Complaint Review: Hughesnet

As a longtime Hughesnet customer, I recently requested an upgrade from an HN7000 to an HN9000 internet system in November, 2011. After a number of problems getting the orders and schedules arranged, the contract servicer came and did the installation. During the arrangements for the upgrade, I was instructed by Hughes representatives to notify them when the new system was operational, and they would terminate the old account and begin the billing cycle for the new system. Which I did, by telephone, and which was verified on record.

Subsequently, I began to see monthly charges of $126.98 on my auto-pay credit card statement that were double the monthly account fees, e.g. $59.99. When I inquired of Hughes why the double billing, I began a long, repetitive process of talking with one representative after another. I was repeatedly transferred, with each subsequent transfer more and more frustrating as the reps kept requiring the same information. None of them would address my question on the billing, so I asked and insisted on talking with a supervisor/manager.

After an entire hour and four different transfers, a disconnected call and starting the process all over again, I was able to talk with a supervisor. He looked at my account, and found the entries where I had indeed called in and requested the termination of my first account. There was even a record of a follow-up call I made the next day, because of the repeated problems I've experienced with them not following up. When he had reviewed my account, he agreed that the extra charges were incorrect, and arranged to transfer me to their account department to correct the process.

When I was connected to this department representative, she refused to accept my request for the cancellation that was supposed to have been done and documented as such in November. In addition, she declined to process a credit for the overcharges. Even though the account is listed in my name on the Hughes website, she insisted I did not have authority to cancel or terminate the old account. She finally called my spouse and asked her to authorize the termination. Eventually, she told me the old account was closed, the same assurance I got from Hughes back in November 2011. However, she would not process any adjustment or credit to my account for the overcharges.

In summary, I allege that Hughes unilaterally kept my original account open and being charged after they told me it was closed. I believe that Hughes purposely defrauded me and charged me for services I did not receive. They have repeatedly lied to me, and the records that Hughes has controverts the claims by Hughes representatives that the account was not closed in November 2011. Among the Hughes representatives I spoke to this date, there were a number of conflicting statements, resulting in their refusal to correct their errors.

I intend to immediately file a fraud complaint with the Maryland Attorney General's office and with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Internet Crime Complaint Division (IC3).