Farmers Online Network

Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:While I appreciate Connie’s thorough response, and can see that there have been some communication gaps between myself and my fiance *** (who spoke to Connie when trying to cancel the service), I do still know that I was misinformed when I signed up for the service - which was done under desperate circumstances that Connie recognizesI believe that it is reasonable to request a release from the contractFarmers has already received a lot of my money, so releasing the contract will not be a loss for them, and I am not in a position to afford the debt, even at the lowest data amountPaying additional fees to move the service would only increase the problemPlease cancel the service - if for no other reason than kindness to someone in need of help
Regards,
*** *** [To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, the consumer must give a reason why they are rejecting the responseIf the consumer does not provide a reason the complaint will be closed Answered]

Dear ***, I’m sorry you feel that the satellite internet service you receive from us did not meet your expectationsI will try to respond to your comments as they were written: I signed up for internet service with Farmers Telecommunications around July 15, At this time, I was
living on a ranch located beyond internet service - and Farmers Telecommunications service was supposed to be a temporary solution to the problem of needing a way to communicate outside of cell serviceI signed up for their service by speaking to a sales rep on the phone who made it seem that I would be able to discontinue service at any timeThis representative also didn’t inform me of the items I will discuss nextThere were many surprises that happened after I had agreed to the monthly fee of $per month (which is $more per month than service for the Monticello, Utah area)First, I was billed $for equipment, but didn’t get service for at least a month after paying fees Response: My records show you signed up for service on July 21, The service being referenced is Exede satellite internet, and with us it requires a 2-year contract and equipment purchaseI can’t say specifically what info you were given when you called in to inquire, but the contract is standard, and included in the information readily available on our websites: *** and ***The satellite equipment is $400, which was discounted to $for you as a new customerIn addition to the satellite equipment, a pole mount was required because the signal was blocked by some trees, and the additional charges for that were about $for a pole and conduit (discounted from our charge of $due to the circumstances)You also chose to purchase a router from us for an additional charge of $instead of purchasing one somewhere elseIn additional to equipment/parts, you were billed for travel and additional mileage since you were located outside our standard install areaThose charges were split between you and another customer in their area, since the install was able to be combined with work being done for the other customerI show service was installed 08/15/2016, which is also the date you started being billed for service, and we received your first payment on 10/20/You asked to be able to make a partial payment the first month and pay the balance the second month, which we said you could do Then, I discovered that I had data limits - which made it impossible to even use very much internetThis was a huge, unaffordable investment that I made out of necessity, and I was tremendously disappointed in the meager portions of internet service I was able to use for such an exorbitant monthly fee Response: The data limits are part of the information available on our website and discussed with potential customers when the different plans are presentedThe plan you chose is the 25GB/month plan, because that seemed to best fit the amount of data you expected to use per monthI’m not sure what is meant by meager portions, but one of the reasons you gave for needing the service was that cell phones don’t work there and there was a sick child in the household and no other way to communicate with the outside worldPresumably, part of the need for the 25GB plan was to use the wifi calling feature in your smart phone, which typically uses more bandwidth than things like web browsing Additionally, I found out later that they had better and more affordable plans, but my particular representative didn’t give me that information The Exede service you currently have is the ONLY service we can offer in that locationThere are no better plans available, and the more affordable plans are merely those with lower monthly data limitsBased on your usage history, a lesser plan would not have met your needs, since you regularly exceeded your 25GB monthly thresholdThe parent company of Exede, ViaSat, launched a new satellite about two weeks ago, so there WILL be new plans available around the first part of I called Farmers Telecommunications a few weeks ago to cancel my service and was informed that I would not be able to cancel until I had paid for the service for two yearsThis is information that would have been useful when I was deciding whether or not to connect to their service, but it was a well guarded secret No well-guarded secrets, since this information is in the contract you signed as well as on our websites They did mail a contract for me to sign and returnI confess that I skimmed partly due to the fact that I am a trusting individual who believed I had been well informed about the agreement by the sales rep and I was working almost every day of the week (a couple of hours drive from civilization) so when I found the contract in my mailbox, I signed and dropped it back in the mail before heading up the mountain again for workI suspect that they count on giving out skeletal information and getting their contracts signed based on their word We do not intentionally misinform potential customers about the good and bad points of satellite internetWe try to make sure they know what they are getting into I really can’t afford to keep paying for sparse amounts of internet at $per monthI’ve already paid them for almost a year and they have certainly made a bundle off of me (between the monthly fees and the $equipment fee), but they are unwilling to negotiate at all, even though they sold me an overpriced, underperforming product on a shady deal This is a statement, as you were informed on 05/31/2017, when you called to cancel, that the service can be moved to your new address in Monticello and you could drop your package to the 10GB/month plan, which is $54.99/monthThere are labor charges for moving service, which you were informed about at that time, and again on 06/08/when you called to provide us with your new address in MonticelloOur last contact with you was that you wouldn’t be ready for about a week and would call when you are ready to have it reinstalled at the new locationWe have already agreed that you can lower your monthly package, so it is unfair to say we won’t negotiate, when we have already done that with you Please help me obtain a cancellation of their service backdated to my original May cancellation requestI would also be grateful for a refund of all or part of their equipment fees Equipment fees are not refundable Please contact our office directly to continue discussing the status of your account and how to proceed with your service. thanks,Connie B***Farmers Telecommunications###-###-####