept charging be the first. Double billing. They made it sound like my fault and did not refund my money. I am writing a letter to the FCC. This company should not be allowed to do business.

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12:01 pm EDT

Hughes f.a. p & installation fees

My complaint to hughes is they fail to let the customer know about f.a.p until the service is installed. I had hughes installed, unaware that I was limited to the amount of downloading I could do in a 24 hr. period. When my computer started to not function thats when I was told about f.a.p, since I do alot of downloading, hughes is not for me. I called to discontinue the service and speaking with a supervisor I explained this to him, and that I thought hughes should have told me about f.a.p before they ever sent the contractor to install the dish. The supervisor told me I should have asked, why would I ask about something I, ve never heard of? If I would have known about f.a.p hughes would have never been to my house! Instead I get a pole that cost me $100.00 because the contrator wants to drill holes in my roof he can, t guarntee won, t leak! And hughes wants to charge me a $400 installation fee if I stop service in the 30 days grace period, the supervisor said hughes would return $200 if I sent back certain items. I think hughes is misleading and decietful by not letting the public know very clearly about f.a.p up front. I, m an honest man an I feel hughes has took my money deceitfully

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don davis
Jul 25, 2008 6:42 pm EDT

I agree with bird dog. I have had the same experience. What is the best download manager to use with Hughes Net?

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2:53 pm EDT
Featured review
This review was chosen algorithmically as the most valued customer feedback.

Sent via e-mail and mail: July 21, 2008 Mr. Pradman P. Kaul President and CEO Hughes Network Systems, LLC 11717 Exploration Lane Germantown, MD, 20876 As a long time customer (Eight Years) it is sad to see the state that Hughes has come to. I have hung in their through Direcpc, Direcway, and Hughes.net, but today I wish I was using some other system. I...

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About Hughes

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Hughes Network Systems, commonly known as HughesNet, is a provider of satellite-based internet services. The company caters to customers across the United States, particularly those in rural and remote areas where traditional broadband services are limited or unavailable. HughesNet's primary offering is its satellite internet service, which utilizes geostationary satellites to deliver internet connectivity to subscribers.

The service is known for its availability, as it can reach locations beyond the reach of cable and DSL. HughesNet offers various plans that differ in data allowances and speeds, designed to accommodate the varying needs of its customer base. These plans come with a built-in feature called the "Bonus Zone," which provides users with additional data to use during off-peak hours.

In addition to internet services, HughesNet also provides business solutions tailored for small and medium-sized enterprises. These solutions include business-grade high-speed internet and additional features such as enhanced security and business support.

HughesNet's equipment typically involves a satellite dish and a modem, which are required for the connection to the satellite network. Installation is conducted by certified professionals, and the company provides customer service and technical support to assist with any issues or questions that may arise.

While satellite internet is generally not as fast as fiber or cable, HughesNet's service is designed to support common online activities such as browsing, emailing, and social media engagement. However, due to the nature of satellite communication, there may be higher latency compared to other types of internet connections, which can affect real-time online activities like gaming or video conferencing.

Customers considering HughesNet should evaluate their internet needs and geographical location to determine if satellite internet is the most suitable option for them.
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Overview of Hughes complaint handling

Hughes reviews first appeared on Complaints Board on Aug 29, 2006. The latest review Disappointing Experience with Gordon's Moving and Mobile, LLC was posted on Mar 7, 2024. The latest complaint false charge on returned satellite equipment was resolved on Dec 21, 2014. Hughes has an average consumer rating of 2 stars from 3668 reviews. Hughes has resolved 134 complaints.
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  1. Hughes Contacts

  2. Hughes phone numbers
    +1 (866) 347-3292
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    855-543-5405
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    841 3 Fountains Drive, Unit 248, Murray, Utah, 84107, United States
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