Complain about a product or service

Wild Blue Satellite Broadband

Nicole of Roy, WA July 6, 2009

I am going to make this brief. Paid over 2000.00 for the equipment and installation. It never worked correctly and ended up having to be re-installed. I currently have a credit on my Wilblue account that is closed. I have contacted my Washington Attorney General and they were unsuccessful in getting it resolved. I am now trying to find Wildblue's registered agent. I have kept notes on when I contacted them and what they said and can prove that it was installd incorrectly.

Nicole of Schofield Barracks, HI July 3, 2009

My husband recently got me wildblue internet. He is stationed in Hawaii while I am currently living in TN. He was lied to from the start. We were told we only had to pay 120.00 to start. When the guy came to install the internet, he ended up charging us 175 extra plus we paid 25.00 for the shipment fee's. The internet has been terrible ever since. No connection for extreme slow speeds. We got the internet to be able to communicate more with each other and have not been able to do so.

I recently called them to inquire about my slow internet and not only was on hold for up to hours, was hung up on more times than i can remember. I finally spoke to someone who told me from June 16th, my internet was "garbage" and she would send a tech out to check my equipment because it seems to be their fault. Then I find out that I will be charged 95.00 for a service call... This is not the way to run a company since there are so many paying customers. My Husband paid them 400.00 to start up and its been down hill since then. He is currently in the military and since no one will accept my calls or help to resolve my issues, he is contacting a few different military lawyers to help with this problem.

I told him I got on this site and read everyone's complaints and something needs to be done. We will not allow this company to take any more of our money and they will need to get a better set up. I would not advise anyone to get this service.

Robert of Helena, MT June 11, 2009

Wild Blue is frequently down with connection interrupted. No where near as fast as they claimed. I attempted to download Windows 7 (large file)and Wild Blue "shut off" so many times I had to re-start. That put me less than 1% over my allotted download capacity and Wild Blue penalized me by slowing down my connection to an unusable crawl for 31 days. I pay for way more band width than they allow me to use.

Terry of Davenport, WA June 6, 2009

For more then a year, connectivity issues. Why? Used cable installed (had insulation cuts). Wildblue's response? Silence. Charged four times cost of a piece of (what should have been, even by Wildblue's own rules) black iron pipe (was cheap fencing material). Speed difference from dial up is not noticeable. Wildblue has an extremely small bandwidth usage allowed - download a single game and you are over - forget videos. I went over once in three years and had to deal with multiple interrupted connections for more then a week (it doesn't stop when you are again within limits - not until down to 70% (it'll stay at 50% even if you download nothing other then automatic updates to computer)).

Sandra of sultan, WA June 4, 2009

We are new customers just hooked up on May 8, 2009. We already maxed out our broad band usage in 20 days. Now we are on day 28 and they have turned off our internet use between peak ours of 4:30 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. The customer service representatives I have spoke with our very rude and say we have to keep under 70% of our broadband usage even though we are paying for 100%. They told me I already need to upgrade to the more expensive package. The customer service representative told me that until we were under the 70% usage we shouldn't use the internet. Not a very good anwser. Buyer beware understand what broadband usage means. We are a family of 4 and my two kids were so excited to go away from dial up. They wanted to play on line games, down load music, you tube videos. All out the window now. I would never recommend this service to anyone. So we are counting down 1 year and 11 months before we can get someone else. I am going to call them to see if I can get out of this contract as we are not happy at all.

Margaret of Ferrum, VA June 1, 2009

Wish I had seen all these complaints about WildBlue before we signed with them. We were customers from August 2007 until February 2009 so we were shared the contract issues many customers had problems with. Service was never what they promised and got worse as time progressed, but better than the dial-up we had before and our only other option out in the country. Finally DSL became available with our phone company and we ditched WildBlue in a heartbeat. I sent their modem and accaessories back via UPS promptly and waited for my 50 refund from February until June.

I called customer service and they said the items were returned damaged and not usable. I said I wanted to dispute this since we were using the modeum, disconnected it and sent it back and it was working when it left this house. The representative refused to let me speak with anyone else until I said I was going to report them to the BBB.

Then, after half and hour I was put on hold for another department. After more waiting, came a disconnect. Their idea of customer service is just not to speak with you. This company needs to be reported to some agency with authority. How long can they be allowed to take people's money like this? %50 refund I was entitled to but did not get.

Roe of Broken Bow, NE May 21, 2009

I have had Wild Blue Internet since 10/27/05 through Great Plains Comm. at Blair Nebraska. For a while it functioned however not even close to what they lead you to believe you will get for speeds. After a while the speed lowered to 27k (supposed to be UP TO 512K) and I called and filed three complaints letting them know that this was not acceptable and would not be tolerated.

They wanted to send out a service man which I did not allow. They would just charge me for a call and use that for a reason to say something was wrong with my system. Having installed satellite systems as a sideline business, I knew my system was functioning properly and that they were intentionally regulating my speed.

The following day my speed went to 355K and then on to above 400K download speed and has never gone lower since. The upload speed, however, leaves a lot to be desired! Their latest tactic to get customers to lower their usage is to send out notices which lock up your screen until you click and acknowledge their message saying that you are approaching one of your thresholds with higher than normal usage and that you will likely go over one of your thresholds at this rate. Since the installation of my system in 2005, I have never used close to half of my thresholds (closer to one third) and my personal belief is that this is just another tactic to intimidate people to use less of their allotted time even though they are not even close to their limit.

Wild Blue should either put up more satellites to service the customers they sell to or quit selling systems they don't have the capacity to service! I am extremely disappointed that our consumer affairs division of the attorney generals office hasn't held wild blue accountable for their totally unacceptable customer service (or lack of service would be more accurate) and their practice of not providing what they advertise and continuing to charge customers for the service they are not getting.

Kelly of Salem, OH May 18, 2009

Oh my! I am at my wits end with WildBlue and after reading all of these complaints I can see that it is not just me.....I had the service installed in October 2008. The technician that was sent was here for over 9 hours! I, too, paid to have a pole put in. We live in a log home and there are two satellite receivers on the house for the TV, so why we needed the pole?

Then, I had to call time and time again with the same run around of "you will be charged a 95 fee if the technician finds the problem to be on your side". He came back 3 times and I ended up buying a new router, installing an new electical outlet just to find out that he used illegal wires and a pole that only cost him roughly 25, when I paid 160!! Are you kidding me.

Now, in April I called again (after I quit calling and just dealt with the AWFUL service for 6 months), because I cannot access my school's site (which is why I signed up for this anyhow). A new tech came and informed me that the old tech was "let go" for not doing his job and told me all of the information above.

Then, I call to get a credit for the days that I was out of service because the new tech had to re-install the whole service and pole. They gave me 16 and then when I tried to explain that they should really reimburse me for the past 6 months because they allowed this incompetant tech in my home....get ready....she offered me a 20 credit! Come on. Is this a legitimate company?

And now I was just charged for the service call! I just got off of the phone, after being hung up on (again!)and was offered a ticket # to call back in two days to see if I am eligible to have the fee credited back to me. THIS WAS COMPLETELY THEIR FAULT! I am calling and them filing my own complaint with AT&T and the BBB. This is ridiculous and it must be stopped.

Lisa of Lebanon, OR May 12, 2009

After suffering a year of really bad and no service I cancelled my service, 15 momths later I received a bill with interest and penalties, for the FIRST time. When I called "customer service" the woman was rude and uncooperative. I really have no idea what this bill was for as all my payment were paid for directly from my credit card and not other bills were ever received by me from them in any way, shape and form, and "customer service" wouldn't tell me anything. I have the cancellation confirmation email only, no mention was made of paying this last bill in a different way than previous bills. I have emailed them to request proof that I owed it and and explanation of why I was informed 15 months later, why "customer service' was rude and unhelpful to send on to my state's attorney general. This is adding insult to injury.

William of Crawford, TX May 5, 2009

Wild Blue Customer Service repeatedly hangs up on me after being on hold for 15 minutes to one hour. Last time they told me they were sending me a box with instructions to send my equipment back. Customer Service says it was mailed April 17th. Today is May 5. Customer Service says nothing they can do. It was shipped UPS 14 days ago. If not returned within the thirty days I will be charged for the equipment. Wild Blue has been a nightmare. Slow internet service, when it was working. Customer Service hangs up on me as soon as I ask the representative their name. Lost a lot of time on hold and being hung up on. Lost a lot of money for sorry internet service.

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