I don't recommend WildBlue to anyone. It is worse than dial up since it is very often just as slow SLOWER than dial-up, it is much less reliable than dial up, and it is a lot more expensive.
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More WildBlue customer horror stories:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/wild_blue.html
Emails from other WildBlue customers
The emails listed here are the opinions of the email writers
and not necessarily those of WildBlue-Sucks.com
8-24-10
R.:
Wild. Blue. SUCKS.
It is sunny, clear sky, no clouds whatsoever. Guess what? Wild blue doesn't work. Reboot the modem, doesn't work. Out in country, so no cable or dsl. Call customer service you say? No answer, in phone tree no help. Absolutely the biggest isp scam ever. It just doesn't work. Ever. Old 28 kb modem was faster and reliable. Screw it, didn't want to work anyway.
8-24-10
D.:
Yes, it is slow and unreliable. So I cancelled and got a "mobile hotspot" through my cell phone service. Works great and costs way less. Try it, you'll like it.
8-23-10
J.:
I am getting irritated at Wildblue. Where I live I had choices of wildblue (referred by my phone company since they couldnt provide high speed DSL to my new address) HughesNet, Clearwire and a few others. Of course I had to agree to a 2 year contract. They gave me a promo for the first year of $39.99 - fine. Well now I am having to move after about 3 months or so of WB and they are making me start my contract over since it will be considered a new account since it's a new address PLUS the promo is no longer available so I am now having to pay $49 a month. I asked them if my husband transfers in a year due to his job, if I am going to have to start my contract over again and they said yes - I must complete my contract.. Who said I am not completeing my contract just because I am at a new address? It is still me and I am still sticking with them. It isn't right they are making me start my contract over just because it is a new address. I am so irritated, I just would like to be out of this contract but do NOT want to pay the $15 per month early out fee (times the number of months I have left) My installation tech said if I moved I could just opt out of my contract, but I am finding out that is wrong. I told the customer service rep at WB that they operate in a shady manner...
8-19-10
D.B:
OK People,
Earlier today I filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission. EVERYONE who has been screwed by wildblue MUST do this. Just go to the FCC website, and you will find our public servants anxious to help us. When enough of us who have been victimized by wildblue file such complaints, wildblue will either be compelled to obey the law and respect our rights, immediately refund our money, and cease their deceptive business practices, or pay fines and penalties, or be convicted for crimes against us. DO IT NOW!. Let's put a stop to this outrageous theft and extortion!
8-19-10
D.B.:
Well, Wildblue is up to their usual thievery and fraud. I wrote previously on August 14th, 2010 regarding Wildblue. Now they have stolen another $318.75 out of my account! They claim it is because I didn't return their equipment when I moved, however, I never did receive their return kit as promised. Add this amount to the $232.90 they stole from my account previously, which is in the process of being refunded, making the total amount $551.65! Add to this the overdraft fees charged by the bank of $25.00 plus daily interest. When I called the woman I talked to (this time in Las Vegas) said there was nothing they could do about it until I returned their equipment. When I asked her how I can be held liable for something it was made impossible for me to do due to their own screw-up, she said it was just their policy and when I returned the equipment in their box, I would be reimbursed. When I asked her when they were going to deliver the box to me, she said it was scheduled to be delivered on August 23rd, 2010. Meanwhile, I'm a disabled veteran on very limited income and $267.74 overdrawn at the bank. When I explained this and demanded my money be refunded immediately, she apologized for Wildblue, and said that was not possible, and there was nothing anyone could do, and I would just have to wait.
My next step is to file a formal complaint directly to the Federal Communications Commission, Federal Representatives, and anyone else I can think of to compel Wildblue to abide by the law and respect their customers' rights.
8-16-10
D.:
I have had WildBlue service for 3 years and have had continious problems. Satellite service does not have a reputation for being reliable and I have found that to be true. Their service is also less than desirable. If I had other ISP options this would not be my choice.
8-14-10
D.B.:
My complaints against wildblue are their billing policies and procedures more so than their often inadequate internet service. I have been a wildblue customer for just over a year, and on three occasions, I was billed twice for one month's service. That would not be so bad if they would immediately correct their billing errors, but they always take plenty of time using your cash even when you are a disabled veteran on very limited income, placing you in severe and extreme financial hardship. My experience with wildblue has been that their billing system, policies, and procedures are arbitrary and predatory, I believe in retaliation for daring to complain to their so-called "representatives," who, for the most part, could care less about you as a customer, even though they appear to be polite and thankful. I regret being a wildblue customer and the only reason I became one was because I couldn't get high speed internet in the rural area where I live. I will reserve the details for evidence in a class action lawsuit when it is filed against these crooks.
8-5-10
L.L.:
yes it's true, it's slow and not very reliable. I had a nerve racking experience when installation was attempted. technicians from another state had to come and fix the problems my local wildblue installer caused. what really gets me is my husband had to relocate the lines thru the house and buy a grounding rod with materials. wildblue to this day has not paid me. how many times do I fax my receipts to them?! they say "fax and you will be reimbursed for your inconvenience". B S!!! i give up. and I will take the penalty charge to rid them.
8-2-10
W.B.:
when i signed up for wild blue i asked if it had unlimited download and upload and they said it was in there basic package
but within a month i got a pop up that said i went over my threshhold and so i called and asked about it and they said that they dont offer an ulimeted plan and so i tried to cancel my contract but they said i couldnt because it said that in the contract and if i were to cancel i would have to send the equipment back and pay over 300 dollers
7-28-10
C.:
Wild Blue is terrible. The comments about the service being slower than dial up, unreliable and the ads are misleading, are all true. Here is my story... I had the service installed and the installation was completed with a bad satellite component. I called to get that repaired and service agent showed up but the service was still very slow. I called for the 3rd time and we tried the speed tests, clearing the Explorer history and it did not improve. The speed was 30 Kb/second. I was then upgraded from value to the select plan and the speed increased to a whopping 50Kb/second. I called again about slow speeds and they transferred me to the tech service and I was on the phone for 2 hrs 12 min trying to figure out what was wrong. He washed his hands of the thing and wanted to charge me $95 for technician to come out and figure out what was wrong. I promptly told them forget it and I don't want the service. Disconnecting took 3 days for the "Corporate Office" to call and they are just monkeys reading scripts. Don't bother trying to speak with Supervisors as they are useless and won't do anymore than the normal person. They said everything was fine with the connection and offered a bunch of crap like upgrading with a credit for a few months, but in the end, you will end up paying more for less. That is what it comes down to. I cancelled, the service and took a sustantial hit as I had only had the service for less than 2 weeks. They would not budge on the contract and the customer is screwed as usual. I have already swayed multiple people from going to Wild Blue and I will continue to do so.
7-27-10
S.:
I was just terminated today July 26, 2010 from Wildblue.
The reason for my termination was that I took a telephone call from an angry customer that was told that Wildblue was 10 times faster than Cable and DSL.
I told the customer that that statement was not true and we were slower than cable and dsl.
I also asked the customer if she had cable or dsl available in here area.
For telling the customer that wildblue was slower than DSL/cable and asking her if she had DSL/Cable in here area, I was terminated.
If a customer called with slow speeds, we were just instructed to have them fill out 2 forms called Information Gathering (http://help.wildblue.net/care/article/4113&n=1) and Slow Connectivity (http://help.wildblue.net/care/article/4117&n=4). We also had to open a ticket which we would close at the end of the call and give a ticket number to the customer. We would have the customer log on to toast.net to perform 3 speed tests. Once speed came back lower than the customer was paying for, we told the customer the following: Speeds are not guaranteed. Your rate plan has UP TO 1.5mbps (for pro), 1.0mbps (select), 512kbps (value). The actual Wildblue average for Value was 200kbps, Select 500kbps, Pro 900kbps. We would tell the customer everything was working fine as long as they were close to average. If they were not close to average, we would make up some story about how testing at toast.net is never 100% accurate, or it was the web hosts problem like hostrocket, yahoo, godaddy and not our problem. We would then get the customer off the telephone and move on to our next call.
Our Fair Access Policy was horrible as well. It was a rolling 30 day period which means it could go to 2 different billing cycles and never start over at the time your new bill is paid. It pretty much went back 30 days from each day. Example, if today is July 26, 2010, it took usage from June 27th, 2010 to today.
Hughes net gives you unlimited downloading between the hours of 1am to 6am. We never had any unlimited downloading.
Our system was horrible when it was cloudy, snowing, raining, pretty much horrible all together.
I assisted customers with technicians not showing up, modem being offline, customers calling after 3 months of install and into a contract and having to pay $95 to have a technician come out and fix a faulty install (I should say wind storm instead of faulty install since we never would blame our technicians for a bad install we always had to ask if they had storms lately, etc)
We would give you a free Discount Repair Program, Month of Service and Service call if you said the Magic Words, “I am going to cancel”. Pretty much “I am going to cancel” is the statement you need to use to get things free from Wildblue.
We had 3 different systems we would use. Infinys (name of our Billing Program), Support Portal (name of our system that can see if your service is up and running) and CIMS (the system to initially look up the customer). Link to Infinys is https://portal.servicecenter.wildblue.net:8772/go?to=UA_Signin&from=dummy&task=dummy&redirectFlag=true Support Portal https://portal.servicecenter.wildblue.net/ and CIMS https://cims.wildblue.cust-serv.com/WildBlueCims/login.aspx
Infinys was a program designed by Convergys. I am not sure who designed Support Portal and CIMS.
The customer knowledge base was help.wildblue.net/kb/ The employees knowledge base was help.wildblue.net/care/
The Wildblue default installer ID was 34853836. We would always have to use then when customers were suspended for the system not letting them sign the customer agreement. This happened all the time.
When a customer called to pay a bill we would process it in the Infinys program and we never had a confirmation number since I do not believe the charge was instant. So pretty much you could call with an invalid credit card or one with insufficient funds and we would turn you back on and not know about it for a day or so.
The simple fact of the matter is that Wildblue was not a very good service. People constantly called with problems and forget about getting online if it is Cloudy or raining. Also forget about getting decent speeds in some areas because they have way too many people on a circuit than they should have.
We were trained to always Apologize to the customer and try and talk nice to them under any circumstance. We always had to say at the end of the call “For your convenience, you can chat live with us at wildblue.net” This always seemed to make the customers get mad and they would say, “I would if I had internet service, etc”
So I guess if I were stuck living out in the Country I would probably choose HughesNet. #1 because they are a KU BAND service which works in the rain/clouds, #2 they have been around longer #3 Commerical businesses use them, #4 From talking to our customers they always talked about having hughesnet in the past and it sounded like a much better system from what they described. (I did use HughesNet back in the 90’s when it was one way receive only. It worked pretty good
actually)
Hope this helps clear up everything with WildBlue.
Our Technical Escalations Department telephone number is 1-877-711-0049. This has a Wildblue agent waiting 24 hours a day that can fix your problem instantly. THEY DO NOT GIVE THIS NUMBER OUT TO REGULAR GENERAL PUBLIC, you have to call a regular Wildblue Tech agent before they will call to this department on your behalf. Personally I would call this number if I were a WildBlue customer and get straight to the source for help in getting your service restored.
7-20-10
K.J.:
My total experience with WildBlue Internet was complete bull. Since I live out in the country and DSL was not available at the time I moved in, my choices were either dial-up or satellite internet. So I went with WildBlue, because the alternative (Hughes Net) was more expensive and WildBlue offered sign-up discounts. Everything went until right after the dish was installed.
Immediately upon using my internet the first time, I noticed that it was not as fast as I expected it to be. It was almost unusable any time it rained, got cloudy, or snowed. This created many problems with my college work, and I was paying almost $80 a month for WildBlue's services which I felt not worth the trouble at all. Often times I chose to just drive the half hour to school to use their computers instead.
Another big issue was the download threshold policy. I repeatedly got emails from WildBlue about how I was approaching my download threshold and if I exceeded it, my service would be slowed down to accommodate for other customers. The email also stated that I could view my internet usage with their "Download Manager" web page, which, conveniently enough, was never working when I tried to check it. I contacted WildBlue about this several times and was told each time that the page was undergoing maintenance and would be back up soon. I was never able to view the Download Manager once during the year and a half I was a customer. When I did inevitably exceed the threshold, instead of my internet being slowed down, it was completely shut off. In order to get it turned back on, I had to either wait until my usage went down on their 30-day cycle, or sign up for their more expensive plan. I chose the latter because no internet was not an option for me.
Finally, DSL became available in my area through the local telephone company around February 2010 and I decided it would be worth it to cancel my 24-month contract with WildBlue. Even with the termination fee of $15 per month remaining in the contract, I would save money. I called WildBlue and cancelled my account, and I was told they would send me a box to return the equipment. This was all the information that was given to me.
The box arrived at my house, but my roof was covered in snow so I had to wait to climb up there and take down the dish. This was something I would have to do myself because WildBlue would charge me extra to send someone out to take down the dish that they had put up for free when I signed up. A couple weeks later, the snow melted and I planned on taking down the dish the next day. I checked my bank account when I got home from work that day, and to my horror, I saw that WildBlue had charged me, without my permission, for roughly $320. I immediately called the customer service line to find out what happened, and they said they had charged my account for unreturned equipment and that it was their policy to inform the customer how much time they had before the charge would be made. I was never informed of how much time I had, and they had never mentioned anything about the possible charge. The woman I was talking to that day said that if I send them the equipment immediately, I could call back with the tracking number and have my refund expedited.
I took the equipment down the next day and immediately had it shipped back to WildBlue. I called their customer service line while still in the parking lot of the UPS Store, and the man I talked to said that he didn't need the tracking number because they already had it, and I would get my refund in 7 days.
A week came and went, and I still had not gotten my refund. I was very upset because that was half of my house payment they had taken. I called again, and the woman I talked to said that my refund could take up to 2 weeks to go through from the time I shipped the equipment back. After another week, I still had not gotten my refund. Exhausted from getting a different answer every time I called, I asked to speak to a supervisor the next time I called in. I explained the situation and he said that for some unexplainable reason, my refund had gotten caught up in billing and he "released it" while on the phone with me. Three days later, I finally got my money back. The next day, I got another email from WildBlue saying that I owed $320 to them for unreturned equipment. I called, infuriated, and the man said that it was simply a mistake and that I would not be charged the money.
I would not recommend WildBlue to anybody. I firmly believe that they hassle customers like this in hopes that they will give up on getting their money back. I was only given a final answer when I got so angry that I asked for a supervisor. They didn't win their battle with me, but I'm sure they have won plenty of battles with people less tenacious.
7-11-10
T.:
I'm a web developer who lives off the grid with solar and wind electricity. Satellite internet is the only choice here. All satellite internet providers stink, and the new kid on the block, Wild Blue, was supposed to be a good alternative. IT IS NOT.
I have my own horror stories about the Fair Access Policy (FAP). Your combined total bandwidth usage of download and upload could only be 60%, but if one of the categories is over then you're offline for 30 days, even though you will be required to pay 100%. Your usage could only be over by 5%, but your bandwidth will be limited by 75% for 30 days.
You only get internet access back after you've fallen below 70% bandwidth usage. This tells me that Wild Blue wants you to pay 100%, but only use 70% of what you pay for.
All of that aside since I finally took the bullet and upgraded to their $90 a month package since I need internet access to make money (FAP pretty much forces customers to take the more expensive upgrade). I work primarily at night when everything's quiet.
Last night I was busy working away when I lost my internet connection for an extended period of time. I lose my connection all of the time even with the $90 a month package, their service is just so crappy. Last night, however, it continued longer than usual.
I finally called tech support. They were doing "scheduled" maintenance and told me that I would be offline for 4 hours. I asked whether I had received a courtesy email telling me this so that I could plan around it. I have deadlines to meet, and if I'm working on a server when I lose my connection all work can be lost. Even my hosting company, that I only pay $7.00 a month, has the courtesy to let customers know when they are doing scheduled maintenance. In Wild Blue's case, I guess they are only ones who need to know the schedule.
Tech support's answer was, "Oh, no, we don't have that yet." I asked for her to forward my request to inform customers when they will be offline for "scheduled" maintenance. She laughed and hung up on me.
Wild Blue is expensive, unreliable, and they have no customer service whatsoever. I'm still waiting for a call back from nearly a month ago over another issue. If you have any internet access other than satellite and Wild Blue, I'd recommend that.
Oh, yeah, Wild Blue retains their existing customers through their forced 24-month contract. If not for that, people would be fleeing them right and left, I am sure. Read their own forum with post after post from dissatisfied customers.
I highly recommend filing complaints with your state Attorney General and the FCC.
7-11-10
H.M.:
TIP 1 - Cancel the credit card you are being billed on, BEFORE you cancel service with Wild Blue. Latest fraud - they will claim that you only sent PART of your equipment back in the same box. They send one box for return on the Modem, Tria and eternet cord. You have the slip of proof you returned their box, right? Their FRAUD is that they claim they got your box with the modem, but YOU "forgot" to include the tria, which they will bill you $160.00 for. Guess what - and you cant PROVE you sent them all unless you videotaped the packaging. Even so, they will initially lie and tell you they got all your equipment and then take the money off your card when you least expect it.
TIP 2 - Make sure to videotape your entire packaging in front of the UPS representative (get their name as well) showing them each item and serial numbers (modem/tria) on video as you proceed to tape up the box (and then YOUTUBE IT). Again, IMMEDIATELY CANCEL the card before you cancel service. Even though I'm positive they will still bill you for missing equipment, at least that way they can't take the money off your card when you least expect it. Then, you can mail the company your videotape with your complaint letter. Someone needs to catch these fools in their fraud scheme. For those who havent ordered yet - LISTEN and NEVER buy from this company. Anyway, from all the comments, dial-up is faster and cheaper.
7-1-10
B.:
Yea i was looking up why my wildblue was so dam slow so then i found this site yea wildblue sucks ass. My dial up was 10x better then this garbage. Only perk of this internet is it dosent tie up phone lines THATS IT!
6-29-10
M.:
Nice sunny days out side. Clear nights listening to the crickets and watching the stars twinkle. No internet is the only reason I know this. Seems I have used all my bandwidth up. For years I had dsl, I was never denied access. Yet since I have moved to the country seems I can only be online a certain number of minutes a day. I pay over $80 a month and yet I can't even play my online games right now. I was told not so nicely that it would reset in 30 days. So, for an entire month I get crap for $80. Dial up sucked, but I think Wild Blue is worse. Contract or not, can't squeeze blood from a turnip, I think I am going back to dial up.
6-24-10
D.R.:
Wow...totally disappointing.
Not only have I not had service this slow since 1994 (it takes about 15 minutes to download a 4 minute YouTube video, and I have a screamin'-fast computer), but I have the $70 monthly package to boot. And with each slight disturbance in weather? The signal goes out. I had DSL for years with blazing speed and NEVER ONCE had an outage...in Maine. Where the weather is often lousy...I have had it for almost a year and not 30 days go by when it doesn't go out...when my contract is up, out they go.
6-20-10
J.H.:
Service is slower than dial-up. Their disclaimer says they don't guarantee speed or servcie, but the salesperson never mentioned that. He said I would be running 5x faster than dial-up. Nothing but a bunch of liars! Their solution...upgrage for an additional $20 per month. I said is it guaranteed to run faster? They said no. Sounds like I got the old bait and hook switch. If I was the CEO of Wildblue, I would be embarassed to tell people where I work!
Can wait until my contract expires.
6-17-10
C.Z.:
I have been an unhappy customer of Wild Blue since September of 2008. My experience started with an install without working equipment, then wait for a week for another install. 24 hours after the install it rained and the nice hole the installer made in my roof acted as a funnel which allowed over 30 gallons of watter into my home making it's way down all 3 stories. Wild Blue of course took no responsibility and gave me the contact info for the installer, who wouldn't take responsibility. After almost 2 years I finally get a letter from my insurance company saying they were unsuccessful to recover the $3300.00 I spent out of my own pocket because the installer had no insurance or assets to put a lien on. Now this sure seems like Wild Blue's problem now. They hired them to do the work and don't they check that these company's insurance, and bonds? So now, I'm waiting for corporate to call me but I'm sure they will keep the stance that it isn't their problem! Oh and not to mention their service sucks, if it rains I can't even get online!
6-13-10
A.:
Wild Blue install guy came to our house and during install asked for our credit card number,signed our contract and lied to us about the FAP. Wild blue has fapped us three times 1. We were on vacation and they fapped us. 2.I went to my grandmothers house for the week and they fapped us. 3.I downloaded a song........ guess what? THEY FAPPED US! My mother cannot use the internet on either of her laptops or her desktop because its so slow. I used to play WoW,SWG,AoC, and various other mmos and iv had to stop becuase we where told you could play them on wildblue. You cant and now were pissed.
6-8-10
D.R.:
Wild Blue sucks!!! We've had Wild Blue 3 years and I can say I'm totally fed up with the unreliability. Even partly cloudy days we could not connect. If you have a rain drop in the sky, it won't connect. If you get FAP'd (which is a joke by itself), you can't connect. I hate FAP. If I pay for XX Mbps then I better get 100% of XX, not 70% of XX (which is when they start cutting you down). I'm switching to Verizon broadband MiFi. At least I'll be able to get on the internet when and where I want. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH WILD BLUE
Another thing, 3 weeks ago we went from the Silver package to the Gold so we wouldn't get FAP'd. Guess what, we got FAP'D!! After 2 lengthy calls to Dishnetwork/Wild Blue they determined that they had been billing me for the gold package but kept my limits at the silver level. I demanded a refund for the 3 weeks.
By today (6/8/10) at noon, I'm done with this mess.
5-24-10
K.:
I just wanted to let you know how much they suck. On the phone they didn't tell me that it was limited. The guy came to my house read the contract and I told me it was limited. I told him that the telephone representative did not inform me that it was limited. The driver said, "They never tell you on the phone." The information as far as maybe having to install a pole on the property to put the satlelite on was inconsistant. They would not take the satlelite back on the truck with the driver. I called and spoke with the man who I initally opened the service with and he said I will have to pay shipping only if he didn't tell me during the phone call. He said that he would look up the phone call and contact me. He never made contact with me. I disputed charge through my credit card provider.
5-18-10
T.:
I have had WB(should be called What Bull****)and I am tired of paying 80 a month for service that seems like it should be 1.00 a month. My phone service for internet runs better and faster than wildblue. I have been contacted by wildblue because of payments and the like, but when I call in for support, I don't get it. They sure can provide THEIR customer service to themselves to collect the money or make sure they are getting paid. BUT if we ask for what we pay for, we don't get anything but headaches. There are enough issues and complaints-obviously-from this site, so why don't we all set up a class action suit! It only takes one person to start it..so let's get going now!!!
5-13-10
L.D.:
I'm not happy with Wildblue myself. Weather is a problem, snow and rain can have you without service for long periods of time. Even sunny days I have frequent 1 to 10 minute spells of no service. I have the "Value" pack. If I start to download a large file from someplace, I cannot complain much on that as long as I have service, it downloads as fast or sometimes faster then they advertise.
But the uploads, like to my websites, they are SUPER SLOW, usually somewhere between 0.02 to 0.04Mbps, when it should be pushing close to 0.20Mbps according to their advertising. Watching my meter, it will spike now and then for a second or two to that speed, but the average is super slow. Really annoying when trying to upload a video clip or audio to a website. The slow upload speed also causes frequent time outs for email and certain webpage loading. Tech support never gets to the bottom of the problem either and sometimes tosses you off to another tech person who doesn't resolve the problem either. Web pages as a whole, load just as fast as regular Modem speed, unless they have a larger file with, like audio or video, then the speed picks up a little. I would not recommend Wildblue unless no other option is available over dial-up. I won't pay for a step-up either, as I would be worried my average upload speed would only increase from 0.03Mbps to 0.06Mbps, and for what they charge and how they "fix" upload problems--it's not worth it. In a couple of years our local telephone company says they will be offering DSL, I won't hesitate the switch.
4-29-10
J.B.:
I would like to please be made aware of any class-action lawsuits. This company is ripping people off.
I have been a wildblue customer since 2007 and I've put up with the poor customer service, high-fees, neverending contracts and slow, unreliable connection for years, but what happened this week was the final straw.
I filed the following complaint with the BBB in Colorado:
"Had an unauthorized charge to my account and Wildblue refuses to refund charge.
Last month I moved. Approximately two weeks ago Wildblue sent the return kit for my old equipment to my OLD address. If it wasn't for my friend being at this old residence I would have never even known they sent such a package.
When she told me that such a package arrived I called Wildblue to see how long I had to return the equipment, explaining it was a 2-hour drive to go get the box. I was told by the Wildblue customer service representative that they would not charge me and I had "plenty of time." I assumed this meant that I would not be charged and I could go pick up the box in a week or two and return the equipment and all would be well.
This morning I awoke to discover that Wildblue had debited my account $291.90 without any notice whatsoever. I called and they explained the charge was for unreturned equipment. I told the customer service representative that I fully intended to return the equipment, but I did not currently have the return kit because they had sent it to my old address, where I no longer resided. I further told her of the conversation I had previously with a representative of their company where I was told I had "plenty of time" to return the equipment.
The CSR (customer service representative) then informed me that no notes existed of such a conversation so it never happened, and they would only refund my money after the equipment was returned. I asked her how I was supposed to return the equipment without the return kit. I explained that I am on a tight budget and cannot afford to be out $300 until I can correct their company's own mistakes by driving two hours to pick up the kit and return the equipment.
This complaint is further exasterbated by the fact that last month they charged me for service at both addresses and didn't refund the overcharge for an entire month.
I know that $300 may not seem like a lot to some people, but I am a single, low-income person just trying to get by. I cannot pay my bills now because Wildblue has taken money out of my account, "out of the blue."
I felt I have done everything on my end to correct the situation and Wildblue has done absolutely nothing. Wildblue was the one who shipped the kit to an address where THEY KNEW I no longer resided! I even took extra steps to call their customer service department and specifically ask when the items were due. Had I been told that my account was to be charged right away, I would have taken the extraordinary measures to retrieve the kit and send in the equipment.
I have gone out of my way to accomidate Wildblue. I am not only out the $291.90 they have deducted from my account, but also the gas money and time to go retrieve the kit that they mailed to the wrong address, I will incur late fees on my bills because now I don't have enough money to pay them, and the stress and severe inconvenience this has caused.
It is not my job to train their employees. I asked what other steps should I have taken to ensure I was not charged? Can we not trust what their CSR's say? Should I get every statement in writing, or call 5 or 6 times to make sure I am speaking with someone who will tell me the truth.
This is a scam, plain and simple. They had my credit card info, they wanted money, so they purposefully sent the box to a place that I could not immediately retrieve it, purposefully told me the wrong thing when I called all in a scam withdraw money out of my account without notice or warning (and evidently without remedy).
I also spoke to two supervisors who would do nothing."
This company obviously feels it is above the law. I have changed account numbers so they can no longer debit from my account. I will refuse to give them one more dime until they return my $300. Even then I've requested a full fee-free cancellation as I REFUSE to allow a company access to my account when they feel they can withdraw any amount anytime they want without any notice or warning.
4-15-10
R.T.:
I am glad to know I was not the only customer to have a horrendous experience with this company. The installation required an additional $180 undisclose fee. The service was slowwwww support was pitiful and the regulating authorities should investigate. About 15 months into my "contract"I was no longer able to afford because of permanent disability fixed income and foreclosure of my home. They still wanted their $203 "cancellation fee" for service I never got!!!. I too would like to be made aware of any class action suits.
4-13-10
D.F.:
I very recently broke an 8 month contract with Wild Blue. I'm very happy, and after seeing how their service is I will never go back. I was initially referred by a friend but when their service didn't stand the test of quality worthy and he switched to Comcast I should have taken it as a sign.
First I was told I'd have to pay a 185 dollar one time set up fee. Then I'd be leasing the equipment for 59 dollars, and with tax it would be 61 dollars a month. I got the custom install, and the guy even offered to give me a job with Wild Blue. But luckily for me I was in Technical College at the time during the evenings so that was more important.
I read other horror stories wondering just what the hell I got myself into. I paid the 61 a month. But when it rained it went out. I never had any internet. Even when it got cold outside, or the clouds provided shade to dim the signal it was out. Or up & down. Some times for no apparent reason my internet would go down. Then I couldn't sign on for a day or more. I really was wondering what was going on. The first six months it worked fine. After that I couldn't even watch video. The service slowed down to a snails pace. I have to say that if the network is so poor it can't even keep my signal's range I wish I never would have gotten involved with this service.
When I canceled, and was outsourced either to India or Pakistan, I'm still not sure which one. The service rep had the audacity to ask me why I was disconnecting service, and also what other problems did I have. Well I had to pay 185 dollars for a "set up" fee for one. I told them the service was too slow, and every time it rained the internet went out. Any other problems? Yes? How about the fact that your customer service sucks! So I was told I'd get a refund in 10 to 30 days. How thoughtful of them. At this point I'll take anything back that they robbed me of.
Also my disconnect fee would be about 120 dollars.
I wish I had found this website long before I ever considered Wild Blue. I'm usually looking everything up first but like several others I wasn't hooked. I was just curious, and found out that Wild Blue is just out for your money because there is definitely no quality there.
I've since moved on to another service. I'd suggest that the rest of the customer base that has Wild Blue move on to a more reliable service as well.
3-30-10
T.M.:
Wild blue does suck, indeed. We have been FAPed and now for 4 days we have NO INTERNET not slow internet as stated in section5 of the contract. Each day I have run a usage report and it still shows we are at 107% upload even though NOTHING is connected to the sat system. No computers, no routers nothing at all. It has sat disconnected for 4 days and still they show usage, but I was assured by there tech people that there is no way a defective modem can send any data therefore I must be sending it. I guess the ehthernet signal must just magically jump from the disconnected router into the ethernet port on the back of the modem. This is our third major problem with WB. Just after getting the system we had high windstorms that knoked down a tree on the dish. We called for 3 weeks back and forth trying to get a replacement and installer to point it. THe order kept getting lost and we were told we had to pay for the dish. Then when we finally got an installer we F***d up the pointing so we had a poor signal for several months until we complained enough that they sent a new installer out that took the time to point and check the signal. Now we are up to the FAP issue, we are done with these idiots and their poor business practices. We are going to cancel early and we will refuse to pay for any cancel fees. THey negated the contract by eliminating our http transfers instead of slowing them. A lawsuit needs brought up against this company for its practices.
When talking to the tech I ask for a home office address he said they do not have a home office. I found it online.
3-24-10
T.:
Wildblue does suck! I have had to suffer through satellite service where I live for 8 years. First Hughes Network, nightmare one, now Wildblue nightmare 2.
I called them today to try and move a complete system I have at one location to my rental house so my renter could have internet access. It was a 30 minute nightmare talking to someone from a SouthAmerican country I could barely understand. They said even though I had a complete set up, I would have to lease a new one. Insane. They said it was because I was turned over to collections on that account, well I was but I had my cancellation number so they sure didn't get anymore money out of me. But it obviously still shows collection on my account. Idiots.
When I asked for a supervisor, the same girl came back on the line and said her name was different but they had the exact same accent and sounded the same, what bull.
Needless to say, I told my renter to go purchase a router and since we are right next door, he can share my crappy slow service. So they will not get any additional money from any of my places.
I am praying for dsl, broadband or anything in this God forsaken farmland.
3-23-10
V.C.:
WB is the worst company I have ever dealt with. They are impossible and charge outrageous prices. I am not sure how they stay in business. I am seriously considering another form of action against them. BBB will definitely be notified of their ripoff prices and deplorable business practices.
W.:
3-16-10
Honestly, when it works, it is great- I just wish it would work. Lately, with the poor weather, the service has been so bad that we have been using dial-up almost as much as sat. internet. The last couple days the weather has been fine, but it's still been going down or slowing to the point of taking 3 minutes (timed it while on the phone with customer support) to load yahoo classic mail. I was instructed to do a speed test- so I did. Then after confirming my internet was slow I was told to call back after 10 P.M. with a new speed-test.
So, 10:05 I'm on the phone with support telling me "welcome to sat. internet- what you want us to do?" I even explained the results of my dial-up speed test was higher than the sat. I get 3 download and 4 upload on my $6 dial-up and 4 download and 4 upload on my $50 sat. internet.
If you plan on calling customer support, it's a toss of a coin whether you get someone to help- or someone to tell you to buy a larger package to pay more for the crappy connection of "up to" larger speeds. Ask for a supervisor and you'll usually get someone (sounds almost 19) to yell and talk down to you because it's just the way it is.
Needless to say, after admitting that they were "upgrading" their service because "peak hours" is like that for everyone- I am calling the BBB to see what I can get accomplished. At this point, dial-up is all that I can depend on, so my contract should be terminated. I have the screen-shots of the speed tests on sat and dial-up, so please tell everyone you can about the continued quality they'll get from w-blue, before they pay to find out- wish someone would have told me!
3-12-10
L.B.:
You got that right! In Nov of 09, DISH talked me into this service and right off, I was not happy with it! They sucked me into a $99 installation fee and then I was to pay $49.99 a month and after a few days, it became clear that this service is not worth a lick! I called repeatedly to complain, half the time I could not get online and this was when weather was not a factor! If you tried to email, it would time out before you were even finished and videos, forget it! Luckily for me, my phone company started offering high speed DSL so I went with that and I called up Blue and told them to come get their equipment, I did not want this service anymore, and they got really rude and nasty, (I found out this is the norm) and proceeded to tell me that they were going to charge me $400 because I canceled before the 2 yr contract was up and I was like Good Luck with that as they did not have my debit card on file, so ya know what happens next? DISH GIVES them the # and they sucked $487 out of my acct, overdrawing it and I was livid! The bank stopped payment on it, Thank God, and I canceled the card DISH had on file and I was so mad at them for giving Blue my number, I was a happy satisfied customer till that happened, that I called up and canceled my service with them! And they of course tell me that I would be charged $300 and I told them that the card they had on file had been canceled and the woman was clearly pissed, and then proceeds to tell me it will go to collections, like I care? I have fairly good credit, I pay my bills on time so I am not worried about DISH! And today, I find out from a guy who used to install for Blue, that Blue is not accepting new customers. like they are gonna get any? The word is out on this fly by night operation! Now I did call the law too as I have a friend who is a deputy, I too used to work in LE and he told me if I did not authorize them to take money out of acct, and that I was not happy with the service, that I should not have to pay anything for canceling. He called Blue and they assured him I would be getting my money back and I believe this is due in part that they know they will be going out of business and the only reason they are still operating, is the money they have sucked off people because they know their service is lousy and they KNOW people are gonna cancel! Now the law will advise that this is partially a civil issue, but since fraud is involved, they will get involved, at least in MI as the Atty General is investigating Blue as well! So I do hope everyone who has been ripped off will get their money back or can have another ISP!
3-10-10
J.:
I switched to wildblue from a dial up connection hopeing it would be better but found out the hard way IT's NOT.It just costes me alot more.I have been on the phone with them many many times.My connection is horrible.the people you call all have you do the same thing over and over and still nothing has changed.same proublem but the bill keeps getting payed.
3-10-10
K.C.:
This is the worst service ever and extremely expensive. I am beginning to think the same company that owns sirius. Right hand does not know what the left is doing. Customer service is awful. It is so slow dial up is probably quicker. They send your notices to an email account with wildblue.net and we never use it so obviously we dont check it.... How are we suppose to get messages if they dont let you use your normal email address. The have service and mailing address as the street when they were told that we have no mail service in that area except po box. They have a phone number why dont they USE IT! Before they turn it off. It is obvious the account number must have changed. They were notified but it still was not updated. COMPLETELY CRAP SERVICE across the board.
3-5-10
B.R.:
We've had Wildblue for a couple years now and service has always been horribly slow. Many days it is SLOWER than dial up connections we've tried in the past. It doesn't take much online activity for you to exceed your monthly "fair use" limit. Biggest bunch of BS ever. Like others we've called and complained about the speed. We've upgraded the service to the fastest speed they offer, and it isn't ANY faster at all! Customer service is a joke. We've replaced old wireless routers and such thinking maybe the old equipment was creating a bottleneck in our connection, but that wasn't the problem. Besides the obviously sloooww connections, I think our biggest problem is the fact that it doesn't take much at all to hit "your limit". Then the service slows itself down even MORE! And in some cases we received notices in the mail letting us know that we've "already reached 80% usage for the month and if we go over the limit again our service might be terminated". Really?! Well if it wasn't the only damn thing available that wouldn't be such a bad thing! It might even be welcome! Complete waste of $80/month. I'm all for the Class Action against these crooks!
3-1-10
J.P.:
My name is J****** P*** and I live in Sylvania, Alabama, Dekalb County.
I want it known that Wild Blue dish network is guilty of false advertising, bait and switch-over-charging, damaging installation work, slow internet speed, and shutting the service off multiple times without notice. They’re representatives also claim they have no way of knowing the exact amount of money that has been taken out of my account, since they don’t keep those records.
I signed up for the installation for $99.00 and was told at the last minute that I needed a mounting pole for an additional $50.00. Since 12/18/2009 I have been charged, not the 54.00 that appears on the contract, but $125.00 every month, plus an additional $190.02. My checking account bounced, forcing me to pay $70.00 in late fees as a result of these overcharges. Add to that, they have shut down our service twice without notice, costing my brother, C**** S******** who is a best-selling author, to lose hundreds of dollars in lost sales and miscommunication with his agent and publishers.
The technician, who installed the hardware, left a 15ft section off the mobile home trailer skirt and lost all of the fastening screws, requiring it to be reattached at expense. He simply left the skirt laying in the dirt when he finished the work. The installation process took more than five hours, with the tech continually trying to get the proper sat signal into the receiver.
On two occasions, we were told by customer support that they were sorry for the overcharges and promised to credit us for two months. They continue to charge double the monthly fee and claim to know nothing about any verbal agreements concerning monthly credit allowances.
The dish has been installed in front of the main entrance to the house, and is pointing directly at the roof eave. No doubt this has slowed the service down to a trickle due to bad reception. Snow or overcast days knocks the signal completely out, where we lose days of service.
I am on fixed income, and this has shattered my household financial status, and I will probably never recover from it.
We need a class-action suit against this company Now! Please email me with how I can participate in this class-action suit against Wild Blue.
My brother would also like to be contacted, since he has more damaging evidence against them. His name is C**** S******** and his email address is below:
***email witheld***
Thank you,
J*** P***
3-1-10
K.A.:
I have had Wild Blue service through Dish Network for 4 months. I have called 6-7 times in the past 4 months complaining about it asking for help. I was told that their would be someone out to look at it and they never showed up. The customer service sucks. You sighn a contract with these people to receive internet service and they renig on their agreement to you to provide it. When you ask them to shut it off b/c of the very poor service, they want to charge 350.00 How is this fair? I cant afford to pay that to shut service off Im not even getting, and I hate throwing 60.oo away every month for nothing. It is seriously nothing that I am getting. What can I do?
2-19-10
K.V.:
I'm going on 3 years of this horrible service. Have to reset it several times a week. Takes forever to get through to someone and when you do they make you do the same thing. Unplug it and plug it back in. After about 15 calls they will finally give you a service call. The usually reschedule 3 times before they show up but of course they dont call til mid morning so youve already took a vacation day. The tech guy always says the same thing. Wildblue has allowed to many customers on. The customer support is horrible. Most of the time they are rude. I ran a speed test for 30 days straight and I connected at dial up speed the entire 30 days even though I pay for the 85.00 high speed package. I would be pressed to come up with one single thing that wildblue does right. Absolutely the worst company I have ever come across in my entire life.
2-16-10
C.:
Mine is pretty much like everyone else’s here. Though it seems they are worse than mine. I had wb installed Feb. 5, They told me on the phone there would be a charge of 150.00 to 175.00 extra, since I live in a Mobil home, When the installer got here I asked him if he could put the dish on the same pole that the direct TV dish was on and he said no, It took him 8 hours to finally get it to connect. It worked great that whole evening, by Saturday night I was calling as I had no connection, c.s was fine, they walked me through what I needed to do and it worked, I was watching a live stream, Gospel Broadcast Network, and I left it on went I went to bed, didn't think about it, so by day 6 I had gone over my "download" amount, I called and told them I did not understand because I had not downloaded anything, that is when I found out that watching a video, opening email or anything you do on a computer is a download. I went to their (wb) forum and asked about a 30 day trial period or something like that and I got some very rude answers, I want to cancel the service, but I can not afford to pay the cancellation fee, any help I can get from anyone would be greatly appreciated.
2-9-10
J.J.M.:
13 months of horrible, expensive service and I chose to cancel my account. And in the end they still charged $124.30 to walk away from my contract. This company is terrible and I regret ever being duped by their false claims.
2-8-10
N.A.:
I live in a rural area in northern New Mexico where high speed DSL is still not available. Recently, I noticed my internet connection speed was super slow, despite paying $70.00/month for the Select (middle) pacakge. I checked the speed several times and my connection was at 150Kbps. So, when I called my local ISP, I was told I had reached my limit and would be cut off until the following month! They said the only solution was to move up to the Premium package of $80.00/month. Now my connection speeds are 500Kbps on a good day. I called last week to complain, got put on hold for more than 10 minutes and no one ever came back. So, I called the Wild Blue main number and that was no better. I was told I had to install some Pulse diagnostic software. I clicked on the Firefox workaround, which did not work, so, I had to install Internet Explorer to install the software. I installed IE and could still not get the software installed, so, I gave up. I just called my local ISP provider again to complain, got switched immediately to voice mail and no one has called me back. I just found out that fixed wireless is now available in lmy area from an independent provider and I'm going to switch asap. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of paying the premium monthly payment on a quarterly basis, so, I'm paid up through the end of March. I don't think getting a refund will be easy...
2-8-10
V.E.:
I tell everyone I know DO NOT BUY WILD BLUE INTERNET SERVICE. I have had problems from the first week they installed. was told when we have bad weather that the service will go out. So figured I had to live with it. that was a year ago dec. Now when I call to complain ( i have mine thru Dish Network ) they tell me I need a service call because bad weather should not knock it out ( ya right ) and they will charge me for the service call to fix THEIR EQIPMENT! I told them I will be pro rating my bill for every day I do not have service, Dont like ,, shut me off,, that would be doing me a favor. I can not believe it is legal to charge for a service they do not render. I did point blank ask why they do not tell u before u sign the contract that their service is very bad when there are clouds in the sky. I was never givin an answer. My contracts up in May this year and by then I expect to tell the world how bad their service is and I intend to let DIsh Network know also. As they will both be losing me as a customer.
1-27-10
J.:
My complaint with Wild Blue pretty much parallels the complaints already posted. We called for service and were sent the components and told an installer would be at our house on December 5th. On December 3rd the installer called and asked if he could come on the 4th. We agreed and stayed home all day waiting for him to appear.He didn't come and didn't call. The following morning we received a call informing us he couldn't come that morning because his truck wasn't running. They didn't try to reschedule.
I then called and cancelled the service and told them since they had not fulfilled the contract I would not pay the $50 restocking fee. They said they did not want me to cancel and would have a manager call. No one ever called. When I checked my credit card statement I found I had been charged the fee. I then called and asked to speak to a supervisor. He told me the $50 would be refunded to my credit card in 14 business days. He also lectured me on not letting the installer come later and that I was depriving him (the installer) of making his living.
They also tried to tell me they have no ties to the installers, because they are independent contractors. Wild Blue contacts them to do the installations. As far as I am concerned they are the agents of Wild Blue.
Their offer of free installation is a scam. We had tried Hughes Net and when their installer showed up anything and everything he had to do to install the system had a fee attached. We told him to leave when he complained that our house had an overhang on the roof.
I am going to file a complaint on this company with my States Attorney's Consumer Complaint Division, and dispute the charges on my credit card.
1-21-10
L.J.:
Dishnetwork is falsly advertising claims of Wildblues upload and download service. I have been totally dissatisfied with this service. I want out of this contract.
I am tired of talking to people in Virginia that don't have a CLUE.
I could go on and on about Wildblue. Lets get the word out..wildblue is HORRIBLE. I want my money back.
Is Hughes satellite any better
1-21-10
D.D.:
I need a corporate address to register a nasty complaint - anyone got that infor
1-18-10
Z. & M.:
I won't go on about how terrible WildBlue's service is because you may already know this, or may know someone who has made the mistake of using them as an internet service provider. I will however, let anyone who currently has them or is thinking of using them, know something else they will provide for you besides crappy service: After you finally get out of the horrible contract and terrible service by paying their "cancellation" fee, they will tell you to ship back the components (all except for the dish), but they actually will bill you for the nuts, bolts, and various small items that they don't ask you to ship back (and you can get at a local hardware store for 75 cents). They, without any warning, will send you to collections for not "providing them with all of the parts after cancellation." Just another of the many reasons to NEVER consider using this company!!!!!! And to top it all off, we payed an ASTRONOMICAL amount for really crappy, constantly interrupted service.
1-15-10
J.:
I have about the same crap stories that I have read already with the pole mount, the fee when you send the equipment back the whole nine yards. This is my concern. For the first month it ran great and I didn't have a complaint at all. The next month we had a few storms come through that lasted about a week and we could not get online at all. If we did get online it would kick us off after about 5 mins. I called them and they said it was due to the storms. This is understandable being your traveling into space to get the signal right. The third month especially the first half of the month it ran better than it did the first month. But A guy shows up out of the blue one day saying he noticed some signal issues with our satellite and I tell him that there hasn't been a problem in awhile now. He insists to go check it to make sure its in line and no obstructions in the way. So I said ok what could it hurt right. This is the fourth month I have had wildblue and since he looked at our satellite it hasn't ran over 160k per second. Now they say they can send someone out for a house call fee. But they send a guy for no apparent reason??? Just so some of you know 160k per second is doubling the speed of dial up pretty much. Wildblue is suppose to run between 450 and 500k per second. What a joke wildblue has been and I have to deal with it until I have another internet option to go with.
1-13-10
S.B.:
I don't know if I can add to what I have read from others, only confirm it to be the truth. This is by far the worst service I have ever had of ANY service and I mean any type of service I have ever had. The connection is worthless and their "customer service" is even worse. I was also suckered into the pole mount for an extra $150, what a scam. I have attempted to access web pages like myspace or facebook only to wonder if anything at all was happening. At this point just for a laugh I would run Speakeasy web speed checker only to find that I am downloading at 80k or so. I am on the 512k plan the "cheapest" plan they have. When I call and complain about the connection (to their don't care about your problem service department) they recommend I upgrade to the next level and that will solve the problem. Being a fairly logical person, I ask the question...if it don't deliver rated speed on the plan I am on, why would it magically start working better if I started paying more per month? I have called them on this a number of times and have gotten a different answer each time, just amazing what a complete scam operation this company is. I truely can't believe they are still in operation. This is by far the worst internet service I have every had, dial up is cheaper and more reliable. I tell everyone I can.......don't get wildblue. I am only four months into my contract and am seriously considering cancelling it and paying whatever it takes to end this nightmare.
1-2-10
L.M.:
I wish I had seen this before ordering Wildblue. Now I am obligated to stay with this company for 2 years. If anyone knows a legal way to get out of this contract please share this info!
How can they bill me for service that I am not getting? I would LOVE to go to court with these people; what they are doing is so blatantly wrong and they are very arrogant about it. Perhaps because they know there is nothing we can do about it. Even though I am not even at half my bandwidth allowance, it is sooooo slow; if it connects at all. Unbelievable! If you are reading this and thinking about getting wildblue service... DONT! I PROMISE YOU, YOU WILL REGRET IT!
12-26-09:
B.N.:
I ordered wildblue on 11/24/09. still hadnt seen an installer by 12/18/09. sent the equipment back. spent days trying to get ahold of someone on the phone. finally did, got told they were gonna keep half my payment for 'restocking' fee. I asked why i should be penalized for thier installer nvr showing up, was told corporate headquarters would get ahold of me. it is now the day after xmas, no internet, the equipment has been back for a day, no real person phone call, and no refund whatsoever.and to top it off, when i try to call thier office, i get this' we operate mon thru fri on MST?!?! worst customer support ive ever dealt with with any company ever! including Saitek!(long horrible story there too!)to top it off, the installer showed up the day i sent the equip back, no call or warning, and went into the whole im gonna need to put a pole in the ground that costs 150 dollars, wheni have a 4 inch sched 40 pole in the ground for my old big sat dish. (16 feet in the air with no guide wires, steady as a rock!) i tell him ive already sent the equipment back, and his response is this ' Im sorry to hear that, wildblue is the best internet service available at this time, but the company that subcontracts out thier installing, has been sending work orders to companys over a hundred miles away from our area, in another state no less. so, it appears to me that wildblue has a cpl of good salesmen, to take your call and card number, but when the time comes for service, repair or refund, theres no one available to take your call. Im quessing ill have to just write off the 100 bucks, and learn from my mistake that wildblue is not, nor will it ever be the internet company for me. ill just stick to my 15 dollar a month, 26.4 conn speed dialup internet that works, and has a real person to answer the phone, instead of some computer voice asking me if i want it in spanish.
12-23-09
H.B.:
I have had my own horror story. First of all, we all need to get ahold of attorney and file a class action lawsuit against WildBlue and all of its affiliates. I went online and signed up for WildBlue. I gave them my debit card number and they took the money out of my account. I never received a confirmation email so when I seen that the money was taken out of my account, I waited a few days to see if I would hear from them. I never heard anything, so I called them. I told them what had happened and they said I would need to call the installers. Now what kind of customer service is that? I have to call the installers myself? So I called the number and the installers proceeded to tell me that I would have to pay an extra $150 because they would have to do a pole install. Now why wasn't this represented on their website? I filled out what type of dwelling unit I lived in, whether it had a foundation or not, and what type of roof I had, yet there was nothing on the website stating that there would be an extra charge if a pole install had to be done. Had I known that I wouldn't have put the transaction through. So I told them I could not afford the extra fee and requested that they cancel the order. Then I got in an argument with them because they said that I would have to pay a $49.95 restocking fee. It argued with them over that and told them NO WAY! They should've had that info. on their website. So they said they would put it in the computer but they could not guarantee anything. I said ok, and I waited a few days and still did not receive a refund. So I called them again, this time they tell me it will take 30-45 days to process the refund. To make a long story short, I told them off again and I was fuming by now. During this time, I kept receiving harassing phone calls that I needed to return their equipment. I had already traveled 120 Miles to home ()because I was at my dad 's house taking care of Estate matters, and taken their flippen equipment to a UPS drop off store and put their prepaid postage on it and returned it. So I had to call them once again and tell them to quit calling me, that I had already returned the equipment. The calls stopped after that. I have since called them two more times demanding a refund, and never received one. On top of that, they sent me a bill for $300 saying I never returned their equipment. Even though the last customer service rep. informed me that they had received the equipment back. So after I received the bill from them, I wrote a letter to their corporate office in Colorado. That was over a month ago. Although I have not received another bill from them, I have not received a refund either. I have threatened them with legal action, it has done no good. We cannot allow them to take advantage of people anymore. Also, their affiliate Bridgevine, who was the installer for Montana, has a class action lawsuit pending against them. I believe it is in the same state as this, people are trying to get one going, but have not accomplished it yet. COME ON PEOPLE, HELP US GET OUR MONEY BACK!! I have had it with corporate people like this. They take advantage of people and steal money. I am a single parent and can't afford to just give someone $100, or $99.95 to be exact. If we owed them money and couldn't afford to pay them, it would be turned over to collection, we would receive harassing phone calls until the bill was paid, and it would screw up our credit. Why shouldn't we turn the tables and let them see what it feels like to owe someone money. It does no good to call their customer reps. I have been doing that since September. It is almost January now, I want my money back.
11-20-09
G.C.:
1. No possible way to pay EVEN more and eliminate download/upload limit.
2. Customer service is absolutely HORRIBLE and I'm getting a consistent "I don't know" and "No"....
3. No other option for me, which is why they have my business in the first place...
10-18-09
S. & C.:
We too are living in regret now with our choice of wild blue as our provider. The only thing I ever had before wb was dial-up, and I got tired of it. So, as a birthday gift, my boyfriend got me wb (doesn't even deserve to be capitalized, let alone spelled out)! We talked about it, and I found the cheapest satellite internet I could, and we went with it. Which is still outrageous to me! Living out in the boonies, unfortunately we do not have DSL, or any kind of cable internet available to us yet. So, it's either dial-up or satellite. Well, I got an email from wb last night saying something about fair access policy. I read into it, only to discover that you only get a certain amount of usage out of the 100%? I thought it reset each month, because it was at 92%, and I check it every few weeks, and told my boyfriend that it never reset, and that I did not know what would happen if it reached 100%. So, I called wb, and they informed me, that it doesn't reset, and said something about it going back to 70% at some point. Is this what we pay $65.00/mo for? Only getting 30% of what appears to be 100% max usage? They never mention that you better stretch it out over a 24 month period, do they? And not to mention, when it rains, we have no connection, even with the slightest drizzle! And all of the other times they have issues with the main source, we do not have a connection here. The wind was blowing one day, and even made us lose the connection. Pretty sad. And it is not much better than dial-up. In fact dial-up is the only guaranteed connection between the two. I really wish we could be paying 3/4 less that this crap for dsl or cable internet that I am sure would be 100x's faster! My cousin three miles down the road has it, and an older computer but doesn't even have to wait for anything to load. So, we are like 8 months into this contract, and it's bull. Do not do it, stick with your dial up, or anything else before you go with wb.
10-1-09
J.H.:
I have had Wildblue since March 2006. Wildblue is NOT what it is billed to be. It is being over sold to customers creating numerous problems, a money hungry company. Several local sellers of Wildblue have stopped selling it because of the bad service. The modem has to be reset numerous times a day. The TRIA has to be replaced at least once a year. I am on the Laredo Gateway. Having Wildblue is nothing but a NIGHTMARE. Dail-up using 56K is faster, trust me. The only advantage to Wildblue over dial-up is the faster download once it starts. But surfing the Internet, shopping on E-bay, & etc. is a NIGHTMARE with Wildblue. Long lag times in speed & pages loading. Hopefully I will be getting RID of Wildlbue shortly, which will not come quick enough.
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It's the same problem again. The Wildblue TRIA is out again. Wildblue talked me into a Service Policy Plan they have for $120.00 extra, said this would be a help, WHAT A RIP OFF!. Gave me a ticket order number & a work order # & the service tech Phone # to call & Wildblue would inform them also to arrive at house to fix the problem. BIG MISTAKE! Two days ago I called the tech # & the person advised me they stopped installing Wildblue years ago because of bad service & equipment, to many complains on Wildblue. AND Wildblue is still giving this # out for service work knowing these people stopped installing WILDBLUE years ago.
It has been 3 days that Wildblue has been down, no internet at $79 plus tax a month. I have talked to 5 or 6 different people each time I call on the phone at Wildlbue. SAME OLD STORY, looking for a tech that will take the service call. STAY AWAY FROM WILDBLUE...it is a NIGHTMARE. THIS IS THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED AGAIN!
9-29-09
K.T.:
We just moved out in the country and we cannot get cable were we moved .We use to have comcast the hole 3 phone ,cable ,internet .But we called comcast before we moved they told use it was like 1 from where we lived .And we had to get the dish satilite and wild blue it really suxs .If it rains it goes out and if anyone has there lap top on it want work SO I REALLY HATE IT.
9-22-09
C.L.:
I haven'i even had wild Blue a whole month yet and my whole family hates it. 1st of all, they failed to tell me it was not unlimited internet. I didn't even know there was internet that wasn't unlimited. I was told that since my husband was in the Army and we move around a lot Wild Blue would be perfect for us because we would never have to look for and pay to get internet hooked up again and that they would always come do it for free. I was also told it was very fast and I would never loose connection. we ALWAYS loose connection. Its super slow, and apparently we have the value package even though when asked what it would be mainly used for I told them my children playing Wow ( an online game) and we went over our usage wg=hich I didnt know anything about in the 1st place and our internet got shut off. I cant use my e-mail. They have tried to help me set it up and even the technicians said there was nothing they could do that their was something wrong beyond their capibilities of helping. That means I can not see my bill (since they told me they will not mail one b/c they only do paperless, and I can not check my usage.) I asked them how I could get out of my lease and they said well you have a 2 year lease and to break it, it costs 15 a day x 24 so that would be $360 I already paid $299 plus another $100 for a pole mount. The installer was going to charge even more if he had to get under the house or if he had to put it anywhere other then right on the other side of the wall where the computer would be. I don't know, I am very unhappy with them. I would not refer them to anyone. I would like info on getting out of this lease if anyone has any. My husband was so mad the other day he called and comcast is coming tomorrow morning to hook up cable internet. I dont really want to pay for internet I'm not using but they suck so bad we had no other option but ordering internet through someone else.
9-19-09
K.K.:
I was a Wild Blue user. (I have a seasonal residence and when I wanted to restart my service they informed that since I had suspended for more than six months I would need to buy a new modem and start a new plan which obligated me to pay every month for two years( I would loose the ability to suspend). I told them i would check out my options. I ended up installing Hughes Net which has been very good. Installer was prompt and professional. He did mention that he used to represent Wild Blue as well but stopped because of the problems with their equipment. I use the service for business and upgraded to 79.95 per month package. I have had no dropped service issues at all and am getting great speeds. I also like their polcies much better for example on suspending service and FAP.
9-17-09
B.S.:
Wild blue is awful. I am fapped from a one day spike and now must use dial up which actually isn't all that bad compared to Wildblue for email. How absurd to slow you down to the point that it is unusable and still charge you full price. What monopolistic practice and how could they be permitted to do this without any regulation. I am done being a sucker. The only thing corporations truly understand is no money coming in. I survived with dial up before.....I hate it...it is awful that rural America has no options except this overpriced garbage but that is the nature of our corporatocracy--we just aren't sufficient in numbers to justify the infrastructure. Screw 'em.
9-17-09
R.W.:
Wildblue wasn't bad when I first got it. But it went downhill as it got oversold. I couldn't stay connected long enough to even complete an email. I am a computer tech with 30 years experience, I own a computer store. But wildblue always blamed my computers or routers or the weather. I paid for a service call(no problem found) and spent hours doing useless stuff on the phone with them. I waited a second time for there so called tech to come back all day and he never showed. So I switched to verizon wireless mifi. It works great even when I travel and is at least 5 times faster. 5GB limit is tough but it will have to do.
When I disconnected wildblue offered to replace my equipment for free if I would sign a new contract. When I said no thanks they told me to destroy MY old equipment because if anyone connected with it they would charge my CLOSED account. What kind of sleeze ball company threatens you like that.
I would recommend anything but wildblue. It would have to be free and even then it wouldn't be worth it.
9-7-09
K.S.:
1) limited bandwidth. you never get the speed you pay for.
2) buying stuf on line is interrupted, often you don't know if what you bought or what you paid for.
8-25-09
G.B.:
Wild Blue Sucks!! I was suckered in by there faster than fast advertising and by the advice of one of the people selling the over priced slow internet service. I then found out about the lag time, as it was called, the time to send the signal to a satellite and back to earth. They could have told me that before I spent $300.00 on equipment, and $50.00 per month on internet service. Double what I was paying for internet and certainly not any faster. I have spend hours on the phone with the Wild Blue people, only to be told I am within the normal range of what should be expected for wild blue. I can however go up to a more expensive package and get faster service. I refuse to give them any more money than I already am, only to be lied to again. Also, they told me that this service was not intended to watch movies, such as Netflix, etc. If anyone is taking the time to read this, do yourself a big favor and check into any other type of service you can find. Wild Blue Sucks!!
8-24-09
D.K.:
Wildblue is one of the biggest scams out there. The details of my experience are long, so I'll spare you most of it. After 15 months of an 18 month contract, I violated the FAP on upload, not download (I honestly didn't know there was a FAP, and if I had, would never have signed up). I was furious and after spending about 6 hours on the phone with customer support, including getting hung up on 5 times when I requested a supervisor, was told that it was impossible to speed my connection back up before the end of the month, and even if it were possible they wouldn't do it (in reality, it's a matter of unchecking a box). I told them I was through, I was cancelling right then and as I got wildblue through dishnetwork, if I had to pay a termination fee I would cancel dishnetwork too. They didn't care, so I cancelled and paid the fee. I then called Dishnetwork and was transfered to their retention folks. I was no longer under contract with dishnetwork, and after explaining the situation to them, they credited my account the termination fee, the final months service fee, and gave me the full sports package free for a year. I didn't have a dishnetwork bill for 4 months because of this. So, wildblue sucks, but if you subscribe to them through dishnetwork and want to quit, dishnetwork will take care of you. I now use a wireless (not wifi) internet connection. I pay about the same as I did for wildblue, for 2 down 1 up, and the beautiful part is unlike wildblue where I regularly got slower speed than I pay for, with my wireless ISP I regularly get 3 down and 2 up. My advise to everyone in rural areas, check and see if anyone offeres wireless internet. Stay away from any satellite internet provider, especially wildblue.
8-12-09
M.:
I am unemployed and when I go to fill out applictions on-line it takes 3 to 4 hours just to fill the appliction because I get logged off. Now I call there customer service and they tell me it is my fault. But when I test my connection I am fine. Now I am a Network Engineer CERT Microsoft Systems Engineer. Then they say I am over my usage what is that crap. How can that happen when all I do is check my E-mails and fill out job applications. Now to top it off your stuck in a contract with them.
8-6-09
J.G.:
Like many others, I am horribly dissatisfied with WildBlue. We, unfortunately, live in a rural area so our choices are satellite or dial-up. I had Earthlink dial-up for the first year we lived here but then decided to try out WildBlue. What a joke. We too are paying nearly $80 per month, and I have maybe 2-3 days per month where the speeds seem faster than dial-up. If we have so much as a cloud anywhere on the horizon, we lose our signal and have to wait forever to regain anything. I have finally just given up on calling customer support. I call, and it's the same story every time. It can't possibly be a WildBlue issue - it must be my computer - so let's start messing with the settings! We have learned to live with our crap service, but I get very fired up at times when I realize how much money I am paying for this. My daughter lives about 2.5 miles from me, as the crow flies, and she has DSL, phone, and satellite for her TV for less than we pay for the pleasure of WildBlue...something just ain't right here...
8-5-09
S.R.:
Wild Blue itself is one waste of money. I spent hundreds of dollars trying to connect online, but always so SLOW. It would take one hour just to read my email!!! Mobile Devices like my son's games freeze up and stop just connecting online to it. We've tried other places and they work just fine. Never with wild blue. WE are not paying more money to replace fraud equipment and have our bill doubled for no reason!
8-3-09
S.C.:
I work for a company that did installs for Wildblue......Let me tell you....People hated it!! Every day I had people calling me about how much they hated their service and hated us for selling it to them and installing it in their homes. Let me tell you I am glad to say we are not doing work for WildBlue and I don't miss the phone calls one bit!!!!! People beware.....DON'T DO IT!!
7-26-09
J.H.:
I was an installer for Wildblue for a couple of years. I had to carry at least 5 TRIA's on the truck along with at least 4 Modems. When the TRIA's first come out they seemed to last a long time.When the new Wildblue satellite went up they had to change polorazation. It seems that is when things went downhill. I was always going on service calls which resulted in a TRIA replacement. What I was upset about was that the customer was being charged for a part that seemed to fail on a regular basis. Then Wildblue decided that the price that they paid us for a servicecall was going to be decreased. Sometimes I traveled 100 miles to replace a part and I didn't get enough to pay for the gasoline that I used. On top of that they wanted us to spend at lest 6 hours installing a system and at least 2 hours on a service call. I could not make any money doing that.
If you read all of the positive reviews thay are from Wildblue. I did not have one customer that liked it. Wildblue does not work. The most important thing is sales not service or realibility. I have spent 6 hours on my cell phone to fix a problem to find out it was a Wildblue problem not the customers equipment.
7-24-09
H.E.:
Awful support. Definitely do not recommend! Horror stories. Brutal tech support. I think they sit around and laugh at us and don't care about customer satisfaction.
7-23-09
R.:
Comments: I live on a farm in Central Texas (between Abilene and San Angelo.) I've had WildBlue for 3 years and I have their premium service. I pay $85 per month and I can state that the service runs (on my Macintosh) nearly as slow as my previous dial-up connection. It runs a tad faster on my VAIO laptop, despite I run the laptop in a wireless configuration and the Mac is hardwired Cat-5 into my router.
If you have a Mac, you'll be exceedingly disappointed in WildBlue. And for $85 per month (you have to factor in the tax in this bill) you'll wonder why your friends living in a city get blistering speeds for $30-45 per month and yet rural folks are getting soaked (as I am) though WildBlue.
They do not allow contacting the for trouble-shooting via e-mail. You have to call. Trouble with this is, WildBlue management doesn't understand many of us "rural folk" no longer have wired phone and we use cell phones. Calling WildBlue by phone, you are placed on "hold" for really long times and this eats up my cell phone minutes. In essence, there is NO customer support.
As soon as a competitor hits the market, I'll bid WildBlue farewell.
7-2-09
B.P. :
I am writing this to say thank you, Thank you for keeping me from making a horrible mistake.
Lets start from the beginning:
Three weeks ago our Hughesnet satelite was once again taken out during a lightning storm. This was the third time in less then two years. After Hughes wanting us to sign yet ANOTHER contract for a new modem I started to wonder....
I went out and looked, and sure enough the satelite was NOT grounded, and surely would have been taken out yet again even after a new modem.
So, we left Hughesnet, and looked into WildBlue. (FIRST mistake).
We got online, and went to their website after receiving a postal advertisment, and did a little reading up on them, and decided to give them a try (SECOND mistake).
Well, we called WildBlue, and talked to a really nice guy who took us through the contract, through what he called the setup process, and what would happen. He assured us that we would NOT be charged ANYTHING until our system was hooked up, and within a few days to a week, we would be back on high speed internet.
Well, after three days a huge box was delivered from WB using the UPS delivery company, and we thaught, WOW!! thats fast, now what?
So..here is where the nightmare begins.....
First off, they delivered the satelite next door, and we went to get it and brought it home. Then we called WB and asked them when it would be installed, they told us to expect a call from the installer the same day. WOW!!! what great service (or so we thought).
The same day as the call we waited all day long at home, with no call from the installer. NOTHING!!! an entire day waisted. We figured..oh well, maybe tomorrow (THIRD mistake).
The following day we called WildBlue, and asked them when to expect the installer to call, and we were given the installers phone number, and told to call him ourselves. WOW!! this was NOT good service already, but we figured..okay, we can do this.
We called the installers phone number only to get a recording, so we left a message. TWICE during that day.
The very next morning I awoke and dialed the installers phone number very first thing (about 9am) and again, got a "leave a message" recording. So, I left yet another message.
Now, by this time I was starting to wonder about WildBlue, and went to the internet, and did a search on "WildBlue Horror Stories" and found this website, and others with hundreds, if not thousands of horror stories, and went further to look up WHY there were so many problems.
I called our banking institution and low and behold, WildBlue had taken out $99.95 from my account, PRIOR to the unit being installed, DIRECTLY contradicting what we were told by the sales rep at WildBlue. Much less to say by this time I was horrified about what we were about to get into.
Two days later~ We get a phone call from the installer, This is what I was told, this is NOT a direct quote, but pretty close to it. " Ya know man, I am really busy right now, is this JUST a satelite install, or do you like have the television and other stuff too"? I told him, No, this is just a satelite. he said...
" Well, ya know, I would do it by this weekend, but I got like all kinds of private stuff to do, maybe I can find some time to install your satelite next weekend. But, thats not a sure thing, because I have been trying to get some help, these damb satelites take up so much of my time".
I thought, good lord, this guy acts like its a pain in his butt to do his job, and then I GOT MAD!!!
So, I went to my bank, had the debit transaction for WildBlue canceled, and called WB to tell them to pick up their damb satelite, and that we had enough.
We were told there was a $50.00 restocking fee, and I told them to go strait to heck, and that they could DREAM about getting any money from this. They lied to me about not taking ANY money until AFTER the install was complete, they LIED about when it would be hooked up, the installer was not available, and I was NOT about to be taken by WildBlue at all!!! period!
Much less to say, I had to have my debit card canceled to prevent them from taking any monies for this, and had to drop their satelite off at a ups drop station, but...thank God, we are not under contract.
Since then I have re-read their terms of use, and WOW!! they are worse the Hughesnet, if you go over their allowed bandwidth it appears they cut you off for the rest of the month, not just a day like Hughes.
WARNING~ Stay away from HUGHES...stay AWAY from WildBlue..dialup may be slower, and I may get "sniped" on eBay, but dang, thats better then what I have personially expierenced from both these companies.
Oh, and just a quick note: Hughesnet sent us a bill for time remaining, even though the modem was THEIRS, and we were not able to get online, and they did not ground the satelite..did they get their money? heck no!!! LOL.
Thank you for letting me vent, and hopefully, hopefully someone else can be prevented from getting hooked on WB.
6-27-09
J.B.:
WildBlue service lived up to the 1mb service I purchased but only at 4:00 AM. In the evening it was down to around 250k. After two evening on the phone with support I got no where. I started doing my own speed tests using Toast and accumulated quite a few screen shots showing the difference using different computers (XP, Ubuntu, OS/X) using multiple browsers (IE, FireFox, Safari, Chrome) at the various times of day. After I accumulated quite a few so that there was no disputing their service does not perform well in the evenings (Suggesting they over sold their capabilities) I then filed a complaint with the State of Tennessee. To make a long story short, WildBlue terminated my contract and refunded me my initial $326 set-up.
6-24-09
J.:
Wish I would have found this a week a go had installed last thursday disconnected on monday wow 700.00 later dial up is faster.
6-16-09
D.F.:
Had it for a few years now. Got ripped on install, billed my cc for over $500, all my problems were on my end according to techs, but they weren't, just had equipment problem and they told me $196 for service call or $116 if I extended for a year.
Found out they extended my service two years not one, so cancelled credit card and am switching to Hughes. My credit is good enough to take a ding from them, Am Exp was real helpful.
5-29-09
J.A.:
well i have had wildblue for two years and im ready to shoot some one it sucks. they cut u back if you use to much. it never works . i hate it im sending it back . soon as i get the box.ill go back to dail up there not getting any more of my money.
5-13-09
D.C.:
WildBlue is a joke!!! 512kb/s my ass!!! most i have ever seen is 70kb/s... 30kb/s is typical on a clear day. Surfing the web is very slow(dial-up slow) due to a delay when retrieving pages. If the speeds were closer to what they are supposed to be the upload/download limit(also a joke) would be a huge problem (only a medium problem now, we have maxed it out many times). No use contacting company they say the ridiculously slow speeds are normal. ... Would not recommend, can't wait until the contract is up.
5-6-09
M.U.:
You are right. Wild Blue sucks! I certainly hope they are not going to get any Federal money for expanding the internet into rural areas. I say their CEO on TV talking about it. I for one plan on writting my congressman to let him know they are not worth a penney. I pay almost $100/month and service is slower than dial-up. Hughes net is the same. I was never advised of the FAP and get hit all the time. In fact I bet this won't even go through.
5-5-09
M.C.:
Worst of the worst. Would never suggest Wildblue to anyone. Service lousy, Customer Service lousy. Canceled service and was still charged for next month. Took over a month to get refund and then they didn't give me full amount. Too many calls!
4-3-09
L.:
I agree, WildBlue sucks and their customer service reps have no power to deal with unsatisified customers. When I first got their service it worked pretty good, but after a month or two it was downhill from there with slower than shit connections. I called them, they sent out service techs and it was never fixed. All the service reps do is refer back to the contract. I cancelled my service 2 months ago and they just now charged my account early termination fees without EVER sending me notification they were going to deduct the money from my account, so now I am overdrawn..I lived up to my end of the deal paying monthly for their shitty service until I could run my mail to people on foot faster than I could connect to a website on their shitty service. LOL. So now I guess I will begin the journey of contacting every website, BBB, Attorney General, my Govenor, Consumer Affairs and the local TV station to complain about their crappy business practices. I just feel, contract or no contract, if we, as consumers, are not happy with a service that does not live up to their claims of providing good service we should not have to pay for it or their rip-off early termination fees. Now I know why these companies have early termination fees, it is becuz their service is shitty and they know they can rip the public off when they cancel their shitty services.What a rip-off. We need to start a class-action suit. Anyone know how to do it? I am game...
4-17-09
D.C.:
I signed up with WB on January 30th, 2009. On February 2nd, 2009, I was told that I had reached my bandwidth and my connection speed would be cut in half. I have only one computer in the house connected to the Internet, which has a download speed of 58 whole kbps, but somehow I managed to go through my bandwidth in two days. I spend most of my time now on the phone with the idiots at WB; who know less about computers and networks than my five year old nephew. A supervisor, (LaQuieesha, no shit, her real name is LaQuieesha) told me that I am only entitled to one megabyte downloads every thirty days. I actually have twelve and a half gigabytes per thirty days and apparently go through that just checking my email.
This morning I was told by some skank at WB that I would not be getting a refund of any kind and that if I cancelled my contract I would have to pay $385.00 early termination fees. I have fulfilled my end of the contract by paying my bill, but WB has not given me any type of service for my $79.00 a month. I am a Computer Networking major at TCU and decided today to create a web site about how shitty WB is, so that others are not tricked into signing a contract with the sorry excuse of an ISP, and to my amazement one already exists.
I can’t wait to show this site to everyone I meet.
4-5-09
J.S.:
In the 2 weeks i have had Wildblue, I have found it to be one of the worst services EVER! I hate it, hate it, hate it. I COULD COMMUNICATE BETTER WITH SMOKE SIGNALS. I signed up for the Value package with a 2 YEAR commitment, and I am trying everything in my power to have it canceled without the $315 dollar termination fee. It is so slow, slower than my dial-up. I wish I had found all this info before I signed the contract. I wonder if a class action law-suit is a possibility. I am so pissed-off (after spending close to 3 hours on the phone over the last couple of days) that I can't even do this anymore right now. I'll be back.
3-27-09
T.W.:
I just came across this site by accident but I am glad to see other people hate wildblue as much as I did. I signed up with wildblue before they had even launched their first satellite and was told I would be one of their first to use them via their test program. But when that time came they said oh we decided only to use people that live near our home office and you will have to wait until we can get a co op near you to come and install it. So after blasting the sales person on the phone they gave me the name and number of the co op near me and when I called it I was told they was not going to install any as they could not get the equipment because they had recalled it for it was already bad. So I was about to give up when a Friend of mine had started to install wildblue and I would be the first one as soon as the equipment came in. He installed it the next week and because he was my friend I help him install it I didn't have to pay for the install only the crappy equipment. I have to say when I first got it it worked ok because they did not have very many customers on it at that time. The FAP at that time was a true 30 day not that 30 day rolling crap that works out to 60 days. At the 6 month mark they sent a installer from some where else to change out the tria on the dish as it was recalled for some reason. After that it was alright until the 13 month when the tria that they replaced burned out and I was told my equipment was out of warranty and They didn't give a crap if I fixed or not. So like a dummy I had my friend come out and put a new one on which cost $150.00 and he told me that he had to go replace everyone of the ones they had replaced under their recall. Then came the rolling 30 day crap which really means 60 days. Also they only allow you 70% before they say we are going to FAP you so if you have the pro pak which states you can use 17000mb per 30 days,but you are only allowed 70% which is 12000mb so if you divide that by 30 days that is only 400mb per day and with wildblue they monitor 24 hours with no free time. And if you surf alot and maybe down load a few updates and one you tube video you will use more than 400mb a day. any who I decided to terminate the service as my contract was up and they had sold so many units that the service was becoming shitty and I could not upload a simple picture to the web anymore and when I called customer service and waited for an hour to talk to any body they would always be ass wipes with the we are never wrong and you are just mad because you missed up and we don't care. They was actually glad that I canceled the service as I complained to much and then it took two months to get my extra month refund back after we called them several times about it.Oh by the way my friend stop selling it because they would want him to do more with no extra pay for his time or any extra for any extra cable or pipes he had to use, they would say you will just have to get it from the customer your self. Wildblue is just a big old company that don't care about customer service and they thing people will take their crap because they may not have cable or dsl near them. I am not a salesman for Starband but It is soooo much better then Wildblue. I hope somebody is able to take wildblue for some of their money through a good old law suit as they deserve it bad.
3-9-09
G.M.:
well right now since day one we had issues with wild blue failing to have the brokers inform customers of the fap and as well not informing the customer that the optimizer that they install has a piggy back that allows trojans to enter customers computers during initial set up which causes the throttling and the bandwidth to jump however escalations denies this im a pc technician and have software which stops this from happening however had to replace my mb because of it it killed the slave port on my primary ide but still wb denies that it exists unfortunately upgraded to pro just to get decent bw and used my optimizer to up the com speed but still lose service on beam 28 syracuse alot only did i get an answer after i reported them to bbb and now i am seeing normal bw usage on my meter but yes cable and dsl and dial up is far better than this sincerely frustrated at this if ane 1 one is filing a lawsuit sign me up this is false advertisement (promising High speed but throttling it without notice when you call to set up service through a broker)( Bait and Switch ane1?)
K.:
AHHHH! I want to shoot myself! I cannot believe it is this bad! Thank you for the opportunity to scream! At least I am not imagining how bad Wildblue is…
2-25-09
K.A.:
We have had Wildblue since May of 2008 (no other internet available). It took two months just to get on-line, and have had nothing but problems since. 30 minute phone calls to Technical Service. Transfers...you get it! I just don't understand how a company like this is still in business! Can they really be this inept? Come on!!!
2-22-09
D.S.:
Hopefully some lawyer will jump on this pharce of and internet service. Wildblue is the worst service by far. Connections are slower than dail ups. We started out with there 55 dollar a month service than started getting emails about our usuage. So we kept upgrading the service now it 90 a month. Our service is so slow I can go out for coffee and be back before the web sites are found. They told us many excuses even try blaming our computers, so we went out and bought the latest laptops available guess what our speed got slower. When our contract is up I'm going back to dail-up for faster speed.
2-22-09
E.:
Wild Blue sucks. Satellite is my only high speed option, as DSL is not available in my area. Could you please reply to my e-mail address above and tell me a better satellite ISP?
2-16-09
M.P.:
Wildblue - bane of my existance. I got two accounts with these clowns for use in a summer camp. We used the service for 3 months a year, paid for it year round. Yet they still hit us with the "FAP" after just a couple of weeks. Slowest service ever. Now, after having my accounts on voluntary suspension since September, they are sending my account to collection for not paying for my service since I suspended the account. I am done. No more Wildblue, no more headaches. I don't care if I have to go back to dial up, at least it delivers what it promises. The worst is customer service though, so arrogant, so unable to admit they made an error, and completely incapable of saying anything off script, like "refund".
Avoid these clowns like the plague.
2-4-09
J.D. :
I filed a complaint on them with the better business today. Perhaps you should do the same.
2-4-09
J. :
I'm soooo happy that contract is up with Wildblue. After suffering through years of dial-up I thot I would give them a try - mainly because cable wasn't avail in my area. After paying way too much money to have the equipment installed -- connection was almost as slow as dial-up. I went TWO months with no service, called WB and it took a month to send someone out. They sent the same person who installed the service and he admitted he didn't hook it up correctly - the dish was loose and wasn't positioned correctly. After he left, I called WB to report what he had told me - ofcourse he didn't put it in his notes, so they offered me a refund of one month. I had to call them back 3 or 4 times to get the refund pushed through. FINALLY high speed internet is offered in my are through my phone company - I called WB to cancel the service and was told I had to call the day of the disconnect - my new service will be installed Monday, so I need to call Sunday. Last night a WB tech called to say he'll be in my area and noticed that I wasn't getting a great connection and offered to come out for FREE and fix the problem. I told him not to bother - gee, I wonder if my recent call to disconnect triggered them to contact me now that my 1 year contract is up???? Can't wait to stop paying almost $50 a month for a crappy connection!!
12-22-08
D.J. :
How True! I've been a customer for a few months and have had a few experiences that sucked!! Day one the installer wouldn't place the connection in the room my computer was located, forcing me to buy a d-link wireless router. (another 50+bucks) Then telling me my computer was the problem.
It was new and never had been on the internet. We were told that this, even at the econo cost was going to be better then the dial up. What crap that was. The salesman did everything in his power to keep me hooked. Even promised me hard wiring to my computer anywhere in my house - no extra charge. The installer shows up and it's a different story. I was in a great need for good service - Business run at home - so I got suckered into this
service. What did I get? Problems form day one with no solutions and continued run arounds. I tried to cancel the contract but they always come up with a patchwork solution to my problems. I would never recommend this internet connection to anyone!!!!!!
9-3-08
B. :
You can add me to the list of pissed off WildBlue customers. This shit is slower than dial up and costs 4 time as much. They feed you bullshit about how your browsers cache is full or maybe its your router. Bullshit I pay $55.00 a month to download at 10 kbps. To hell with WildBlue I can't wait to cancle my contract. I definatley don't reccomend WildBlue to anybody.
8-15-08
T. :
I just signed up with WildBlue and I am shocked that it can be that bad. I was not aware that the equipment was not under warranty, especially if defective out of the box or from improper installation by aiming the tria incorrectly.
8-14-08
J. :
during the past 51 days i have lost my connection 123 times for a total of 32.45 hours. has anyone else had the same problem????
8-5-08
M. :
I completely agree,i am trying to figure out a way to get out of their contract. I am only 3 months into their servise and it is the worst ISP experience I have ever had.You can't move on the web without your bandwidth meter jumping off the scales. M.
7-16-08
A. :
I feel the same way. If I shot my WildBlue dish with my shot gun would you want to put it on your website?
7-4-08
H.B. :
I have had a problem with wildblue ever since I signed on as a customer. I have even upgraded to the pro package and the speeds still suck. I have not had the system a year yet and was wondering if you know whether small claims court is worth while to try and get my money back?
5-2-08
J. :
I'm glad to see I'm not alone with this opinion of WildBlue. Yes indeed they suck ass. I'm with them right now, and unfortunetly no other choice as they are the only game with anything slightly faster that dial up. It's raining now, and everytime water gets on the LNB of the dish, the signal fades out. I solved the problem somewhat by placing a temporary cardboard housing over the LNB that is attached to the front reflector of the dish. This keeps the water off so I can have a connection for a while (I hope!).
3-31-08
D.W. :
Nice site. We got WB for our satelite shop office. At first, it did not work. Then they (installer contractor) tweeked it and got it to work. It was soo slow, we upgraded to the next speed. It is slower than dialup and I wait 45-1:15 for each phone call to CS and it is never resolved. Any ideas on how to terminate without the fee?
3-16-08
D. :
>>> High latency in the ValuePak level of service that makes web browsing slower than dial up. Even at Pro level the service gets slower every month.
>>> Email doesn't work much especially sending. I have had to use my company email POP and SMTP servers to send and receive my email reliably. Complained repeatedly on this and after two trouble tickets being created, it was never resolved but WildBlue did close both tickets without fixing the problems or even notifying me why they closed the tickets.
>>> Newsgroup downloads have been throttled down to 20-30 KB/s even though I have the Pro package.
>>> My hardware has been defective since day one. WildBlue refuses to replace. Numerous and daily disconnects.
>>> Shortly after hardware was installed the dish went out of alignment. Wildblue sent out technician to fix under the agreement they would not charge me. They charged my credit card anyway and won't refund.
>>> Even though I am out of contract, I have not changed service yet because of the high price to switch to HughesNet. I will soon though. Anything has to be better than WildBlue.
>>> Never, ever do business with WildBlue!!!!!
3-4-08
D.S. :
The equipment fails constently, but WB doesn't care they bill regaurdless!
There were other emails received from other dissatisfied WildBlue customers but unfortunately I deleted them (sorry). If you have complaints about the poor customer experience that comes from having WildBlue as your Internet "service" provider, use the Contact Form on this site to tell us your story and we will post it here.
I will be setting up a forum here for WildBlue customers to share their own WildBlue horror stories. Coming soon...