West Michigan Communications Reviews (%countItem)
West Michigan Communications Rating
Address: 11281 LaSalle Rd, Manistee, Michigan, United States, 49660
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WEST MICHIGAN COMMUNICATIONS HAS GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE.,EVAN THE LEAD TECH HAS HELP ME IN FIGURING OUT WHAT MY PROBLEM WAS. WHICH WAS NOT PART OF HIS SERVICE. I HAVE BEEN WITH THERE SERVICE FOR OVER FOUR MONTHS, I HAVE HAD NO PROBLEMS WITH THERE SYSTEM. I AM VERY HAPPY WITH THERE SERVICE.
On February 26th, 2020 I was contacted by the business owner, Evan F. He contacted me asking me if I was cancelling the Internet Service of which his company provides. I advised him that I was indeed cancelling the service because we sold our house and we're moving to a home that has high speed internet. He was polite and very understanding, but advised me that I needed to return the equipment that we used for the internet he provided. This is completely fine and I would and will return the equipment, once I am refunded for a screen that he damaged on my brand new house.
At some point in January, Evan came out to my home on a service call due to the fact that the internet was running incredibly slow (1-3 mbs), when he advertises 15-30 mbs. Upon arriving to my home, he had asked if I had a ladder that he could borrow, since he did not have his truck and no ladder. I advised him that I did and that it was not that big of a deal, he could borrow it. So, we grab the ladder and he sets it up onto my house and within just a few minutes, the ladder falls damages the screen to my home, and scratches the window. You could tell that he immediately felt bad and apologized almost instantaneously. Anyhow, after a few minutes of messing with the unit, he advised me that he couldn't fix it because he forgot a power cable and that he would ship it to me. To this day, I still have not received the power cable and the internet was never fixed. Anyhow, after a conversation about returning the equipment, Mr. F blamed the damage to my screen on me and told me he was not going to reimburse me for the screen. He asked why it took me so long to discuss the screen with him and it is because we sold our house and I had to replace the screen for the inspection, which just happened yesterday. Mr. F then advised me that if I did not return the equipment that he would charge me $300! You can buy the equipment online for $85 and I advised him I am not authorizing any charges.
Product_Or_Service: Internet Service
Account_Number: 90.00 per month
Refund The business charged my account $118.00 after I distinctly told him that I do not authorize him to save my credit card info and that I am not authorizing any charges whatsoever. I was contacted by my bank stating that Mr. F attempted to withdrawal $318.00 out of my account without my permission, and succeeded in taking out $118.00. As I mentioned above, I will gladly return the equipment once I am refunded my $50 and I also want to be refunded my $118 that he withdrew without my permissio.
The Customers account of what occurred here is very accurate, except he left out a few important details.
1. We are a very small wireless/satellite ISP based out of Manistee MI. Because we dont own all our own infrastructure, but rather lease space off of other companies towers and satellites, we have no control over network congestion. There are 2 reasons why a customers service could be preforming badly. Firstly, because of poor signal. Secondly because of network congestion. This customers service was preforming very poorly in the evening especially because of network congestion. I explained to him several times that there was nothing I could do to fix this, and if he was not satisfied with the speeds he was getting, we would be happy to cancel his account, and provide a full refund for any unused service. The customer was convinced that if we changed the modem to a omni directional modem, he would get better speeds. This was not the case, but in an effort to appease this customer, I went out there (an hour and 15 minute drive) to replace this. Normally there would be a minimum of $95 service call for this type of thing, because the customer was asking us to fix something we could not. We advised him to cancel his service. However, I happened to have a doctors appointment for my 2 week old son in *** on January 9th. *** is very close to where this customer lives. So, I offered to do the service call for free, as long as he provided a ladder so that I did not have to drive my work truck over there. The customer agreed to do this.
All that is very important to understand because we where doing the customer a FAVOR.
2. Our ladders are heavy commercial ladders designed with special rubber grips so that they don't damage our customers homes. The ladder the customer provided was a very light flimsy ladder, and there where very high winds (see this weather report from the day, https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/KTVC/date/2020-2-9 this shows 9mph average, and gusts up to 18mph.) that day as well. The other extremely important detail is that the customer retrieved the ladder, and he placed the ladder in place against his own house. Not me or anyone from West Michigan Communications. After retrieving the directional antenna from the customers roof, I went inside to finish up. We where simply placing an omni directional modem inside the house. The customer left the ladder placed against the house. When we walked back outside to leave, the ladder and been blown over, and hit his screen on the way down. Of course I apologized! I felt bad! But not because it was my fault. If his dog and been run over in the highway the day before, I would have apologized about that too! I was just being a decent person.
3. Fast forward almost 8 weeks, its February 26th. This customer was 5 weeks late on their internet payment. I knew that he had listed his house for sale, so I figured it must have sold. This is when I texted the customer to find out if they still wanted service with us. Then and ONLY then did the screen suddenly become and issue. The customer told me that they did want to cancel service, and I told them to simply return the equipment. I also told them that when we cancel an account, a $300 (the $18 is tax) hold is automatically placed as soon as we receive the equipment, its released. I then proceeded to cancel the account. The $318 hold failed. If that fails, the system will automatically attempt to charge $118, which is our cost of the modem. This did successfully go through. I told the customer several times that if he simply returned the equipment, we would immediately refund him. I told him that we could not pay for his screen since it was not our fault. I did offer him a credit too future service, simply because I felt bad for him! At first he said he would return the equipment, and I advised I would send him a prepaid label. However, the customers tone quickly changed. He said he was going to call the police, sue us, told me multiple times I was going to jail. He posted nasty reviews online.
Frankly, this customer has been extremely difficult to deal with from day 1. He has been pushy, demanding, lied several times. On February 26th, he offered to send me the receipt to his window. I said yes please. I didn't get it, and when he finally did send the receipt it was dated the next day, the 27th. In other words, he was lying about when he bought it. Not a huge deal, but can we really trust this customer to tell the truth? How did he know the screen cost $50 when he had not even bought it yet? Why did it take 8 weeks to all of a sudden be up in arms about a $50 screen?
We are seeking to do business right, and do right by our customers. It would have been easier to just pay the man $50 lose even more money on this customer than we have already lost, and forget about the whole mess. However, I felt that he was trying to take advantage of us very unfairly.
Finally, let me wrap up. We did not pay for his screen because:
1. It was his ladder.
2. He placed it against the house.
3. The wind blew it over. It did not fall over because we touched it, or moved it.
4. It took him 8 weeks to be "upset" about it or even contact us about it.
5. He has lied several times during this process, both about when he bought the replacement screen, and about sending the equipment back.
6. We where out there doing him a favor. This was a non paying, free service call that he should have been charged for. We had already advised him that we could not deliver the promised speeds, and would be happy to refund him for any unused service, as well as a portion of his installation fee since he only had service with us a few months.
IF the ladder was ours, we would have paid for it. If this was a paying service call, we would have paid for it. If I had knocked the ladder down, or moved it, we would have paid for it. If he had contacted us right away instead of waiting 8 weeks, I would have at least been more willing to work with him. Maybe go halves, or give him some free service, which he could have used then. If he would have waited till after the outcome of this complaint to start trashing our online reputation, I would have been much more willing to work with him.
I hope that gives a clear picture of what happened. If the customer, or anyone else has any other questions about this, feel free to call our main office number, 231-794-2526 and ask for the owner. Id be happy to ask any other questions.