StarBand Communications, Inc

Review: I spent all winter wiping the dish every 5 minutes during rain to keep internet up and working. Finally this spring it stopped working all together. I spent days on the phone with tech support. After a week of being off line I found a screw that the installer had left out of electronics. I took it all apart and dried it in front of wood stove. Starband never called to check or cared that I was down. I drove to town and used internet in a coffee shop for work while I was down. Ran up a $250 cell phone since I couldn't use my land line. On April 30th I called Starband and asked to speak to a Manager to work out canceling without paying $200 cancel fee. I was told all Managers were busy and I would be called back. I called 5 times in next two weeks and was told the same thing. On May 9th a woman named Helen called back claiming to be a Manager. I explained the situation and was told she needed to talk to billing about it and would have them call me to work it out. A week later I had still not heard anything. On May 20th I mailed bill in with Cancel written on it and a letter explaining why I was canceling. On June 10th I received a new bill with 2 months on it. I called to billing and asked why they did not cancel my service as requested and was given the same I can have a manager call you. I got angry and told them to cancel imediatley and was told I would be charged a $200 cancel fee as well as owe for two months. I asked for their attorney information and was told to call their corporate office at ###-###-#### and ask for legal. When I call and ask for legal I am always sent to a voicemail. I have left three messages with no reply.Desired Settlement: It will probably be easiest to pay the $300 plus and be done with this company. However it is not right that I have been paying for internet service that they did not provide. It shouldn't take this many calls to resolve. This should have been resolved by manager if Helen truly was one. All consumers need to be warned of this company!!!

Review: February or early March 2013 I called Starband @ [redacted], owned by [redacted]. I was unable to access the internet & Starband was my internet provider. They told me that the system I was on was so old that I would need to upgrade. Since I have another provider I decided to wait. I called on March 22 & spoke w/[redacted]. She agreed to upgrade at no charge & waive cancellation fee if I didn't keep the new service. I agreed & she mailed the new modem. On May 31 someone came to connect. He found the problem wasn't the "old" modem but a virus I had on my computer which he cleared. He was able to connect the new modem to another cumputer but not to the one I had been using due to the virus. I made the decision then to not connect it at all. I called Starband to disconnect their service. The sent a box to return the modem w/no mention of any charge. They charged $299 on May 31 which I discovered on June 13. I called on the 13th & talked w/**. He was rude & said it wasn't his job to do that & he couldn't call or talk w/anyone in the office where it would have arrived but he would send a message to check & refund the $299. He didn't say but the charge should never have been billed. July 3 the charge has still not been refunded. I called & spoke w/** who was very very rude. He said he did his part, "they" didn't do their part. He said he would put me on hold for a while. After a few minutes I hung up. I then called [redacted] @ [redacted] & was told I needed to speak with [redacted]. I left word for her at 12:30P (7/3)and still today (7/8) haven't heard from her. Thank you!Desired Settlement: Refund my $299 that should never have been billed. It has been almost 6 weeks that they have had my money. I never signed the contract and returned the modem and the arm of the dish as soon as I received the 2 boxes, even though only the modem was ever mentioned to return. I was not advised of the $299 charge and I didn't give authorization to put it on my credit card. It should NOT have been billed. They should apply interest charge and refund $299 plus interest.