Earthlink rep tried to scam me |
Loading ...I’ve been an Earthlink customer since 1998. In this internet age, how many different accounts have you held with ISPs for that long? I have an email address there that I’ve not wanted to change and that’s the only reason I’m still there. I’m paying $5.99 a month for a single email address. I know, that sounds idiotic considering one can get email for free elsewhere including adding a POP box to any of our hosted domains. If Earthlink offered a free forwarding service I’d be all over it, but of course they don’t. Unfortunately, I can’t add the earthink.net address elsewhere and some account information is tied to that and the email for some of those services cannot (easily) be changed. Sort of like telephone number lock-in, even though those numbers are supposed to be portable.
You’d think this sort of customer loyalty would at least get some kind of perk. Perhaps a christmas card or anniversary card once a year? A more direct or speedy telephone number for service? Heck, just an automated email thanking for longer service would be cool. I have to be in at least a small pool of customers that have been with them a long time. That’s what, 8 years of paying them every month?
I got a perk recently, alright, but of a different variety.
Before heading out to our vacation in Arizona last month I called their sales department to inquire about the possibility of upgrading my email-only account to a dialup account so we could use their internet access on vacation. When the sales rep told me there was no way to upgrade my existing account and that I needed to “add on a new account” with dialup I was immediately suspicious and told him I was not interested. I even asked if he’d check with somebody else because it didn’t sound right to me. Why would I need a new account? He was pretty persistent making it sound like it wasn’t a big deal.
So I hung up and just went on about things. As it turned out, my dad had cable in his house where we stayed so I tapped into his Wi-Fi and all was well. I even helped him better secure his Wi-Fi while I was there and wiped a bunch of loadup crap on his computer. He seemed pretty happy and we saved over not having to pay for a one month temporary internet service.
When we got back to town I needed to do some email maintenance. While gone I noticed a heavy increase in spam to my earthlink email, so I went into the account area. To my surprise, I had an additional account linked. The very thing I’d told the Earthlink rep several times I did not want, he did anyway. They also mailed a Welcome package to us.
Now I was pissed. The Earthlink rep had deliberately ignored my request NOT to set up a new account.
So I got on the phone to Earthlink and waited. And waited. Finally a nice support operator came onto the phone and I recanted recounted the sequence of events above adding the fact that I’d never logged into this new account and had better not be charged for it (and if I was, to please refund the money). She apologized that this account was setup without my permission and assured me that I was not charged. She also offered to switch my email-only account to their “better deal” which was $3.99 instead of $5.99.
Did the first rep offer me this deal? Nope. What a scammer. I told her absolutely I’d like to save $2 a month. Why pay more for the same thing? She was awesome and exactly the opposite from the first rep I talked to.
Moral of the story
They do allow upgrading and downgrading of existing accounts, the first rep was full of it. They have a cheaper email-only account price that they will switch for you (and it even gets cheaper if you are willing to pay annually). Assuming you can suffer through the hold time, call back and talk to different operators at Earthlink. You get different answers.
- Is Earthlink trying to piss off longtime customers?
- .Mac renewal as email-only account?
- Bargain basement pricing for dialup growing market
- Dish to offer free PVR to new and existing clients
- Earthlink releases virus and spyware blocker
- EarthLink Spy Audit
I’ve heard a number of people complain that Earthlink’s service is tanking. One of my customers had their secure business FTP site shut down because “we don’t do that anymore”. Maybe she should have called back and talked to someone else.
BTW, I think you meant “recounted” instead of “recanted” — but sic it’s somewhat humorous.
Comment by Sterling Camden — April 4, 2006 @ 2:22 pm PST
Freudian slip? LOL.
recant - To reject a belief or withdraw something previously said.
recount - narrate or give a detailed account of
The first Earthlink rep I spoke to should have recanted
Comment by TDavid — April 4, 2006 @ 2:30 pm PST
…or if not, they should have burnt him at the stake.
Comment by Sterling Camden — April 4, 2006 @ 2:33 pm PST
[…] I thought my saga with Earthlink adding dialup service I never authorized was over after my last call to a very polite, professional, helpful customer service representative. She had promised that I wouldn’t be charged for the unauthorized dialup account. Last night my VISA was billed for — and you knew this was coming — guess what? […]
Pingback by Make You Go Hmm: » Is Earthlink trying to piss off longtime customers? — April 12, 2006 @ 11:36 am PST
Earthlink is terrible. I wanted to know if you could help me in doing something about them.
This is my story:
I signed up in July 2007 for the bundle service (Phone and Internet, the first month was a free trial). One week of having the service I could not receive incoming calls. If someone called they would get a message saying, “The number you have reached (my number), is not excepting incoming calls”. I have never heard that message from any phone service except for cell phones. Then, right after that my DSL connection drop. The DSL would connect sometimes, but the connection would not last long. I called tech support and the representative blamed the problem on my phone lines and/or my computer. I had just switched from Verizon, and there wasn’t any problem then. Also, I had just replaced my hard drive.
So, I decided to cancel my service with them in August 2 days before my trail period was over. The rep. then offer me all kinds of deals and credits to stop me from canceling. I turned them down and requested a cancellation. Then the rep told my I had to pay an early cancellation fee, and I owed a payment for one month of service. I asked to speak with a supervisor, I was then put on hold. When the rep return I was told my cancellation was processed, I would not receive an early cancellation fee, and in fact had a negative credit on my account (in which they gave me). I told them I was going to re-sign with Verizon. The rep assured me that there would be no problems from Earthlink. All I had to do was let earthlink know when Verizon was coming to install my new service. They also informed me, once Verizon install their service it would automatically knock Earthlink off my line. The rep. then explained because of the one month credit I was given, I would be able to use Earthlink free for a month or until Verizon was installed (which ever one came first) if I chose to.
On September 14 my Verizon installed. On the 17th or 18th I tried to install my Verizon DSL, it did not work. When I called verzion the rep informed me that Earthlink was still on my line. I called Earthlink and they told me that Verizon had to call them and request the number. I explained to the rep that Verizon had my number, they just needed earthlink to get off my line. The Earthlink rep still insisted on have Verizon call. So, I called Verizon and informed them of what earthlink told me. Verizon called and earthlink gave them a conformation number that the transaction was complete (this did not go through until Sept. 27). I then received a bill from earthlink for the month of August and September.
I called earthlink once again and they told me that my account had been active from my start date in July to September 27. I explained the entire situation to them, and that is was not my fault earthlink took a month to drop my line. At the end of the conversion they were suppose to re-give me the one month credit, and give me a second one for September. Come the first week of July I received another bill from earthlink. This bill was from a bounce check fee in August when they tried to take from my bank account one month of service. I never knew this had happen, and why didn’t they bring this up before? I refused to pay because, they should not have taken anything being as though I was in my free trial period.
On October 30, I received a bill for the bounce check fee and an early cancellation fee. I am not paying anything, I want to go over their head. I would really appreciate any help you can give me.
Comment by Lael — October 31, 2007 @ 11:13 am PST