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.
Stephanie of San Jose, CA January 22, 2008
Stephanie of San Jose CA (01/22/08) I've had no service for 3 weeks. Responses vary from the server is out to turn your modem on and off. I get different responses. I've tuned up my laptop, I've replaced my cat-5 line, I've replaced my router, not to mention 5 days worth of calling, live chatting. It appears it's either their server and or the line coming into my house. I've cleared the bush from around the wire from the phone line - but I am not knowing of whether or not it's coming in. Earthlink has the worst customer service. They have however, allowed me to use the dial up which means hooking up to the phone line as in the old AOL. That is not what I want.
I've lost 3 weeks worth of lost work as I am a special needs teacher and do my not at school time work online. I do my stock and other counseling online. I've paid 200 to have my laptop checked; I've had to purchase a verizon netcard to do some of my work in the meantime; I've spent at least 5 hours JUST communicating with earthlink, - and no one really knows how or what to fix. I even requested a newer modem as mine was 7 years old. There is no connection from the wall to their modem.
William of Norwood, MA January 22, 2008
William of Norwood MA (01/22/08) I signed up for a promotion that required me to use their TrueVoice service for 6 months and then I would receive 25,000 frequent flyer miles on Northwest Airlines. A year later, I realized the miles were never deposited to my account. To date, I've made 10 phone calls over 3 months time. Each time I'm told that this needs to be escalated with a form to a department that can deposit the miles. Several reps gave me their unconditional assurance that it would happen this time. Twice I have requested to speak with a supervisor, each time I've been told they are busy but they will schedule a callback within the next 30 to 60 minutes. Both times it failed to happen. As I write this, I'm awaiting a response on my third request for this action I also have an e-mail message into their VP of Customer Service--so far, no response on that, either.
It's taken about 6-7 hours of time so far, between all wait times, follow ups, dropped calls, etc. I have logged each and every phone call, including who I spoke with and any reference numbers I received. I recently switched my TrueVoice service to Verizon, but I haven't officially canceled the Earthlink service because this matter is still unresolved, and I did not want to add another hurdle to the process. It will be an issue if this drags on and I find myself paying a monthly fee to a company just to resolve a customer service issue. This has been extremely frustrating.
Lou-Ann of Philadelphia, PA January 22, 2008
Lou-Ann of Philadelphia PA (01/22/08) I signed up for Philly's Next Big Thing, Earthlink Wifi around August of 2007. From the start, I experienced poor & mostly non-existent service. I canceled my service finally in the beginning of December 2007. Upon returning my equipment, I was stilled charged the 69.95 non return fee. After dozens, if not not more, calls to the reps, I spoke with someone who told me that rest assured, I could expect the full amount returned to me within a couple of days, and that it just needs time to process. I waited, and waited some more. Nothing. I called back only to deal with a rep who told me that I should have received 19.95 back & should wait a couple more days to receive the rest of the money back.
Baffled, I continued to call and try to contact a supervisor that would give me some clarity. Finally, after long waits and being disconnected by accident, I was told that I will indeed receive my full refund in 7-10 days. Long story short: Avoid Earthlink at all costs. Why dod you think they only charge 12.95 a month? It's not worth it, you get what you pay for.
Loretta of Pacifica, CA January 17, 2008
Loretta of Pacifica CA (01/17/08) On Jan. 4, 2008, we had a terrible storm blow through here. When I got home from work that evening, I realized my phone/DSL service was not working. I figured it was due to the storm and didn't bother to report it until the next morning. I spent about an hour on the phone with a technician in India who conducted a number of tests. Of course, he could not figure out what was wrong and told me a supervisor would call me within an hour. I never received the call, and by Monday morning I decided to call them again. The technician ran tests again, couldn't find the problem and opened a trouble ticket, and told me someone would contact me. After several more phone calls and tests, on Wednesday 1/9, I received a call on my cell phone while at work. This tech wanted to run all the tests again. I explained that I was at work and could I call him when I got home, which I did. He ran the same stupid tests again, and guess what...no solution. He finally said he would have to send someone out to my house, which he did. Covad showed up the next day and told me there was a break in the line (duh), and that he would have to have AT&T come out to fix the line. Today is Jan. 17th, and I still do not have service. I have a contract with EarthLink and I don't want to pay an early cancellation fee, or I would just cancel the service and sign-up with AT&T. And judging from some of the other complaints I read on your website, I foresee big problems cancelling the service as well. Please help. I'm at my wits end.
Liz of Amity Harbor, NY January 17, 2008
Liz of Amity Harbor NY (01/17/08) I have been an EarthLink customer since October 2002 but there have been recent events that are causing me to regret my decision for maintaining such a long relationship. There have been issues that make it obvious that this corporation does not value my standing as a customer. I am writing this because I have been on phone support and online chat support with a myriad of Customer Service and Technical Support representatives and have not had my issues resolved in a satisfactory manner. Over the past two weeks, I have had six separate problems with the security and integrity of my account. I have spent numerous hours trying to resolve these matters only to have them redevelop again and again. Yesterday, my account was deactivated twice by EarthLink; I was not given advance notification of these actions but had to find out the hard way.
The following is a summary of my situations: 1. On or about January 3, 2008, I contacted EarthLink due to web domain profiles that existed under my account that were set up without my knowledge or authorization. 2. On January 11, 2008, I contacted EarthLink again regarding additional web domain profiles that existed under my account; again set up without my knowledge or authorization. 3. On January 15, I contacted EarthLink due to problems logging on. This was due to unauthorized access that included changing the account password. 4. Again on January 15, I saw a 65 balance that was applied due to another web domain being set up without my knowledge or authorization. 5. On the afternoon of January 16, 2008, I contacted EarthLink due to my inability to log onto my account and the message that my account was inactive. After spending 45 minutes on the phone, it was reactivated. 6. On the evening of January 16, 2008, not even two hours after having my account reactivated, I found that my account was deactivated AGAIN. Currently, my account is still not active and I dont have the slightest idea of when it will be reinstated. I have been told that my account has been deactivated due to fraudulent activity; I have never committed any type of fraud and I resent being treated like a criminal and essentially being put out of business. I was told that it will take up to 72 hours for my account issues to be resolved; this is absolutely unacceptable.
My husband has lost thousands of dollars in fees due to this action by EarthLink. There is a good chance that he's lost a few clients due to his inability to send or receive e-mail. All of my leads are transmitted by e-mail so there's irreparable and immeasurable damage caused to my business.
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