Rant: HughesNet

OK, to start my mother lives in a rural area and can get nothing but dial up and satellite internet. So I set all her updates to manual and would do Autopatcher at home and take a flash drive out there to fix her up with updates and such. She has had DirectTV for years and Comcast keep saying they are coming but you know how someone 'saying' something goes. Well she signed up for HughesNet (DirectPC) The installer is supposed to be there at noon, calls twice during that day and keeps pushing the appointment back. He arrives at 4:30 and put the dish on the porch roof, wraps the dual coax around the gutter. Then goes to look where the laptop is, crap, other side of the house. So he talks her into getting a wireless router (which I was going to do anyway) so he wouldn't have to run the cable across the basement that's not finished by the way. So he drilled a hole through the brick into the living room in the process blowing out a big hunk of plaster. Then since he didn't want to install new ends on the coax he left it coiled up laying on the ground outside, nope she never cuts her grass... Oh and to start when he first walked up he never even knocked on the door, just walked in like he was family. I wish I hadn't forgotten my phone at home so I could of gotten some pics. So now she has a big hole in the wall, a modem setting on a end table in the living room. Shoddy all around I tell you.

Sorry, just had to say it to someone.

 

Oh, Buck_nekid, that is just Terrible service!!! Not very professional at all.. Listen to Digitalocksmith, and I do hope you got that guy's name too. I'd be as mad as wet hen, myself... :mad

They came around here, but I didn't 'buy' it.... The price was pretty steep to begin with, and I am on a DUN here, and that is my only choice....

 

I had my mother take some pictures today of the mess. She tried calling customer service and was continually put on hold, but it is Sunday. I told her what to write in the email as she it very technically challenged. Even the "Basic" install wasn't done with a single wall plate. Unless a wall plate to the installers is a 2 inch hole in the wall with the cables just laying there. I just can't believe the service that is done today. I used to be in service and I would never dream of doing that to someone vehicle let alone their house.

 

Hi Buck_nekid, I would like to see those pix myself.. I cannot imagine anyone leaving a mess like that, and forget about getting a hold of anyone on Sunday.... That is impossible, we are the only ones available on Sunday :-D

But, back to the situation, I would scream the loudest if I was her.. The hole in the wall is inexcusable.. The whole mess is inexcusable. They SHOULD be paying her for the mess they made... Did the guy leave any paperwork with your Ma with HIS name on it? She can call them today, and really make a complaint.... Good luck to ya.

 

Sorry to here of your troubles with this "company" but you're not a lone and you might consider canceling the contract now and if you get the normal "run around" the only other thing would be to have your mother call her bank and go for a fraud on them other wise it only gets uglier. Check out what is said here http://www.consumeraffairs.com/internet/hughes.html and you may want to file with BBB if you get no where with the company themselves. Unfortunately we tend not to do a search before we buy and wind up getting deceived. Been there done that and won't happen again. Good luck to you and your mother.

 

I have Optimum Online, and Optimum Voice, which is VOIP. Our modems are crap, and they need to be reset ever 3 hours. They refuse to give us a new one, or even a discount.

 

Hey, zDawg32, suddenly, my DUN isn't looking so bad after all..

 

Thanks, yes I did google about the horror stories 'after' she called me and told me she stepped in the 'high' speed world. She is supposed to be emailing me the pictures that she took. She had finally talked to someone there and a new tech is supposed to be out this week sometime. I wrote her a list of what to bring up and have fixed. As for the hole in the wall, luckily it is behind the couch. Though that doesn't fix the fact that it shouldn't of been there in the first place. Live and learn I tell her.

Hindsight is always 20-20.

 

hi there, Buck_nekid, I sure hope that hole gets fixed before the field mice find it.. rolleyes Also, I sure hope she gets things settled.. they have got the worst rep. I have ever heard of... Good Luck, and do keep us posted

 

OK, I finally got some pics of what my mom has going on. I hope I am not making something out of nothing. Oddly enough the tech who was supposed to come out to rectify whatever problems there was never showed. And she has never again gotten someone on the phone or had numerous emails returned.

Pic one shows the install, me I would of put beside the smaller directv dish that I installed about 8 years ago on the side of the house.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3820/hughesnet004.th.jpg

Self explanatory, the hole on the inside of the living room. That's real plaster, not drywall. At least he put a "grommet" on the outside of the house.
http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6856/hughesnet001.th.jpg

This shows the wonderful cable management. I know the NEC doesn't really cover low volt guys but if I pulled this at my job, I wouldn't have one anymore.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/6587/hughesnet002.th.jpg

This is the cable that was laying in the grass, my mother zip tied it up. I don't know what that gray box is as I've never installed a sat internet setup but it is screwed into the downspout with drywall screws. I doubt that is S.O.P.
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2788/hughesnet003.th.jpg

 

Oh, now that is just flat out inexcusable! :eek Have you tried to get a hold of corporate? You should send them these pics, and show them what their installers are doing.. :boxing I would be having a kitten if that was my place!:guns I would for sure, be showing those pix too!:major

 

..and as well call the local news there and have them interview your mother and you. Also the town paper, to forewarn others of this companies deceptions. Seriously do turn them over to the BBB as they will make the company pay restitution. Otherwise they get a black mark and possibly a hefty fine. http://www.dc.bbb.org/report.html?national=y&compid=9864# Don't let them get away with this they have tried on others as you will read when you click on the address, and they were made to resolve it. There is also some names and phone numbers. (this is for the Hughes in WV)
Keep us posted please.

 

Follow up:

My mother and I have played email and phone tag with them for a while. The one time I did get a human on the line I got transfered four times before I got to speak with someone who even knew what a drywall screw was. I emailed the pictures to him and he returned my call. What it basically comes down to is that Hughes themselves has nothing to do with the installations. They sub it all out to what is I imagine the lowest bidder. In the end it ended with: "Is it working?" "Yes" "Then the problem is?" So then I tracked down the company "ATC communications" (Who happens to be the Comcast contract holder in this area also) who did the install. Same story. The contract was signed by my sister who was there when he came to install it. BUT... he had her sign it before he started work, he said it was a authorization to perform the work when it was in fact the "Work was performed satisfactory" signature.
I am going out there this weekend to fix it. Half of my Saturday isn't worth the aggravation anymore.

 

HOLY :crap Now that has got to be the best run-around I ever heard! :mad
BN, I don't blame you at all, it is like :banghead I hope you can help your Mom out tho... Maybe you can send the bill to Hughes!

Also, if you have a copy of what your sister had signed, contact the BBB or Attorney General for your area.. I don't think THAT is legal that they had her sign a contract that was the total OPPOSITE of what she THOUGHT she was signing..... Also, how old is your Mom? I think that also falls into the category of SCAMMING SENIOR CITEZENS. :mad

OK, help out your Mom, but don't stop there.. You know, they will do it again and again, and I think the Attorney General will help you there...

 

She doesn't read what she signs??? Wow...

Edit to say that while I certainly sympathize, at the same time I can't help wondering... seriously, really, don't you read what you sign before you put your name down? If she did sign on the "work was satisfactory" line, you have NO recourse unless you filmed him making her do it before he did the work. Sorry.

 

I've got to agree with Mims on this about reading before you sign. how long was the "tech" there and did your mom/sister get a copy of the papers? If so you may have some recourse by checking for date project started and or time , Otherwise chalk it up as " I won't let it happen Twice" If for nothing more then to alert others of the shoddy workmanship and aggravation to reach a real person with this company take it to the media...or not. I'm really sorry that your mom had to be an innocent victim in all this, and that you had to encounter a bad company. Good luck in the future.

 

He was there for about 4 hours. You always read a 12 page document before you sign it? When he says he needs it signed before he can start work? This is all a non issue since I am fixing it tomorrow. Yes my mom has a copy of it but it's a unsigned copy of the work order. Oh well, they got the money all is well with them.

 

Hi BN, I agree, they got their money, and THAT is all they care about.. Take care of your Mom. I am sure she will appreciate all you are doing for her.. A 12 page document? WHOA !!! Sounds like he had made it sound as if it wasn't signed, he couldn't do the work.. Yeah, pretty darn shabby....... :mad

 

I seriously think that you and your mother should be put in for awards or something... cause by now ... I think I might have been put in jail over this. Incredible. I just recently moved and had to have my cable installed... the installer was also a contractor with no affiliation with the cable company. He did a fantastic job! very professionaland polite! Unfortunately, the cable coompany themselves are the exact opposite! But... short of hughs.. they are all I got