Complaint Review: Earthlink Inc.

Earthlink purchased the ISP I worked for and closed it in March, 2001. As part of my "severance package" I was granted a dial-up account at no charge until March, 2002

In June, 2001, I received a statement from Earthlink stating that I owed them $30.48 for "Simultaneous Login", $1 for "Paper Statement", and $1 for "Payment by check".

I called to determine what this all meant. I was advised that there was 30.48 hours that showed my account logged in twice at the same time.

After considerable conversation, the CS Rep agreed to check into it. I was advised to "go ahead and pay the bill and if we determine that a credit is due, we will refund your payment".

I did as she suggested. The check was mailed the next day. On the second day, I received an email from Earthlink stating that I had been credited for the hours ($30.48) but the "Extra Charges" were still there.

If the initial charges were expunged, no payment was due, therefore, the "Extra Charges" should have been expunged as well.

was further advised via email on July 20, 2001 that a refund was requested and I would have it within 20 business days. The refund did not arrive at the time promised.

I contacted Earthlink in August about the refund and was advised it would be investigated.

In September, I started an email campaign to get the refund. I am unable to count the number of messages I sent.

I was finally contacted by someone in Harrisburg, PA. This person told me that the check had been sent.

He was unable to tell me if the check had cleared. He further told me that he was going to send another request for a check and keep watch on this to make sure it was followed through.

He stated the request went in on October 16, 2001 and would take 6 to 8 weeks for a check to come through.

He also stated that if I could give him a credit card number, he could credit my account within 24 hours. I refused to give a credit card to Earthlink. REFUSED!!!!!!!!!

On December 11 (8 weeks to the day), I called this same party to find out where the check was.

He then stated that it could take 8 to 10 weeks for a check to be sent. I advised him then that he was only stringing me along to get me to forget it.

In addition to all of this, I have had TERRIBLE service in western Pennsylvania on Earthlink. This person in Harrisburg was advised of this as well as the complaint about the refund.

Within a couple of days, I received an email stating that "the check is in the mail". They also requested info regarding my computer system (OS, modem type, type of problems, time of problems, etc.).

This info was sent to them. I also stated that I had all but resigned myself that the money was gone and I felt the refund was not coming.

I further stated that when the "complimentary" account was closed, I would sign on elsewhere as Earthlink would not receive another dime of my money.

I received a reply stating that they were "sorry that you wish to terminate some or all of your services".

The same email also advised me how to set up my system to connect to Earthlink...the same dial-in system that I worked on less than a year prior.

They refuse to understand despite numerous statements from me that I am a computer tech and was a frontline tech on the ISP for 3 years.

Setting up a computer to connect is my business. The included the wrong DNS (server ID) numbers, gave me many remedies to correct problems with connecting.

I was connecting fine. The network bandwidth locally in their facility is too narrow to accomodate the demand causing web pages to fail to load. The problem has NOTHING to do with a modem problem. I can connect to a different ISP here and it works very well.

Earthlink refuses to pay attention to the problems of their clients. They can make NO mistakes. The client knows NOTHING!!!!!!!!!

This coupled with the problems with "free" items for signing up that end up costing $24.95 for "shipping", failure to acknowledge cancellation requests from clients, failure to supply the "free" items, etc all make me want to spend my money with a local ISP so I can talk to someone that knows where my hometown is.

The last point in this saga is, the BBB in Atlanta, GA has been apprised of this twice now. The first time they received a reply stating that Earthlink had "no idea what the problem was". The second time they advised me that Earthlink failed to respond.

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