Hughes Computer Services, Inc.

I have attached a copy of Mr. [redacted]'s contract. It clearly shows he declined our Equipment Protection Plan. He initialed item #2 on the Customer Checklist as well as initialing Section VII. Maintenance and Repair on the actual contract which clearly shows without Equipment Protection he is...

responsible for any kind of damage or repair to the equipment on his home. You can also see that Mr. [redacted] authorized the mount location of the equipment on his home and until now has made no claim of damage to his home. Mr. [redacted] was told (not threatened) that he would be sent to collection at the end of this month if payment for $163.04 was not made. At no time did he indicate his willingness to pay and in fact told my onsite tech he would not pay and said as the techs were leaving "good luck collecting." I have addressed Mr. [redacted]'s original concerns and the email I sent him is attached as well. At no time in the email exchange did Mr. [redacted] indicate he was on vacation and could not address the issue nor did he even remotely seem willing to pay the fees he owes. I find it rather odd that Mr. [redacted] made no comment about his siding being damaged until now. Mr. [redacted] would not allow our service techs to remove the cable and did it himself. My tech removed the mount and Mr. [redacted] insisted on using his sealant to seal the holes which we did. At no time did he mention any damage while my installers were there. I have spoken with both installers who were present and they insist that there is no damage to the house. Mr. [redacted] was never quoted any amount over the phone other than a possible 75 dollar service call and then the cost of the radio if damaged. I have reduced his invoice as much as possible in an effort to work with him on this and he is unwilling to compromise unless I charge him nothing. Again, I will state this is the first and only time he has mentioned anything about any type of damage to his home.

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
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.I'm not sure I understand Ms. [redacted] response. It sounds like she is rejecting any help the Revdex.com might offer to resolve this issue, and is instead turning this over to a collection agency. I think of the Revdex.com as a pro-business organization since they are supported and paid for by businesses, not consumers. I wrongly assumed Ms. [redacted] would feel comfortable with their input. Because I have been given another ultimatum, I can only assume she wants no part of any Revdex.com involvement. The Cougar Wireless contract (Sect. XI, page 3) says that both parties must resolve any controversy or claim regarding the agreement "exclusively by arbitration." Obviously, given the new ultimatum, I do not see much hope in Ms. [redacted] being willing to settle this through Cougar Wireless contract required arbitration. I'm going to speculate here and say that (as I see it) the contract does not say what Ms. [redacted] wants it to say, and so she gets upset, she then relies on the threat of turning her bill over to a collection agency in order to get some resolution. But I do hope she will choose to honor the contract and allow a third party (the Cougar Wireless Arbitrator) to look at the issues in play: contract wording; charges on the bill; the timing of any debt collection... before demanding payment in this way.I believe the Washington State Consumer Protection Act stipulates that a bill in dispute should not be turned over for collection until the dispute is resolved. This bill is in dispute and both parties are aware it is in dispute. Our next course of action will be to file a report with the Attorney General's Office of Washington. Apparently, like the Revdex.com, the AG's office has no power to force any resolution, but it just puts a bit of a law enforcement spotlight on any debt collection reporting and activity. If Ms. [redacted] chooses to pursue an arbitration as described in the Cougar Wireless contract, we would be happy to participate. 
Regards,
[redacted]

Mr. [redacted], is flat out lying.  I have voicemails from him acknowledging the installation of the new equipment at his location.  I also have pictures of the siding of his home that shows no damage but nicely sealed holes.  Again, if he was upset or if there was damage to his home I am curious why nothing was said at the time of the install which was 9-30-2013.  His allegations of being threatened are false.  There were two staff members at his location and I have full reports from both staff members.  I would like to think the Revdex.com would do the job they are suppose to and see what Mr. [redacted] is trying to do.  The facts are just this simple.  Mr. [redacted] declined the Equipment Protection Plan.  The radio was damaged electrically at Mr. [redacted]s location.  Our contract clearly shows that if you do not have EPP you are responsible for the equipment.  I would be glad to email you the pictures of Mr. [redacted]s home as well as send you the files of the voicemails where Mr. [redacted] acknowledges the installation of the new equipment.  Mr. [redacted] will still be sent to collections if this bill is not paid.  Since he indicates he will take care of it the second week of September I will give him until the 14th to call the office and pay the $163.04 that is due for equipment damaged at his location.

Review: This company does not send any notification before charging credit cards $179.99 for annual fees. I noticed the charge on my credit card statement on 3/5/14 and realized that I did not use their services so I contacted their office to cancel my account and refund my money. The account manager I contacted refused to refund my money and stated that they would take the email I sent as a cancellation notice for 2015. I do not use their services at all and I contacted them within a month of the charge posting to my credit card account so I find it unbusinesslike that they would not refund my money.Desired Settlement: I want them to refund the $179.99 they charged my credit card for a service that I will not use.

Business

Response:

This customer has been on an auto renewal program through CPA Secure for the last 4 years. The "Terms of Service" that were agreed to at the time they signed for service clearly state that a 30 prior to renewal cancellation is required and it also clearly states that the account is on an annual renewal. We will refund the customer for $164.99 only charging him for March service. All of his users and account information will be deleted on the last day of March 2014 since he indicates he will no longer be using the service.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business' 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.

Regards,

Review: We had several problems with our internet service not working. The problems lasted at least 3 months. We did everything in our power for 2 of those months to fix the problem, as cougar wireless repeatedly told us that the problem was because of us not setting up our internet correctly, or that our wireless router was broken. We tried all the troubleshooting methods they gave us repeatedly, replaced our router twice, and nothing helped. If we ever got any sign of internet, it was only for a couple hours at best and then it would crash again, and any internet at all was very rare. Cougar wireless finally acknowledged us when I went into the office and made a huge complaint. They first told us it might be that they did not set up the internet equipment correctly or that one of their parts was malfunctioning. They gave us a replacement part, that did not fix it. So they said they could send someone to look at it for $75. We said not happening, you broke it, you fix it. So they agreed to send repair guys. My sister took off work to be home for that, they were 1.5 hours late. They worked on our equipment and did fix it, and it does work now. Only after 2 months of arguing with the company, and [redacted] the manager in particular, who treated us with indifference and was completely unhelpful and refused to believe that there was any problem at all for weeks. I was obviously angry and upset multiple times and she didn't care one bit, VERY POOR customer service. I called her today and said thank you for finally getting it fixed, but we paid for 2 months of internet service that we were not getting in return (really we were having problems for much longer than that), we paid for 2 new routers to replace the previous routers because you told us that was the problem, and took off work when my sister should have been working & earning $. [redacted] agreed to credit me for one month, and said, "That's all I can do." False! We need to be credited for those two months when we were not receiving the service we paid forDesired Settlement: I want and deserve to be refunded my money, or credited toward future months bills for the two months that we paid for internet service and got nothing in return. This has been a giant headache, we spent time and money doing our part to fix the problem, now it is time for Cougar Wireless to fix their problem and take responsibility.

Business

Response:

We keep very detailed records of every contact with our customers and issues they are having with service. [redacted] was installed on 12-11-12 for internet service. On 4-1-13 the customer called saying they could not attach to the internet through their wireless router. They did not purchase a router through our company. The very first troubleshooting step is to look at the customers equipment and determine if we see an issue. We did not see an issue with the customers service. The next troubleshooting step is to bypass the router and plug into a computer. They did not have any computers only phones. We could not do this troubleshooting step. They were offered an onsite appointment and told that they would be billed a $75 service call if the issue was their router and not our Cougar Wireless internet service. They declined the onsite appointment.

On 4-26-13 [redacted] came into the office complaining of spotty service. We checked the radio equipment and everything was up and running as it should be. She indicated that they had purchased a new router and had attempted to set it up themselves. She was given troubleshooting steps to bypass the router and asked to call if she continued to have issues. We did not hear from her that evening so assumed that bypassing the router fixed the issue. We have after hours tech support until 10:00PM.

We did not hear from [redacted] or her sister again until 6-27-13 when they called indicating they had no service at all. We looked at the radio and notice that the LAN cable showed to be unplugged. At this time I learned that they had purchased two additional routers. At no time did anyone from our company suggest that they continue purchasing wireless routers. We went through a power cycle on the router which did not help. Asked them to bypass the router and the service was up and running again. Offered to come out and setup the wireless router for a $75 service call and they declined. I asked them to please leave the service plugged directly into the Laptop computer so we could see if the service stayed up. Asked them also to come in an pick up a new POE as it may have been damaged by the electrical storms we had. They did come in and pick one up. Normally there would be a charge for the POE because they do not have our Equipment Protection Plan. We did not bill the customer for that as a courtesy to them.

On 6-28-13 they called saying nothing had changed and they were still plugged directly into our service but they had no internet. I looked at the radio and the LAN side showed unplugged again. Offered an onsite appointment on the 1st of July which was the next business day.

My technicians were late to the appointment that was scheduled. We had the service vehicle they were in break down. They did their level best to get to the appointment as quickly as possible. I did apologize for them being late and notified the customer as quickly as I could. They were not billed for the appointment. The technicians re-terminated the cable run.

7-11-13 [redacted] called asking for two months of free service. I explained that I would be more than happy to issue her a one month credit off of July's invoice. Once we were made aware of the issue and they would allow for an onsite appointment the issue was resolved in 7 days. They had been offered multiple onsite appointments but refused. They would have only been billed if the issue was our fault. According to the contact she signed we do not have to give any refund or credit for service interruption.

We do strive to offer the best and fastest internet service in the outlying rural areas and feel that we do that well. I am sorry for the issues that [redacted] had with her service. We feel the one month credit is more than fair. Since we do not want our customers to be unhappy with our service we will also be willing to let her out of her one year contract with no penalty if she wishes to get service elsewhere. We would hate to see her switch service but also do not want someone to feel like they have to stay with us. I have already issued her the credit for her July bill. Her next bill is due on the 20th of August. If she wishes to cancel her service please have her contact me at 509-590-2415 to schedule the uninstall. We appreciate her as a customer and hope she chooses to stay with our service.

I did make an attempt to contact [redacted] today after this complaint was received but got her voicemail. I did leave a message asking her to please call me back.

Review: We contracted with Cougar Wireless to provide internet service on 6/4/13. A few months into the contract the radio receiver started to fail and Cougar replaced it at no charge. In July 2015 the receiver started to fail again and it quit working in mid-Aug. This time Cougar said they would charge us $25-180 plus a service charge of $75 to repair it. In my discussion with them they said we would still owe them for their equipment, but there would be no service charge if we terminated the service. I decided to cut our losses and terminate the service. I then went and read the contract which said we were liable if the equipment were damaged, the contract listed examples of damage that could occur. Component failure through normal usage was never mentioned. Both of our radio receivers failed through normal usage, they were not damaged.

Cougar Wireless came to our home and removed their equipment and the rep handed me a bill for $326.08 and said he needed a check for the full amount before he left. I refused to pay the bill. The Cougar Wireless rep became aggressive and threatened to turn me into a debt collection agency that day if I did not give him a check then and there. Again I refused. He showed me a new contract addendum and told me why I needed to pay and why the radio equipment was now 199.99 instead of the $180 they quoted me over the phone. I protested that they had changed the contract and the equipment without my knowledge or consent and so the bill was totally inaccurate. He reduced the bill to $298.91 and again demanded payment or the threat of a collection agency. I simply refused to pay, saying it felt like strong arm tactics.

I received an email from the office demanding immediate payment or referral to a debt collection agency. After a few back and forth emails they reduced the bill to $163.04 and said they would refer me to a collection agency by August 31st if I did not pay. I am on vacation visiting family in Canada, Texas and Ohio so it puts me under a bit of a strain to try and resolve this in such an unreasonable amount of time. I suggested we seek advice from an outside agency since we do not agree on the details of the contract. The response was that we should to pay up or be turned into a collection agency. I find their language and tactics to be unprofessional, misleading, aggressive, and unreasonable.

I felt they were not being completely truthful about the contact and our obligations, so I got them to admit they replaced our receiver. In one email I was told that the reason they replaced my receiver early on in our contract was as a courtesy to us. The "courtesy call" cost them about $300. We were paying $55 a month, The math is some evidence that they are not being honest. The equipment failed, they honored the contract back then, before they amended it with the new addendum. They claim they just added a page to the contract, the rep said it was because the contracts like the one I signed caused so many issues with customers. I think the addendum does clarify some things, but we had never seen it until the day they removed our equipment.

As other customers have, I find their contract a bit hard to understand. It seems to indicate we are liable for damaged equipment, equipment that has suffered from some sort of outside force or power harming it. Both of our receivers quit working due to some component failure, not from being damaged. Electronic components fail all the time. Its so common that if they want customer responsibilities to include component failure from normal usage, that should be clarified in the contract and even listed along with the more remote possibilities they list as examples of damage.Desired Settlement: They damaged our house by installing equipment without our permission, the service quit working halfway through the month, the tried to bully us into paying for charges that were excessive even if we were contractually obligated for something other than damages. They should pay for siding repair, refund half a months payment, quit demanding payment for things we are not contractually obligated for.

Business

Response:

I have attached a copy of Mr. [redacted]'s contract. It clearly shows he declined our Equipment Protection Plan. He initialed item #2 on the Customer Checklist as well as initialing Section VII. Maintenance and Repair on the actual contract which clearly shows without Equipment Protection he is responsible for any kind of damage or repair to the equipment on his home. You can also see that Mr. [redacted] authorized the mount location of the equipment on his home and until now has made no claim of damage to his home. Mr. [redacted] was told (not threatened) that he would be sent to collection at the end of this month if payment for $163.04 was not made. At no time did he indicate his willingness to pay and in fact told my onsite tech he would not pay and said as the techs were leaving "good luck collecting." I have addressed Mr. [redacted]'s original concerns and the email I sent him is attached as well. At no time in the email exchange did Mr. [redacted] indicate he was on vacation and could not address the issue nor did he even remotely seem willing to pay the fees he owes. I find it rather odd that Mr. [redacted] made no comment about his siding being damaged until now. Mr. [redacted] would not allow our service techs to remove the cable and did it himself. My tech removed the mount and Mr. [redacted] insisted on using his sealant to seal the holes which we did. At no time did he mention any damage while my installers were there. I have spoken with both installers who were present and they insist that there is no damage to the house. Mr. [redacted] was never quoted any amount over the phone other than a possible 75 dollar service call and then the cost of the radio if damaged. I have reduced his invoice as much as possible in an effort to work with him on this and he is unwilling to compromise unless I charge him nothing. Again, I will state this is the first and only time he has mentioned anything about any type of damage to his home.

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted] states that we upgraded his radio without his knowledge or permission which is flat out untrue. I have two voicemails from Mr. [redacted] dated 10-1-2013 (one at 8:15AM and the other at 8:39PM) acknowledging the upgrade to the radio that took place on 9-30-13. I will be more than happy to provide both voicemails to the Revdex.com if you would like to hear them for yourselves.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

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.

We bought and paid for our Cougar Wireless design,

installation, equipment, etc. on 6/4/13 at a cost of $99. (see Cougar Wireless

Connectivity Agreement page 1, item 2). In Sept. 2013 it began to malfunction

and it quit working at the end of September. Cougar Wireless replaced that

equipment at no charge as agreed (see Cougar Wireless Connectivity Agreement page

3, item VII). As Ms. [redacted] stated in her e-mail communication to me dated 8/21/15,

during the repair, they upgraded our equipment as a courtesy to us at no charge.

At no time did we sign for or agree to pay for the upgraded equipment, nor were

we asked to until 8/20/15, long after the repair/upgrade. In August 2015 the

upgraded equipment began to malfunction. After some telephone conversations

with Cougar Wireless. I asked them to remove their equipment because we were

terminating service. After the equipment removal by the Cougar Wireless tech, the

Cougar Wireless representative gave me a bill for $326.08. I refused to pay the bill for a number of

reasons:

I

was told on the phone there was no $75 truck roll fee upon termination

(repeated by Ms. [redacted] in an email to me dated 8/21/15).We

had already paid their $99 equipment and installation fee back on 6/4/13. In

their contract, they agreed to repair their equipment, which they had done in

Sept 2013.The

Cougar representative was overly aggressive. Rather than talk about the bill

and the inconsistencies, he became louder and angrier. His angry threats to

turn me into a collection agency that day made it feel like something was very

wrong, it was not like a normal business transaction.

I don’t understand all of the communications from

Cougar Wireless, the contract, the phone calls, the e-mails and talking to the

Cougar rep at my house, seem to be inconsistent and at times contradictory. For

example:

Phone

call: There is no $75 Truck Roll fee on terminations.

The

Bill: Truck Roll $75 plus tax.

Cougar

Rep: Pay it or it goes to collection today (8/20).

E-mail:

1) Truck Roll $75 plus tax, pay or it

goes to collection on 8/31 (dated 8/20).

2) I will waive the $75

Truck Roll fee since we do not charge it when service is terminated. (dated

8/21).

Revdex.com: 1) Mr. [redacted] was never quoted any amount

over the phone other than a possible 75 dollar service call and then the

cost of the radio if damaged.

2) I

have reduced his invoice as much as possible in an effort to work with him on this

and he is unwilling to compromise (Ms. [redacted] removed some overcharges).

I am not trying to fault Cougar Wireless on the

weakness of their communication skills. The Cougar rep said they were trying to

improve the contract in order to avoid issues like this with customers. But our

experience with Cougar Wireless employee’s miscommunication has caused us to

mistrust them.

We were threatened with being turned over to a

collection agency for the following [questionable] billed charges:

Truck

Roll: $75 plus tax: Ms. [redacted] later admitted it was not a legitimate charge.Customer

Hardware: $199 plus tax. A questionable charge for 5 reasons: a) The contract

says Cougar pays for faulty equipment b) It replaced earlier faulty equipment c)

We were told at the time there was no charge for it, Ms.[redacted] said in an email

there was no charge. d) We were never given a model number or serial number,

nor did we sign for it. e) The Cougar rep tested it. I was given nothing to

indicate it was bad, no test results, just the word of a man who was giving me

a bill with unauthorized charges. Not to mention his unprofessional behavior. The

3rd charge was for a Power Over Internet box: 24.99 plus tax. Over

the phone I was told the problem was either the POE or the $180 radio. I’m

pretty sure it was the $25 POE. They

claim the POE was ok. But it was still on their “collection agency bill.”

The greatest concern I have with Cougar Wireless is this,

the aggression exhibited towards me in my driveway in an attempt to get a check

from me. It came across as very unsavory. In their favor, when I told them they

needed to leave now, they left. Had it

continued, I would have called the police. Do I care about these few bucks we’re

squabbling over? I care because the charges seem contrived. But, if I had not

been verbally abused in my own driveway by a man (not the tech who removed the

equipment) who’s only way of explaining something was to talk louder, get

angry, and then threaten to turn me into a bill collector that day, this may

have ended differently. I may have given them money just to make them leave us

alone, not because we felt their charges were legitimate.

Again, because of the inconsistencies in

communication, I was led to believe (by the contract, page 1, item 2) that the

equipment cost (at wholesale prices) was included in the installation cost. I’m

told by Ms [redacted] that that original equipment was upgraded as a courtesy to

us. But now, because we terminated, they want to charge us for it at retail

prices. I believe Cougar Wireless should honor the contract and what Ms [redacted]

stated in her email. If the upgrade was a courtesy at no charge to us during a contract

covered repair (and therefore at no charge) then there should be no charge for

the equipment, which again, would appear to be covered by the contract.

In her statement to the Revdex.com, Ms. [redacted] quotes page 3

section VII of the contract as justification for charging us for their

equipment. She says it means I am responsible for any kind of damage or

repair to the equipment on my home. But the contract does not say that. It says

Cougar Wireless will repair any COUGAR WIRELESS owned

equipment at no additional fee if it is determined the repair needed is due to

a COUGAR WIRELESS equipment problem or any problem by its affiliates. It does

not say how the fault is to be determined. Section 2 of the Customer Checklist adds further confusion to who is responsible for what. I think this just shows more inconsistencies

between what the contract says and what Ms. [redacted] claims it says.

With regard to the damage to our siding. The first

equipment installation was done on the facia board of our home, the second was

mounted on the siding. Nothing was signed or authorized for the new mount. The

2nd mount left holes in the siding, the vapor barrier and the osb,

right into the wall cavity. A fascia board installation goes through the facia

board and into a 2x6 and perhaps into the eave. A big difference in terms of

breaking barriers against bugs, moisture, heat loss, etc. Cougar Wireless did

damage our siding, a dab of caulk will do until I get back from Canada, but it

must be repaired properly before Winter.

I don’t recall saying “good luck collecting,” if I did

say that I do apologize, I was trying to keep it professional, but I must have

failed in that way. Again, my apologies.

I got back from Cincinnati yesterday. Tomorrow I leave

for Canada. As I said in my email to Ms. [redacted] dated Aug. 21st, I

will be better able to address this in the 2nd week of September if

need be.

Thank you,

Regards,

Business

Response:

Mr. [redacted], is flat out lying. I have voicemails from him acknowledging the installation of the new equipment at his location. I also have pictures of the siding of his home that shows no damage but nicely sealed holes. Again, if he was upset or if there was damage to his home I am curious why nothing was said at the time of the install which was 9-30-2013. His allegations of being threatened are false. There were two staff members at his location and I have full reports from both staff members. I would like to think the Revdex.com would do the job they are suppose to and see what Mr. [redacted] is trying to do. The facts are just this simple. Mr. [redacted] declined the Equipment Protection Plan. The radio was damaged electrically at Mr. [redacted]s location. Our contract clearly shows that if you do not have EPP you are responsible for the equipment. I would be glad to email you the pictures of Mr. [redacted]s home as well as send you the files of the voicemails where Mr. [redacted] acknowledges the installation of the new equipment. Mr. [redacted] will still be sent to collections if this bill is not paid. Since he indicates he will take care of it the second week of September I will give him until the 14th to call the office and pay the $163.04 that is due for equipment damaged at his location.

Consumer

Response:

[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the response. If no reason is received, your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]

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.I'm not sure I understand Ms. [redacted] response. It sounds like she is rejecting any help the Revdex.com might offer to resolve this issue, and is instead turning this over to a collection agency. I think of the Revdex.com as a pro-business organization since they are supported and paid for by businesses, not consumers. I wrongly assumed Ms. [redacted] would feel comfortable with their input. Because I have been given another ultimatum, I can only assume she wants no part of any Revdex.com involvement.