Wildblue review: Awful support, poor delivery of the service, continual problems 26

I have been the unfortunate recipient of WildBlue non-service for over a month now. Since I do many large up- and downloads, I opted for their premium service, at $80 a month. For the first few weeks, I had problems with large downloads, which broke after an hour or so, and uploads were so slow - 30kbps - as to be useless. I called WildBlue several times, each time being requested to run a bunch of bandwidth tests. Finally, they admitted it might be a hardware problem, and agreed to send a technician - but said that if it didn't turn out to be a hardware problem, it would cost me $75. Having no other choice, I agreed.

After two weeks and five more phone calls, the technician showed up. He did some more bandwidth testing, installed a new LNB, and tested some more. Everything seemed okay, finally.

An hour or two later, my service slowed to the point of unusability. I called WildBlue, and was told I had been FAPped. They wouldn't tell me whether it was uploads or downloads, and when my service would be restored. I asked to talk to a supervisor, and was told there were none (it was Saturday afternoon). I called again on Sunda, twice. Once I was told I had too much upload traffic, and once too much download. When I pointed out that, whichever it was, it was:

1) because of my defective LNB and having to restart broken traffic;

2) because of the dozens - maybe hundreds - of tests run over my dish. It didn't help. So I asked to to talk to a supervisor, and was again told there were none.

Next time, I called and asked for a supervisor immediately, and, after a long time on hold, got one. I told my whole story again, and was told there was nothing they could do - that FAP is practically an act of God that can't be undone, although they admitted it was largely their fault. I asked why I hadn't been warned; the supervisor claimed I had been, by email. Not having seen that, I asked what email address they had - it was, of course, incorrect. When I pointed this out, the supervisor said it was my fault since they confirm my email address with every call. Of course, that had NEVER happened. He said he would investigate by listening to all my previous calls. I also pointed out that much of my traffic was caused by the dozens of speed tests, and he claimed that the speed tests together take only one megabyte total, which of course is impossible. He also claimed that upload tests take no bandwidth; when I explained that the one WildBlue usually had me run (toast) entails downloading then uploading a file - in this case, a one-megabyte JPG, he said that was counter to procedure and he would investigate.

The kicker is that today, five days later, I am still being FAPped, they have no idea when it will end, and they STILL have the wrong email address. Amazing.

Stay away from these guys. I switched from StarBand, believing nothing could be worse. I was wrong…

I am reading the other complaints I have found on this site and just want to add my own. From day one this has been the worse experience of my life on the internet. It took over two months and nearly daily complaints to get an installer out to my house. The first installer after putting me off for three weeks by mysteriously only being able to leave a message when I wasn't at home finally called drunk out of his mind saying he would be there in 10 minutes naturally he never showed up. What a relief. After another 2 weeks of complaining Wildblue said they would send an installer from El Paso I live in Santa Fe NM and they have to send an installer from over 350 miles away? Imagine my shock when I was called and someone actually showed up. The installation took about 2 hours and the installer said oh don’t bother calling Wildblue they don’t know who manages their own territories. The service was intermittent at best.

Frequent attempts to contact customer service led to waiting on hold for as long as 2 hours and rarely getting to speak to anyone let alone someone fluent in English. If I did happen to get to an actual person they knew absolutely nothing and never could answer a question.

After a year the service finally expired THANK GOD and here I am still receiving a bill. Fortunately my credit card expired so it cannot be charged. Strange though, they were able to contact me via email requesting updated information to extend my service. Ya right like that was going to happen.

Today one year and three months since this began I just got off the phone with a CSR from Wildblue. Oddly enough they have no record of my account no service record nothing. "So how is it I am receiving a bill?" to which the reply came "I am going to have to escalate this issue" Why? I don't want the service I'm glad to see it go. If I find anything on my credit report I’ll sue.

Take it as fair warning this has to be the worse ISP ever and should be investigated by the FCC for fraud.

I live in a rural area where dial up service was all that was available until Wildblue came into the area promising lightning fast service. Fact is it is far from it. The up and down load speed are inconsistent and unreliable. One moment it is fast then the next moment it is slower than dial up. Extreamly unreliable. Service is aways loosing contact with the satellite. After many service calls it became very apparent that all the people in the company are very well aware of all the short comings of the system but no one with tell you about them when you are buying the service. ($350.00). I suffer with the system until my contract was up and immediately canceled the service. I coincidently canceled the visa card I was using for the automatic payments at the same time as I was getting poor customer service from them as well. Thank god that I did because Wildblue continues to send me billing for the last 4 months as if I had never canceled. Four times I have called them. Each time they agree that I owe them nothing as my contract has been fulfilled. The promise to not send another bill but yet they still do. Had I not canceled my credit card no tell how much they would be into my pocket by now. I just received my past due bill from them today for September. I fulfilled my contract in May. Stay away from Wildblue!

I've had WildBlue for a year and a half. Service was fine for 6 months, so upgraded to max speed. Service good for another 6 months, then began to degrade. Modem would disconnect when ever it was daylight and when I used it. Multiple service calls improved the situation a little, but since the problem was obviously not my equipment, there was little the service tech could do. Obviously, since it worked perfectly from 10 PM until 8 AM every day, it couldn't be my equipment. Somehow, WB is rationing my service. An informal complaint (online) to the FCC got their attention finally, and without a service call, my service improved markedly. Imagine that. But is still disconnects when "overused;" that is, when I try to to email and surfing at the same time, but only during the day does it have this problem. So they are still rationing me somehow, though of course they deny it. My account has been credited $100, but that is barely one month's cost of service, and I have had this crappy connection for 6 months now. Their customer service rep says she will have the tech folks get to the bottom of it, and they will be contacting me, but in three weeks since that promise, I haven't heard a peep from them. I have dial-up also or I would be screwed. Some of the blogs say the TRIA may be at fault, but why would it only have a problem during certain hours; namely, the hours when the WildBlue network would be busy?

My mother set up service for my sister-in-law so she could have access to internet for her job. Well they are now moving to another state. I called on behalf of my mother who is 78 years old to cancel service or to put the account on hold. They informed me that they could not cancel the account nor could they put it on hold. They said that we would have to continue to pay the monthly fee until the end of an 18 month agreement that no one remembers being mentioned. When I told them I would not pay the penalty ($350.00) they reminded me that they have my mother's credit card info. Does this sound like extortion to you? Their customer service department is really bad. If you call be prepared to be hung up on at least once. I wish I had research a bit more about this company. This has taught us a lesson. From now on I will research a company before making a commitment.

Forgot to mention that their free anti-virus put my laptop into an endless booting loop, & had I not had above average computer knowledge, I would have had to pay a professional to repair it. Also regular problems sending/receiving e-mails. Had no internet for 4 full days, but (of course,) had to pay full price, anyway. It seems many installers are insisting on putting in a pole, which is often unnecessary (my DirecTV's right on my roof, so why can't WildBlue do the same)? This is just a way to fleece customers out of an extra $80 (+ the water main repair bill I mentioned in my previous post, in my case.)

Well let me tell you my experience with wild blue,I had the money taken from my debit card on a monthly basis, 50 bucks ,so I had never had a problem with them ,then right after Christmas they e-mailed a statement for 300 bucks ! They told me that they didnt have my debit card expiration date ,so it just continued to rack up charges for the past 6 months! never called never wrote never e-mailed stating there was a problem ,I take responsibility on my part ,I should have checked to make sure it was being taken out ,I assumed all was fine ,I didnt dispute the charges ,but that was dirty ,and the representative told me that she couldnt understand why the company had not contacted me about the expiration date and she also couldnt understand why the service wasnt shut off in a timely manner,when I had the service shut off I asked for an address to send the final pmt on the acct and was told ,we dont have a place to send pmts , we do no paper billing ,so here we go again , had to have the final pmt taken out of my debit ,never again ! they are rude ! asked to have the service terminated and threatened me with collections at the same time ! The service is slow compared to dsl which is what I have now ,dont waste your time or money,I had their service for a long time

We went with wildblue because they promised good service and faster internet connection than dial up. They have not replied to any of my emails concerning the speed of the service. I admit that I chose the slowest speed because I wanted to try it first. Now I'm concerned that if I choose a faster speed, nothing will change. Wild Blue assured me assured me that their connection speed was much faster than dial-up... It is in fact, slower, much slower than the dial up I had but no one there seems to care. Their integrity as a whole leaves a lot to be desired. The founders of Wild Blue should be ashamed of themselves for bating and switching their customers.

As soon as my contract is up, I will be switching to Hughes.

I ordered Wildblue Internet satelite equipment and paid with my credit card. The equipment arrived fairly promptly. I paid $60 for installation to International Satelite Co out of Florida, but when the installer arrived some 3 weeks later they informed me they would attach it to my roof unless I paid an additional $150 claiming I agreed to it when I bought the equipment. I did no such thing, but, I didn't want holes in my roof so I agreed. Big mistake. That money is gone. The satelite dish wasn't set up properly so it never worked. A week later a box with another part arrived and installers were to come but never did. I called to verify an installer was coming to fix it and was told they cancelled my service. I made numerous phone calls and got no help just arguments. No one would agree to take the equipment back. After 6 weeks I told them Iwas going to send it back anyway and dispute my credit card charges. I was told that if there was so much as a scratch on it they would charge me again. I did send it back and disputed the charges. We will see what happens now.

Yes, in my opinion and based on my experience with them, 4WildBlue is the very worst provider of this service, and from what I hear, the service itself sucks, too. HughesNet is much better but requires a two-year commitment. Two years from now, this type of Internet service will probably be out of date and no longer needed. Let's hope that is the case. Thousands of people are upset with satellite Internet providers and rightly so: rip-offs right and left every single day.

lots of big time problems with wildblue and google conversion for mail , not only did they mess up the mail but everything else have tried calling them for 5 days now no respons only busy signals on phone for days all you can log into is gmail I don't want gmail you can't login to wildblue or other programs "internet explorer cannot open the internet site http://partner page google.com/wildblue.net "operation aboarded" and so on and etc over and over for days. guess I'll join the CLASS ACTION SUITE with the other 1000's folks. Hope you day is going good! By the way I get my work assignment off the internet needless to say I won't be working tomorrow!

It speaks volumes when the tech support line states that they will be with you in ten minutes and it takes 2 hours. It speaks volumes when the corporate office CEO David Leonard phone [protected] will not even answer the phone. It speaks volumes when the only email that Wildblue sends you is a statement for the service that they have not given. Speaks volumes when they change over to a new system without testing it first. WHAT A LOSER DAVID LEONARD IS!

I called the help# again for wildblue recorder said 10 minute wait yeah right I waited 2 1/2 hrs. no answere (what a surpirse right) think I'll call that [protected] # and see what happens will let you know. And for this I gave up dail-up service!

This system stinks? Only had it since Oct.07 to bad I'm locked into a contract! (wildblue.net) maybe they Breached there contact, what do you think? Poor service , no customer service no contact with customer no quality nothing-- Yes I'm upset!

Very poor service. Not holding up their end of the contract. I would sue if I could afford it. Who is this class action suit thru?

this company is a disgrace! need a class action lawsuit for misrepresentation!

We ordered wildblue also. Man put up and left. Needless to say we run out of service within 10 days becasue no one said about the meter they use to tell how much the we used. Called wildblue and got the royal run around again and again. No one could get the famous useage meter to show up on the home page. Called the service man he said it was google's fault. Finally got hold a man down in Miss who spent over hour on phone with us trying to get meter up on screen(up one time next morning gone again)
Called and told them to up the service to next plan, just wait 40 mintues and you will have a higher speed once again. We waited over an hour and still dail up speed. Told wildblue to cancel our plan. Called credit card company and was told them we had canceled them but we would have to pay $30.00 for 23 months to cancel them. We think this is unfair to have only a 24 month
comminment period. No try out period of any kind. Wildblue is bad, stay far far away and tell the BBB in your state, we did.

We have been with Wild Blue for all of 5 weeks and want out of our contract because they have failed to meet minimum standards for internet - 15 minutes a day for one person, maybe?! Our microsoft updates and Weather Bug updates have pushed us into having NO internet time at all.
To cancel our contract we are told it will cost us $485.00 - after five lousy weeks?
We were hung up on 5 times in the last few days by their poor customer service reps. Wow.
I hold Direct TV responsible because they contract these people to provide internet for Direct TV customers.

I started with wildblue in Arizona then moved to Idaho got charged for the equipment 309.09 didnot cancel just moved even had it reconnected was supposed to get a box to send back modem and arm from dish never recieved it and so far still haven't the installer didn't have a new modem for me so he used the one I have was told he wasn't supposed to but did any way but it's just a mess now my account is overdrawn and there is nothing I can do about it I'm disabled on a monthly income from Social security and so is my husband just getting sick and tired of calling sick and tired of being told it will be taken care of .

I warn you, this company is a scam, even if it is the only alternative to dial-up. Stick with dial up. You'll thank me. It drastically misrepresents its service. First, they promise a free site survey, no contract, a low rate, and high speed satellite internet connections. Don't be fooled. When you schedule a 'free' survey, you'll be told they can't come out without an installation order. The install team will charge you over $250 dollars to install the dish if it can't be mounted on your house. Then service will be cancelled after a month because you haven't signed your contract. Your contract commits you to 2 years at approximately twice the monthly rate that was originally quoted. If you actually use your service, your bandwidth will be downgraded because you 'use more than your share'. If you call customer service, they can't help you because they have no authority to make decisions. I could go on for hours, but I hope that's enough to warn the wary.

I have had Wildblue for 2 years and have never had worse customer service! I try to get help from them for their extremely slow service and I get a rude Blah Blah Blah response from their customer service. I complain to them over and over, going to the top and it does no good, so I go to the BBB. After filing a formal complaint with the BBB, I get told I am being moderated now...due to THEIR horrible customer service? This is the absolute WORST satellite provider there is and I am going to get rid of them ASAP!

This person is completely correct, and there's more. They send out letters to their EXISTING CUSTOMERS, telling them they can have the 39.95 special rate for their highest bandwidth cap (17gb per month), and then tell the customer they don't qualify if they already have their service. They refer to the USA Recovery Act, stating ONLY people with dial up can have the service, even if the people are in the geographical area of the US Gov't designated area for this offer. So, in other words, if you allowed the man to stick it to you the past seven years Wild Blue was offered, your government will help them stick it to you some more. Nice, eh?

Had Wildblue for almost 2 yrs. Get a bill for 321.00 for equipment I was suppose to return! I still have the equipment and am still using it. Have called 2 months in a row to supposedly have this error fixed. Now I get a letter in the mail that if I don't respond in 7 days I will be turned over to a collection agency! WHAT PUNKS... Wish I was not under contract, I would turn it off TODAY!

WILDBLUE IS THE WORST INTERNET COMPANY! HEAVEN FOR BID IF YOU HAVE TO MOVE... INSTEAD OF JUST TRANSFERRING ALL YOUR THINGS OVER, LIKE MOST COMPANIES DO, THEY HAVE U CANCEL YOUR OLD ACCOUNT AND MAKE A NEW ONE, THEN WHEN THEY SAY THEY ARE GOING TO REFUND YOU YOUR $ U PAID FOR SERVICES AT YOUR OLD LOCATION, THEY DONT! EVERYTIME I CALL THEY SAY THE COMPUTER SAYS YOU CANCELLED YOUR OLD ACCOUNT SO THEY ARE UNABLE TO REFUND, THEN THEY GO BACK AND FIX IT, THEN TELL YOU TO WAIT 14 MORE DAYS AND THE $ WILL BE REFUNDED...THEN ITS NOT "AGAIN" AND SO ON AND SO ON! ITS STR8 [censored]... THEY DONT HAVE NONE OF THERE STUFF TOGETHER... CANT WAIT TILL MY 2 YEAR CONTRACT IS OVER! NEVER AGAIN!

i would like to payed wild blue plese srnd me the bill bill on line

iwould like address to dish
pay wwild blue