Complain about a product or service

Earthlink

Earthlink • Tech Support • Cancellation disputes • Billing problems • "Free" trial • Other offers • DSL cancellation • DSL installation • DSL speed • Mailstation

Earthlink is big all right. By most reckonings, it's the second largest Internet service provider after AOL. Unfortunately, it shares many of AOL's bad habits -- the most notorious being the near impossibility of cancelling the service.

Below is a sampling of recent complaints. Click the links to the right for more.

Lissette of miami, FL June 15, 2009

I switched my phone service and ISP to Earthlink about 3-4 years ago due to difficult financial situations and found I would save money with Earhtlink. Today, I regret the day I switched over to Earthlink. I have made endless calls for tech support due to my constant loss of Internet connection. Despite the fact that I have to wait an eternitiy on the phone, their tech support personnel are able to walk me through and get me back up again. There have been times where I have had to call almost every day for consecutive days.

My phone line is also with them. The clarity is horrible! The person on the other end sounds as if they are speaking under water. I use my house phone so I can conserve my cell phone minutes. When I call Earthlink I use my house phone and it becomes very difficult to understand them. This time around, I was without phone service for almost one week, my alarm wasn't working since Earthlink is VoIP, and my Internet service was unreliable. Not having my phone working was a safety to life issue since I would not have been able to call 911 should an emergency come up; should the alarm have been needed or gone off, etc. I have been paying their full monthly charge without receiving "full" service.

In the past, they have also notified me that my bill has been past due. I have had to call and complain several times, providing them with proof that my payments were made on time. After my last complaint, this has not been an issue again.

Morris of Windsor Mill, MD May 29, 2009

In the month of January 2009 within the week of the 19th I contacted EarthLink to set up a free standing DSL account with there company. At the time of my call I informed the service provider that my family had recent had some financial hardships and had to disconnect our home phone service. I was told by the service provider that EarthLink would however be able to provide internet services for my home. At the end of the call I received an account number.

Later that week I received an automated call from EarthLink stating that EarthLink would not be able to provide the services I requested due to the fact they didn't offer Freestanding DSL in our area. I then called back to EarthLink to confirm this information and at that time I received a cancelation number.

On May 27, 2009 my wife was reviewing my credit card statement and noticed a bill from EarthLink for the sum of 29.90 I then called EarthLink that same day and was told that still were billing me for internet services even though I requested the account be closed. When I demanded a refund of all funds billed from my credit card 119.60 I was told that they could not confirm that the account was original closed with out the cancelation number. However they would be willing to return two months of funds billed to my credit card. I informed the supervisor Mr.Geremich that this was not acceptable and that I would call back with the cancelation number. I was also given a reference number 146097344.

On May 28, 2009 I called back to EarthLink and provider the above mention cancelation number and was told that they understood the problem but would not refund any of my money. I am out 119.60 in credit card charges as a result of Eartlink billing for services that were never approved or provided. I may need to change my credit card information since I am unsure Earthlink will follow through and cancel my account or will continue to bill me.

Steven of San Francisco, CA May 15, 2009

Earthlink was not able to keep my service continuous. The Customer Service people were the worst in my 61 years. It became clear as we spent untold HOURS on the phone with India and the Phillipines that the title "Master Technician" was just that. It was only a title. Ever single person, with whom I dealt was exceedingly rude, unwilling to help. We spent many hours on hold, only to be hung-up on by both the useless phone computer AS WELL AS live humans. I have never been treated so poorly. They actually agreed that they were famous for stealing from former clients, by continuing to bill there credit cards or checking accounts after termination of service. One person told me I should "expect this" to happen to me, as "it seems to happen to everyone.

According to one earthlink, the "cancellation codes are sequential and assigned by the computer". That would mean that in the hour and a half between my cancelling one account and finally getting rid of the other... that over three thousand clients terminated accounts with Earthlink. One "tech" insisted that I was required to pay a 7.99 per month charge to connect with individuals knowledgeable in WiFi systems even though the computer was connected directly to their incredibly slow NETOPIA modem. I, for one, intend to sue. The DLS at my home businesss was completely OFF for over two weeks, with NO promised date for repair. All my patient efforts to cajol them into to taking my needs seriously was met with scorn, denial and abuse. I have yet to determine my financial losses, but they are SIGNIFICANT.

Asaad of Orange, CA May 9, 2009

I started with Mindspring in 1997 until Earthlink bought it and I have been with Earthlink ever since. SO I HAVE WASTED 12 years. I had 8MB speed that was downgraded to 3MB that was further downgraded to 1MB by Earthlink (level 3 technician) due that I was getting disconnected.

I have been calling Earthlink since January 2008 to cancel my service, but couldn't as they would keep me by giving me refunds. It has become worse and on May 8, 2009, when I called Earthlink and requested to cancel, Natasha told me that early termination would apply and she could not do anything about it. I said that you are interested to get your money, but what about my interest? I have been calling you for a year and a half and nothing has resolved.

Every time I call about disconnection, master technician III tells me that he/she would into it. Honestly, Earthlink is EVIL. Stay away. Save your money. And, if you have to spend it, then join Juno or Netzero. I am sure they would be faster and more customer friendly than Earthlink. Their advertisement "Earthlink revolves around you" is a LIE.

Jane of Chino, CA May 6, 2009

On December 19, 2008 I called to cancel an account that I had set up in 2002 for my elderly mother. I was told the account was cancelled and that I would be receiving a refund of 9.97. I never received the refund and instead have been charged 9.95 per month for the last 4 months. I called on March 9, 2009, and spoke to 'Sam' who apologized and told me he would issue the refund for the 9.97 and the 9.95 charges for February and March for a total of 29.87. That was not done. I called again on May 1, 2009 and spoke to Archie who repeatedly said he would cancel my account effective that day.

I repeatedly told him that I had already cancelled the account on December 19, 2008 and that I was just calling to be refunded my money, which now totaled 49.77. He said I would have to wait 3 days and call back for a refund. I called back on May 5, 2009 and spoke to Robin and then his supervisor, Nick, and was told that my account was closed on May 1, 2009. That although they had a record of my previous calls, the records indicated that while I had called to cancel, the representative had talked me into continuing my service. I argued that that was not true and asked for Nick's supervisor. Initially he told me there was no one higher than him. Eventually he said his supervisor was named Lise, but that she didn't take calls and there was nothing that could be done for me.

Mark of Metuchen, NJ April 24, 2009

Cancellation one day after charge - no credit. I called to cancel my service because Earthlink couldn't offer faster Internet speeds. I called one day after my new billing period started and my credit card was charged for the next month's service. I stopped using the service the day before they charged my card.

Any reasonable business would give a full credit for a future month of service that was never used. Earthlink is a completely unreasonable company and avoid them if you can. Lost 57.71.

Aimee of Milton, WV March 31, 2009

I have been having trouble with my internet connection. I am always getting errors and frequently cannot use the internet at all. I have placed at least 8 calls to Tech Support and never receive a satisfactory result. I have asked for credit since I am still paying for a service that I cannot use and the tech support team is not able to help me. I have not received a credit. The representatives I speak with always blame the error on my computer but there isn't any other problems occuring. I was also told I would receive a free modem when I sign up for my service and never received it.

When I called about the modem I was told it was not provided and a representative would never had told me that. THere is also a seriouse communication barrior since none of the representatives are American. Their English was fair but were still unable to completely understand the trouble I was having or unable to explain how to repair it. I was usually given a promise to send out another Earthlink CD to reinstall and have never received it.

I am unable to access the internet to order presciption medications for myself and my son. I have had to call our physicians and request new prescriptions to take to a local pharmacy. I operate a direct sales business from my home and am unalble to communicate with my clientel of over 150 scrapbookers. I have had to go to my neighbors to use their internet service to place business orders and I am still paying 14.95 a month for inadiquate service.

Lorraine of Hollywood, FL March 28, 2009

I have had my home phone service with Earthlink Voice for a couple of years and had no problems until a few months ago when I discovered that sometimes there is no dial tone and other times there is only static. Also, occasionally, my phone calls are interupted.

Paying for telephone service and not getting it 100% of the time is not right. I went to Live Chat once (the DSL continues to work!); when that person couldn't help me, she suggested that I call Earthlink, even though I had no telephone service. I did call on a cell phone and was informed that the problem is a national one!

Albert of North Hollywood, CA March 6, 2009

I'm sure you know about the Internet provider Earthlink I have DSL with Earthlink. They call me at least 30 times monthly. I am unable to add them to the do not call policy because I have an account with them. Here's my problem. 1st of all I always make my payment on-line for the 15th of every month (on time) On the 20th of every month I receive about 10 phone calls daily every day. I had asked them several times why they keep calling. Earthlink claims although my payments are always made on time. They must collect an additional 29.95 (my monthly payment amount at the end of the month to pay for nexts month payment that's not due for at least another 20 days. I had expalined that I had never agreed to make additional payments that are not due yet.

I had further explained if I'm not past due, please don't call me. They always insist I was never past due but an additional payment must be made now for next month. I got mad and asked Earthlink not to call me anymore. TO date they have called over 100 times to collect funds that are not owed. Please assist in having them not call me anymore. Besides I'm not the type of person to pay my mortgage payment twice in one month either. I think they are scamming people to show an increase in company profits.

Lots of rude people from Earthlink, mostly from India,calling over the phone every month for nothing. Demanding additional money not owed or due. Over 100 calls monthly.

Denise of Los Angeles, CA February 23, 2009

I signed up for DSL in my area of Los Angeles, CA. 90016 on December 12,2008. I tried to use the internet in Feb. 2009 and found out that I didn't have a connection. I started calling the customer service trying to get help with this problem. Italked to Paul the first time and got a ticket number and was told to call with in 24 hours. I called the next day and got a recording telling me to give them another day in order for them to fix the problem. This went on for a couple of weeks to no avail. I continued calling customer service and speaking to them over the telephone and I even went on line to speak to a customer service rep.

On Thurs. Feb 12,2009 I was home and called customer service again. I was once again passed around to several people who were unable to help with the problem. I was on the telephone for over an hour and a half between talking to people and them being transferred and waiting for the person to answer. I finally asked to speak to a supervisor and this is when I got to speak to Morgan Garcia. I had to explain everything all over again. He goes by some type of script because he wouldn't answer any questions I had or it seemed that he was not listening to me at all. He told me that he could pass me through to a technician for the problem and when I asked what would he do, I was told by Morgan that he couldn't answer that question.

I just realized that this would go on and on and I decided to inform him that I felt that this was turning into a fraud because I was being charged for the service I wasn't getting. If I was correct it was probably since I signed up in Dec. that I haven't been getting what I have been paying for. Morgan didn't offer any type of suggestions other than being passed to a technician or discontinuing the service. I explained that there is no service because I haven't been helped and even talking to him it seemed that he wasn't going to try to offer any other alternative to this problem.

I was charged 150.00 dollars for the opting out early contract. I have been upset because I did this because I believed that there wasn't any way for them to help me plus I didn't believe that they wanted to offer a way to solve this problem. To be charged for something that doesn't work and then paying them to stop the service that you never received is a fraud to me.

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