SEI Communications

Response to Customer's Revdex.com Statement: SEl Communications recognizes and understands this customer's concerns. In a genuine effort to help with this customer's situation, the company offered the customer the option to pay a much smaller amount to be released from the original...

agreement.Our customer service representatives are very knowledgeable when it comes to the Exedeservice. We do our best to inform every customer of the benefits and limitations of the satellite internet service. We also explain the basic contract terms and payment options available to them.The equipment lease fee is $9.99plus tax due monthly. However, we do offer customers the option to pay a "lifetime lease fee" upfront. This amount is equal to the monthly equipment lease fee plus tax multiplied by 24 months. If a customer chooses to pay the "lifetime lease fee" upfront and keeps the service longer than 24 months, they are effectively saving themselves $9.99plus tax for every month they keep service beyond 24 months.Also, by paying the "lifetime lease fee" upfront, we waived the entire installation fee of $149.99 and sent the customer a free [redacted] 7" tablet (a $49.99 value) as part of a special promotion the company was offering.All of our Exede packages require a 24-month service contract. Customers who wish to cancel service prior to their contract expiration date are required to pay an early termination fee equal to $15 for each month remaining on their agreement. However, we do offer customers the option to pay $50 upfront to waive the 24-month term. If the customer chooses to exercise this option upfront, they are able to cancel service at any time without incurring an early termination fee.This information is what our customer service representatives share with potential customers, and it is the same information that the customer will read on the contract before signing.This particular customer chose to pay the "lifetime lease fee" upfront which allowed for free installation and a free [redacted] 7" tablet ($199.98 total value). This customer did not exercise the contract term waiver of $50 upfront. Therefore, when calling in to cancel service after 14 months, the early termination fee would be $15 multiplied by the 10 months remaining in the contract period, $150 total. A supervisor informed this customer that we understand her situation, and we were willing to allow her to retroactively pay the $50 contract term waiver rather than charge the $150 that was actually due according to the Customer-signed agreement.We've provided the customer with $149.99 savings on installation, a $49.99 [redacted] 7" tablet, and an option to leave the contract early that is $100 less than the amount dictated by the contract. This is a benefit of $299.98 to the customer.If this customer had not paid the "lifetime lease fee" upfront, she would have been responsible for a $149.99 installation fee upfront, a total of $139.86 in monthly equipment lease fees (for the 14 months she had service), a $150 early termination fee, plus she would not have received the $49.99 [redacted] 7" tablet for a total of $489.84.We have made an honest effort to help this customer by offering a $100 reduction to her financial responsibility for breaking the contract even after having already provided her with the free items previously mentioned. Unfortunately, this customer has called in, used rude and inappropriate language, and hung up on the supervisor offering her help.Due to the costs of providing and maintaining this service, we are unable to further reduce the early termination fee.