Dropping In

So it's come to this... I used to take pride in the fact that I posted on this blog, and the blog before it, every single day. Even when staying with family in the hospital in another state, I was able to make regular blog posts. Today, while contacting our state's Attorney General as well as the BBB and FCC about the abusive business practice of Wild Blue (Direct TV) Satellite Internet, we added the total bill for the past five months of torture. To date we have spent nearly $1,000 for 45 days of reliable service. 15 days past the refund stage, Wild Blue decided we had exceeded out bandwidth and never returned reliable service, even with two service package increases (one unauthorized) and then they billed us an extra $340ish for the remainder of the contract THEY broke by not providing service.

OK I know I have said all of this before. I know I am a big whine bag cry baby, but I usually spend about $400 a year on internet service. I have now spent $1,000 in the past 5 months and got 45 days of service. The BBB and other consumer watchdogs are filled with thousands of complaints that list the same issues I had. Yet Wild Blue continues to do business and take advantage of rural America that is desperate for Internet service.

So no change. Wild Blue did agree to the BBB to refund $150. Pretty freakin big of them. We quickly alerted the BBB we were not satisfied. Did you know you can not stop payment on bills submitted to a credit card? So, when I called Discover to tell them I no longer want Wild Blue (Direct TV Satellite Internet) paid from my account, I was told by Discover, "Too fucking bad! We pay all claims and then handle them as a dispute." AND if I canceled my card they would continue to bill me as Discover would be the one holding the bag.

Now here is something we all should do, because THIS situation is not right. We need some type of consumer protection. This is a separate issue and not really related to the bad internet thing... although it never would have caught my attention without underhanded and unscrupulous business practices of Wild Blue (Direct TV Satellite)and the way they use your credit card company to enable them to swindle poor defenseless bloggers.

Consumer Protection! It is wrong, fundamentally wrong that YOU do not have the authority to deny payment for services never rendered or that were unacceptable in quality. You have that level of protection with a check, and you have that protection with cash. But in today's modern society our money is an electronic enigma that is represented as account numbers rather than crisp green bills covering a king sized bed that allows you to roll around naked and wallow in your riches... eh... or.. hold in your hand.. while dressed... in a business suit and looking sternly at rest of the world who probably didn't work as hard as you did to get what you have. You know?

SOooooo if I watch Home Shopping Network and end up buying this amazing diet tool that ensures rapid weight loss and receive in the mail a small baby teaspoon... I should have the right to deny payment my four easy payments of $39.99. If I hear a radio ad that foretells the new travel craze of the millennium and 6 weeks later I get a pair of in-soles for my flip flops, it is my GOD GIVEN RIGHT to deny payment, even if it was "no payment no interest" for a full year. Those misleading bastids!

My point is, regardless if you made a good decision or bad decision, YOU should have the right to refuse payment on a contract you feel was broken or was not carried out in good faith. The current system seems to say you have no rights. You can dispute a claim, but if they are a better disputer than you are (and they have professional disputers) you are screwed.

So in closing I would like to remind you that Wild Blue (Direct TV Satellite) company is not to be trusted, they promise a service they never intend to fulfill and they use current credit card policy to swindle thousands of people out of money. The Credit Card Companies simply look at a contract and say "Well... you signed it." regardless of the fact that the other party was the one who operated in bad faith and never provided goods or services, which leave us, the consumer, without protection. In essence: Don't do business with Wild Blue (Direct TV Satellite) Company and contact local legislators about giving you, the consumer, the right to suspend credit card payment to a scum sucking asshat business that is hell bent on raping you like a redneck inmate at Shawshank.

Hey I hardly called them any bad or undeserved names! Pretty good for me, huh?

Back a Little

So today, Mrs. Cris called Direct TV's Wild Blue. Hell was raised. Evidently she is way more scarier than I am. They "increased our bandwidth" and tonight I am on-line and running faster than ever. Of course I think they are now charging me for the next step up. So AM NOW PAYING $70 for a service that everybody else can enjoy with DSL or cable for $25-35.

WooHoooooo Life in the country is great. As soon as the boy is 16 years old we might just move back to town.

Your Heart Any Fonder?

OK here is the deal... Last Saturday afternoon it rained. My 14 year old son was stuck in the house and surfed the web and watched some streaming videos of Japanese cartoons. Monday our Internet pretty much quit working. My wife got an Email from Direct Satellite saying we had exceeded our bandwidth allowance with some massive downloads. .......?!!

It took us a bit of time to figure out what they were referring to and the anger I had built up already over the service not working since Monday has grown to a monumental burn. So I want to tell you about our experience with Direct Satellite's Wild Blue ISP and see if you agree with me, in the need to report these fuckers to our state Attorney General for "Bait and Switch" fraud.

We live in a rural part of our county in Oklahoma. Not a bad neighborhood, I mean there are two school board members across the street from me and the President of the local University is just down the road. The thing is, I am between two towns that have different phone systems. Neither wants to put in new equipment to provide DSL the extra half mile it will take to reach my house. In fact, phone service was so sporadic during wet weather, I finally decided to cancel a home phone and use only cellular phones.

With that decision I then needed to find a new Internet Service Provider (ISP). I decided to go with the local guy that offered wireless service. We had used his service at work years ago and it was not good. I had heard there had been improvements and at $35 a month it was only a bit more than DSL. The problem is, the service was not any better and on windy days, stormy days and sometimes sunny days the service disappeared. The ISP dude told me it was out computers so we actually bought two new ones. Still the problems continued. He said it was my kids, so we killed the kids and buried them in the back yard. Still the problems continued. He then said it was my web sites and that pissed me off so I canceled the Wireless and decided to give Direct TV's Wild Blue a shot.

There was an AD we found that said for $100 they would hook us up and give us a new wireless router. So they show up, the bill is $300 and they do not provide a router. I call and they tell me that the deal was only if we called a local Direct Network person and we had called the national number that had the local Direct Network guy come out. None of that seemed right to me, I mean a Direct Network representative that only used a Direct Network logo for identification seems to represent the same place... right?

OK MAYBE I made the mistake. MAYBE it was a fuck up on my part by calling a different number when I signed up. It didn't feel like it to me, but I let that go. The system is supposed to run at basic DSL speeds and it does have a bandwidth limit but the ads say it only applys to people that would make massive downloads, like loading a lot of movies. Not a problem for us, we mostly just have time for Email with maybe a little Facebook and my Google Blogoverse. I should be in good shape! Oh yeah and they charge $50 a month for the same serive DSL charges %25 - $30 and Wireless charged $35. That's ok, if I can do what I want to do, it is worth it... even if I do feel I was lied to about the hook up fees and installation of a router.

That was towards the end of February. Now in May we are pretty much without service for the past week because my son watched some streaming videos on a rainy Saturday. It couldn't have been much bandwidth because we can't access most videos due to the slower speed. SO I call Direct and the first words out of their mouth is trying to sell me the next more expensive package. If I go to $70 a month, I can REALLY get the same service everybody else gets for $25 - $30 or that Wireless provides at $35. It is not as good as the next tier of service that costs around $100 a month but it will be enough so I can check Email, look at Facebook, go on my Blogger reader and maybe on rainy weekends my kids can use it.

They told me I am "slowed" until the bandwidth returns to normal. That was most of a week ago. It took me four tries to get the post page on Blogger to load. This is not slow, it is not functional and I have no idea how long it is supposed to last because of some streaming videos. Every time I tried to explain we run three different businesses from home and need a service we can count on, they offered to upgrade up to the $70 package. And I am totally convinced that even if I did pay the $70 for the service every body else gets for $25 - $30 dollars and that Wireless provided at $35... they will say I exceeded the bandwidth and need the $100 a month package. It is insane!

Yes I am pissed. I am in a two year contract with a company that I honestly feel is corrupt. I really intend to send this same complaint to the Oklahoma Attorney General's Office Fraud Division, as well as complaints to the BBB and FCC.... except...

I CAN'T GET ON THE FUCKING INTERNET!!!!