HughesNet Reviews

I canceled the service in February 2010. I was never informed that I only had 45 days to return the equipment at my expense. I did return the equipment when I could get the $18 to ship it back via UPS. That was an expense that hurt my budget. Also, when they initially installed the service I did not have my desktop computer unpacked yet from moving to my current residence, so I used a friend’s laptop to make sure the service was working. It would not work on my friend’s laptop but did work on the installer’s laptop.

After I returned the laptop to my friend they discovered it was no longer usable. It would not even work on their air card which was working just fine before. I had to take it to a shop and they had to wipe everything out and start over, so my friend lost many personal pictures, including pictures of the first time they held their new grandson. It cost me $75 that I really did not have. Now, I am getting the runaround about getting the money back they took out of my checking account without my permission. At first they said 45 days which would make it May 8th. Now, they are saying it will be May 25th and then another 45 days after that. They said it may be June before I get it! I have serious doubts about getting my money back. Every time I call customer support, the operators have a heavy accent that I can barely understand. I am on a fixed income and had to get a loan to pay my rent or be out on the street. Still trying to pay off a loan I can't really afford. Also, I am going to miss my daughter’s graduation from college due to lack of funds to get there.

Finally, DSL became available to our area, thanks to Verizon, after I went door to door in my neighborhood and got everyone to commit to DSL. You can contact Verizon to learn more about this option. They are required to bring DSL to your area after enough people commit to the service. I also learned that the Verizon Wireless air cards work very well and they even have an air card that doubles as a wireless modem. If I would have found out about the air cards sooner, I would have switched a long time ago. It is just a shame what poor service HughesNet provided for the amount of money that they charged. Goodbye, HughesNet!

Then they promised me to refund my money just so I would keep the service past the 30-day period. After that, they charged me double the next month and by that time, my service was $80 a month for service that wasn't even usable. I asked to receive documents in the mail about the billing and they told me they would. I waited, after awhile I called them back and they say they do not even do the paper billing or any kind of documents at that. So 4 months went by, no improvement with the service. I called and asked to be taken off the service and they said I was under contract that I would have to pay $480 to break a contract that I never signed and also send the equipment back.

So I talked to them for 3 hours one day trying to tell them everything that's been going on and they finally told me to send the equipment back and they will reverse the charges. So they sent me an email saying 2 unsubscription success notices. 2 weeks rolled by and I got a letter from collections saying I owe them $430. The whole time I was with this company, I was told false advertisements, forced into contract and lied too!

I expected to receive a refund since I never even used the equipment. After 5-10 more emails, I was able to contact someone and they told me all charges were valid and I was not to receive a refund. So I spent $191. to be hassled by HughesNet. Never once did they attempt to make anything right. What an extreme lack of customer service. Don't order HughesNet. I am out $191 and have nothing to show for it but a terrible interaction with a company that doesn't care about its customers. And, in this economy, who can throw away $191? Not me.

I will explain instead of giving exact addresses, dots and numbers etc., perhaps the info will be published and escape their screening process that appears to use keywords and buzzwords to delete contact info. I suggest we confer and move forward in making Hughesnet responsible for the hours and hours upon hours of wasted time on the phone with these people who are trained to give you "the runaround", which equates to loss of income and anguish, which in turn equates to monetary retribution!

I am forging ahead based on principle now! I refuse to let Hughesnet steal from me! I plan on contacting an attorney either way by myself or with others! Remember, the American salesperson will assure you there is no risk. When absolutely nothing is as agreed relating to service, speed, access, reliability, stability and charges on your card, it will be too late. You will have been charged almost $500.00 on your credit card and be forced to deal with Indian employees via telephone to India who read scripts and use condescending tones and "holier than thou" attitudes. It is infuriating. It will consume your life!

I cancelled the repair service and received confirmation number. We decided to put the service on hold and cancel our account when we were in Phoenix. I have spent many hours on the phone trying to cancel my HughesNet account. I do not live anywhere near a place where I might need their service and yet find it impossible to have my account cancelled. I have received two separate confirmation numbers of cancellation. I was told there would be no cancellation fee. I thought I could forget about HughesNet until I started to receive monthly statements telling me that my account was on hold, and HughesNet was charging me $5.00 per statement and subtracting it from the credit I had of over $60. I had been told that I would have that amount refunded.

Now, to add to this chaos, HughesNet has sent me a monthly bill of $117.24 for service I am not using and have not used in nearly a year. They mention HughesNet “Two Way Service –A” on the bill with a cost of $112.24. Two-way service? They aren't sending any signal my way and they certainly aren't getting one either. I have one more idea and that is to first fax them proof of my resident status in Phoenix, AZ showing that I have moved. Then follow that by certified letter. Will it work? I have no idea. HughesNet is a company that steals from its customers, plain and simple. And they get away with it. It must be the American way. My credit rating is at risk if I do not pay their false bills; however, I refuse to pay for a service that I do not use and have not used for nearly a year and for which I have confirmation numbers stating that my account is closed. This is causing me considerable amount of stress and taking up a lot my time.

So I called them. Then the truth comes out. From 2 am to 5 pm is the only time they can guarantee that download speed. So when I’m sleeping and working, I’m getting good download speed. When I want to use it, I’m getting dial-up speed. They withdrew $511 for my account for my installation. I called and canceled my service 7 days later because of the poor service. They advised me that they would only refund $200 of $511 and if that not bad enough, I’ve got to pay another $25 to send their equipment back to them or I don’t even get the $200. What a scam!

I want my money back. This should be illegal. Lying to the consumer to sell a product. I would love to talk to a lawyer about this and looking through the forum on the net, there is thousands of others with the same feelings. I’d like to start or join a class action lawsuit against Hughesnet. I’ve also contacted the FCC and the FTC. I would love to hear from someone in this matter! $511 and 6 hours on the phone fighting with these people in one week.

I conferred with HughesNet several times via chat regarding this problem after I mailed the new check for $171.56. I was told that my service will be suspended on 4/21/10 unless I remit $171.56 before then via electronic payment over the phone. I reminded the HughesNet rep, Nicole, that I had sent $171.56 certified US Postal Service and gave her the tracking number. She told me to pay up with a credit or debit card $171.56 immediately or I would be suspended on 4/21/10, even though I have a bill that reads that $171.56 is due on 4/28/10.

At this time, Hughes has not cashed last month's check for $85.78. At this writing, the certified mailing tracking shows that the check for $171.56 arrived at HughesNet this afternoon at 12:14 pm. I will be watching my bank account to see if the check is cashed. If it is not cashed by tomorrow morning, I will have to give HughesNet another $171.56 via credit or debit card to stop my account from being suspended. If I do not have usage of the internet, I cannot operate my business (property management) to process rental applications and post apartment rentals equally under federal fair housing.

I told Hughes that if they insisted on suspending my account, I would have no choice but to get another internet service provider and the response I got from Hughes was to supply their telephone # for me to cancel. I was again told to pay up electronically and if they receive my checks, those will get posted too and I'll have a credit on my account (if they actually cash the checks and credit the account it will be prepaid three months in advance). The customer service rep didn't seem to be from the USA (strange variances in communications phrases) and really didn't seem to have any comprehension what certified US Postal Service mail is.

Hughes stands to lose nothing as their termination fees are huge and they have a monopoly on the ISP market in the countryside. They are the only effective means and thus they are taking terrible advantage of this situation to pressure customers. It is obvious that their customer reps are trained to use very polite words, while demanding electronic payment/access to my credit and debit accounts. I don't want to give my account information to this company to process electronically but I am being forced into it. I almost cancelled them in the beginning because of equipment, installation and communication problems.

Further, based on the other HughesNet information posted from dissatisfied customers on the internet as well as the problems I am having with them in accounting, I am scared of what this company could do to any of my accounts electronically. I do have a transcript of each one of my chats with the reps at HughesNet and will continue to order and store them.

The folks in India continue to refuse to do what is necessary to correct this problem, and it has happened repeatedly ever since we signed up with Hughes Net. We have now been told three different lies about the source of the problem. The latest fairy tale - that our MAC must have a "virus" that is downloading material while we sleep - is just the latest line of malarkey designed to keep them from taking responsibility for atrocious service. Never ever, ever give your money to Hughes Net. They are crooks. As a retired Criminal Prosecutor, I have seen a few in my time - and Hughes Net is a truly sophisticated cheat. Someone needs to take the whole lot of them out behind the barn.

I have never seen the contract nor was I told by the installer that this is what it entailed. I was told it was about the rental of the modem (which they promised would be faster than the 8000). I have registered complaints with the BBB and the FCC. Thanks for the ideas of contacting the PUC and the Attorney General, I will contact them tomorrow.

I called them on April 13 and they tried to say they just got the equipment, then they changed it to they entered it into their system March 9th. So, my 30 days were up I said. No, now it had to be 30 business days and they say that is April 15th and after that I have to wait 10-15 business days just to get half of my money back. When you call, you get overseas help that you can barely understand and the story keeps changing. You also get a case number but the next time that you call, they never even ask you for a case number. They take your money the day the system is installed but getting any refund takes months. Don't fall for their stories. Get mobile broadband trial. It is much cheaper to see if it works.

On 4/1/10 my bank refunded me $334 for the 1st month's service and the installation charges. They did not refund me the $200 for the equipment because HughesNet said they would refund me that money. On 2/21, I sent the equipment back to HughesNet. On 2/24/10, it was received by HughesNet. On 3/1/10, I called to see when I would be receiving my $200 refund and I was told that it would take 21 days to process my refund. On 3/24/10, I called again looking for my refund to be told that my refund was processed and I should receive it within the next business day. On 3/30/10, I called again looking for my refund and was then told that I had to wait until my "billing" cycle ended, even though I no longer had an account with them on 4/10/10 and they would process it then. I called today, 4/12/10, again looking for my refund only to be told this time that I would have to wait 45 days from the date of 3/24/10 to receive my refund back to my credit card.

I believe this is in very poor taste and practice and would like this matter resolved asap. If someone could look into this matter for me, I would be extremely grateful. In the meantime, I believe HughesNet is a scam company and I am telling all of my friends to never use them.

One system was purchased on 12/27/07 and cancelled on 1/6/10. Other system purchased 5/23/08 and will be cancelled 4/24/10. We had many interruptions of service, estimated time of 15+ hours on the phone, and extremely bad customer service. We paid $300 each for installation and an additional $300 each to cancel = $1,200 plus a monthly fee of $60 and sometimes $120. I have never had a more frustrating situation!

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with. I am down more than I am up and running plus this company has cost me a great deal of emotional stress, loss of money due to online schooling because I am not able to get my assignments done due to no internet. I have also lost money when I scheduled a web seminar. Everyone logged on but me, I had no internet.

If I shut down my account, Hughes.net wants me to pay for service I do not receive plus wants me to pay in full the price of the satellite which is no good to me.

I've tried to download one 30 minutes show and it never works. I've talked to poor English speaking people that are clueless and just tried to pacify you, but no help ever. Just wasting your time. You are required to purchase their equipment. I promise there is no free installation and a 2 year contract. For the first cpl days, I called and complained. They convinced me it was my equipment and I bought a new computer, a new modem, but still it doesn't work anymore than a cpl times faster than dial up and then you reach your limit FAP and have to buy $5. tokens to reboot, or forget it. They keep you hanging until the 30days are up, hyping you up thinking it's such great service, then they will only offer you 1/2 of your money back for equipment but the other several hundred dollars you just lost. Keep you in a contract knowing that most people can't afford to have their credit ruined over Hughes.

I called them 9 times this weekend. They now say they want $400 early termination fee to cancel their service after I've spent several hundred dollars to get installed, (free install) but not free, equipment and they charge my cc every month right on time for their money. Even if you upgraded to the very best plan costing a cpl hundred a month, you could not download a movie. How can they get by with this? Can't anyone help?

Talked several times with American reps about installing Hughes. Everything I was told is a crock of lies to get your money. 50 times faster than dial up, maybe 2 times is actual. Never plan on watching netflix like your cable DSL friends. Never plan on downloading on their download mgr as it will not work. Now I'm told it's the internet's fault as too many people are trying to download in the middle of the night. They boot our calls out of the country and they are all like robots, say the exact thing you can tell it is read from a paper. 13 months of $59 a month, $700 for equipment and free install that the install person charged me in cash and nothing better than dial up. I promise! I asked them for a copy of the original contract I signed with my signature because this fair access policy is new but they refused to send me a copy. I'm out over $1000. for nothing but lies.

In essence, I have paid HughesNet nearly $5,000 for the most ridiculously unreliable service known to man. It is financial ** and every month that I paid the bill, I actually felt a swell of nausea knowing I was paying nearly $80 a month for internet when I only pay $250 a month for groceries! I justified that because I work from home as a medical transcriptionist. This is a job I've had for a number of years, thus, I do not have the wardrobe to run right out and land another job. My vehicle is too old to commute to town daily so I'm sort of stuck with this choice. HughesNet knows this, at the corporate level, because I've told them. Supposedly, corporate put notes on my account that it is never to be suspended due to that fact even if I'm one or two months late.

Over the last five years, my service has been suspended no less than a dozen times for a variety of reasons. Payment has not been one of those reasons because I have always paid them their outrageous fees. "It's a glitch in the system" is what I'm told when I call and complain. This month takes the cake. I was one month behind. They disconnected my service. I lost my job because I did not have connectivity. I tethered off my cell phone, which is as fast as DSL, believe that or not, but it wasn't good enough because my employer's policy remains that the service has to be a broadband type like Hughes or DSL or cable.

I contacted them when I received my invoice today (for one month of service and not due until late April) and was told I'd have to pay that before they could reconnect. The girl said there was nothing she could do. I informed her there was something she could do and that I was willing to take my invoice as evidence to the FCC, the Better Business Bureau, the Utility Commission of Arkansas and whatever regulatory agency would listen. She said "hang on a second and let me check something." Then she told me to call them and gave me an 800#. I called, obviously not in the mood to be reasonable, and the man I spoke with was very calm and reassuring and apologetic. He offered a credit for one month of service. I paid $3 and they restored my service.

Bear in mind, I despise Hughes. If I had another option, I would jump on it happily but again in my line of work I have very few options but satellite. My service is on at present, but I'm begging AT&T to bring DSL out here and am begging my cable company for cable internet. A warning for new customers, if you have any other option, please take it. HughesNet is the absolute worst service you can use.

Two days into the service, I had to get online at a friend because my service was so slow, I could not get my pages to load. I accessed my online account to ask for tech support when I was shocked to find that there was already an outstanding bill posted for my account in the amount of $ 495.82. This of course concerned me because I was not supposed to have a bill yet, and I was certainly not supposed to have a bill that high. My service was supposed to have been $59.99/month and when I asked why, the person at customer care said it was to cover equipment and installation costs. I promptly informed her that the installation and equipment was supposed to be under the promotion. She claimed she did not know of promotion. I told her to Google it that it was advertised through DirecTV and online. The salesperson confirmed it and set us up to be installed with the promotion.

Then I explained that the reason I had called in the first place was to find out if there was something wrong with my service. Why it was so slow? She informed me that I had exceeded the Fair Access Policy, that this was the law about shared bandwidth that I could pay for more bits if I wanted to or go online and purchase $7.99 credits that would restore me to 100% again. I have used Frontier, Charter and Comcast. I have never heard of the Fair Access Policy. I write, search, tweet, listen to playlists and do manuscript submissions online and have never heard of this. Now, I can't spend more than a couple of hours online without losing my speed and my ability to submit the manuscripts. It takes ten or more minutes for one page to load and I keep getting timed out. I called again to complain and request that something be done, that I was assured by the sales person that I would have uninterrupted, unlimited service.

Because this is a rural area, I did not even sign the lease for my residence until I was assured that I would have the internet ability to do my work. It was only after installed that I signed a year lease with my landlord. This company has lied for the benefit of a sale, promised free installation and equipment. Assured me that I would have uninterrupted service. They misrepresented the law with this supposed Fair Access Policy that no one else including myself had ever heard of before. I have been issued a bill that far exceeds what I was told that we would have to pay. They access my computer all the time, hijacking my clicks and redirecting me to the payment center every time I get online, requesting their installation and equipment fees that were supposed to be included in the sales promotion. There is nothing honest about anything I've been "sold" regarding the services I was promised. I will not stand and turn the other cheek. "Give a mouse a cracker, soon it will be asking for milk."

I will be writing this to the state Attorney General about this matter and I do hope this complaint (along with all of the others on this feed that say the same things) falls into the hands that actually do protect the consumer. I am tired of these multimillion dollar corporations sticking it to people under the guise that they call all the shots and we "the consumers" just have to take it. Do something about this. Make them an example that indicates that we are still protected in this country from scams and immoral business practices that are outside legal realms. Thank you.

I called to complain and the lady said "well, just try us out another month on us". She made it sound wonderful of course and they would refund my $29.95, which I still have not received. I called again because my money was not refunded, I was still having problems (slow, very slow! Dial up is much better). So I called and told them I want them to come and get their stuff because I'm still having problems. Of course, still trying to talk me into keeping the service, I said "no! I just want you to refund my money" which was only the $29.95 for a problem that was them and not me. Well, come to find out and my worst nightmare that I have to climb up on a ladder and disconnect the stuff and send it back to them or I need to hire someone.

Of course, no one ever mentioned that to me when I was getting the service because I would have never got it. I am so upset and will tell everyone I know how Hughes Net really is. The people you talk to don't care if your a woman or what age because I could very well have been 80 and they don't care. I would still have to climb up and try to disconnect something I have no knowledge about. This company needs to be responsible in telling the customer what they are getting into. I'm sure if they recorded the conversation they had with me, someone will see they failed to mention a lot! What a rip off! You can't even find a number or name to the home office to complain. Go figure!

Hughes Net offers no apology and will not release me from their punitive 24 month contract. Hughes Net will literally laugh in your face when you communicate with any of their personnel. One young lady told me that even if the President of Hughes Net authorized my contract to be cancelled, she would not approve it. The entire company is a joke.

Do not be fooled into thinking Hughes Net is a good company because they advertise on DirectTV (an excellent satellite television provider). Hughes Net lies to potential customers upfront and then denies them even simple courtesy once they have trapped you into a contract. Hughes Net should be driven out of business, period!

Never again! When this contract is over at the end of October, I intend to park the Dish in my front yard, then pay someone to "wrap" it with a public service notice to warn everyone to stay away from this garbage internet provider! This is $1500.00/24 Month Contract + Installation Charges and untold Millions in Grief and Aggravation! Never again!

Then, last week I, started having connection problems. They did nothing every time I called, except to ask me about the weather and if the weather was fine, they had to send out a service tech, which will cost me $125.00. I rent this equipment! If I had purchased it, then the charge would be understandable. But one of the guys I talked to, Brian, said I would get a free service call and a one month credit, then put me on hold, then came back and said, sorry, he gave me the wrong information, I would not be getting anything free.

I checked the modem, and the way that it was installed, the wires were being constantly pulled away from the modem, so after time, they won't stay snug and don't make good connections. I have had to tape the cords in place, because one little bump disconnects the cords and then it takes hours to get them in the right position where I can connect to the internet. I refuse to pay them $125.00 to come out and change a cord, especially since it is rental equipment. Something needs to be done. I will be starting school soon, and I don't know what I am going to do for internet service. Once I start working, my work will be done online. If my service goes out, I will be forced to pay them to keep my internet.

I found the male high pressured sales person to be so very rude and demanding. He seemed to be very short with me as I ask questions about the service. Again and again he requested my credit card number to get started. I was told that to insure the deal he was going to give me, I would have to give him my card number, but I refused until I had my questions answered. He stated that he would give me only 10 minutes to make up my mind and discuss this service with my wife or the deal was off. He became even more demanding. I tried to tell him that he was upsetting me with his tone but he continued to badger me. He would not stop talking. I finally had to hang up.

It is unfortunate that satellite internet service is so expensive. And have to put up with this rudeness and not businesslike conduct, is uncalled for. As a retired couple, on a fixed income, we wanted to try it. A faster means of service to download photos of our grand kids and keep in touch with our family. Our reaction to the salesman's attitude, has forced us to stay with dial-up service. It might not be the service we were looking for, but our dial-up service people are not rude and obnoxious.

In closing, I feel that the CEO of Hughesnet, I think his name is Whitacre, should go undercover, like the new TV program "Undercover Boss" and find out what the problems are in the company and correct them, and improve the image of Hughesnet. Thank you very much for listening.

When I received my bank statement and saw that, a call was made to cancel HughesNet service, a call that became very frustrating and stressful. Then another $399.89 was taken from my bank, which has been disputed at the bank. Many calls have been made to HughesNet since trying to resolve this matter. The main corporation office has been called. As of this date, a complaint has been filed with Federal Trade Commission, the Consumer Response is they advised that a report be made to Consumer Protection in my state also, which has been done.

The man came to install the dish and hook up the computer on March 4. There was already a pole in the yard from the previous owner who had Hughes Net at one time. The gentleman refused to use the existing pole and installed another pole about 2 feet from the existing one. After installation, he told me the cable was my problem to bury going from the dish to the house. He couldn't put the computer in the room I wanted, so he put it in my dining room. He then informed me that I was under a 24-month contract and that there was a 200-MB download limit per day or my service would slow to half speed if I went over it. He also said that I owed him $125 for the installation.

I asked him about free installation, and he told me he had to install a pole so it was a non-standard installation. I wrote him a check and said I would take it up with Hughes Net themselves. I joked about people selling dishes on the internet, and he said the equipment was mine to keep.

On Tuesday, I checked my bank account online and noticed two more unauthorized charges from Hughes Net, one from the day I originally called for $25.00 and one on the 8th for $170.33. I immediately called their customer service, and they told me I was signed up for auto bill pay. I never signed up on auto bill pay, because I get paid bi-weekly and it is impossible to determine what day of month my checks are deposited.

I told them I never authorized them to take money out of my account, and they flat out denied the $25.00 charge all together. They told me that I was charged $59.99 for a month's service in advance, $9.99 equipment rental fee, and $99.00 activation fee. I told them that they needed to send me an invoice and not auto bill pay. They said fine but that it would cost me another $5.00 a month for that service. So a $59.99 a month internet is now up to $75.00 a month.

I asked them about my rebate, and they said I would have to wait until I received my second invoice, fill out a form on their webpage, and mail it in. They said they would not reimburse me for the "non-standard" installation, even though I didn't need another pole in my yard. It was at this point that I wanted to cancel service. There is a 30-day period to cancel service, according to their webpage. Of course, cancelling during the 30 days would not get me my rebate for activation, because once 30 days is up, it will cost you $300 to cancel your contract.

I told them I wanted them to send the installer back out to retrieve the equipment. They refused and said I had 45 days to send the equipment back to them. I am not an installer, and if I tried to take the equipment down, they could say I broke it or that they never received it. Then they could charge me another $300 for the equipment.

None of these things were explained to me before I agreed to this service. Now they are saying I have to pay to ship the equipment back to them and that they won't disconnect service until the entire month is done. Basically, I am out $320.33 plus what it will cost to ship equipment back. And god forbid, they either "don't get it or it's broken," then it will be another $300+.

How this business is in business I will never know. What they did was criminal. This is my first house purchase, and I wish I had other options to receive the internet. I should have a choice. I just bought this house on the 26th of February, and I am already hurting because of the extra $320.33 I was not budgeting for. I want them to come get their equipment and prorate me for the 7 days I had service.

I am not a sat person and asking me to pull equipment down and mail it back is setting me as the consumer up for failure and takes responsibility out of the company's hand.The installer brought equipment here, he should come retrieve it. This is highway robbery and unfair business practices, deceitful and criminal.

I was told I need a new modem HN7000S. I tried one they mailed to me in November 2008, and it did not work. I sent it back and was not charged. On this date, I agreed to a new modem if installed by their tech. Theresa waived the 12-month service charge on a new modem installed by their technician. On November 2, 2009, HN7000S was installed by Roger from Appleton. On November 11, 2009, I couldn't get online. I attempted to cancel service due to unreliability. I was told I have a free call by a technician if I would keep it by Chris at 11:00 a.m.

On February 19, 2010, I called by Larry to fix. He will be here on Wednesday, the 24th, in the afternoon. On February 24, 2010, Larry and Deb put in a new wire from the dish to the computer, and it seemed to be working fine for a week! I paid $60.00 to them for this, partial service for these days. It's better than it was, but not great. I contacted Larry, and he said I needed a new modem.

On March 9, 2010, I talked to Edlie about $194.99 charged on my credit card. She said it was for the service charge of $125.00 and my monthly bill of $69.99. I was not supposed to be charged a service call. She will adjust so my credit card will not be billed until the $125.00 is made up. On the same date, I scheduled an appointment on Friday for a new 9000 modem.

After the mess above, I cancelled appointment with Larry and Deb for Friday morning. I will not be having anything further done to this system. If any more trouble, I will cancel and go back to dial-up! I have spent so much money on this system, and it still does not work.

On its best day, it is a hair better than dial-up. The modem has to be restarted several times a day in order to get a connection. Their customer service could care less, and they are happy to suck your money from you at $60 a month. The service should be better. Also, they have what is called the Hughes Fair Access Policy. What that means is more money to get extra megabytes for downloading.

On the higher plan that I have, it is 420 megabytes in a 24-hour period, and if you exceed it, you are all but shut down. Now you have 2 choices: you can wait 24 hours to have service restored or pay for a token which is $10.50 to have it restored--another way of overcharging you for an already high cost.

The problem is I have no choice in my area as no one else does. So we are stuck with dial-up and hughes.net which is the same as dial-up. The system is down more than anything. They falsely advertise and take everyone's money and do nothing to keep their end of the bargain.

This is the most unfair service, and they need to have a class action lawsuit for railroading all of its customers. I have spent hundreds of dollars and relentless hours on the phone with techs who know nothing and do not speak English. I had a complaint with the attorney general who gave up because of no response from their company. Please help end the bleeding and bring justice to a ripoff.

Early last year I was basically forced to upgrade to a newer modem, I kept getting pop-ups from Hughes Network Systems to upgrade although no one from Hughes Network Systems seemed to know about these pesky reminders or how to stop them. I finally agreed to the upgrade and instantly after it arrived and I attempt to get it online, the messages magically disappeared although so did my service. I spent two months and countless hours on the phone talking with idiots in India and occasionally idiots in tier-two Tech. I cursed them I hate them, I threatened a lawsuit, and these demons from hell could care less. I sent a return receipt letter to their offices in Chicago although I never received an answer, not even from the post office about them receiving it or refusing to sign for it.

Finally, I got an American technician to agree to send out an installer to switch me to another satellite. Upon switching to a less crowded satellite, everything was fine in my world. My speeds returned to what I was supposed to be receiving and no problems, until now. About a year later, the degradation of service has returned and so has the idiotic phone tag with India, who now refused to have a tier-two level technician call me.

This has got to be the worst company in history. They are nothing but crooks that oversell their own product and pass the shoddy end product on to their customers who are forced to accept it without recourse. I really never thought of mental anguish before dealing with Hughes Network Systems, but now I know why it is a factor in lawsuits. Hughes Network Systems needs to be forced by law to uphold their contracts with their customers who presently have no voice whatsoever. A class action lawsuit is the only way I can see where they can be made to account for their actions

This is a horrible company. You are dealing with idiots in (India) and all you get it "I'm sorry". I have suffered emotional distress a lot. 100 calls probable 200 hundred hours on the phone even today--2.5 hours on the phone and I will be charged for another full months use but it was just fixed today 1 March 2010. Billing date 20th March.

We have spent almost that much money with having a computer tech in my house checking my computer for problems. Now because of this we have Trojans, spyware and virus (9) on the computer and had our computer tech call them and they had him check on the dish and when he told him that the service works through trees, we took the phone and disputed that fact. The problems are more than just this.

Please do not under any circumstance get involved with this company. We are headed to Court. I can appreciate all the other frustrated Hughes customers.

2-25-10 Update: The six week free internet was not given to us. A person who called herself "Sharon" stated Hughesnet would give us this six weeks free on February 13th, for all the inconvenience we had experienced. Well, the bill is due and there were no "free" six weeks. No surprise there. they are liars. We were told we were eligible for a rebate. We jumped through all those loops, well, guess what? We're not getting it.

These complaints seem to be universal across the country. The question is "Where is the class action law suit?" These people should be sued into oblivion. What they are doing is a crime. Does anyone out there know how to get a class action suit started? I would donate my time gladly rather than spend it with Hughesnet tech Support". I am good with research, writing and communication.

Any lawyers out there who can give their two cents? I am in graduate school and the bad service has resulted in me having to drive into town several times to use Starbucks signal to turn in papers even though I pay Hughesnet $79.99 per month. I have also been simply cut off in the middle of important business emails with timed responses. One cost me about $1500.

When we called the Hughes Net offices to voice our complaints, we were simply told "Tough, upgrade or deal". Hughes Net is utterly unacceptable.

We are one such customer who has been made a fool of. We signed up with them for internet services on February 15th and was promised what they offered would be more then enough to exceed what we needed the service for. An hour later, we found out they lied to us and we had limited internet access that would not download files or allow us to play computer games.

We called that same night and wanted them to cancel our service. They kept us on the phone for 2 hours, transferring us from one person to the next, only to have the cancellation unresolved. They basically, flat out refused to cancel our contract. We have every right to cancel this contract. I had to cancel my bank card and red flag our bank account to prevent them from stealing our money and our bank is ready to prosecute them should they make any attempts. We want this company to stand accused for their actions and accept the penalties for what they do to unsuspecting customers. I am providing you with the link to complaints regarding this company for you to take a look. I believe this says it all. Unnecessary stress and aggravation. Holes in my home from installation deception and theft from my bank account.

I have 3 computers,and recently added an XBOX. None of them operate during the week in school and work hours. None of them operate after midnight, until at least dawn, and only the XBOX downloads "big" files (1/4G?). What's funny is that after taking Hughes up on a second offer to use some security software they endorsed, and would provide to for a measly $4 per month, and cover all the PCs in my home, I watched the software constant access the net for updates, and get them, and download them, and further slow my speeds for any other PC on my LAN. They succeeded in charging me to not use their service. They succeeded in charging me to upgrade my service, to pay even more for to not use it. They succeeded in charging me for "security", effectively removing my PCs from the web, thus reducing risks to their system. What a racket!

I picked a date following my successful initiation of of service with Qwest that would have me paying HughesNet for additional months adding up to about 75% of what they told me would be due if I were to cancel service before the end of the 2 year agreement period. I offered to ship them the dish. I offered to ship them the receiver. I explained that I had paid them monthly, while not using the system, their 'fee'. I explained that I had suffered through 3 years of poor service. My offer was for more than half of what they expected, having only 1/2 of the service agreement to go, and that the usage records will show I did not use their service during the identified months.

Note: If you cancel just one or two months in to the 2 year period, you are to pay them $X. If you cancel 23 months in to the 2 year period, you still must pay $X.They did not respond to my written offer, until this week, when I received a collection notice from a hired gun looking for 100% of $X.

They outsource it and you can’t understand them or they can’t understand you and that is just as frustrating as everything else. There has to be something that can be done: the customers are being mislead and taken for a ride in their charges. The stress and anxiety that this constant aggravation has taken a toll on my health. Already, I have anxiety disorder and high blood pressure and the constant stress of just signing in the computer is really starting to get to me. The anxiety of the bill constantly going up and I am on SSI and disability and can’t keep paying $200-$300 or more a month which is the way it is heading lately.

Eventually, I gave up, and asked Hughes Net to cancel my service. They informed me that it would cost $700 to cancel my nonfunctional service, and offered me four free weeks of service while they tried to fix the problem. I accepted, but the service did not improve. I continued to complain to Hughes Net customer care, and I was offered a technician visit at my own expense, which I accepted. I was told that the technician would call to schedule an appointment, but I never received any such call.

At this point, I decided to stop payment on the account, and cancelled the credit card which Hughes Net had on file. I continued to complain, and asked that my account be cancelled without penalty. I was met with stonewalling and demands for more money. At the present time, I'm disputing the Hughes Net charges with the major credit bureaus, and considering legal action for breach of contract.

When I finally got a hold of someone without a name and without specific address, I was told that they were located in the state of Virginia. To make the long story short, it's been two week since I spoke with this people. They were supposed to send me an e-mail with an address for me to return their lousy equipment but to this day, I have received nothing. So this loser rip me off and there doesn't seems to be anything I can do. Shall in your state you have rule against this type of behavior and I believe also there are federal law that prohibit this kind of practice. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Hughesnet sent me an email saying that my dw6000 modem was obsolete and needed to be upgraded to the hn7000s at no charge to me. So I called. Well, there was no charge except that my small business site has to pay $700 for a new installation and I have to swing for a new 2-year committment! My area gets no dsl, no cable, and the air-cards don't get a good signal here. So it's dial-up or Hughesnet. They know that they've got you over a barrel and they know that you're going to have to pay them if you live in a rural area and want anything faster than a dial-up.

Currently, with my old dw6000, I pay (taking deep breath) $130 a month, don't have a service fee to pay - based on the old contract and have never gotten more than 750 kbs download and 84 kbs upload and that's with the largest dish (0.98) and a 2-watt transmitter.

Now, I'll have to have a new plan and this time, in order to stay in the same price range, I'll need to go down to the smaller dish (0.74), use the new modem (not the hn7000s they promised in the email, but a 9000 instead which is not free). I get to pay $10 less a month, but have to pay a $10 a month service contract fee. Now, here's the part which will take your breath away: they want $700 (that's seven hundred dollars) to install a new dish and the new modem. And, eventually, my old modem won't work so I'll be kicked out of the system completely!

I'm being forced and extorted in a sense, to pay them $700 or lose the service I've had for more than five years and a new $400 early termination fee if I cancel after the new equipment goes in.

One more unbelievable thing is that with the new service contract, if you need service within 30 days of installation, you pay $100 to $200 for the service call but if you need service after the 30 days, then it's only $30 for the service call. So, if they screw up your installation and it crashes one day after it's installed, you pay up to $200 for another (probably still lousy) repair! They've got a monopoly on satellite service. Either you dance to their tune or you stay home.

Eventually, after many complaints, they told me there was something wrong with my hardware (the dish and receiver), that they had to send out service people and that it would cost me $150. Then the local service people called my to set up the appointment and told me that HughesNet had told them that the satellite I was on was being decommissioned and that they were to re-point my dish on a new satellite.

Indeed, when the crew came out, they re-pointed my dish. Not only did HughesNet lie about this, they actually then went ahead and charged my credit card. And the service is no better. We called and eventually got them to give us a credit on the $150. However, we are still stuck for another year with a dishonest company who are not providing the service they promised. Bottom line, do not sign up with Hughesnet. The service costs me $79.99 a month for up to 1500 kbps and I get an average of 354 kbps.

After a long dispute and them trying to get me to stay with them, I canceled my internet (to be canceled on March 3, 2010), as they already took out my payment for February. I asked for the confirmation number and his name and ID number and asked that they send me confirmation through my e-mail. And they said that they could only e-mail a new e-mail account, so I asked them to mail me confirmation on this. And they said that they could not do this either. Please do not get Hughes Net as your provider, as they will clean out your account and all you'll have is slow service.

When I spoke to the limited English-speaking person, he claimed that they could only refund me two months of service and that it would be referred to a higher authority.

Finally after 3 weeks, I got a call from customer care saying they would refund me the total amount. In the meantime, I wrote a letter to the FTC about my situation, and I don't know if this is an outcome or not. I live in a rural part of Texas, and it's dial-up or satellite. I've had Hughes Network since 2002, and it hasn't gotten any better over the years. In fact, speeds are worse and the customer care is at an all-time low. If another alternative exists, I would drop Hughes Network like a hot potato, even if I had to pay their outrageous termination fees.

The first 30 days of service we noticed slow network. I called and complained about system interruptions as well as speed. I felt that dial up would have been just as fast and for a lot less then $91 a month. But I kept it because they informed me that the issues were fixed with the up and down network. They informed me that they could not support me with the VPN connections due to high latency issues of 4583MS.

In late December and early January, I had incidents at work that required me to log into the corporate network to look at the issues. The latency was so bad that I could not work from home. I had to drive 30 miles into work at 3 am. The service is so bad that I can't even pull up online banking because the service recognizes slow speed and offers me a text based online service which I lose functionality that I need to perform remote banking.

After several complaints and several issues with service, I called and canceled. They informed me that there would be a $400 charge. I argued for what? Two months of service that did not provide meet my service needs? They informed me I had until 12 Feb 2010 to withdraw cancellation and I would be billed for the $400 early termination fees. Well, they lied. On 30 January, they charged my bank account $400.

I called customer service and spend an hour and a half hours on the phone being bounced around like a pin-ball in Jurassic park pin-ball game. The end result was no manager is available, system is down and they can't help me, "Please call back again later." If manager is to call me, it would be 5 days before they get back to me. The service is not worth $91 a month and is not as fast as they claim.

I asked several questions to make sure this would be a good fit for me and she assured me that everything would be just fine. I had called around before I went with Hughes Net, so I knew which questions to ask. The salesperson told me that they would send an installer out to set everything up. She never told me that this person did not work for Hughes Net nor did she advise me that the installer would want to be paid as well. She also failed to tell me that I would need a router for the house so the other 2 PCs would work. The installer called and set up a time to come to my house. My 18-year old son was there and had to put the installer on the phone because he wanted money. The installer told me that the dish was heavy and probably shouldn't go on the roof. He said it would cost me $125.00 to put the pole in and install the dish on the pole. Then he called me back and said that I would need a router for the other two computers and said that would cost another $125.00.

I went ahead and paid him because I assumed he was with Hughes Net and if there was any problems, I would have some recourse. Little did I know that Hughes Net would not back up their product or the people they use to install it. The first three days we had internet, it was slow, but otherwise we were able to use it. After the third day, it completely stopped. I called customer service and was told that I hit the threshold (I used it more on the first three days than I did the fourth) and that I would have to wait 24 hours to reset. He was able to give me a "free" reset and explained about the Fair Act Policy (which they never mentioned before). It was very hard to understand him since he didn't speak English well. For the next week, my service was extremely slow and every time I called, I was told that it was fine.

Several times that week we hit the threshold and couldn't use the internet for 24 hours. I did not pay $80.00 a month to have an internet service that I couldn't use. I called them and told them I wanted to cancel. I was within my 30 days and I wanted it done right away. They told me I couldn't cancel until the billing cycle ended. I finally talked with someone who said I would have internet until the last day of the billing cycle, but of course, that didn't mean a lot since I was unable to use the internet because of the threshold. I had a very hard time cancelling the service even though I was within my 30 days. Every time I talked with someone, they kept trying to sell me another month or something else to keep the service.

I called the installer who came out and asked about a refund for the router. I would like to recoup at least some of my money. I would have liked to have the entire $250.00, but was willing to compromise. The installer was not very helpful and didn't want to return any of the money. After calling him several times, he finally gave me the number of his "supervisor". I talked with Andy and he said that Jesus was a contractor and he couldn't make him give me my money back, but he would try and pressure him to. Andy suggested that I get the receipt from Jesus and return the router for my money. At no time during this conversation did Andy say that the $125.00 wasn't the cost of the router. I called Jesus and asked him for the receipt for the router and again got the runaround. He said he didn't know where the receipt was and he would have to look for it. That was 4 days ago.

He finally told me he purchased the router at Walmart. I looked it up online and saw that the router I have cost Jesus $30.00 and he charged me $125.00. I called Andy back and he said that it was normal to charge the customer that much. He said we had the opportunity to purchase our own router and that the extra amount was for "labor". I was never told beforehand that I would need any additional equipment, so I really didn't have an "opportunity" to purchase my own. I am so frustrated right now with Hughes Net, their installers and their overall service.

I will make sure that everyone I come into contact with knows of my experience with this company. I have spent $430.00 for a service that never worked as promised and was the worst experience I've ever had. I am a single mother with three kids and this was a lot of money for me. I am going to post my experience all over Facebook, My Space and any other networking site that I can think of so people can be warned before they encounter the same problems that I have.

When I told them I would not pay and I would be happy to send the modem back, they went ahead and sent a charge through on my card for $300. Luckily, we are closing that account and it only has $5 in it, but they simply just decided to take my money without any type of authorization. Not to mention, we are paid until February 12 and they will not refund us for the unused time, but strangely the service no longer works as of today. How are they allowed to continue with these obviously fraudulent practices? Never do business with these people, you will regret it.

It would take 3-4 minutes for a page to load and a lot of times, it would say that the server timed out or the page wouldn't load properly. Over the next year I stayed on the phone with Hughes Net at least once a week. Moving on to December 2009, this marked my one year anniversary with Hughes Net. My internet was so slow that I could not use it at all. Within one week, I made over 11 calls to Hughes Net and was transferred as many as 5 times during one phone call. One worker advised me to replace some of the cords and so I did.

Needless to say, it did not fix anything. After another week of talking on the phone with Hughes Net, another worker said that I was still under warranty and he was sending out a new modem in 3-5 business days. Great! Or so I thought! After 2 weeks, I received my modem and I installed it myself and for 48 hours my internet was perfect. I thought it was finally fixed until day 3, the new modem stopped working and although I am still under contract with Hughes Net and was told that I would be under warranty until December 2010, Hughes Net has completely stopped trying to help me. They are saying that I am no longer under warranty and if someone comes to my home, I will be charged for their labor and anything that they will have to replace.

I was treated very badly while on the telephone with Hughes Net today and the man to whom I was speaking with argued with me that I had fast internet. When I told him that it takes the pages 3-4 minutes to load, he simply said that I was lying and that my speed test was showing good numbers. After I got firm with him, he started blaming it on the weather but the skies are clear.

I will be calling the BBB on Hughes Net tomorrow and I am going to try my best to get out of what's left of my contract with them. This is the worst internet that anyone could ever buy! If you're thinking of buying Hughes Net, you better rethink it! And you better be bilingual if you have to use the customer care hot line.

If you are looking for satellite internet, check with DirecTV. They have much more reasonable prices and thresholds as well. Thank You,

I called the repair man and ask how much a new modem was and if I could install it myself. He said the modem was $285 and the service call would be $65 he did not mention $65 an hour labor charge and said I could not do it myself. So I made an appointment. 12/21/09 the service man came and changed my power supply cord and it took him 15 minutes. He charged me $90 for the power cord to the modem, $65 service charge and $260 labor for 4 hours of labor when he was there 15 minutes. I have contacted a Lawyer to resolve this issue. I cannot believe how they rip off people. 4 hours labor charged at $65 an hour for 15 minutes of work also not disclosed to me about the charge when I spoke to him to set up appointment.

Hughes Net must have had other complaints about this situation because recently they started allowing customers one voucher per month to submit in case this happens. Any slow down for over usage over that (imposed by Hughes Net) you have to pay them $7.50 to have the slowdown stopped. I was late on my payment and on December 24th they put a block on our internet until payment was made. Payment was made on the 30th and when my new bill came in January, it only reflected a credit of 2 days. I called Hughes Net and told them they shut my service of on the 24th of December and I should have a 6 day credit, not a two day credit. They told me my service was shut off on the 28th. I argued with them about it and told them to check my record of calls on the 24th. They admitted to putting on a block, not shutting it off. I asked what the difference was; I could not use my service anyway and did not believe I had to pay for that period. The 3rd rep I spoke to never came back on the phone after discussing it with her manager. I was on the phone to them for hours, as I have been in the past.

This morning was the last straw for me. I was online checking on my new classes for the semester and our service went dead. All lights on the modem were out. I called Hughes Net and the rep, after trying to get me to complete several tests that required the use of the internet (which we told him over and over was impossible because we had no service) told me it was our modem and for a minimum of $125. Someone would have to come out and check our modem. I was angry and in tears. I told him our service agreement was for 2 years. He said "correct, but your equipment from us is only good for a year and your warranty has expired".

I asked why they didn't send us a notification of upcoming warranty renewal. He said "Hughes Net doesn't do that". He did agree to give us 2 weeks credit assuming that was how long it would take for me to get it fixed. Then, he said he wanted us to try something else. He had us unplug the router and hook up the modem directly to the computer. It worked, and then he insisted it was the router that was bad and that was our problem to deal with. My husband insists that the router has nothing to do with the modem shutting down. After the phone conversation, we plugged the router back in and service was back to normal. It was as we thought, their service just shut down again and as usual, Hughes Net passes the problem along to the customer. Is it possible to file a class action law suit against Hughes Net? I can guarantee I have spent a minimum of 20 hours on the phone dealing with these people. Their service truly is slower than dial up (in spite of the advertisements) and something is fishy about their download monitoring. Thank you.

We called three more times to get a service tech to our home. He arrived on 12/30/09 and again on 1/4/10 and replaced the modem. He left with wires hanging on the side of the house and service is still slow. I called Hughes Net again to complain, asked for a supervisor and was refused because "he will tell you the same." I asked for the name of the representative and the supervisor and was told no names will be given. We have refused to pay for the service when it was inoperable.

Hughes Net technical and customer service is appalling and a direct reflection of the company's management. Mr. K., President and CEO may be an accomplished engineer but he most certainly does not know how to run a service provider.

Then, I finally get on. Guess what, it will only connect at 2KBPS. So I call them and they say I went over 450 MBPS that day and exceeding the fair trading. I explained that I have not even been connected and that was ridiculous. I had been on the phone with them everyday for hours trying to fix it. Well this don't matter to them. So I ask them to please replace this lemon of a modem I must have and they refuse.

I can't believe it. Never in my life have been scammed this bad. They have committed fraud as far as I am concerned. They are charging me for something that they are not providing. Someone, please take these people down for their fraudulent actions! They refuse to do anything but keep telling me to call back. I still have no internet and paid a fortune to get this satellite and get it hooked up.

Yesterday, I noticed $72 was automatically taken out of my checking account, so I knew something was wrong. I called HughesNet, get re-directed to billing, got disconnected, had to call again, got through to billing, explain the situation, they review my information, assign me a ticket number and redirect me to another person. I explain my situation and they tell me that on the phone call I somehow agreed to not have my service cancelled and that I would call at a later time. Now that 30 days have gone by, I have entered a 2-year commitment or face an early cancellation fee of $400 some odd bucks.

I argued and argued. I was so furious I handed the phone to my wife and she ultimately didn't get anywhere with them either. I asked them to send me a copy of the phone recording and they said they couldn't do it. I asked her to read it to me over the phone and she apparently couldn't do that either. I never agreed to "call at a later date to cancel service". They knew I was just a few days away from getting hooked into a 2 year commitment and so they didn't cancel my service. And now they say there's nothing that can be done. They will not concede that they did anything wrong, and now I feel I have been deceived. Very shady business practices going on with this company.

I have called three times this past month about slow service. Yesterday, I was on the phone with them for over an hour. At least they admitted that the problem was them and that it would take 2 to 3 business days to resolve it. You can bet I will be calling them if service does not improve. I run the system response test daily and print out the history as proof of lousy service. We will be adding the expense of an air card and mobile access to our already stretched budget.

Since I had been with them for over two years I called to cancel at the end of December. When I did I was told I would have to pay a $400 cancellation fee! I said I had been with them for over two years, the equipment was mine now and my 24-month commitment was up. They told me that when I signed up for the basic repair service that I extended my contract by another 24 months and that I still had 10 months left on that contract. I asked them to show we where it says that and they just refer me to the Express Repair Terms and Conditions. I have read this document online and I can't find out where it says anything about this extension. The only thing I could find was if you made a claim in the first 30 days of the express repair service, then you had two different ways you could pay: $99 co-pay with a 24-month service commitment or $199 co-pay with no service commitment.

I never had any repairs during the whole time I had HughesNet. They are very hard to contact. When you call or e-mail you get a case number for ever attempt and then they respond by e-mail with a do not reply e-mail and a new case number. Each time I have to ask a question, you have to go to their site, fill out the information and the case number and then reply. You can't reply to their e-mail. Sometimes there are connection problems with their site and the e-mails won't go through. This has happened to me twice. I have complained to our State AG's office and the BBB. Both of them have not had time to respond yet. I was doing a search on the web for problems like this and found your site. I figured I might as well add my two cents. This is also a deceptive practice for your service to be extended when you are purchasing what is basically insurance to protect your investment through them. I have asked them for specific locations where it says I have signed to extend my service.

They just refer me in general to the terms and conditions but not to specific sections. Basically I will be out $400 that I don't think I own them. I could have stayed with them for another 10 months at $65.00 a month but the new DSL is faster and cheaper. I guess $400 is better than spending $650 over the 10 months with service I won't be using anyway. It's just the principle of the situation. I don't own this money, I have been a good customer for my time with them and I just wanted to part in good terms. They saw to it that would not happen.

Now, I called HughesNet customer service (what a joke), they told me that it was my fault for the installation; and if I wanted them to put it in the office, I would have to pay for another wire and installer to come here. I said “No, this is not my fault I had to set the wires up.” They repeated I would have to pay. I said no. I have called them 8 times in this month. I hear the same thing. Their service is a lot slower than dial up. They never ever said anything about this fair access policy (another joke). My computer literally stopped working. I had to call them a few more times finally someone from India that you cannot understand (I must have been on the phone for a good 45 minutes just saying what, what, what, huh, huh I can’t understand you) told me to try a few options; and what do you know, they said it was this fair access policy and that I could have this one time free (ooh, do I feel privileged now).

Okay, this happened a second time and I had to pay more money on top of the $79.00 fee. I will not pay for a service that I cannot use so I closed my account, ripped the satellite off my roof, called them and told them to come get their junk. They are a rip off company, needs to be shut down! If you are thinking about going with their service and this did not help you, please keep reading the other reviews. I wish I would have taken the time to read other reviews. I don’t want to see other people go through this at all. My contract is up! Consequences: the hole in the wall and roof, their clutter in my yard, and the useless phone calls.

I just recently found out that I am getting deployed again, and this time, I faxed them a copy of my deployment orders 4 times and wrote down the representatives' ref. number from each discussion. They verified that they did have it and offered to suspend the account again, to which I agreed but only if I could get a guarantee that it would not be botched. I was told that my services would be suspended, but they were still charging me a fee on $9.80 monthly for their equipment regardless of the fact that I would be in the Middle East! I asked if I could simply return the modem, and they replied that returning their equipment would constitute a cancellation of service and I would be charged a fee of $450.00.

This is a very unethical practice to charge anyone who is called to duty a fee for equipment that is stored away and unplugged, that the company will charge you a fee if you return it and will charge me almost $160.00 in equipment fees over the next 18 months for merely having equipment and for which if you return, they then place you at risk for being charged a cancellation fee.

Prior to any of this taking place, the supposedly offered high-speed services was within itself a joke. I had 3 tech visits in the first 3 months, called in weekly with slow, frozen or non-working internet. This whole company is a ripoff, and the representatives in the billing dept. could not give my consistent answers into the first incidents and appeared to be covering their stories concerning the first deployment issue.

Please, someone. Is there any legal way of getting this company to stop their unethical manipulation of service members and to provide the services they advertise? Either, they charge you $450.00 or monthly fees. And BTW, supervisors would not answer any questions - they were too busy after I waited nearly 30 min. to speak with one.

After several months of poor service, I began to have DNS Server Error issues. I made several more calls but still could not solve the problem. After 20 months and over $2100 in service fees, I still cannot surf the internet at speeds that they advertised except from around 2:00 am to 7:00 am in the mornings. I called to ask that service be discontinued and they want to charge me an early termination fee. This borders on criminal neglect and false advertisement.

You can't understand their tech support guys because I think they are in India or some place and they can't understand your problem. This company needs to be shut down because they are duping people out of their money for a service that they can't satisfactorily provide.

Turns out the move will cost $200 to reinstall and $120 for them to remove the service from our old house. Hughes Net claimed that they had no Hughes Net installers - that they just contract out installers. Now I am going to be out either $350 for moving the dish or $400 for just cancelling the service prior to contract expiration. This company is nothing but a fraud. Their service is no better than dial-up most of the time. They assured me the service could be moved and now have refused to move it. They expect me to believe that I have to move their service just like you move your furniture. I told them I don't own their equipment and I am not a service tech. I also told my credit card company to stop paying them and asked Hughes to pick up their equipment.

Hughes is nothing but a ripoff. The fair and reasonable things I asked them to do were refused. Hughes is criminal. Don's use them for any reason.

The HughesNet guy finished and said basically that was it. The next morning, we had a $20 charge to my husband's debit card from the technician as well as nearly $200 from HughesNet. My husband had left his wallet & work items in our office when he got home that day. We had no idea that a technician would get into his wallet and take his information. That is clearly our fault. However, this technician took our information and submitted it for payment, as well as he accessed 3 ** video sites on my husband's laptop and they were still running when we got to the PC!

We immediately reported it all to HughesNet who refused to help us. They claimed we signed a contract with them and they gave them that information and they couldn't care less what the technician did and as for their charges, they claimed that they may have agreed to no installation fees but they did not agree to no activation fees and therefore they could charge us. I advised them there was a recorded conference call. I contacted Dish and their department made another 3-way call with me and HughesNet to verify and have the charges removed. HughesNet was just as rude to Dish and told them fax them some papers and they would consider the request.

After 6 weeks of struggling to get our needed monies returned and dealing with a service that barely worked as well as phones representatives for Hughes that had the niceties of a caveman and the language of a hardened truck driver, I cancelled the service and phoned my bank to put a block against them, only to have nearly $400 taken out the within minutes of my calling. Hughes claims there is a 2-year contract that if we cancel, they get that money. I demanded a copy of that document which they have yet to produce.

Although my husband actually dealt with the technician & installers, they claim it is my signature on the document. In August, there was nearly another $400 removed and I was terribly upset at how they got past the block. This time, they claimed it was because I had not returned the equipment which I advised they had yet to send us the information to do so and we were on vacation and would not be home for 2 weeks to do so if they would supply. They refused and said two weeks more was past the allowable time.

I called my bank & Visa and reported and disputed, only to find they had pushed all these charges through as "preauthorized debit charges" as if we signed each time. Visa themselves called on a 3-way to demand an address to return the equipment and still a battle ensued. In the long, HughesNet refuses to supply any documentation to prove their claim that I or my husband signed any contract with them and merely claim we owe. My bank & Visa after months of investigating have deemed we didn't authorize anything to them other than the 6 weeks of service ($81+ I agreed to pay) and that the remaining $900+ they have been taking was returned.

HughesNet filed it against my husband's credit and we now have agencies calling nonstop and my husband's high range excellent rating has tanked. He is busy preparing for another deployment so this falls heavily on my shoulders and it is frustrating that no matter how much documentation I have or present, this company refuses to listen, offer assistance, offer supervisors, mailing addresses, etc. and despite the fact that I am the one who cancelled service nearly 6 months ago and have the computer site print out to prove it, the report to my husband's credit claims they just recently closed our account due to nonpayment. How can an agency get away with this?! Everyone run from them like crazy!

There is a language barrier because most have very heavy accents and refuse to send me back to Executive Customer Care which is in the USA (I was able to get there once, it does exist, but their callback number is blocked unless you have a security code to get past the automatic answering service). Customer service sucks! One more attempt to help them understand the safety issue of their faulty equipment will be made, then I go to the Better Business Bureau

After 4 days went by with no contact (and it had already been 2 weeks since we had any internet connection), I called back to find out that the supervisor had never placed a work order! Then I asked for the service to be disconnected, and they transferred me again to another department (Retention Center or something like that?) who said that I would have to pay a $400 "early termination fee." When I pointed out to them that I felt that they had broken the contract by not providing the service (or any service for that matter) that they had promised, they said that if I didn't pay the fee, they would turn me over to a collection agency. I told that it was their right, but I also told them that I would refute that charge with my credit card company and take them to court if necessary, as I was not the one that had violated the contract.

These people were extremely rude on the phone, never took any responsibility for their part in the problem (this includes workers and the many supervisors whom I spoke to during the course of several hours worth of calls), and then they threatened me with legal action (turning me over to a debt collection agency for the "early termination fee"). These people are absolute crooks and I am in agreement with others that if you have no other choice for your service provider due to your rural location, you are better off with nothing, as that is exactly what you will get from this horrible company! Please do not make the mistake that I made and contact Hughes Net for service!

I canceled it anyway and will talk to AmEx about dealing with this. There are obviously a ton of complaints about this company. Is there anything that can be done? It is criminal. They want to charge me an early termination fee for a mandatory upgrade, saying my modem was discontinued and would be replaced at no charge to me. I did not agree to this and the charge is $400.

On 7/1/09, I inquired about cancellation/termination of my account due to my upcoming move and that I would no longer require their service. I was informed that I was required to return the modem and radio control device for a $200 credit, case # **. I was told there was no way to pre-arrange termination of my account that I would have to call back when I was ready to close the account.

On 7/30/09, I spoke with numerous reps, Jasmin, Chesnit, MaryAnn, and made multiple requests to cancel/terminate my account with no success and each rep asked the same questions. I was transferred to “account retention” yet again to request to cancel/terminate my account, case numbers: **-**. The rep gave me 30 days fee service to 8/30. I explained I did not want or need an extension that I moved on July 27th, I just want the account closed. I was then told that I would not receive a credit for returning my equipment, that I own the equipment.

After 3 hours on the phone with this company, I was assured that my account would be canceled. On 8/23/09, I checked my account to find it was not closed. I wrote an email requesting my account be closed. The reply, Reply Case # **, I received an email reply stating that it would be done. I followed up again on 8/31/09 to find that the account was still not closed/terminated! Case **, I called and after 30 minutes, was transferred to the “account retention” rep 8/31/09 “case **” Christine asked all of the same questions. And finally after explaining that I did not want to be transferred or speak to anyone else that I want the account terminated immediately, the account was finally terminated and me, the customer, was billed a $245 early termination fee.

This is outrageous! I was forced into purchasing a new modem because no one would support the one I had that was only 2 years old, so this put me into a new 2 year contract. Then get the runaround for 2 months trying to terminate my account is unreasonable. I spent no less than 4 hours on the phone trying to cancel my account. This is outrageous! I was billed $245 for early termination which I would not have had to pay if I was not forced into another contract because of replacing equipment. If I hadn't paid for the equipment or the installation, then I would understand the charge, but I paid for the installation and the equipment. More importantly, the aggravation and time involved in trying to close my account is unacceptable.

I have made several calls to find out when I would receive my refund but have been given several excuses as to when I would receive it. First, I was told that I would see the money in my bank account on August 8, 2009, which was the billing period. On August 10, 2009, I called once again, because my refund had not hit my bank. I was told I had to wait seven more days, and then, I would see it in my bank. On August 20, 2009, I made another call requesting my refund, but I was told that I had to wait 45 days from the cancellation date to receive my refund. As you can see from the above information, I have been misled on numerous occasions and feel that Hughes Network is not properly handling their business.

My story to back up this claim is as follows:

After dealing with spotty service with Hughes for close to 2 years and patiently putting up with their offshore support, their technical support team finally discovered that the problem had been the result of a faulty modem the entire time. Since the existing modem was no longer available due to its age, Hughes Net Tech Support (not me) decided to send me a new modem to replace the older faulty one. After waiting for over 2 weeks to receive the new modem shipped from Maryland to South Carolina, I called back only to discover that no modem had been ordered. I provided the offshore tech support person once more with the case number from the prior call that determined a faulty modem. This person ordered a new modem and the new modem was promptly shipped and received within the week. Once I received the new modem and installed it, a Satellite Tech had to come out to perform additional maintenance and cross-pol the dish. Once that work was complete, the Sat Tech performed the steps to activate the new modem.

Skip ahead one year to August 2009. I was forced to relocate from my home to accept another job. Once in my new apartment, I discovered they had cable internet already taken care of as a part of the lease and did not allow privately-owned dish installations to anyone not on a ground floor (I am on the 3rd floor). So, I called Hughes Net to have them terminate my service since I had been a customer for over 2 years and no longer needed the service. I was told by their offshore support that there would be a $300 early termination charge because I ordered an Upgraded Modem which reset my service contract to another 2 years.

When I explained the situation to them all over again, including providing them with the case numbers from my call to them last August (2008), they told me that it did not matter, that my acceptance of the modem, and the subsequent installation of the modem (even though the Sat Tech performed the install and activation), was my acceptance of a new 2-year term. When I tried to get a more senior and better English speaking representative on the line, I was very rudely informed that the more senior person would just tell me the very same thing. After being on hold for more than 10 minutes, the more senior person did in fact tell me the same thing.

My basic logic is this: A. If Hughes Net made the decision to send me the modem because (1) the one I had was faulty, and (2) the old one was no longer available, then the extension of the 2 year commitment does not apply. B. If the Sat Tech performed the installation and activation for the new modem, then I did not see anything where I was required to acknowledge an extension of a 2-year commitment.

Now I find myself in a pickle, an honest guy trying to make a living, trying to go up against a company that has grown so out of control that it no longer cares about doing honest business.

When I asked about canceling, I was told I could get a $200 refund. I have cancelled and gone back to Suddenlink, even though there were times that we did not have service with them. However, their service was so much better than Hughes Net, and I took the $600 lost to prove it. Every person in the sales and billing department lied to me.

I wanted to cancel Hughes Net and get my money back, but they refused. They were not going to refund the installation if I cancelled, so it was going to cost me $200.00 to cancel. I was assured that Hughes Net was much faster than Wild Blue (what I was replacing). I was also told that I could get $100 rebate and how purchasing the hardware made the payments lower. I tried to access the customer care for the rebate center and was told the rebate was out of date. So no rebate! So I was charged $199.00 to install and another $199.00 for hardware, which I was unaware I was going to have to pay for when I ordered the service, plus $59.99 for service that was slower than my previous service when it did work.

Nowhere did it say I was going to be charged any of these fees. They just showed up on my charge account. Instead of refunding my money and canceling my service, I was transferred instead to technical support. Technical support assured me it was my router causing the problem and lead me through rebooting the computer and I was told to do this if the problem happened again. So every day, I went through this procedure thinking it would speed up, but it didn't. Hughes Net was still too slow and I called again to cancel. I was sent to technical support again. I was told I was over my free access limit, no one had been home all day to even get on the internet. So I have to call back again for customer service because I want to cancel.

Now I'm past my 30 days to cancel that's allowed. I was told I would be given 30 days upgrade to the next level to try, but my bill showed a $10.00 increase and I still don't like the service. I was told to cancel, I'll owe $400.00 because I made a 2-year agreement. My 2-year agreement was under the assumption that I would prefer Hughes Net as opposed to Wild Blue and that wasn't the case. Ever since I got Hughes Net, I was trying to cancel and kept getting their so sorry line that it made me sick. I was tired of hearing I'm so sorry to hear that. Their sales staff is conditioned with a script to keep you going and going until it's too late to cancel without the $400.00 cancellation fee.

Their English was poor and it was very difficult to deal with. I said, "just cancel the service, I want out". I hate Hughes Net and will never refer them to anyone. They falsely advertised and keep charging me. I refuse to pay their cancellation fee. I have returned their hardware and want a refund of all their charges for mental stress, anxiety and wasted time they have caused me. My husband had to get on the roof and take down the satellite and repair the roofing. They were going to put another $400 on my charge card last time I talked to them, so I was forced to cancel my account before they charge me more.

Since HughesNet has never resolved my ongoing problem, and since they have never reliably delivered data to me over their network, I would like the right to cancel for non-performance without penalty. There are enough clauses in their contract to protect HughesNet under any and all circumstances even where they fail to deliver. However, this is not the way the service or company is advertised to the consumer.

I'm out of $604.00. I have Crohn's and I am mentally disabled. It has caused me undue distress, pain in my stomach from the stress and basically, I'm depressed and suicidal and that does not help the situation. People should not be treated as such.

Last month, June 2009, I got a pop-up message from HughesNet saying that there was a problem with my account. My CC did expire on 30 May 2009 and I must admit that I just forgot to update the expiration date. After trying to update the information online, I got another message stating that there was still a problem with my card. For a moment, they had me believe there was a problem with my card. I logged it to my CC account and found that everything was just fine. I called support and got someone named Bernice. Bernice explained that since there was a problem with my CC, she would need another card to bill my account. I explained the card information that I was updating would be what I wanted to use. She would not hear of it. I got upset and requested to speak to a supervisor.

After some time, she did connect me with a supervisor. I explained my situation and also asked if I could record the call. The supervisor agreed and I recorded the call. After a considerable amount of time, the supervisor admitted that HughesNet was having a problem billing credit cards due to a program problem. Before discontinuing the call the supervisor assured me that all the information was correct and that on 18 July 2009, my payment would be charged for my monthly payment.

Today is 20 July 2009. I just got off the phone with billing support because the very same thing happened. The first person I spoke with named Maureen actually hung up on me because I asked if I could record the call. I didn't record the call, but she said she could tell that I was recording the call. Why can they record calls but the consumer can't? I called back a cut to the chase and requested a supervisor. After going through a mountain of information, the call taker named Michael finally agreed to connect me with a supervisor but not until he told me that I was not allowed to record the call. Michael also referenced the "user agreement" saying that I agreed not to record any calls as per that agreement.

The supervisor named Crissy explained that she could not use my credit card since it had been rejected. I explained that funds were available on this card to deduct for my account. I also explained what I had been through just last month and why am I going through this again. I was told over and over again that this policy was a HughesNet policy. I explained that the money is available and that they should do what they need to do to bill my card.

Now for the Fair Use Policy, I work 24 hour shifts 10 plus days per month. I am the only one that uses the internet in my house. That means that over one third of the month, I am not using HughesNet services. When I exceed the amount allowed to up/download, I have to wait 24 hours to have my speed restored from less than download speed. I understand the rules, but why is it that I am not credited for the non-use as I'm penalized for over use.

I have spent countless hours on the phone with people who are very hard to understand. I have lost time and time is money. I have had to use resources that are limited by HughesNet to obtain information to correct problems that shouldn't occur in the first place. I have been given incorrect information by HughesNet reps.

Wrong! They never once mentioned that I would be limited to how many megabytes I could download; they only talked about the speed and terms of needs. I never even thought that would be an issue. For the last 8 years, I have had internet service, and it was always unlimited downloads. I didn't even know companies limited down/uploads.

Within the first day, I couldn't get internet. I thought my connection had gone down. I called tech support, got someone whom I couldn't understand because their English was so bad, and finally struggled to understand them. It was explained to me that I had used up my download megabytes and was cut off service for 24 hours. I was furious!

Then they told me I could up my level for another $40.00 a month. Now, I am paying over $100.00 a month and not allowed even what fits on a CD. Supposedly, I can cancel in the first 30 days, but I am out the $99.00 connection fee and the $125.00 installation fee for a pole installation. Nevertheless, I am canceling service. It was a bad learning experience that consumer awareness might help someone else from going through. We are retired, and I feel we were taken advantage of, because we didn't know the right questions to ask. Consumer, be aware!

After many calls to customer service, I finally sent a registered letter to the corporate office. No response was ever received. I was told by customer service that the contract indicates that service is to be provided but not what level of service. I finally bought a wireless card from Verizon and experienced very good service. I was unable to cancel the contract without paying a $400 early termination fee. Finally, my contract is up and it took over 1/2 hour on hold to terminate an automatic renewal. I paid for service that was virtually not usable.

I was asked to do several repair tactics with your customer service department. After that did not work, they said that it was my equipment. I had to wait several weeks for my equipment to arrive. When it came, my internet still did not work. I called and the tech support department went over several repair tactics again which did not work. They then set up a technician to come to my house. I spoke with the tech and scheduled him to come today on June 30 between 9 and 11. The tech never showed up or phoned my house. I called them and they said their computers were down and they would have to come another day. I told them I couldn't take off of work another day and that I was calling Hughes Net back.

After spending over 3 hours on the phone talking to various departments until I had to leave to go to work, I finally just cancelled my service because I wasn't getting any help. I called back to check and make sure it was cancelled and the technician told me that my account had never been unlocked since March. I have been replacing equipment, making phone calls, scheduling appointments, etc and all along my account has been locked in error. They have received my payments so they should have unlocked the account in March. Before I knew that was the problem, I cancelled my account because I couldn't get anyone to get my internet working and I was still paying for the service every month. I think that I should be getting a credit on my account since March and also I should be getting a credit for having to send the receiver (or modem) back to your company instead of doing it at my expense.

When my account was shut off for non-payment, it has not worked since then even though they have had payment. I talked with your level 3 tech support and they said it was locked out since March. You will see no usage since March. It never got turned back on. A new modem was sent only because the technician could not figure out what was wrong and thought that was it. The new modem came, but it didn't help because my service was still shut off. I have tried to resolve this repeatedly, but the one department will not talk to the other department. If I hadn't called, I could understand but there have been several attempts to get the internet working and no one picked up on the fact that it was just that my account was locked out.

I am asking that my cancellation fee be refunded and the months of service that I paid from March to June 30 be refunded. I wouldn't have cancelled my service if they would have gotten it working but no one would come out and no one on the phone realized it was just locked out. It is unfair business to expect me to pay for something that you did not provide. It was an error on your part that my service was never activated again even though you received payment.

I called and told them I was cancelling my account due to breach of contract. They said I couldn’t or they would charge me $300. I told them they are no longer allowed to charge my card but guess what, they tried too but I cancelled the card and I plan on filing a complaint in court for fraud. I even emailed them to let them know. They told me their system is all automated and there was nothing they could do. I filed a complaint with the BBB and I would urge anybody having trouble with them to do the same. They have had 1,803 complaints in the last 36 months and over 800 in the last 12 months.

Unwilling to put hundreds more into this system, I again researched my options and found another service. Finally, something else was available in my little corner of the world. I called Hughes Net back to cancel and was told that cancelling three months prior to my contract end date would cost $300.00! My monthly service plan for three months didn't total that so I asked about downgrading the plan, I couldn't use the service anyway, and was told I could downgrade to $34.99 per month and then call to cancel after July 16, 2009. I was told I must call back to rerun the web setup to change the service plan, which I did, an hour after the call to downgrade. When I reached support, I explained I was downgrading my plan as my modem no longer worked. The technician kept insisting I needed to rerun web setup in order to use the internet. I kept explaining that I couldn't get to the internet with Hughes Net as my modem didn't work.

At no time did the technician tell me he had to try to rerun or else! Imagine my surprise when I opened my bank statement and saw a charge of $267.56 posted June 17, 2009 from Hughes Net. Thinking this must be a mistake, but of course we're talking Hughes Net, so I anticipated the worst, I called customer support and was told that because I didn't rerun my web setup one hour after downgrading my plan, my service was cancelled. As I had a credit of $32.44 on my account for days my service didn't work (an amount given by some kind service rep), my bank statement showed the charge of $267.56, not $300.00 to cancel the plan.

How does Hughes Net decide on the credit amount, I wonder? My service hasn't worked in months and that's worth $32.44? Anyway, I explained to Hughes Net that this must be a mistake. I called to downgrade and was told to call back after July 16, 2009 to cancel with no penalty. No mistake, Hughes Net said. Because I didn't rerun web setup to change the plan, I was not downgraded. I was cancelled! At least ten times I told the rep and then her supervisor that I couldn't rerun web setup because my modem was broken. Too bad! I was told this is "my opinion", that I'm just saying this. Hughes Net, you have not heard the last of me. I am not a liar and I do not appreciate being called one nor do I appreciate your horrible service and your unethical business practices.

A month later, they got it 1/2 right, but it was a continual battle with billing. I eventually had to change credit card numbers to get them to stop billing me. For the first 30 days, the service was as good as expected. I was on the home plan, which provide "up to" 1mbps of service. During the first 30 days, you are in a "customer satisfaction stage", where you can cancel without penalty, return the equipment at your expense, and not be obligated any longer. Your fees you have paid so far are not refundable (other than disputing it through your credit card company). After your 30 days, and after your second invoice generates, whammy! You are at their mercy. Their famous excuse after that is "speeds are not guaranteed". If you have to call tech support, it’s an endless cycle of running speed tests, and talking to someone in India. Billing support is in the Philippines.

With so many issues on this account, and after writing the Better Business Bureau of Maryland, my account was handed over to the corporate office (Executive Customer Care). I give those people credit, they did try to help me with the issues, but given that the NOCC (network operations) was directly controlling speeds at that time thru throttling and flow control, ECC and myself thought that this battle should end (it was stated by tech support, "Your system is running fine. There is nothing else we can do. If you are not happy with the service, either "accept it with its flaws" or cancel it.” What? They admit their service is flawed? I cancelled it. More stupid on my part, we decided to sign up for a totally new account. New install, new equipment, new start.

Once again, everything went perfect for the first 30 days. I signed up for the Pro + package that time, which gave a tad bit more speed, plus more daily usage (425mb). Consistently, everyday, 1.5mbps speeds which was 95% of the plans output. Great, I was thinking. Thirty days passed, second Invoice, speeds went to around 300-400k, then comes the excuses. "You are in peak time usage", you have exceeded your usage, you're in FAP, and the weather at your gateway is bad.

Tech support did admit once (the guy in India) that there was a problem, but it would have to be diagnosed by engineering. Again, and endless cycle of speed tests (in two occasions, put me over my daily usage, FAP, which they were unwilling to release).

So be well aware, if you sign up for a HughesNet account with a HN9000 modem package, you are in for a very long battle. While you may think you're cruising right along at first, wait till you're 30 days are up, and you're in a contract. Two times in 6 months taught me a lesson! Never trust these people. They will never admit that network operations give you whatever speeds they want, whenever they want. The corporate office's response to my second series of complaints was directly from the office of the president and stated "We will not go through this again. Everyone just got your letter today. I called your mother and left a message. There is an open ticket with Tier 4, if they can't resolve, I recommend she cancel immediately. Please refrain from sending e-mails to the customer service group. I am sorry she is, or you are not happy with the service. You and I had an agreement on this next account. No complaints to ECC, and we do not guarantee speeds." Their famous slogan "do not guarantee speeds" just doesn't cut it on a $79.99 a month plan that rates at 1.6mbps, but only providing 300-400k.

This is a true story, and I have no doubt all of these others are true in their own respect at well, forewarned if you are thinking about Hughes. Hughes cannot expect people to continue to keep their service when they do not provide the levels of service consumers are paying for.

We made many phone calls to Hughes Net tech support to complain about our problems about their service, and we were told that their original installer from Hughes Net didn't use the proper size of bolts to install our dish on our roof. We were told again we would have to pay an additional service fee for another technician to come out and correct the original installer's screw-up. By Hughes Net own admission today on the phone, their internal notes stated that all of our problems with their service were due to Hughes Net hiring an incompetent dish installer and they refused to send out an installer to correct the problem for free.

We have terminated their service and do not recommend Hughes Net to anyone requiring good customer service. We wish the news media, such as Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS, do an investigation to see how many other customers are having technical issues that aren't resolved with Hughes Net. We would like a full refund from this company, as we have spent from June 2008 through January 2009 a total of $1394.00 for approximately 4 months of working high-speed internet service.

System set up, 30 minutes after they left the Modem kept rebooting, and leaving me stranded in the middle of conversations with clients oversees. I call tech support, told them the entire situation and only to understand every third word, they started running system check from there end, getting nothing resolved. They said they needed to shut it down for 30 minutes, I decided to deal with this in the morning. Morning came, no internet service. I called tech support, ran me in circles all day long, one case ID # after another. Waste of my day, not to mention the deals I could have accomplished.

They then said they were not going to refund the $50.00 and they were going to send the service guys back out to replace the modem, which would cost me additional fees. Having the worst time understanding them, I told them I wasn't going to pay for their service until everything was up and running correctly, they hung up on me! I then called my bank to stop any transactions in the future from them, only to find out that they have already deducted $190.00 out of my account. Now, nothing was ever mentioned or agreed upon for $190.00 or anything. I just don't understand how companies are allowed to keep ripping people off for products and services that they can't provide. I know there are worst cases out there than mine, but I'm now out $240.00 and two days of work, a total cost of $730.00 just for wanting to better my situation while living in the mountains. There has to be something to stop Hughes from ripping off the people! I work very hard for the little bit of money I have. Very dissatisfied in our system!

Moments later, the automated voice replies that "an equipment failure will cost $125.00 to replace, do I agree to the terms?"Of course not! No way will I agree to any automated message requesting money without more information. I then talked to a live person, and it’s a man in tech support. He tells me that my modem needs replacement, and will cost $125.00, and another $25 for a power cord. The reason, they explained, for the high cost was that we did not have a warranty on the modem. Never once was I explained about warranties at anytime. I then asked to speak to the Sales Department. I needed to know if they plan to not charge me for the days I am without service. After nearly twenty minutes, I still didn't get a direct answer.

At the end of our conversation, I'm told that the replaced modem should arrive in ten working days. About 1 week passed, and I decided to call to see if the modem was sent. Upon inquiring, I'm shocked to learn it hadn't even been sent yet. I was told that due to me not speaking again with the tech department, there was no order filled out. I was never told that I had to speak with them, and was under the impression that we have both agreed on a modem to be shipped, and that it’s on its way. I spoke with the Tech Dept., and now they say I have to wait three to four days. Amazingly, they requested for the old modem to be returned, and I'm to pay for shipping. Another few days passed, I called again, and they told me they are backlogged and it hasn't been shipped.

The same thing happened again a few days after that. So at this time, it’s been almost 1 month since the modem went out, with the new modem not even shipped out yet. This is the only option available in the town I live, other than dial-up. Days have been adding up, and it’s become, to say the least, frustrating.

I have an $80 connection that at times, a dial up would be 2x-5x faster than. Stay away. I honestly don't know another business that can sell you something that they know they cannot provide and they are okay with that.

A movie is 800 MB. So she was lied to, the service was misrepresented and now they want to charge her a fee for removing the equipment and will only refund a small portion of the $410 she spent installing and getting the service. As they tried over and over to confuse her, I repeatedly had to get on phone and ask, “She cannot download more than 200MB in a day, correct?". They answer with "yes", so I said, “A movie is 800 MB, how can you be telling this woman she can download a movie," and they get very quiet and nervous.

At this point they want another $100 to dismantle the equipment and will not refund a $199 installation nor other fees. This is absolutely horrible, I hate seeing our seniors lied to and scammed by companies that use India and Philippines for their customer service. Enough said.

Well long story short, I called talked to different supervisors which are horrible at customer service and one person argued with me for 10minutes and she canceled my account without voice confirmation of saying "Yes". Now, in order to get the service, you have to agree to the installation by saying "Yes". Well, this is kind of odd. How can they do these kinds of things? After she hung up on me, I called back and talked to another supervisor for 1 hour and he argued with me also saying it will be a $25 reconnection fee, even though I didn't give her permission to cancel me. They are now covering for each other and saying different things each time you call.

Anyway, the main reason I wanted to post in here is to let people know it is easy to prove the reps, who said there is no corporate office, are lying and you can use the website (www.hughes.com) as an argument when you are on the phone with them. Under the Contact Us section is the information for the corporate office: Hughes Network Systems, LLC 11717 Exploration Lane Germantown, MD 20876 USA Phone: 301-428-5500 Fax: 301-428-1868. Also the home page of the website states that Pradman Kaul is the CEO. Go after him. I am sure he is not losing sleep over paying bills or refinancing after some Goliath company bilks him for questionable service and business practices.

Love to play games online? Abandon that dream or like as soon as you sign the contract to them. Playing any game online, whether it be Quake 2 or Fear 2, latency is always horrible. The server will even time-out most of the time. YouTube lovers will have to delete that from their favorites because 10 videos, no matter the length, will kill your internet connection.

I hate Hughes Net with a passion; the hidden fees, a commercial that lies, a gook answers the 'customer service' line every time, and etc. If you are planning on Hughes Net, which please don't plan on it, make sure that cable isn't available and do nothing but browse. Hughes Net will go under someday.

All of the above is a crock. We have exceeded the daily usage limit several times within the 2 months of service. The reality is if you have kids at home that go to websites such as YouTube, you’ll exceed the limit in no time at all. When we curtailed the YouTube site, we continued to exceed the limit by simply surfing websites that were busy with graphics. Bottom line, the daily usage limit can be exceeded without too much effort.

My second issue concerns their claim that we would receive dial-up speed during the 24-hour penalty period. In reality, when our limit has been exceeded, we lose internet access for 24 hours, minimum! The speed is so slow, that it’s impossible to open most web pages without timing out. Furthermore, we were never told that if you attempt to use the internet during the penalty period, then the 24-hour period is drastically extended. Don’t count on having your internet access back after 24 hours. Only after I had signed on the dotted line was I told that they recommend unplugging your modem for 24 hours if your daily usage limit has been exceeded.

Lastly, after the phone sale has been completed, that will be the last time you talk to someone in America for anything from technical support to billing inquiries. Their support center is in India, and as you can imagine, it’s nearly impossible to carry on a constructive conversation, because they do not speak good English! When I called to inquire about exceeding my daily usage, I was told everything from my router setting must be incorrect, to someone must be stealing service from me! What the **? When I asked to speak with a supervisor to file a formal complaint, I was given the runaround and told that they have no formal personnel that handle complaints. It literally took me ten minutes of persistence to be transferred to a supervisor, and that proved to be a waste of my time. All I got was lip service, and it wasn’t even in good English! I feel that they misrepresented their product to me. I am planning on canceling my service with them, and I do anticipate efforts on their behalf to collect a breach of contract fee. I will file a claim against them at that time.

They refused to come and fix it for free even though my internet really had never worked, only on the night the two boys came and hooked it up. I told them that I wanted to cancel my service and I wanted my money back for the product that they installed but never worked. The person I was talking to cannot not speak English very well and I could not understand her. A couple of weeks later, I saw that I was still being billed for this service, so I called in again and talked to a guy that once again, I could not understand. I told him that I wanted to speak with a manager because he would not help me.

When speaking with the manager, she would not help me either and told me that there was going to be a $300.00 termination fee and I would get none of my money back. Also, I had to return everything to HughesNet; otherwise, they would charge me about $350.00 for unreturned merchandise. I want my money back and there was never anyone to talk who had the authority to give it back!

The real problem was, we left on vacation to Mexico (Feb-May) and then Canada (June-Sept), paying for the service the entire time we were gone, not knowing we could put it on vacation. We always unplug the unit when we are gone because of fear of lightning strikes. We came home in Sept. and our unit would not boot up. We called Hughes for help and we ran through tests they could do over the phone and nothing worked. They said that we were out-of-warranty and we would need to pay for the service call. We advised we would contact their authorized service contact to come when we were home instead of them calling and us trying to accommodate the serviceman through a 3rd party.

He came and worked 3-4 hours trying to get our equipment up. Finally, after he checked the alignment of the dish, changed our modem and that did nothing and then changed the LNB. Finally, he discovered that Hughes (some time when we were gone) changed the Transponder and the polarity without our knowledge, thus none of our equipment would work. The service call was $150 which we have written letters and spent hours on the phone trying to get reimbursed for a service call that was about their changes and not our equipment.

Hughes sold me services without providing this important detailed information. Now I am stuck with poor service, which causes me to lose money in my business. I can't believe they get away with this. I will have to pay at least $300.00 if I terminate early. I lose at least $75.00-$100.00 daily because when I log into a server to work from home and bill clients sending spreadsheets etc, in some cases it prevents me to send the billing or I lose the information due to it timing out. Also, when posting credit card payments, it times out and I lose information. I have lost at least $325.00-$400.00.