Beware of promises made by high speed internet access companies.
I asked Earthlink for an ADSL high-speed internet connection. To cut a long and frustrating story short, the job dragged on for weeks. No satisfactory answer was given to me as to who would be paying for the enormous amount of extra work needed to run a new data line to my apartment. Pacific Bell was suposed to run the new data line. The technician from Covad who installs for Earthlink said on visiting my apartment that, "my building was too old for ADSL and new cables could not be run."
Anyway, out of sheer frustration and wanting to get on with my life and try another company, I cancelled the order. Lo and behold - Earthlink slapped my credit card with an "early cancellation fee of $49." My e-mail to this arrogant company questioning this charge was ignored.
Beware of this practice!!!
2 Updates & Rebuttals
$49 has been refunded after much effort on my part.
#30
Sat, January 20, 2001
After much effort on my part Earthlink refunded my money. Too late though because I switched to another service in the meantime. Had they responded sooner to my complaints I would have stayed with them. During the 3 months or so of fighting I still got an offer from them by mail for a "self installation" kit for DSL. Well, that is what I wanted in the first place. However, on the offer down at the bottom in the tiniest mouseprint was a statement saying "self installation kit only available in certain areas". The impression is created that DSL is a simple-as-pie installation. In the meantime, the industry in general is having extreme problems living up to its promises. So, if you live in a dwelling with an oldish telephone installation beware! You could be committing yourself to a lot of hidden expenses when you sign up for DSL. These DSL companies just don't tell you about it until the time comes to upgrade your data line. And then you have to pay for that as well.
Forgot to say...
#30
Sat, November 04, 2000
At no time was any work done by Covad who installs for Earthlink and, Pacific Bell who, was supposed to install a new data line. The initial impression given by Earthlink was that it is an easy installation. In the advert that I responded to, a free installation kit was offered. However, after eventually getting through to Earthlink after being put on hold for a total of 2 hours and, signing up and giving all my details such as credit card # etc., when I requested the self installation kit, I was told it was not available in my area.
The problem is that Earthlink has jumped onto the high speed internet connection bandwagon and cannot deliver what it advertises. When problems were encountered with the installation at my address through no fault of my own, I was slammed with an "early termination fee" because I was getting sick of their lies and dicking around and told them to buzz off.
I have all the e-mail correspondence on hand between myself, Earthlink and, Covad to prove what I have just said.