Merrimac Communications Ltd.

Review: I have Merrimac for my Internet and today I stopped In and told them my wife does a www.speakeasy.net test on her personal computer and It shows that I am getting 8mbps for my Internet speed BUT I am paying for 30 mbps and I even told the older fella who has long gray hair In a pony tail about the speed and all he told me was we have an overflow of people and that they need to upgrade there computer system to handle all the other people, I then asked am I gonna get a discount on my bill and he replied to me saying NO! Nobody will get a discount on there bill oh well everybody has to tough It out he said!! Is that normal business for them???? when people like me Is overpaying and not getting the promise speeds????? He also said " You get what you get" My wife has called several times when paying the bill and talk to a Paula there and she Is VERY rude and always told me nothing Is wrong. We would go to another service but there Is NOTHING out here that has Internet so we have to go with Merrimac for Internet!!Desired Settlement: Free Internet for 2 months since It has been going on for over a year and they knew about It!!!

Business

Response:

We received the billing complaint that you forwarded to the Revdex.com of Wisconsin on

January 3, 2014:

Customer’s Statement of the Problem:

I have Merrimac for my Internet and today I stopped In and told them my wife does a

www.speakeasy.net test on her personal computer and It shows that I am getting 8mbps for my

Internet speed BUT I am paying for 30 mbps and I even told the older fella who has long gray hair

In a pony tail about the speed and all he told me was we have an overflow of people and that they

need to upgrade there computer system to handle all the other people, I then asked am I gonna

get a discount on my bill and he replied to me saying NO! Nobody will get a discount on there bill

oh well everybody has to tough It out he said!! Is that normal business for them???? when people

like me Is overpaying and not getting the promise speeds????? He also said " You get what you

get" My wife has called several times when paying the bill and talk to a Paula there and she Is

VERY rude and always told me nothing Is wrong. We would go to another service but there Is

NOTHING out here that has Internet so we have to go with Merrimac for Internet!!

Complaint Background:

Problem Occurred: 8/1/2013

Desired Settlement:

Free Internet for 2 months since It has been going on for over a year and they knew about It!!!

Merrimac Communications Ltd Response:

According to our records, you came into our office on January 3, 2014 and had a conversation with a

customer service representative about experiencing slower than usual internet connection speeds. He

read to you correspondence he received from the owner of the company, [redacted], which explained

why you might be experiencing slower speeds:

Over the holiday period we have experienced very heavy bandwidth usage during the 6-10 p.m. period

which has caused cable modem speeds to slow. Once the holidays are over usage should decline and

speeds should increase back to normal. Please remind customers that our cable modem service is a

shared “best effort” system.

In addition beginning sometime after 1-15-2014 we will be upgrading our cable modem system, which

will double our capacity.

According to our company’s terms of service, which you can view at this web page in its entirety:

http://www.merr.com/terms_of_service.html, your maximum internet access speed is not guaranteed

and may vary based on many factors.

26. INTERNET ACCESS SPEEDS. The Internet access speeds quoted are the maximum rates by which downstream Internet

access data may be transferred between Merrimac Communications’ facilities and the network interface device at your home,

office or apartment building. The maximum rate is not guaranteed and may vary. The quoted speeds should not be confused

with the speed at which Customer’s modem receives and sends Internet access data through the public internet as such speeds

are impacted by many factors beyond Merrimac Communications’ control. Actual Internet speeds vary due to many factors

including the capacity or performance of your computer or modem and its configuration, your wiring and any wireless

configuration, your destination and traffic on the Internet, internal network or other factors at the internet site with which you

are communicating, congestion on the network and the general speed of the public internet. The actual speed may affect your

on-line experience including ability to view streaming video and speed of downloads. Except as otherwise provided by law, we

reserve the right to implement network management controls to optimize and ensure that adequate speed and data transfer

is available to all Internet service customers.

Because our internet service is advertised as a best effort service, and because there are many factors

that can affect your internet speed, we don’t guarantee that you will receive a certain speed at all

times. Therefore, we won’t provide you with two months of free service as you have requested.

I hope this clarifies our internet speed policy. Please let us know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Consumer

Response:

Review: Hi I been with Merrimac for 6 plus years for cable tv Internet and phone service,. We have decided to go to another cable company because It's alot cheaper and we can actually have service throughout the month Instead of only half the service, with Merrimac Comm. we ended up calling and complaining about our cable Internet Phone having problems all month long and they kept telling us that there Is no problem on there end and we only got like half a month of service cause of Interuptions all the time. Well we were In our billing cycle for 20 days and went with another cable company and I emailed Merrimac asking If we would get prorated on our bill since we did NOT have Merrimac for the whole month and I have the email stating they do NOT prorate!? Can a company do that??!!!??Desired Settlement: Would very much like to get prorated on our bill!!!

Business

Response:

We received the billing complaint you forwarded to the Revdex.com of Wisconsin on June

26,2013:

Customer's Statement of the Problem:

Hi I been with Merrimac for 6 plus years for cable tv Internet and phone service" We have

decided to go to another cable company because It's alot cheaper and we can actually have

service throughout the month Instead of only half the service, with Merrimac Comm, we ended

up calling and complaining about our cable Internet Phone having problems all month long and

they kept telling us that there Is no problem on there end and we only got like half a month of

service cause of Interuptions all the time, Well we were In our billing cycle for 20 days and went

with another cable company and I emailed Merrimac asking If we would get prorated on our bill

since we did NOT have Merrimac for the whole month and I have the email stating they do NOT

prorate!? Can a company do that??!!!??

According to our company's cable television policy, which you can view at this web page:

http://www.merr.com / cablepolicy.html. we do not prorate your bill when you cancel your service

prior to the end of a month:

Merrimac Area Cable subscribers will be billed on a monthly basis, Each statement will be for

the upcoming month, No refunds or credits wi ll be given if you disconnect during a month,

I hope that this clarifies our cancellation policy, Please let me know if you have any questions,

Sincerely,