Bertram Communications

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me as long as they are  including the $14.09 credit I have on my account. They also should  take into consideration I only had the service for 7 days in April  when they prorate my account. Also they do not have a credit card of mine, my payments were automatically deducted from my checking account. And as I stated in my correspondence with the Revdex.com on 4-16-15 I had returned their equipment to them on that date at approx. 3:45pm because they were going to charge $50.00 to get it themselves, now they will pick it up at no charge which was one of the verbal agreements. They make this statement in the notice I receive on the 17th. Also I'm sorry that they are confused about whom I all spoke with and several stated they knew Jim spoke with me and how much he was involved with the problems I was having with my connection the past 3 years of first signing on with them.
Regards,
 
[redacted]

This is to inform you hat today  4-15-15 @ 3:40 pm I returned  a cable and the 2 dishes to Bertrams and received a receipt for the items. they said I should hear next week sometime after they test the equipment if  I will receive any refund. They said they were going to send...

someone out yesterday 4-14-15 to pick up the equipment, no one showed.                                    �...⇄

In response to our customer's complaint; we have been working with them to complete the cancellation process with no early termination fees, or equipment pick up fee. We have refunded the payments made from December and January and apologize the equipment has not been picked up. We have to schedule one of tower certified climbers to perform this and will do so as soon as possible. Our customer will not be billed any further.

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and have determined that this does not resolve my complaint.  For your reference, details of the offer I reviewed appear below. 
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, we would like to know your view on the matter.]
Regards,
[redacted]

We did send an email to the prospective customer on 9/20/2016 to the email address listed in the lead account information. We have resent it and request that the prospective customer please check their spam or junk folders for an email from [email protected]

I pay extra for the upgraded internet. Do not get Bertram Wireless. Don't pay extra for the upgraded internet, because it does absolutely nothing.

Note: I couldn't even load this page. That is how horrible Bertram Wireless is. I had to wait five minutes for my internet to come back up.

Review: I have been a Bertram Wireless customer for 5 years. I have not had many issues with the service until a month ago, when my signal was dropping out completely, several times during the day. I called in and talked to service, they saw my signal was weak and blamed it on the extreme cold. A few weeks later when we were out of the sub-zero cold my connection was still dropping out. I called service again, they recommended that a service call be set up to check alignment. The service tech came out and we worked at adjustments for an hour, the tech was in communication with Bertram Wireless the entire time trying to get a good "lock". He was receiving signal numbers from the Bertram staff person. The entire time he said these are bad numbers and with these numbers they would not do a new install by anyone. The only solution to fix my problem is put up a 50ft tower at the cost of $1500.00. The problem with my signal is a hill 2 miles away with trees that have grown in the past 5 years and are interfering with the line of site that is required. After he did the best alignment possible my connection is still dropping out. I do not want to put up a tower, so I called Bertram to find out about cancelling my service. I was told that I have to pay $179.00 to buy out my contract. I explained that I have a bad signal due to trees 2 miles away and if the service call would have fixed it I would not be calling. I also said that all this bad signal info should be documented on their end and the service call stating that the receiver can't get a good "lock", it is stated on my service call bill that more elevation is required to make it work. The call taker said she would pass this info onto the manager and they would call back. The lady call taker called back and said I am bound by the contract because I have been receiving data and there is no guarantee that I will receive data. The only reason somewhat total usage is still the same is because of the numerous times it has been taking to get things done. When I have to upload pages and then have the signal go out, I have had to upload those pages or hit he refresh button several times just to get where I need to be. Many extra hours have been spent trying to get things done due to no signal at all. I believe the contract should be void due to problems beyond my and Bertram Wireless control, the trees 2 miles away. I can't believe I'm treated this way after being a customer of 5 years and telling people what good service I was receiving. I guess that has ended and I will be telling people of my bad experience verbally and through social media.Desired Settlement: As I have stated several times to Bertram Wireless I have no problem paying for my March bill of $29.95 plus the service call of $52.30 to try and align the receiver, I would bring the equipment to there office. If the alignment would have worked I would not be cancelling my service. I believe this is fair under the circumstances and I should not need to pay the $179.00.

Business

Response:

Bertram is not capable of providing constant internet service. After months of attempting to work with them they just do not seem to care that their service is inconstant at best. They failed to have management or other employees return calls as stated and overall it is a service that I would recommend against working with.

Review: I have been a customer with Bertram Wireless for years and am disappointed with the service. I pay over $68 a month for "up to 4mps" and am still unable to watch Netflix in the evenings or weekends without constant interruptions with streaming. When I called Bertram to ask for the new upgrade that promised "up to 15 mps" and no more interruptions I was told I would have to pay $130 to set it up and $50 for a equipment fee if I would sign a 3 year agreement! I have to pay $89/month for this new service as well! It seems like an awful lot of money to pay and a long contract when I am truley unsatisfied with the service I already receive. How will I know they will deliver the mbs they state I will get or that it will be sufficient to watch netflix and play games as they state? They told me 4mbs was enough to stream Netflix uninterrupted and it never has been! Bertram also promised a free month if a friend/neighbor/co-worker started service with them, so I reccommended them to a co-worker and was disappointed to NEVER recieve this promised discount. When I asked them about it I was told the person never gave them my name. That is UNTRUE. I spoke with my co-worker and he DID give my name to Bertram. Too bad I recomended Bertram to my co-worker. He is VERY unhappy with Bertram and I feel terrible that I gave him Bertams name. Unfortunately there are very few options for those of us that live in the "country".Desired Settlement: I think Bertram should upgrade us for FREE as part of their service. I have been a paying customer for years without default! What I am paying for now at $68/month is outdated and inadequate! I am willing to pay the new monthly fee, but NOT the install and equipment fee and I don't want to sign a contract when I don't know if I will like the new service. Bertram is the only company offering radio wireless technology and they know it. Unfortunately the 3 telephone calls I made to try to come to an agreement with Bertram did not resolve my problem. I would also like to recieve my one month free as promised for the new customer I sent to Bertram Wireless.

Business

Response:

I spoke with our customer on 10/13/15 - We have come to a mutually agreeable understanding and our customer is upgrading to our new Freedom 450 service.

poor service, will try any way to get your money and provide nothing

Intermittent access. Cannot get a hold of then with a problem!!!

Review: I started my internet service with Baycom Broadband (later Bertram Wireless) back on 12/19/2009. At that time I signed a contract that clearly states that the contract was to terminate on 12/19/2012 and unless the parties agree otherwise, the contract was to renew on a "month to month" basis! I never agreed otherwise! We have found that our service has been lacking ever since it started and have called to complain numerous times to get the problem fixed....always they had excuses that "ice" was on the tower, or some other business had equipment interfering with our signal, etc....

Anyway, we finally found new ISP that has consistent service and wished to end our contract with Bertram. We sent a letter on 02/23/2014 stating this, with the final month of our service to be March. We were charged for March and then received an invoice for $316.50! $50 to pick up their equipment, (highway robbery) and $250 for early disconnect, plus tax!!! Since we have a signed contract that states a month to month and not a year to year renewal, I think this is outrageous that they would try to pull this!Desired Settlement: I fully expect them to accept the original contract terms and make this invoice go away as I performed everything required of me to disconnect my service!

Business

Response:

Review: I have been calling these people since November of last year. As I've read all the other complaints on here about the same exact problems I find myself wondering if this is worth my time anymore. You sit on their autohold for up to and most times over an hour waiting for a trained monkey to read from a card. They are all nice, however after the 200+ calls I have in now I can tell you word for word exactly what they will say. Oh well I'll lock you to some other paddle than the one your on and that should fix the issue and it doesn't! Then they point the finger at your gear and I have news for you they sent out 2 different crews to check and even upgrade my equipment. Now wwhentheir tech guy pulls brand new gear out of the box and plugs it in and gets even worse connection than I get with my used equipment they stand there and laugh and retest again to verify everything I have is completely fine and tell me to my face in my own home its all good on this end its obviously in the tower or on their end. The tech guy calls in and has to sit on hold the same way we do to get ahold of said monkey to reboot and test on their end with big surprise the same exact results nothing fixed and more wasted time and I got charged for both service calls!!! So I'm told they have my number and this is getting escalated they will get back to me when they find something. News flash they don't look for problems nor do they bother to call back.

No surprise my complaints get stronger and more profanity injected as my temper falls off when I'm ignored and am constantly lied to. Their fix so far has been to offer me half price of a higher tier program however it has the same results and still doesn't connect for anything worth surfing nor does the speed keep up for the 30 seconds it stays connected for IF infact it even connects!!!

Now the latest fix was a free month of NON-WORKING INTERNET.

My complaints get answered with yup its escalated and the call magically drops out and never a call back. I've been told countless times they will call back and never do. I've also been fed the line of BS that oh we are fixing towers now and yours is in the top 5 peaking my interest I ask how long they tell me it takes 3-5 days to fix and upgrade a tower..... Yeah that was 3 goddam months ago now and guess what no one has even climbed our tower yet!!!!! Its all BS!!!!!! IM NOT PAYING FOR THIS CRAP! My kids can't connect to stable enough internet to even download their homework from emails its scary to think all the money they scam for this crap.Desired Settlement: All I want is for store/shop manager [redacted] to actually follow through on his word and call me back and NOT BS ME!!! FINISH THE JOB AND FIX YOUR CRAP YOUR CHARGING ME FOR ALL THESE YEARS AND GIVE ME A SOLID INTERNET CONNECTION THAT LASTS LONGER THAN 30 SECONDS PREFERABLY TILL I DISCONNECT IT AND LOG OFF. WHY IS THAT ASKING SO MUCH?!? YOU HAVE BEEN SCREWING ME FOR CLOSE TO A YEAR NOW AND IVE HAD ENOUGH!!!!!

Business

Response:

Review: Internet speeds are well below what we pay for. Have called and tried moving the antennae per our expense with no benefit. Speeds fluctuate but are always below what we should have. Was told we would be refunded for the speeds we have been getting, yet the refund was taken off the bill soon after.

Consistently given the run around on the phone and told we will be called back, but never occurs. At least a dozen calls per attempt with no correction or results.Desired Settlement: A uncharged proper correction to provide us with the internet speeds we pay for and a refund for the past months where the internet was well below what we pay for and should be getting.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,

I can't say a single positive thing about this company. Having been a customer for far too long now, I am looking for a new provider but there unfortunately isn't many providers in my area. This company has a long history of spotty internet, terrible customer service and awful price packaging.

Review: Due to our service with Netwurx and then being transferred to you, no contract was in place. However you still billed for an additional months service since the last time data was used.Desired Settlement: Refund additional months service billed.

Business

Response:

Review: Problems are many and range from billing to customer assistance. I have contacted Bertram in the past about suddenly "auditing" our account on file and I've received no feedback except, "I'll forward this to billing." When we signed up for wireless many years ago we were told that email and website hosting was included. Many years later, at least 10 years now, we have suddenly received charges for these items that were included in our purchased plan in the beginning. I've been looking for another company but we have no others that service to our home.

Now, I have decided to stop having them host our website and email services and use a different online account. I am a business so it has been a huge hassle with customer and suddenly needing a new set of branding assets as everything I have is now a new address and website because I could not get them to respond to my requests of canceling and so I needed to rename everything because it is still sitting in their files as my old address. I've contacted them many time requesting them to put in a forwarding email to my new address but I've received nothing... email and phone calls. I have two accounts and two businesses that are being affected by their lack of care.

The service as a wireless provider is just as bad as the download and upload speeds are very slow. I hope a new provider comes to my area soon.Desired Settlement: I would appreciate a billing adjustment, but mostly I need them to forward my old emails to my new ones as it does not look very professional if someone tries to contact me and it gets rejected.

Business

Response:

Review: On 10/7/2013, I attempted to cancel my service with the company. I had been a customer of the company, beginning with a predecessor company that was acquired by Bertram Wireless, for approximately five years, and during that time, all billings rendered to me by the company were paid timely. Several months ago, invoices rendered by the company began to include a statement indicating that "by paying this invoice, you agree to the contract and usage posted at (company's website)'" and that "services automatically renew for a successive one-year term unless you provide written notice declining no less than 30 days prior to the expiration of the term." There is nowhere in my account information provided to me by the company indicating the period of the supposed "contract" that I agreed to, nor is there any indication as to when the expiration of the contract occurs. When I tried to discuss this matter with the company's billing representative, I was essentially told "it's on our website, and you agreed to it," and was charged an "early termination" charge of $263.75...which was charged to the credit card I had on file with the company so fast one's head would spin! When I indicated that I thought the charge was not warranted, and that I would attempt to dispute the charge with my credit card company, I was told "go ahead and try...you won't succeed." Essentially, while I firmly believe that the charges were not made clear to me when I signed up for the service, nor were they clearly available or determinable when I tried to cancel service, had I been made CLEARLY aware of the charges, and "contract" dates, I would have made different decisions in my dealings with the company...whether I agreed with the charges or not.Desired Settlement: As I do not agree with the charges, and feel that the charges border on predatory, I request a refund of the so-called "termination charges."

Business

Response:

Review: This company is forcing people when they pay their bill that it is an automatic 1 year renewal to the contract. No where on the invoice do you have an option to not renew contract. Of course if you don't pay your bill I guess not renewing it but that causes other problems. Also the invoice doesn't state when contract starts or finish. Pretty sneaking way to avoid people from cancelling the contract. They told me only way to cancel is with written notice and I would have to pay all the months of the remaining contract off. Again no details of contract are provided with every invoice which has the "if you pay this bill you hereby are automatically renewing your contract for a year".Desired Settlement: My desired outcome is cancellation of services without having to provide written notice and payout for 11 months of "unused services" of this auto contract renewal scheme. I have used their services for nearly 7 years, never had a late bill and have been satisfied. However we no longer have a use for the service and it is a nearly $50 per month burden, seems reasonable to ask for cancellation. I still am unclear to even how you go about cancelling services without enduring a "end services" fee.

Business

Response:

Review: I filed a claim with the Revdex.com in March 2014 to dispute a cancellation fee of $179.00 that Bertram Wireless wanted me to pay. We went round and round, I tried explaining several times that I was cancelling due to no signal because of trees 2 miles from my house, I was a customer since Sep. 2008. I even had a tech come out to verify that it was more than dish adjustment. All I got was a big hassle from them stating it's my fault and I would have to wreck my new roof to mount a tripod or spend $1500.00 for a tower.

No resolution was achieved through the Revdex.com so I sent my equipment and a cancellation letter to Bertram, which they received April 3rd 2014 as shown on my UPS signature receipt. Bertram never sent me a bill or billed my credit card that they had on file.

Now one and a half years later I got a letter from a collection agency trying to collect $179.00 for cancellation, $29.95 for 30 day notice , $52.80 for service call and an $82.26 collection fee. I wrote back to them stating Bertram had our credit card number and that I never received any bills. The collection agency responded by sending me a fake invoice dated March 6 2014 and the due date of March 16, also Bertram couldn't provide them with an invoice that had the service call, they merely stated that I owe that $52.80 also. So if they can't provide their collection agency with a bill, that proves that they never tried to send me a bill either.

March 6 2014 is when I called about cancelling and March 7 2014 I contacted the Revdex.com. I was trying to resolve the issue during that time and didn't send my cancellation letter until I sent the equipment back in April. Now I found that Bertram has withdrawn cancellation fees for other customers that have complained to the Revdex.com about how they treat long time customers. I had a legitimate reason for discontinuing service and now a year and a half later I'm being harassed again. Just more reasons to keep bashing Bertram Wireless to everyone I know.

My attorney recommended trying again to resolve through the Revdex.com so the public can see what kind of business Bertram Wireless is before pursing other actions.Desired Settlement: I expect Bertram to stop the actions of their collection agency and withdraw the cancellation fees immediately.

Business

Response:

In response to this complaint, our customer is in collections status with our company and we are therefore unable to divulge any information regarding the account. We have been instructed to direct any inquiries to the collection agency handling this account: [redacted] Thank you.

Consumer

Response: